Every Ninja Needs a Clan

     After publishing my fifth book on Ninjutsu, I began asking my students what their motivation was to train every day. Ninja-minded individuals are unique in their perception of life, I think. There is this drive, inside of some, that urges them to perfect each and every technique that they come across. To many, the word 'ninja', means the best. Perhaps, the person claiming to be a ninja doesn't necessarily believe that they are the world's best, but they do inherently believe that they have the potential to be a world's best  if that potential were only tapped.

     I once had a student tell me, "I just need you to beat me with a stick!".

     The student knew that he had the ability to be the best there was, but he felt he was falling short of his potential due to an inability to self-motivate. It was back then, more than 20 years ago, that I decided to give the guy some motivation.

     I did not beat him with a stick! Instead, I created a ninja clan called Tesaihiryu Ninja. When I was teaching this individual and his little brother, they had no idea who I was or where I came from. The fact was, I had traveled the country and developed a few small groups of martial artists that were interested in Ninjutsu.
     During my time with all of these groups, I would accompany them on mock ninja missions during nights between work hours, and we would practice together our martial art skills during the days. The missions created a bond between us. One so strong, that even today I could reach out to these people and call them brother.

     I used these groups to my advantage and partnered with a friend of mine to create the Tesaihiryu Ninja Clan and Ninja International. The idea was to get these students, who have a problem with self-motivation, off their rump and interested in training.
     Just as some kids need a reward waiting, other kids also need a threat to motivate them.

     The threat came in the form of our clan. We developed a group of us that randomly selects participants to join us on mock ninja missions. The chance of selection is so rare, that you would kick yourself to miss it. We decided we would select five or six people every six months to go on an all expense paid ninja mission. The mission is typically one night, but the person selected would have to take the day off work and the day after work to attend. Which would be mysterious to employers. We would pick up participants in the morning, drive them to the hotel, do some training during the day, and mission at night. The next day delivering the participants to their homes and back to their normal lives.

     The whole purpose of training Ninjutsu is to use the skills we love so much. I found if I simply nurtured my students' desire to train, and the fear of being unprepared for a mission if selected, they would train harder.

     At one point, a student of mine was so into his training that he would wake me up every morning, as he came up the front steps of my home, just to get an early start! Talk about keeping the teacher on his toes!

     Being part of a ninja clan, gives the student something, not only to look forward to, through missions; but also a sense of belonging to something larger than they are. It is okay to strive to be the best, but it is also healthy to share a connection with those who have the same dream.
I would like to hear your thoughts on my technique and how you motivate your own students to dig deep.


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