There still are real, practicing ninjas in Japan鈥攂ut that won鈥檛 be the case for much longer. According to the , 63-year-old Jinichi Kawakami of the Koka clan is the country鈥檚 last living ninja grandmaster. However, 80-year-old Masaaki Hatsumi claims he is also the leader of Togakure clan. So, there might be two living ninjas, but neither one plans to name an heir, which means the end of the ninja in Japan. Both men have day jobs鈥擪awakami is an engineer; Hatsumi runs an international martial-arts organization鈥攁nd they claim that the ways of the ninja just don鈥檛 serve much purpose today. “In the age of civil wars or during the Edo period, ninjas’ abilities to spy and kill, or mix medicine may have been useful,” Kawakami said. 鈥淏ut we now have guns, the Internet, and much better medicines, so the art of ninjutsu has no place in the modern age.”
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