Secrets from the Ninja Grandmaster

In the 1970s, one American martial artist turned his back on the conventional martial arts and journeyed to Japan in search of a warrior way with a deeper history and broader spiritual impact. Eventually earning a place in the Black Belt Hall of Fame for his pioneering work, Stephen K. Hayes was the disciple who took the once-hidden teachings of Japan's last living ninja grandmaster, Masaaki Hatsumi, to a world anxiously awaiting the truth about the mysterious art of ninjutsu.

Secrets from the Ninja Grandmaster is a collection of heart-to-heart lessons from the ninja grandmaster to his senior student. When this book was first published in 1987, it gave Western martial artists their first chance to hear what the grandmaster himself had to say about the essence of warrior training that emphasized real-world battlefield fighting methods (jissen-gata)—from the use of weapons to ninja invisibility to kuji warrior spirituality—as opposed to art or sport.

This important volume is now available once again through Paladin Press, with an all-new epilogue and techniques section that illustrates various classical ninja fighting defenses. This book is essential reading for every martial artist who has ever wanted to go beyond the stereotypical images of the ninja sensationalized in action-adventure movies and gain access to the true secrets of the ninja grandmaster.