In the previous post we looked at basic knowledge you should educate yourself in to become an urban ninja.  We looked briefly on learning basic martial arts; and some basic human anatomy. Lastly we looked a bit on learning magic tricks and illusion to better understand the human mind.

After understanding deception and the human mind you might start to practice on moving in darkness. This is difficult skill to acquire as the sight is significantly reduced in darkness. It could however be improved by eating minerals and vitamins, and practicing movements in darkness.

You should also educate yourself within colors and how certain colors is less visible in darkness; and some colors camouflage better with wood or grass. Some colors better used in cities etc. But to successfully move unnoticed you should educate yourself in color perception, and visual perception. This is also how illusionist gives impression of floating in the air or when using boxes people are not really inside, but behind it.

There could also be some physical exercises you could start doing; both endurance and speed can be achieved by running longer distances mixed with hill training and interval training. There are important features to anything you do. You could also practice flexibility training, and jumping exercises. The body should be well exercised, to become a tool well suited for good endurance and speed for good movements; and might be slightly more important than strength. Strength might of course also be practiced, and maybe in good combination with climbing. The point is to improve your body to be suitable for movements.

Another natural exercise could be to practice moving with as little sounds as possible to avoid being caught by others. No one can be completely silent; but you can hide some of the sounds you make through moving in particular ways, and by clothing and shoes you wear.

Meditation is another exercise often used to calm your mind, and to be better to focus and concentrate while doing tasks.

Remember; the most important tools you always will have available are your mind and you body. You might in many situations be unequipped with no tools, but you will always have your mind and body ready; and that’s why these are the tools that needs the most exercise to become an urban ninja in these days. In most situations you have nothing but yourself to depend upon.

It might be fascinating to learn the art of this fascinating character. And I am not going to take the hope away from you. I will later create a small series on how people can train themselves to have some of the abilities a ninja possesses.

But keep in mind to not use or train any fighting with real people without having guidance. There might not be any ninja courses close to where you live; and maybe you should practice martial arts like karate or kick-boxing to learn how to hit or kick someone. However; you don’t need to master the discipline you start; only to master basic techniques.

To efficiently fight you should educate yourself in the human body; where to hit or kick to create as much pain as possible. You don’t want to become a master of fighting, only to create enough pain or diversions to get away from your opponent. It should not be your ultimate goal to become the strongest or best fighter. Your goals should always be to avoid fighting as in real life. There is no real benefit to be able to become a champion fighter; only to be able to survive if you are forced to fight.

After you have learned some basic martial arts you should consider investing time in learning to do magic and illusions. I think you can easily find both books and DVD’s everywhere on how to do simple magic and illusions. This might be really fun; and you might even learn some romantic performances. I am not sure if all of you reading this remember David Copperfield; but he had a nice performance called “the floating rose” where he transformed a piece of paper to a rose. It might charm ladies as well if you could perform. I know the secrets behind it; and it’s not difficult. Even you could do it! If you want to learn that particular performance you should get the DVD “Kevin James – the new floating rose”. Just in case you wondered; Kevin James created the performance; David Copperfield only borrowed the illusion with the permission of Kevin James.

The point of learning magic tricks and illusions isn’t to become a magician; but to understand human psychology. The truth is that ninjas, magicians, con artists and pocket thieves use the same understanding of the human mind, and how to create diversions to conceal their real agenda.

The ninja’s we hear about and learn about through television is somehow seducing. They are some kind of mysterious and fascinating. And this was also true for the real ninjas in old Japan; they created myths to frighten and impress people. What better weapon can you have than the element of surprise with you?

The ninja’s often made use of principle’s we find in Sun Tze’s Art of war. Their main weapon was to do espionage and gathering information to more easily defeat the enemy. Their martial arts were also based on understanding the human body to make efficient battles; and not to waste time fighting.

The ninjas were often farmers, or other people not possessing the same skills as samurai warriors; there methods often involved in guerilla warfare tactics, and often successful to create destabilization, or social chaos.

It is not known exactly when the first ninjas appeared; but it’s commonly thought to be in the 14th century Japan.

The word ninja; seems to come from the word ninjitsu, which mean “the skill of going unperceived” or “the art of stealth”. This also validate the above descriptions, where we look at a ninja more as a spy; and using efficient battles as methods more than the typical warriors of the time.

The point being made is that ninjas is more than simply the art of fighting; it’s also an art to camouflage; creating illusion, gathering information and understanding of the body; and of course some martial arts techniques.

Do not mix or believe ninjas to be superior way of fighting, as you might think if you watch movies. The art of ninjitsu is far broader; and involves far more than being able to fight.

To be a ninja is to be efficient in actions, and perceiving the human mind.

The beauty with ninja skills, are that they don’t require a life time to master; they are often designed to teach and educate ordinary people within a short amount of time.

Of course; you should not underestimate the amount of time you need to master the skills; as with anything you need commitment and dedication to reach skills that are sufficient to really make use of them. But this is applicable for anything you want to learn; you don’t learn to make good food without creating a good foundation and knowledge about raw materials and how to create simple dishes. Everything you want to learn require dedication and determination; but it is simpler to master ninjitsu than many other combat skills.