REAL Value of To-Shin Do
In looking at how we promote To-Shin Do, have we identified a problem that we solve? What is the problem that calls out for To-Shin Do study to solve?
Maybe the problem is combat sports that do not really reflect street reality? They are either stylized art forms not really suited to self defense, or crude systems of violence not at all suited to self development.
Hey, someone has to be true to why the martial arts were established in the first place. Is that us as To-Shin Do?
How do we draw people’s attention favorably towards what we offer? How do we reach people beyond those merely interested in classical ninja martial arts? How do we become more mainstream and less limited?
Have we demonstrated incredible value, so much so that prospective students would feel stupid not starting To-Shin Do?
Are we the only ones who address this persistent problem? “People cannot find a realistic system of combat that teaches secrets for winning against bigger rougher assailants, while at the same time, teaching how to be a brighter more commanding more noble person.”
Self Development through Self Protection, I call it.
Of course, some martial arts pretend to this claim. But very few deliver.
Unfortunately, lots of martial arts enjoy the allure of the “bad boy” who kicks ass and takes names (but tragically whose life is completely out of whack; a sad and crude pumped-up but broken man looking futilely for “respect” – which he will never find).
We build the whole person with a very practical martial art with inner and outer lessons. You change and grow and evolve as a person through more and more effective martial arts training with us.
So, how do we market that?
How do we address that very real benefit?
THAT is our burning question.
4 comments to “REAL Value of To-Shin Do”
An Shu Hayes,
Perhaps you could use movie, or T.V. to promote the value of To Shin Do. With the right story line, plot, and a decent script, you could portray the martial value, as well as the personal development and growth. Film is responsible for a lot of the popularity of martial arts in general, and given your background, that may be a good approach.
Dear An-shu,
I read this blog post a few times over the last week and I noticed that know one has answered or commented on this blog. I feel qualified to offer my input and would like to. My introduction to the Ninja arts was through Robert Bussey’s organization. Years ago when I was 14-15. I found it to be enormously fun and it really boosted my self confidence. But like you have, in some of your teaching videos described some martial arts schools, they were more often than not thugs. But it lit my fire of interest in the Ninja art. Years later, in my young adulthood, I discovered your new school of To-Shin-Do and I was really interested, but lived far away and could not afford a membership at the time. But I was always interested in martial arts and quasi trained with what I remember from RBWI and a single belt promotion in Taekwondo, off and on through out the years, but still had a craving for more training. Until a year ago, when I found Damien Ross’s Self Defense Company, and I learned a bunch of that, and felt satiated, in that I now felt confident that I had a proficient capability for self defense and the protection capability of my family. I also felt like I pray that no one ever has to experience the receiving end of this training as I do not want to hurt anyone and I don’t want to get hurt. My goal is to stay being healthy and capable of protecting, raising and guiding my family, and not get wounded or ever have to injure another. This aspect of To-Shin-Do really resonates with me.
Then recently my significant other asked if I would buy her some new books. I answered that absolutely I would buy her some new books, but since I’m putting in an order for books anyway, what new books would I like to buy for myself as well? I haven’t checked out what’s going on with a lot of the authors I was interested in when I was younger in a long time, so I looked up Masaaki Hatsumi and bought a few of his books, I found some Peter Ralston, who wrote Cheng Hsin the art of effortless power and a few others. But the Ninja fire was rekindled and I check out what was going on with To-Shin-Do and realized, wait a minute, I can afford to join your online Dojo now. So I did. I also watched a lot of videos on youtube with you, with Hatsumi, with critics of the Bujinkan with supporters of the Bujinkan and a whole lot of discussions about it all, including Viking Samurai and Antony Cummins. I also spent a great deal of time watching the lessons on To-Shin-do. So after all of that, I wanted to present my response to your blog post here:
I feel like publicly facing, To-Shin-Do is not clearly defined on what it is? What am I buying into? Stephen Hayes took his Ninja training and decided something was wrong with it and so changed it? Why? How is this not another RBWI? I wanted to learn authentic Ninjutsu. Now I don’t know if even Masaaki Hatsumi was authentic or that his teacher was. I’m signing on to invest in and study BS? How do I know it isn’t? These were my questions. I hunted for answers and this is what I came up with:
Hatsumi’s Ninjutsu is authentic. Antony Cummins studied the scrolls he could find, but did not have access to what was passed down from one Teacher to one Student. Masaaki has those scrolls or did. I have a theory that you are the one student he passed his lineage onto. But I feel like he must have and that what he is doing now, is enjoying his old age, and wanting to give people more of his Heart Coherence instead of fighting skills. In his mind he’s done his job. I feel like the scrolls Antony Cummins translated and studied was ancient Japanese government propaganda and samurai training manuals. Maybe they had their version of Shinobi too.
Recently I’ve started working on the material Dr Joe Dispenza is teaching, he is a great initiator into the 4D universe, because information I studied when I was in my 20’s that I loved but could not figure out how to make practical and give myself the experience of their reality, I now can. I don’t know if you have ever read or looked into Peter Ralston’s Cheng Hsin, but it is identical to what Dispenza is teaching on how to heal ourselves. Develop and cultivate a deeper feeling-awareness of the entire body, and then the space around us as well. For Cheng Hsin this put you in an awareness of reality that you could sense your attackers intent before he even initiated the attack physically, and you can just move out of the way. This sounds an awful lot like what ninja training is trying to accomplish as well. In one of Hatsumi’s later books, he seems to be lamenting that he did not have the ability to help more people experience this 4D or 5D concept of reality. Joe Dispenza has found a wonderful way of initiating people into this experience of Heart Brain Coherence. So what I’m trying to say is that in the last week, a bunch of stuff I studied when I was way younger, suddenly unified in the last week into a coherent and usable body of knowledge. And it all seems related to the goals of your organization. After watching enough of the lessons on To-Shin-Do, I now feel like your Art Form is effective and worthwhile paying for and studying. But I had to do all this deep digging to come to this conclusion.
I also feel that the way that the lessons are organized on the website, seems a tad disorganized leaving the student to have to explore a bunch of courses before finding a comfortable starting point. I feel like cleaning this up would help a lot in retaining students.
So in conclusion, where can one find a coherent definition of what To-Shin-Do is. How is it authentic and why should I choose it over BJJ. I am starting to answer these questions myself, but I am a seeker who was looking and willing to read between a lot of lines. More students checking out and falling in love with To-Shin-Do, seems to be your goal, in which case creating clearer definitions and explanations of what this is all about, I feel would go a long way in gaining and retaining students.
Very Respectfully, and very excited about finally getting to study To-Shin-Do, yours,
Nick Kreifels
I have been exposed to the reality of so called “unexplainable phenomena” through my uncle Arthur Ipalook, my mother’s older brother who passed away 2015. We are Inupiat “eskimo” from Utqiagvik, Alaska and my family has shaman ancestors. My grandmother Ruth K. Ipalook, Makpii, was named after her grandfather, Makpiik, a shaman from the Noatak, AK area. It was a paradigm altering event in my life! I am seeking wisdom guidance on this path. Please help me to in turn help my family, especially my children, to UNDERSTAND. Thank You!
I know this is a couple of years old, but this thread spoke to me and I felt compelled to answer. I started training in 2005 and by the time I received my yellow belt, I was hooked for life. What struck me so profoundly was the reflection of reality in what I was learning. Rooted deeply in the fiber of my being is my state’s motto – the same Latin tattooed across my should blades – “esse quam videri”, or “to be rather than to seem”. The depth and complexity of this art reminds me of my perception of the natural world – a truth that doesn’t care whether we believe it or not, it just is. I am just as excited about the smallest details today as I was nearly two decades ago when a fellow martial artist told me he knew someone who trained with ninja and gave me a number to call.