The world's last ninja performs his martial arts in Saigon

Kawakami Jin-ichi - considered the last ninja of Japan and the world - came to Ho Chi Minh City with professors from Mie University (Japan) to announce his research on Ninja and demonstrate some of his secret techniques.

Associate Professor Yoshimaru: "Ninja is the incarnation of hope for people with the power to protect people in the most difficult circumstances."

On the afternoon of November 14, the large hall of Ho Chi Minh City University of Education (280 An Duong Vuong, District 5) was filled with young people attending the talk show The Truth About Ninjas. When the ninja Kawakami Jin-ichi entered, the whole room burst into applause. He was dressed in black, walking quickly and silently towards his seat.

This is Mr. Kawakami's first visit to Vietnam under the cultural cooperation program between Ho Chi Minh City University of Education and Mie University.

For a long time, many people in the world have viewed Ninja as mysterious people dressed in black, capable of performing underground techniques, flying... and performing assassinations. However, contrary to the crowd, professors from Mie University have made special discoveries about ninja - people that even the Japanese people are still vague about and think only exist in legends.

True Portrait of Ninja

Speaking at the talk, Professor Yamada Yuji, who specializes in researching the history of beliefs, said that the name "ninja" only really originated after World War II.

"During the Edo period, ninjas were called shinobi and their main task was to gather intelligence. Their tasks could change according to the period and the lord. The end of the Edo period meant their tasks also ended." - Mr. Yamada shared.

According to Professor Yamada, the image of ninjas has been somewhat distorted by movies and comics. Therefore, researchers often call ninjas shinobi - their official title during the Edo period and recorded in books passed down.

Besides their special skills in infiltration and assassination, ninjas must have good memories to remember intelligence information, so ninja missions are not only carried out in war but also in peacetime.

Ninja Kawakami Jin-ichi.

Commenting on Ninja in the report The True Image of Shinobi, Professor Yamada Yuji stated: "Ninja is someone who is completely loyal to his lord, aware that he is related to the survival of his country. When completing a mission, he must step back."

Agreeing with Professor Yamada's research, Associate Professor Yoshimaru Katsuya also said that many people have a wrong understanding of the image of a ninja: "Just stealing something in black clothes does not make that person a ninja. In fact, they are outstanding intelligence figures, with special abilities in perceiving the situation and having a certain influence on politics."

In the past, Japanese people often viewed ninjas as representatives of evil and darkness. It was not until 1913 that the book Sarutobi Sasuke by author Tamada Gyokushusai was published that the view of a righteous Ninja was shown and that image has been spread to this day.

Talking to us, Professor Yoshimaru confided: "As a researcher of art and culture, I am very interested in the image of ninja. Ninja has contributed to creating the face of many lands in Japan today. Ninja is the incarnation of hope for people with the power to protect people in the most difficult circumstances."

Martial arts are just a part of Ninja

Present at the exchange, Mr. Kawakami Jin-ichi - the last ninja of Japan - said that martial arts are only a part of ninjutsu (special skills of ninja - PV). A true ninja must put "heart" first, not only in the way he fights but also in the way he lives.

From a young age, Mr. Kawakami learned ninja techniques from the Iga and Koka sects, the two most famous ninja sects in Japanese history.

To help the audience understand more about ninja, Mr. Kawakami demonstrated his techniques. The audience in the hall was very surprised when he dislocated his own shoulders and put them back in place. Besides, Mr. Kawakami also introduced some ninja weapons (shuriken, sword, smoke…) and demonstrated them on stage.

According to Professor Yamada Yuji, in addition to re-examining the history of ninjas, experts at Mie University are currently actively researching ninja breathing techniques and nutritional methods to apply them to sports and improve health.

Dr. Cao Le Dung Chi, Head of the Department of Japanese Studies at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, commented: "When we organized this talk, we only wanted our students to have access to interesting stories about ninjas to get interested in learning Japanese. However, we did not expect that research on ninjas would be so valuable and academic. Through these reports, we will have more ability to conduct comparative research on Japanese culture and society in the past."

According to TTO