As you approach a more advanced stage of training, you begin to truly experience the effectiveness of Ninpo Taijutsu. As you progress beyond the ways of standing and moving, understanding what is meant by the "feeling of the art", and start using the Kihon Happo in an increasingly realistic manner, you start to get an idea of how dangerous these techniques are when applied in earnest. But I hope you will realize the difference between training and actual combat. Just because you can do a technique in a safe environment, with a cooperative training partner, doesn't automatically mean that you can do the same thing on the street against someone who is intent on harming you.

There are many obstacles to be overcome toward this kind of mastery, and conquering all of them takes a lifetime of training. I am continually asked: "How long will it be before I can use martial arts to defend myself?" The answer is a complex one which depends on many different variables: your length of training, hours spent in class, hours spent at home practicing and conditioning, natural ability, your ability to relax, intelligence, purity of heart, the intensity of your spirit and training, and other things as well. But the elusive skill that true mastery depends upon most is both developed somewhat through training, yet has nothing to do with fighting. It has to do with the mastery of one's own mind.

There have been many books on the subject, but the best ones are those by the Japanese masters, of both budo and zen, especially those written during the time in history when the martial arts were practiced in actual warfare. I will cut through the obscure philosophy and state it simply and directly. If you think about avoiding an attacker's punch, your mind will be captured by the thought of avoiding the attacker's punch, and you will be struck. If you think about striking an opponent, your mind will be detained by the thought of striking the opponent, and you will miss. If you put your mind into your attacker's aggression toward you, your mind will be held by the thought of your attacker's aggression toward you, and you will lose. If you think about not being afraid, your mind will be captured by the thought of not being afraid, and you will bring about your defeat. If you try not to think about anything at all, your mind will be captured by that thought, too. But if you put your mind nowhere, your mind will be capable of being everywhere, and you will not be overcome.

The forms of training which help this ability are Muto Dori (No-Sword Technique), in which you face a sword wielding opponent with just your bare hands, and the other training method is called Shinken Gata (Spirit-sword Forms), our form of sparring which is actual combat. Do not seriously pursue this kind of training until your black belt level. Until then, you must put your mind's attention fully into your physical body to learn the proper taijutsu and technique. But I do encourage you to experiment with the kind of training in which you practice reacting without thinking, and begin meditating to clear your mind. An old poem reads: "To think 'I will not think' - This too is something in one's thoughts. Simply do not think, about not thinking at all."

Shidoshi Ken Harding, 6th Dan, heads the Missouri Ninja Center in St. Louis. He started his training in 1984, has trained with Hatsumi Soke in Japan, and studies Japanese, Yoga, shiatsu, herbology and nutrition. He may be contacted via E-mail: Shadowswrd@aol.com.