For those who don’t know, the term Bullshido refers to so-called martial arts masters that make stuff up and demonstrate fake technique and powers that wouldn’t work at all outside their little worlds. The Chi masters you see on YouTube throwing people about with Chi and zero contact knockouts can all be classed as Bullshido. There are many about but for now, we are going to concentrate on Ashida Kim. A so-called master Ninjutsu expert. He is an internationally renowned expert who teaches and lectures around the world. He has written many books and basically earned a fortune from spreading his rubbish to gullible people.
Now I love the traditional martial arts and hate the fact it takes such a ribbing now days from the MMA meat heads that say it’s all rubbish, wouldn’t work and always quote their favorite overused term: “Lets see him try that in a cage match” To be fair they have a point. Most of the stuff is just for show and the movies but people like the Chi masters and Ashida Kim gives it a bad name for everyone.
A little bit of history
Enter the Dragon had just been released. America went crazy for Bruce Lee and Kung Fu. Literally, hundreds of Karate and martial arts schools opened up overnight across the western world. We hit the 80’s, enter the Ninja. American became obsessed with Ninja movies and why not. On paper Ninja’s were bad-arse. An individual trained his whole life in the art of assassination and espionage. Unmatched in hand to hand combat, can scale tree’s and walls in the blink of an eye, flip through the air defining the laws of gravity, throw shurikens and ninja stars with pinpoint accuracy, take on mutiple opponents, what’s not to love. But anyone that thinks they can go out and do this stuff for real would be sorely disappointed. There are legit Ninjutsu schools in Japan that can trace their heritage back to the Samurai age but after watching some of these guys fight and train, it’s not like the movies. They fight dirty, they don’t take on multiple enemies at once and would barely even take on a single enemy one on one, opting rather to get away. The would use any method possible to gain the upper hand. Ranging from poison-tipped weapons to dropping caltrops and throwing smoke/chemicals in your eyes. Whether Ninja’s really existed or not and they are really learning Ninjutsu we can leave up to the historians.
Ashida Kim
So, after Ninjas become the next big thing in the 80’s a butt load of fraudsters and Bullshido masters ascended from the woodwork wanting to cash in on the craze, Ashida Kim being one. There are many others we will go into another time.
Ashida Kim real name Radford W. Davis’s. He basically gave himself a Japanese name because he thought it would go better with the Ninjutsu myth and credibility. He has written a ton of books mostly on Ninjas such as Secrets of the Ninja, Ninja Mind control, Forbidden Fighting Techniques of the Ninja, Ninja Secrets of Invisibility, Ninja Hand of Death and many more. Now I’m sure you can tell from there title of the books that this guy is full of it.
From what I heard the content of the books is usually repeated and rehashed covering methods of mediation and concealment, basically camouflage. He claimed he was an affiliate of the Black Dragon Fighting Society and trained under a master ninja simply knows as Shendi. The Black Dragon society was run by another Bullshido master Count Dante the so-called Dim Mak master. As if being associated with another Bullshido master wasn’t bad enough Kim argues the Black Dragon Society was not founded by Count Dante but over 6000 years back in the city of Atlantis…….. RIGHT! All I can say in people in the 80’s were extremely gullible.
With the rise of the internet, his bullshit started showing through. People were researching and calling him out on his crap. Calling him a fraud and challenging him. This led to the invention of his $10000 challenge to fight him. It’s not what you think, he’s not offering people $10000 to fight him or that’s what they win if they beat him. They have to pay that to fight him. As well as paying $10000 they have to agree on a number of other rules. He also insisted on a $25000 appearance fee just of the pleasure of people seeing him in action. The rules being the fight is no holds bared but Kim can win by pinfall like professional wrestling. They would also have to show certification from local sports authorities governing such events attesting to their physical fitness and credentials sufficient to demonstrate their ring worthiness. Shockingly some people actually took him up and showed they even had the money. He called them a bunch of trolls and deleted their messages on his board. Now compare that to someone like Rickson Gracie or his father Hélio Gracie who actively went all over the world challenging masters, fighting and beating some of the toughest SOB’s about.
On top of all this and the fact he never fought a single match, he was actually selling fake black belts on the internet to anyone that could prove they were a master. A Vale Tudo fighter decided to test this and sent off for one. The main point being Vale Tudo doesn’t have belts. Would be like saying you’re a black belt in Shoot Fighting. No research was done and he got his belt and certificate after he paid his money.
Eventually the Black Dragon society would file a lawsuit against Kim saying he had no association with them or Count Dante and he has illegally been using their trademarks and copyrights even though this site is supposedly an FAQ with Ashida Kim and he claims he’s the Black Dragon Society flyweight champion at over 60 years old, I’m not sure if it’s a trolling website though.
Now I’m sure anybody nowadays can simply watch one of Ashida Kim’s videos and tell he’s a fake but some people just need to be highlighted for their crap over and over again. It’s gotten so bad he’s been band from Wikipedia. These are just a few of his videos on YouTube, there’s a whole bunch more for your pleasure.
