by Shihan Ron Collins
Before I get into the nuts & bolts of the article the reader needs a brief and practical understanding of what Ninjutsu is and what a Bujutsu is, then we will look at principles of Choho no Jutsu (the Art of Espionage). Bujutsu is general term for "Martial Arts" referring to any system of combat, strategy & tactics associated with open warfare; Bu means Military or War & jutsu means art or method. So martial arts are the methods of war or military actions. Ninjutsu is made up of two characters, Nin (also pronounced Shino) meaning "to steal away" and in variation to "forebear" or "endure" & Jutsu which we already know the meaning of. As such Ninjutsu is the Art of Stealing Away & Enduring; hence its association with stealth and invisibility. Ninjutsu however, is not the art of invisibility but the invisible art; methods for acting through secrecy.
As such, we will begin to discuss the application of ninjutsu and will first familiarize ourselves (the reader) with the six principles of Choho No Jutsu, the five types of agents & a modern addition for context, defining the difference between types of intelligence (information) to be gathered.
Espionage as a means of Warfare:
- The direct tactic of war is necessary only on the battlefield, but only the indirect tactic can lead to a real and lasting victory…
- Subvert anything of value in the enemy’s country. Implicate the emissaries of the major powers in criminal undertakings; undermine their position and destroy their reputations in other ways as well; and expose them to the public ridicule of the their fellow citizens...
- Do not shun the aid of even the lowest and most despicable people. Disrupt the work of their government with every means you can…
- Spread disunity and division among the citizens of the enemy’s country. Turn the young against the old. Use every means to destroy their arms, their supplies, and discipline of the enemy’s forces…
- Debase old traditions and accepted gods. Be generous with promises and rewards to purchase intelligence and accomplices. Send out your secret agents in all directions. Do not skimp with money or with promises, for they yield a high return…
- Act with Moral Superiority to draw the trust of the enemy’s people, in this way you gain the enemy’s own people as an ally against him.
5-Type of Agents:
- Living: The Agents one sends out & expects to return after their task is completed.
- Dead: Agents one sacrifices to the enemy or takes no regard for their losses.
- Native: Agents recruited from within the enemy's sphere of influence.
- Doubled: Enemy agents bribed & gifted with comforts to be turned to your side, if you cannot bribe them, blackmail them or else remove (assassinate) them.
- Sleeping: Agents trained for a single mission who await an awaking signal, once awakened these agents carry out a specific mission & return home to be debriefed. In this way, seemingly loyal individuals can become a massive threat & possibly bring back additional intelligence after their mission is completed.
Types of Intelligence:
- Direct Intelligence: Information reported by agents who have seen actions directly themselves.
- Enemy Intelligence: The information the enemy has gathered himself, stolen by you of course such as logistic reports, intelligence reports & battle strategies. Enemy Intelligence can also be false information to allow the enemy to gather against you, meaning the enemy knows what you tell them.
- Human Intelligence: Information gathered by social interaction such as from rumors, interrogation & other sources of “second hand” information acquired by the agent.
Now that the reader has been given their recommended "homework" I will begin by defining the role of ninjutsu and in fact Choho No Jutsu as a day to day manner of living and application for "social self-defense." To begin with, let state that the types of agents/spies can also be applied to associations;
- Living Associations: Living associations are people you wish to keep in your life, they are trusted family and friends, spouses and children whom you wish to keep close and protect. This can include from only double life (as batman; joke donot take serious) or closeted skeletons.
- Dead Associations: These are people you don't care if you're friends with or not, people you pretend to be their friend (frienemies) or just someone you associate with for a purpose like being friendly to the mailman, busboy, waiter or your mechanic.
- Native Associations: These are geographically distance associations, internet bullies, pen pals and so on.
- Double Associations: The "true frienemy" an enemy pretending to be your friend who helps out your more obvious enemies. You don't attack them because they haven't done anything "obvious" yet but you sure don't trust them.
- Sleeping Associations: Friends and usually "sunshine friends" who don't stay in constant contact with and who you can count on every couple of months to help you out for a bit of your time and "friendship."
Espionage as a means of Social Warfare:
- The direct tactic of combat is necessary only on the battlefield, but only the indirect tactic can lead to a real and lasting social victory…
- Subvert anything of value in the enemy’s sphere of influence. Implicate the friends in opposing undertakings; undermine their position and destroy their reputations in other ways as well; and expose them to the public ridicule of the their fellow associates...
- Do not shun the aid of even the lowest and most despicable people. Disrupt the work of their efforts with every means you can…
- Spread disunity and division among the friends & family of the enemy’s sphere of influence. Turn the young against the old. Use every means to destroy their unity, their resources, and the discipline of the enemy’s associates…
- Debase old traditions and accepted rituals. Be generous with promises and rewards to purchase intelligence and accomplices. Surround the enemy with your "secret agents" in all directions. Do not skimp with money or with promises, for they yield a high return…
- Act with Moral Superiority to draw the trust of the enemy, in this way you gain the enemy’s own associates as an ally against him.
Using the above principles we see that they can be applied to people in our day to day associations; friends, family, pen pals, enemies who try to act friendly toward us & shady friends we really don't want to be associated with.
In this age of information, the world is a smaller place and as such our enemies varied from distance internet trolls to asshole co-workers and buddy system bosses. It is in this world the use of modern ninjutsu not as a martial art but as a form of social self-defense comes to play. By now you've seen the term "social self-defense" mentionedfew times & I will now define it in detail. Social Self-Defense is the act of keeping toxic relationships and toxic personalities out of your life. These Toxic associations are individuals intent on setting you up for failure and dragging you down. Either to a) climb over your efforts to succeed or b) pull you down to their emotionally distraught level of thinking.
An examples of this principle in practice:I'm going to take a few moments to give you a couple of events in my life, that reflect my application of these principles.
Since my release of certain key points of information on police informants who aid in framing people for the city police. I has had a person I know to be a police informant try to call me and ask were I am at, what I am doing and when I try to politely change the subject persist in maintaining those questions. This person is both a Dead & Double Association since I know she's two-faced and liar. So when she asks me about anything I lie to her, I tell her things I want my enemies to jump that just aren't true and since I'm feeding the enemy false information; I already have the enemy intelligence I need to avoid any traps and ensnarement.
In fact I cut all possible dead associations I don't need leaving the most obvious and the easiest to read in place as the way for my enemies to go. So that when they attempted to ambush me and assault me they did so in full view of the video cameras that caught the act & allowed me to both gather proof of the attempt to "fish for information" before and after the assault. proving an active intent to do me are and developing a case of self-defense if and when I have to do severe damage later on in this matter.
As said individuals are carrying out a mission I predicted; police informants attempting to harass me through said informants for catching them trying to frame me and others in the past knowingly using false statements from informants & falsifying evidence to justify the informants false statements... As well as the police trying to cover up evidence and therefore my need for self-defense so that they can entrap me for charging me with the crime of self-defense.
By making this publicly known, I disrupt the police strategy of entrapment and expose the criminality which is a danger to the society we live in.
"Victorious Warriors win first & go to war; defeated warriors go to war first & then seek to win…" -Sun Tzu's Art of War