TOKYO: A Japanese University has awarded its first-ever degree in ninja studies after Genichi Mitsuhashi spent two years examining historical documents on the true nature of the stealth fighters while perfecting his martial arts skills.
According to details, the 45-year-old man completed the master’s course at Mie University in central Japan, the region considered the home of the ninja.
Mitsuhashi told an international news agency that he took the practical aspect of being a ninja to heart.“I read that ninjas worked as farmers in the morning and trained in martial arts in the afternoon,” he said.
Mitsuhashi was one of three students to enroll in the master’s degree at Mie University’s International Ninja Research Centre in spring 2018. He attended the graduate school three times a week and wrote a thesis on how ninja managed mountain forests in Iga between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Mitsuhashi, who has also learned kung fu and Japanese martial art known as Shorinji Kempo, teaches ninja skills at his own dojo and runs a local inn while pursuing his Ph.D.
His professor, Yuji Yamada, described him as “a real role model for graduate students who study ninja” because of the way he blended in with the local community.
The Mie University set up the world’s first research centre devoted to the ninja in 2017 and opened a graduate course a year later.
Ninjas are believed to have originated in the early 14th century when feudal lords hired mercenary spies to infiltrate castles to obtain information.
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