Tuesday,
April 15 at 7pm
Cherry
Blossom Festival
Shinobi
Showcase
Co-presented
by the Japan
America Society of Greater Philadelphia
Forget
the fire-ball blasting, pirate-dueling ninjas
you know from videogames and the internet
— ninjas are real, and we have them right
here in Philadelphia. With a special
screening of Samurai Spy.
Samurai
Spy
dir.
Masahiro Shinoda, Japan, 1964, video, 100
mins, b/w, Japanese w/ English subtitles
Filled
with clan intrigue, ninja spies, and multiple
double crosses, Samurai Spy
marks
a bold stylistic departure from swordplay
film convention.
Years
of warfare end in a Japan unified under the
Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke
Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace.
When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama
defects from the shogun to a rival clan, however,
the world of swordsmen is thrown into turmoil.
After Sasuke is unwittingly drawn into the
conflict, he tracks Tatewaki, while a mysterious,
white-hooded figure seems to hunt them both.
By tale’s end, no one is who they seemed to
be, and the truth is far more personal than
anyone suspected.
Led by 6th dan instructor Phillip Hevener,
The Musha Shugyo Bujinkan Dojo of Philadelphia
explores the concept of shinobi.
The students of the Dojo study under the
tradition carried on by Grandmaster Hatsumi
Masaaki. Hatsumi served as an advisor
to the James Bond film You Only Live
Twice, which replicated an assassination
technique from the classic film
Shinobi no Mono.
The Dojo members will demonstrate
evasion, escape and stealth techniques of
the historical ninja, while exploring the
more esoteric connotations of shinobi
which permeates all aspects of Bujinkan
taijutsu or ninjutsu. They will also delve
further into the transcendant implications
of the shinobi concept as it relates to
the meditative or mushin state central to
budo-taijutsu.
