| what is "ninja culture" from your understanding? and your right about the skills not being unique because during the development of ninjutsu, some of the esoterical side, spiritual, martial arts, and strategies pertaining to warfare etc. were influenced by other cultures.
but for practicioners of ninjutsu at least in the Bujinkan thats one of the reasons we refer to ourselves as budoka or buyu or shinobi
if your studying the art and living by the ways of its concepts an tenets then in relation to ninjutsu that would make one a "ninja" or shinobi to me. not the stereotypical misconstrued portrayal displayed by popular media.
which Hatsumi Sensie, Jinichi Kawakami, and other Grandmasters have stated is nowhere near what ninjutsu is all about.
the student progresses through the levels from kyu grades to shodan BB through Godan to Shidoshi
like how a Karateka progresses from kyu grades to the BB dan grades.
we're all students but in our arts we have the terms for the students of those particular arts
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“You could do this same technique with a knife. Just keep it hidden. Don’t go swinging it around. We’re not yakuza here.”
“Don’t make the other person your opponent. If you do that, you lose your awareness to other people. Taijutsu is not just one on one.”
--- Hatsumi Sensei---
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