Self defense training comes in a lot of forms, and many of them are as ancient as the sands. Every one of them can teach you something, but undeniably one of the most insightful forms of self defense training dates back to ancient Japan. Ninjutsu isn’t anything that anyone who is interested in defending himself from a modern attacker should study the techniques of — they’re made to fight katana, daikyu, and yari, not the pepper spray, brass knuckles, and pistols that real self defense training teaches you to fight.

But the mindset of the ninja — the perspective that a ninja brought to a fight — is a thing of beauty. If you could get inside the head of a street fighter or a military brawler, you’ll find that the majority of them are looking at the techniques that self defense training teaches: ‘how can I counter that move’? A ninja’s goal from the beginning of the encounter is to determine how his opponent thinks.

According to Japanese philosophy of war, every attacker comes to the fight with certain beliefs and expectations, and those color his perceptions, which in turn direct his actions. The goal of any combatant, then, is to learn his opponent’s beliefs and expectations in order to manipulate his perceptions and thus his actions. Japanese scholars call this “kyojitsu tenkan ho” — the ability to confuse truth and falsehood in the mind of your opponent.

This practice can be as simple as carrying around one of those pens that has a knife hidden in it, or as complex as pretending to be a man who is pretending to be brave in order to cover up his fear (when you are actually brave and have no fear) in order to lure your opponent into trying to take advantage of your (nonexistant) fear.

But more than fancy ninja-style equipment or complex facades, kyojitsu tenkan ho can be as simple as doing the unexpected.

Let’s say, for example, that someone attacks you in a pool hall. You grab a cue to protect yourself with, but he knows you’ve had self defense training so he’s coming at you fast… and he grabs it. Any number of dozens of techniques for maintaining control over your weapon come to mind, and undoubtedly most of them could even be successful. But you’re trying the ninja style on for size, so you do the one thing your opponent is counting on you not doing.

You let him have it.

You let go.

It’s an idiot’s move — to give the person who wants to beat the hell out of you the best tool you have for making sure he can’t. But you know that he knows that, and more importantly, you also know that you’ve got a cue ball in your other hand.

Kyojitsu tenkan ho — you’ve just shown him a truth (he has the weapon and thus the upper hand) that perfectly conceals another truth which makes the first truth a falsehood.

As he yanks on the cue, braced for the struggle, you provide no resistance, and he staggers backward, confused physically (no fight), mentally (why would you do that?) and emotionally (I’m falling over, but I have the weapon…). You step forward and swing your ’empty’ hand at him, and his multiple layers of confusion keep him from adequately defending his face until the cue ball has but a nice new dent in his temple.

Few legitimate self defense training courses would suggest Ninjitsu as a way to learn to protect yourself — but that doesn’t mean it can’t teach you a thing or two alongside whatever course you choose to take.

Author Bio: For more details about self defense training & self defense training, please visit http://www.closecombattraining.com/.

Category: Sports
Keywords: self defence training, self defense training