Dux: Some critics say that “Ashida Kim is the worst martial artist we’ve ever heard of”!
Kim: Ah! But you have heard of me . . . and do you know WHY? Because my Ninjitsu is so good the publishers stole it and sold it all over the globe. Secrets of the Ninja and Ninja Mind Control have been translated into nine different languages THAT WE KNOW OF! The covers and authorship and royalties for Secrets of Invisibility and Book of the Ninja have been changed at least five times and sold worldwide as Ninja training manuals by people who wouldn’t know their ass from a hot rock. My ‘publishers” once sent me some copies of “overseas editions” from Germany and Italy. Initially they said they would include one in Japanese. When it didn’t arrive I asked about it and was told that they made a mistake. There were no Japanese editions. But, there are. And Chinese and Polish and more. Not paying these royalties is a breach of contract. But, no lawyer will touch it because they are afraid of “copyright issues.” Besides, even if I didn’t get paid for it, I’m the most famous Ninja author on the planet. That is how you know your intellectual property is good. If it makes so much money that the publishers steal it all to make themselves rich. Now, a lot of trolls like to call me a “food stamp Ninja” because I have no money. But, I say to you that not all treasure is silver and gold. But, things that are highly valued, like knowledge, will always be preserved and shared with those who seek it. Perhaps that is why no one has ever heard of them! Because they have nothing of value to offer. While I have continued to work and have written twenty more books since going independent. (Ashida Kim Book List)
Dux: Ashida, you have been under the watchful eye of Bullshido, Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Dramatica and countless others who have spent decades trying to destroy you and daily update their pages with new allegations or any other trash they can think of to discredit you.
Kim: Of course, not one of them would recognize the truth if it was biting them on the ass. From the moment I heard these guys were after me, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading what they wrote. The chattering of monkeys has nothing to do with martial arts. People who read these blogs deserve to be lied to. Perhaps these chaps should get a girlfriend. Anyone who spends that much time exercising their self-hatred on the internet must be very lonely. Besides, I’m still here.
Dux: A lot of people seem to be bothered by your name. Why is that?
Kim: The main complaint seems to be that they think Ashida is a Japanese name and Kim is a Korean name and that the two are incompatible.
Dux: And they are not?
Kim: No, Ashida is a Japanese word that means “big foot.” Ashi means foot and Da means big and Kim is short for Kimitake, the name of the Ninja clan to which I belong.
Dux: So, how did you get that name?
Kim: When I first started martial arts I trained in Okinawan Shotokan. At one of the tournaments we attended I faced off against a Japanese opponent who started the match by telling me I had the “biggest feet he had ever seen.” Naturally, I looked down. When I did, he kicked me in the face. My mistake. So, the next time the referee said Hajime I let him come at me and did a spinning back heel kick that caught him under the chin and knocked him down. My point. After that they all nodded and mumbled that I DID have a big foot because I had such an effective kick. Next time I saw the guy he introduced me to all his friends and bragged about how I had chipped his tooth.
Dux: And, Kimitake?
Kim: Kimitake was one of the Ninja clans supposedly wiped out by the Shoguns sword hunt of the 16th century. No genocide in history has ever been 100% effective. There are always remnants and peripheral agents that survive and carry on the traditions of any group so victimized. The Kimitake clan went to Edo, what is now Tokyo, and allied themselves with the Yakuza, the gambling criminal underworld. They merely went underground and continued to teach their particular method of Ninjitsu. Kim is just a nickname.
Dux: So, Ashida Kim is not your real name?
Kim: In Ninjitsu, the feudal Japanese system of spying, sabotage and subterfuge, we have a saying, All Ninja have three names, one they are called, one they are known by, and one they keep secret. It is not uncommon to have a nom deguerre when hiring out as a mercenary, nor to have a “ring name” as a professional fighter. I have done both.
Dux: So, what is your connection to the BDFS?
Kim: In 1968 I was going to college and taking Shotokan. One of the other guys in class had a brother in a biker gang who was going up to provide security for the protesters at the 1968 Democratic Convention. We signed on for the road trip. Once there we hosted by the Blackstone Rangers, a notorious black street gang. We were trained in Count Dante’s techniques at one of their secret dojo and became members of the BDFS.
Dux: What other martial arts have you studied?
Kim: Judo when I was very young, amateur wrestling in High School. Shotokan at university. Some Aikido and Tai Chi. Ninjitsu is my favorite.
Dux: How did you get into that?
Kim: When I was in the military I had a colonel who had seen my records and asked me if I was really in the BDFS. I said yes. He said if I was, could I really break a brick with my bare hand? I said, yes. When I did it for him, he put me on to a Master Sergeant who had trained in Japan and China and was quite a well known mercenary. From him I learned the Black Dragon system of the Kimitake clan of Koga prefecture.
Dux: What do you think the most important thing is about Ninjitsu?
Kim: Invisibility. The feudal Japanese Ninja were mostly peace loving villages who just wanted to be left alone. But, they were outnumbered and outgunned. So, they used espionage, sabotage and assassination to defend themselves. That way one man could hold off an army. Ninjitsu is not about meeting the enemy face-to-face. It is about sneaking into his camp and killing his general so the battle is avoided.
Dux: How does that apply to self-defense?
Kim: It empowers the student. First, he must be strong, that is the training. Then he must know, that is the learning. Then he must dare, and then keep silent. Daring may take the form of breaking a board or brick to prove to himself that he has enough strength and skill and determination to strike a real deathblow in self-defense. Or, actually defending himself in a real fight.
Dux: And the invisibility part?
Kim: Target denial, evasion and avoidance, distancing, staying out of range, being aware of your surroundings so you can sense danger and avoid it, all of those and more are part of being invisible. The first rule of self-defense is, never take a hit you don’t have to. If you have made yourself invisible by making the enemy blink, by throwing sand in his face or poking him in the eyes with your fingertips you can overcome him with non-violence by running away to hide. Or, you can pick up a brick and bash him in the head. That is why the Ninja were known as men who could fight or disappear.
Dux: But, isn’t throwing sand in his face or poking him in the eye cheating and unsportsmanlike?
Kim: Is it better to be beaten or killed? Self-defense is not about fighting fair, it is about surviving. Playing well is not cheating. There are no rules in a knife fight. The second rule of self defense is, never strike until there is an opening. By throwing sand in the enemy’s face, you create an opening in his defenses that permits you to escape or fight back. In recent years even people who were attacked by bears and alligators and sharks have escaped by striking at the eyes. Why should murderers and robbers and rapists be exempt?
Dux: And, the “be silent,” stealth part of Ninjitsu?
Kim: The third rule of self-defense is, “when there is an opening, strike hard, strike fast, no mercy.” Striking while you are invisible is one type of stealth. But, if you lose the fight or have already been beaten up and want revenge, Ninjitsu also teaches you how to sneak up on the enemy from behind and settle the score. Or, poison him with herbs or Dim Mak, the delayed death touch. Or, drive him crazy with Mind Control. To be silent means not to brag about what you can do or have done. “The wise man walks with his head bowed, humble as the dust.”
Dux: Why did you start writing about Ninjitsu in the eighties? A lot of people claim you just jumped on the band wagon when the Ninja craze began.
Kim: I was partners in a Shotokan dojo at that time, teaching Ninjitsu only to a few private students. In the late seventies we wrote a training manual for the school that had some Ninjitsu techniques in it. Some of the students suggested we sell it commercially. We printed a few dozen copies and ran an ad in Soldier of Fortune magazine. It did so well we pitched it to a couple of publishers. One of them picked it up and asked, “Who is the guy in the mask?” When I started explaining about Ninjitsu being a secret art, they suggested we do Secrets of the Ninja. It came out 1980. So we were actually in production before the “craze.”
Dux: But, all those other guys talking about it helped?
Kim: Certainly I benefited from the publicity of all these other authors breaking the code of silence and talking about Shinobi Jitsu. At one time it was forbidden even to speak the name. As for lifting the veil of secrecy, I have tried to do that by illustrating some of the more subtle aspects. Ninja are known as weapons masters, but only I have shown how to fight with a blanket, Cloak of Invisibility. Ninja are known as wizards and magicians, but only I have shown how to perform magic tricks, Ninja Levitation. Ninja are said to hold the secrets of enlightenment and the mysteries of the universe, but only I have written Ninja Death and Reincarnation. What I do is different from any of these others. I come from the nowhere, I go to the no-place. Looked for cannot be seen, listened for cannot be heard, felt for, cannot be touched.
Dux: Ashida Kim is a fake and a fraud.
Kim: The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made. Besides, I have proven my credentials many times with certifications from well known and obscure instructors. But, no evidence is never enough to satisfy someone with a closed mind.
Dux: Ashida Kim is not a member of any famous international martial arts organizations.
Kim: I always fall back on what Groucho Marx said, “I would never belong to a club that would allow someone like me to be a member.” However, I have been honored to have my rank and skills recognized by many international organizations and have been invited to visit and train with them. Some of whom I have. Again, this is just jealousy from internet “commandos” who have never been anywhere or done anything themselves, so they think it is impossible for anyone else to have done anything either.
Dux: Ashida Kim is afraid to fight.
Kim: Been in lots of fights, win some, lose some, some get rained out. People free to choose will always choose peace. Martial arts are not about fighting, they are about being a better person every day.
Dux: People say that you have never won a championship.
Kim: Never wanted one. I am content to walk in the company of champions. And, just for the record, I did win the BDFS Featherweight Championship early on.
Dux: When was that?
Kim: In 1968. We had just come back from Chicago with our new techniques and set up a match between our Dojo and a rival school. We made up championship belts instead of trophies for the event. It was a round-robin tournament. I fought five times. Finally came down to me and a good friend of mine. I knocked him out with a spinning back wheel kick that broke his cheekbone. We weren’t very good friends after that. So I retired the belt.
Dux: People say you are afraid to accept a challenge.
Kim: Looked all over for you, didn’t see you anywhere. Been to several of these “meet me in the parking lot” events. The other guy usually doesn’t show up soit is a great expense of time and money and then the troll claims victory for having tricked you. And, if he does show up and I kick his ass, I have to fight his buddies as well and they still tell the story as if they won. That is why my terms for getting in the ring in public, where all can see the outcome, are clearly posted on my website.
Dux: People say “Ashida Kim is a porn star who worked as a bouncer in a brothel”.
Kim: And anyone who says he wouldn’t like to do the same is jealous or a liar.
Dux: People say “Ashida Kim is dead”.
Kim: Ninja are never more dangerous than when they’re dead.
Dux: People say “Ashida Kim is just an old white guy”.
Kim: Getting old isn’t hard, I intend to live forever, or die trying.
Dux: People say that “Ashida Kim is retarded”.
Kim: I’ve got the brain of a four year old, and I’ll bet he is glad to be rid of it. Besides, as Burt Reynolds said, “You must never lose that child-like part of yourself that allows you to enjoy what you are doing.”
Dux: People say that “Ashida Kim is a first level magic user”.
Kim: I turned the last guy who called me that into a toad.
Dux: People say “Ashida Kim is a food stamp Ninja who lives in poverty and owns nothing”.
Kim: Not all treasure is silver and gold. I worked my way up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty. Besides, a rich man is just a poor man with money, and I have something more precious than gold, friends.
Dux: What Ninja movies do you like?
Kim: The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was great. Lots of invisibility, lots of philosophy. Most of the rest of them are just standard revenge plots with what the producers think are exotic techniques. And, of course, Bloodsport.
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