Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 4, 1990 TAG: 9007030212
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: FRITZ RITSCH SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
This is not because of any illusions of ninja invisibility. It's just that, as the photographer works with them, it's clear that members of the Blacksburg Bujinkan Shibu (ninjutsu school) do not like to show off.
This is not a flashy martial art, said Karl and Carol Koch, who teach the class at the Virginia Tech field house.
The Blacksburg Bujinkan Shibu is the largest school of ninjutsu between Baltimore and Atlanta. During the academic year, about 30 Tech students are enrolled in the class for the martial art first practiced 900 years ago by outcasts in the remote mountain regions of Japan.
Many students are in the class for something other than combat training. Doug Lovelace, a 20-year-old engineering major at Tech and a seventh kyu, is taking it "because it's fun and I enjoy it," and especially because he likes the people.
Karl Koch, said the ninjas of feudal Japan lived as close-knit family units, and that sense of camaraderie continues today.
"You are accepted as part of the family until you prove you don't belong," Karl said.
The Blacksburg club often gets together for picnics and other outings. Members engage in service projects, which they feel are a reflection of their philosophy.
"The ninja should never serve himself," Karl stressed. They serve the cause of justice for the community and the family.
"You have to ask: What is the ultimate reason?" for using your skills, Karl said. "If it's not a good reason, don't do it."
Compassion, or the "smiling technique," should be one's primary response to conflict, he said.
It is this philosophy that appeals to Phyllis Roy, 27, a secretary for Olver Inc. Ninjutsu has taught her how to handle disappointment.
"It has taught me not to take life so seriously," she said. "I like the smiling technique."
It also has increased her awareness of her surroundings. Carol Koch says that poor awareness is the thing most likely to put women in dangerous situations.
"Too many women walk around blind to everything around them," she said. "They don't even know other people are there until it's too late." Ninjutsu "teaches people to use all their instincts - even their sense of smell. . . . Ninjutsu is effective."
The effectiveness of ninjutsu is what attracted Carol, 28, to the martial art five years ago after frustrating experiences with kali (Indian double stick fighting), kung fu and shotokan karate.
"I felt I could trust what I learned," Carol said. "I felt I could protect myself."
Carol and Karl began training in ninjutsu in Baltimore before they were married. They now live in Blacksburg, where he is a civil-engineering student at Tech and she is an immunobacteriologist at the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Last April, Karl, 28, received his black belt and Carol received her first kyu, one rank below black. There are nine ranks, or kyus, between white and black belt in ninjutsu, starting with ninth and ascending to first.
When Carol receives her black belt, she will be one of fewer than 10 women in the nation to have so high a rank.
"There are not a whole lot of women in this art," said Carol, "which is unfortunate because I think it's one of the best arts for women."
Pain is considered par for the course if one really wants to learn ninjutsu.
Karl demonstrates a technique of kyoshijutsu - skin and muscle tearing - that he expects his students to do to each other.
Karl spends a lot of time working with a new student on this technique. Afterward he takes off his black T-shirt and shows us that his chest, shoulders and sides are striped with red finger marks.
"That's what kyoshijutsu's supposed to look like," he tells his aghast students.
Carol is good at skin-tearing techniques. It is one of the differences between ninjutsu and other arts that make it better suited for women, she says.
Ninjutsu "doesn't require you to be stronger than your opponent or faster than your opponent," Carol said.
Weapons training is an essential part of ninjutsu. Blacksburg students practice with wooden swords and knives, and the fundo, a weighted chain that can be easily concealed and used in a variety of ways.
Students also train with the bo, a 6-foot staff, and the hanbo, a heavy stick 3 1/2 feet long.
Students even learn how to use and to defend against a gun.
Wooden knives were handed out, and Karl demonstrated fending off a knife attack when armed with a knife and when unarmed. The techniques can be used to wound or to kill.
Phyllis Roy's husband Andrew, 28, an engineer with AT&T, is a sixth kyu.
"Training with weapons gives a great sense of self-confidence," he said.
Often, skill with a weapon makes the difference in a life-or-death struggle with a stronger opponent.
"A stick is the most common weapon you can find," Karl said.
The ninja originally were trained to defend themselves against the samurai, Karl said. Samurai wore armor, ninja did not. Weapons training became essential.
"On the street, you don't know what you'll be attacked by," Karl said. His students train with weapons so they "won't be surprised when something comes at them that isn't just a fist."
Rich Speakman, a 2l-year-old salesman with Microsystems in Blacksburg and a member of the National Guard, is the highest ranking student, a fourth kyu.
Speakman stresses that ninjutsu primarily teaches responsibility for one's own actions.
"If everyone took responsibility for their actions," he said, "there wouldn't be the kind of problems in the world where you need ninjutsu" - or armies.
by CNB