Japan university awards first-ever ninja studies degree

TOKYO, June 28 — Japan has produced its first ninja studies graduate after Genichi Mitsuhashi spent two years honing his martial arts skills and absorbing the finer traditions of the feudal martial arts agents. The 45-year-old completed the master’s course at Mie University in central Japan, the region considered the home of the ninja. In addition to researching historical documents, Mitsuhashi told AFP he took the practical aspect of being a ninja to heart.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. So Mitsuhashi grew vegetables and worked on his martial arts techniques, in addition to copious ninja study in the classroom. “With this combination, I thought I could learn about the real ninja,” he said. Better known as black-clad assassins famous for secrecy and stealth, ninjas also had “comprehensive survival skills,” he added. Mitsuhashi, who has also learned kung fu and a Japanese martial art known as Sho ...