A religion, when based on faith developed through experience, a broad and questing mind,and unflagging pursuit of universal understanding, is of inspiration and comfort to people. Once a religion loses its original focus, however, it becomes a deadly thing with which to deceive, control and tax the people through the manipulation of their beliefs and fears.
It is the same with the martial arts. The skills of self- protection, which should provide a feeling of inner peace and security for the martial artist, so often develop without a balance in the personality and lead the lesser martial artist into warped realms of unceasing conflict and competition which eventually consume him.
--Toshitsugu Takamatsu, 33rd Soke, Togakure ryu
--Toshitsugu Takamatsu, 33rd Soke, Togakure ryu
This site contains the volumes of the Bansenshukai, a classic ninjutsu text, in PDF form. To view them, you
will need a PDF viewer for your platform. If you don’t already have a viewer, you can find viewers for most
platforms here. Many thanks to Rob Boger and John Lindsey for making
these available.
For those who don’t know, the Bansenshukai (which translates to something like “Ten Thousand Rivers Flow Into the Sea”) is a multi-volume set of “secret” ninjutsu knowledge written by Fujibayashi Tasutake of Iga in 1676. It contains information on everything from philosophy to weapons to tactics to astrology.
The copy that you find here was scanned from photocopies made of the copy in the national archives in Japan. They have been assembled into PDF for ease of viewing. Please note that these are large files, and can take a long time to download. If you prefer not to deal with the long download, copies are available on CD.
Note: These are the original volumes, in the original Japanese. I do not have an English translation. There is a rough partial translation on ninpo.org and I am told there is to be an English translation published in 2013.
For those who don’t know, the Bansenshukai (which translates to something like “Ten Thousand Rivers Flow Into the Sea”) is a multi-volume set of “secret” ninjutsu knowledge written by Fujibayashi Tasutake of Iga in 1676. It contains information on everything from philosophy to weapons to tactics to astrology.
The copy that you find here was scanned from photocopies made of the copy in the national archives in Japan. They have been assembled into PDF for ease of viewing. Please note that these are large files, and can take a long time to download. If you prefer not to deal with the long download, copies are available on CD.
Note: These are the original volumes, in the original Japanese. I do not have an English translation. There is a rough partial translation on ninpo.org and I am told there is to be an English translation published in 2013.