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Title: Ninja: Warrior Ways of Enlightenment (Literary Links to the Orient) by Stephen K. Hayes ISBN: 0-89750-077-6 Publisher: Ohara Publications Pub. Date: 01 November, 1981 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.42 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: 2nd in a series
Comment: Warriorways of Enlightenment written by a western that has a true understanding of Ninjutsu. A student of Grandmaster Hatsumi, Mr. hayes gives us an intriduction and lessons that start us on our way of understanding the Togakure Ryu ninjutsu traditions. Book is filled with excellent photos.
Rating: 4
Summary: An unusually thoughtful work.
Comment: Stephen K. Hayes's SPIRIT OF THE SHADOW WARRIOR is an unusual sort of book. First published in 1980, Hayes's volume has undergone twenty-six printings(!) as of 2001, but still retains the feel of a very specific era in American culture: the Ninja Era. During the Ninja Era, which endured through a large chunk of the 1980s, the national obsession with everything ninja knew practically no bounds. There were ninja movies, ninja games, ninja in comics, ninja weapons and, of course, ninja books. SPIRIT OF THE SHADOW WARRIOR is the first of five "how to" volumes by Hayes that exploded onto the eager stage of the Ninja Era.
SPIRIT OF THE SHADOW WARRIOR is unusual in that it's not a book specifically about anything. A quick flip-through reveals the step-by-step photo panels of combat that typify many books on martial arts, but that's only part of the total package. Other chapters in the book include history, philosophical discussion, meditation techniques, and even a series of exercises meant to expand an individual's awareness of what can only be described as ESP. This is a lot of ground to cover, perhaps too much. Weighing in at a slender 143 pages, Hayes's ninja volume scarcely has time to dwell on anything in depth, giving a reader the sense of rapid skimming even during a careful read. While this keeps a reader from growing bored (there's hardly time), it also leaves a vague sense of dissatisfaction when the last page has turned. There doesn't seem to be enough meat on this bone.
This is not to suggest that SPIRIT OF THE SHADOW WARRIOR is not worth a read. Author Hayes is, according to his bio, the first non-Japanese to be awarded the highest honor in the "Togakure Ryu ninjutsu tradition." He parlayed this achievement into a number of books beyond this series and enjoyed some measure of popularity during the Ninja Era, but faded into relative obscurity shortly thereafter. His writing style in SPIRIT OF THE SHADOW WARRIOR is quiet and deeply metaphorical. Bits of his poetry appear scattered throughout the book's pages. For those expecting a muscular, testosterone-heavy exploration of action-movie ninja, Hayes's book will be a genuine surprise. Even those with no interest in shuriken-tossing, sword-swinging ninja can find lots of useful material in the philosophy and meditation chapters, the ones that veer so far away from the stereotypical ninja material of the Ninja Era as to be almost unrecognizable.
The text isn't the only thing that sometimes seems out of place. Hayes appears throughout the book in black-and-white photographs, a bearded guru in black garments. Like his soft-toned, almost contemplative writing style, he seems too darned nice to be mixing it up with edged weapons, or creeping around on rooftops on assassination missions. But it's this peculiarity in the book that eventually makes it worthwhile. While SPIRIT OF THE SHADOW WARRIOR would not even exist were it not for the Ninja Era, its refusal to fit neatly into the mold of popular culture lends Hayes's writing relevance it might not otherwise have had.
Rating: 1
Summary: Um..
Comment: This book is mostly filled with bad atempts at trying to teach taijutsu. Mostly step by step pictures of un-effective techniques. I wouldn't buy this book if I were you. The rest of the series is the same.
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Title: Ninja: Warrior Path of Togakure by Stephen K. Hayes ISBN: 0897500903 Publisher: Ohara Publications Pub. Date: 01 August, 1983 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Ninja: Legacy of the Night Warrior by Stephen Hayes ISBN: 0897501020 Publisher: Ohara Publications Pub. Date: 01 November, 1984 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Lore of the Shinobi Warrior (Ninja, Vol. 5) by Stephen Hayes ISBN: 0897501233 Publisher: Ohara Publications Pub. Date: 01 December, 1989 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Ninjutsu by Stephen K. Hayes ISBN: 0809254786 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1984 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Mystic Arts of the Ninja by Stephen K. Hayes ISBN: 0809253437 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies Pub. Date: 01 April, 1985 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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