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Ninja master shares secrets
70-year-old forces foes into submission at Collinsville event
By Brian Brueggemann
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COLLINSVILLE -- Here's a tip for anyone trying to pick a fight this weekend: Don't go to the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville.

But if you do, make sure you don't try to grab the shirt of the 70-year-old Japanese man in the black outfit. He's Masaaki Hatsumi, grand master of ninjutsu -- the art of the ninja -- and he will toss you on your fanny faster than you can say konnichiwa (hello).

``You can actually break fingers this way,'' Hatsumi said through a translator as he applied a hold on the fingers of an assistant, who had been ordered to grab Hatsumi's shirt. Hatsumi had the assistant writhing in pain, then flipped him onto his back.

During one session Saturday, Hatsumi demonstrated the finger hold and other ways to overpower an assailant who grabs you by the shirt. Demonstrating one technique, he wrapped the sleeves of his jacket around the wrists of an assistant and quickly had the assistant in a behind-the-back arm lock. ``This is how you can use your clothing,'' Hatsumi said. ``You understand?''

About 550 students, most of them wearing black outfits, then practiced the technique on each other.Hatsumi is the 34th grand master of ninjutsu. Ninjutsu has had a grand master since 1161; each grand master selects one of his students to be the next grand master. Hatsumi is from Japan and conducts only one training session in the United States a year, with the 2002 session in Collinsville. The class moves to a different part of the country each year.

Ed Martin of Pennsylvania, one of the coordinators of the training session, which is called a Tai Kai, said the training is unlike the ninja fighting seen in movies. Martin put his pinky finger against the neck of a reporter and, applying only slight pressure, forced the reporter to the ground.

It's an effective move, Martin said, but not something that would look exciting on a movie screen.``I used the little finger; that's all I did,'' Martin said. ``That wouldn't show in the movies.''

As for sword-fighting and star-throwing, ``We can do all those things, but that's not ninjutsu. That's entertainment,'' Martin said. The principles of ninjutsu include getting the opponent off-balance and attacking the opponent's weak points. And just about anything -- from a cane to a Q-tip -- can double as a weapon.

Martin pressed a capped pen to the neck of a reporter. ``Can you imagine if I do that with any type of force? You don't get up,'' he said.

The students include people from all walks of life, from police officers to secretaries. They're from all parts of the country, Martin said, and a few are from other countries.

One student, 46-year-old Angie Smith of Highland, said her ninjutsu training has come in handy. A stranger once walked into Smith's day care and put his arm around her.

``I just kind of threw him out the door,'' said Smith, who is 5-foot-1 and weighs 125 pounds. ``I don't really remember doing it, but afterward, I thought to myself, `That was kind of cool.'''

Smith also teaches ninjutsu at Korte Recreation Center in Highland, but said she's got a long way to go before she's as good as Hatsumi.

``Nobody will ever be that good,'' she said.

The Tai Kai continues from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and from 9:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday. Anyone can attend, but the cost is $150 for one day.

Supplied by the The Bujinkan Meehan Dojo.