"Who are you to judge if something is fake or not?" That is something thrown out by frauds time and time again when their claims are pointed out to be false. Well, they asked. Here is the answer.

Ok, I might not be the final authority on who and who is not a doctor. I am not one myself and don't work in the field. By some people's logic, I should blindly take anyone who claims to be a doctor at their word and respect them.

Bullshit.

Let us say someone claims to be a doctor. Yet she can't show me her medical degrees, her license and I can't find her name in any list of doctors by the American Medical Association. Guess what, she is a fraud. Now, just because someone has all that does not mean that they can't be lying about their expertise or that they didn't get tossed due to unethical practices. But if the AMA doesn't say they are a doctor in America, then they are not. I do not have to have a medical license to say that with confidence.

In the same way, I can say the following with confidence;

If you claim to be the inheritor of a martial arts tradition, but can't show proof of your own training under a real person, you are a fraud.

If an art claims to be Japanese, but there is not a single source in Japan that acknowledges it, then it is a fake art.

Simple.

Let me add that if you get caught in a big lie, then you are a fraud and will always be treated like one. I am not talking the survival strategy men take when their wives ask if they find other women attractive. I am talking about cases like how Frank Dux had one of his ex-students detail how he faked punching through bullet-proof glass, or how the CIA denied his claims of being an agent, or how the trophy he claimed was from a secret death match was proven to have been made a few blocks from his house. (In all those cases, and others, Dux accused those that exposed him of various plots and conspiracies.) I am talking about cases like how Antony Cummins had a picture on his web site he claimed was of him training in Japan, and it was proven that the wall behind him was from his place in Manchester. I am talking about cases like how Christa Jacobson tried to pass off a picture of a scroll as being from her teacher, when it was taken from a japanese auction site.

If you get caught in lies like this, you will get treated as a liar. Nothing you say can be trusted. Legitimate people will treat you like you deserve, i.e. that you would have to prove everything you say and will lie if it makes you look good.

Ninjutsu has more than it's fair share of fakes, frauds and flakes because they try to use the dodge of secrecy. No one knows of them in Japan because there is a secret wars between the clans there. They can't show proof that they had a real teacher because the art is supposed to be kept secret. Really? And yet you are talking about this shit on facebook for a few hundred million people to see? What kind of a moron would fall for that story? (Quite a lot as it turns out. There is a reason there are warning labels on tubes of Preparation H saying not to eat the stuff.)

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog that detailed how Fujita Seiko made no secret that his art of Koga-ryu was going to die with him and every single source in japanese backs that story. So anyone claiming to be linked to his ninjutsu can be treated like a fraud. Some people cast doubt on whether he really learned as much as he said from his grandfather. But his grandfather died before he started making himself known, so there was no chance to grill him. I personally would love to find a successor to his ninjutsu. But I expect him to have actual documents and he would have to make himself known to the Japanese and be accepted by some source there before I gave him any credence. Some yutz in Florida claiming to have a tie to him can go jump in a lake.

Looking at the Togakure ryu, headed by Masaaki Hatsumi of the Bujinkan, you can find it being taught in Japan. You can't say that about any other art claiming to be ninjutsu in some place like New York. You can Togakure-ryu being talked about in Japanese publications like Nakajima Atsumi's "Ninjutsu Hiden no Sho", Nawa Yumio's "Ninjutsu no Kenkyu" and Koyama Ryutaro's "Kore wa Ninjutsu Da" as well as a whole bunch of others. I can find Hatsumi being featured in Japanese magazines devoted to martial arts and history. Show me something like that for the ninjutsu Ron Duncan claimed to have taught and maybe we will talk.

Of course, I don't expect those who can read fluent Japanese to agree with me totally on this. I know a few people from my time in Japan that have doubts that the Togakure ryu goes all the way back to the 12 century. We respect each other's opinions and discuss it like gentlemen- over large amounts of beer. They may have their opinions, but they acknowledge that guys like "Ashida Kim" aren't even worth mentioning when discussing historical japanese  arts. If you can't read the sources I can in Japanese, but try to say that you know more about the matter than me, don't pretend to be hurt by my mocking laughter.

I have to mention these things because some people have a very vested interest in muddying the waters. Some fakes try to say that they are acknowledged in Japan, one even claiming to be a member of a prestigious martial arts preservation society there. Those frauds say that the claims by Bujinkan members that they are fake is because we are fake and are trying to attack them to cover over that fact. Again, there are sources I can point to in Japan you can order and have someone translate for you if you want to prove we are known in Japan. Try that with Saito-ryu ninjitsu (sic), Konigun ninjutsu or anything else.

The type of folks that would create fake arts to prop up their ego and make a quick buck are not going to hesitate to stoop to twisting any legitimate concerns and twist them all out of proportion. The people I respect but I can debate about the matter admit they tear their hair out over how they are misquoted and what they say is used to try to prop up some bozo in Texas. Much of the stuff floating around the internet you find critical of the Togakure-ryu stems from this sort of twisting by frauds and gets in the way of honest debate.

Another source of confusion is with those such as the Nindo-ryu, Natori- ryu, etc that claim to be doing ninjutsu even without much if any actual training with a style known as ninjutsu in Japan. They have a very vested interest in saying that no one can claim to be an historical art, and thus they are justified in doing their own thing since there is no source they can go to in order to learn. With no real form of ninjutsu, they can say that their reading a few books and fooling with things is just as valid as anything taught in Japan. They can claim to resurrect something like the Koga-ryu and who is to say that their interpretation is any less valid than anything else out there?

Bullshit.

A common factor in all these necrophiliac arts (they take dead things and fuck with them) is that the creators just don't bother to put in any effort to learn even a little bit before they start teaching. I know guys who have ripped up their lives, moved to Japan, stayed there for over a decade, learned the language fluently, have teaching licenses in a few old-style martial arts and none of them even seem to think of starting their own Japanese style. By comparison, I do not know of even a single head of a modern reconstruction that can read even a Japanese newspaper, let alone 17th century texts.

It is not just about a matter of competence, it is also about taking responsibility. If you have a Japanese stereo with directions only written in that language, it is no big deal to get a Japanese friend to tell you how to flip the right switches and plug in the right cords. But when you seek out knowledge of something Japanese well enough to bring it to others, you have to go all the way, crack open the bones and suck the marrow from them. Any less rips off others. If you don't want to take that time and responsibility then just shut the fuck up and let others do it someday.

When I translate things like the Shoninki, I can understand what the original Japanese is saying. I can think in that language and understand the word play going on. If there is something I don't fully fathom, I go out and deepen my knowledge instead of relying on what a Japanese tells me. Nothing else will do if I say I am translating something. I either know it fully, or I don't write it. So how can I respect any work by someone who takes no such effort? I treat this sort of thing as important for the knowledge it brings to others while they are only in it to make a buck and get people to treat them special.

I can't respect anyone that finds the fastest way to be the head of an art. The people I respect take decades to learn things from every angle before they take any sort of action. They try to perfect themselves before they take on any sort of leadership position. It is like how some folks watch a few videos, create their own style of martial arts and then go on and demand people call them grandmaster. When they run into a situation where the crowd won't bow down and worship them, their response is, "Who made you the martial arts police?"

Well, who the fuck made you a grandmaster? Who the fuck are you to tell us how we should think about you?

I just can't respect or give credence to those that seek fame and power. I know several people who sought after knowledge over the course of decades. Eventually, their expertise put more and more responsibility on their shoulders and they took up the burden. I respect that. But it is not the same as someone who can't hold a decent conversation in Japanese but seeks to re-write our definition of Japanese terms.

So, while I may not know everything about ninjutsu, I know far more than anyone outside of Japan claiming to teach a style of ninjutsu other than the Togakure ryu. I say they are fake and/or not ninjutsu. If they show proof to their claims in Japan, and they can show proof that they had a real teacher and he made them the head of the art as they say, then I will accept them. So far, no one can do even that. For those that want to complain about my stance I say this, suck it up buttercup and get a real life.