Title: Fujita Seiko: The Last Koga Ninja
Author:
Publisher: Xlibris
Publish Date: 2008
Format: Paperback/Digital
Pages: 92
Cover Price: $10.00/$4.50
ISBN: 978-1436301763
Anyone who’s ever been into martial arts has been into ninjas at some point in their lives. You could say almost everyone was into ninjas in the 80s and early 90s during the ninja craze. There were ninjas in movies, comics, animated series, even GI Joe and Rambo faced ninjas in cartoons. Of course with the ninja craze in fiction there were a lot of books published on the ninjas, who they were, what they did and especially their secret arts. I recently found out about Fujita Seiko, the last ninja employed by the Japanese government. The stories surrounding him were fascinating so I searched for a book and found this brief but interesting biography,
Content
This is a very short book but packed with content. At first glance if you’re not familiar with the character you might dismiss this book as a random biography but when you start reading, that impression will change. In the forty years since his death, Fujita Seiko has been a man of mystery, rumor and conjecture. Little of substance existed to bring the facts of his career to light, yet all agree that he made his mark by claiming to be the “last ninja.” In this book you will learn about Fujita’s early training, his role during World War II, and the high regard with which his contemporaries held his abilities and accomplishments. Ultimately, you will learn of the fate of his martial arts legacy, including his mysterious and controversial Wada-ha Koga-ryu ninjutsu.
The author gives us a brief but deep dive into the last Koga ninja. From his very early years to his final days and his legacy, Fujita had an impact on Japanese traditional arts. Hevener focuses mostly on Fujita’s martial arts career which was long and varied. He goes as much into detail as necessary on the many styles without becoming a manual on each of them. In the case of Fujita each thing he learned is important to his life, career and influence on the Japanese traditional martial arts. There’s a bit on his period as trainer in the Japanese army where he allegedly taught some of his particular survival skills to a group of soldiers.
Pros
Fujita is a fascinating character with a very eccentric history of his own that got him in touch with several martial traditions of Japan including his very own family art of Wada-ha Koga-ryu ninjutsu. If, like me, you’re a martial arts geek who loves the stories of great masters old and recent, you’re gonna like this. Fujita met and became friends with some of the most influential martial artists from Japan and Okinawa. He also studied, and sent his few disciples to train, with some of them.
Hevener talked to several people who were connected to Fujita in one way or another and did an extensive research. This is evident by the amount of sources he references, that can be checked if one wishes to.
Cons
It’s a very short book and a biography of a very mysterious man. Fujita wrote a lot about martial arts but there is not a lot written about himself. Some of the claims about him are a bit shrouded in shadows. Which is logical when we’re dealing with WWII military stuff. I believe the book could’ve been longer, exploring some aspects with more depth but I don’t know if this was a choice by the author or the information is scarce on the subject.
If you’re looking for a book on ninjutsu or other specific martial arts related to Fujita this is not the book for you. As I said the author goes into some detail about the different styles that Fujita practiced but that’s not the focus of this book. Probably the biggest mystery surrounding our main protagonist and which many of us would have liked to know more about is Koga-Ryu Wada-Ha ninjutsu. Sadly Fujita never passed this skills to anyone so there’s no information on this in the book.
Conclusion
Books on ninjas and ninjutsu are easy to find. Books on actual historical ninjas… not so easy. At least not in English. This is one of those hidden gems. Fujita was a mysterious man indeed and his life should be adapted at the very least to an anime. But in lieu of that there’s this short but complete biography. A must read for any fan of traditional martial artists and influential masters. I enjoyed this book very much so I’m giving it 4 stars. That said, it’s a very specific biography and on a personal note I would have liked a more in-depth view on some of the aspects surrounding Fujita’s life.
If you liked this you can find my other articles here
- Hidden applications in traditional martial arts - October 30, 2023
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