In the lands of the Koga or Koka where the Komuso Ryu was founded as a part of the Koga Clan we find now the city of Koka which was once known as the city of medicine because they grew and knew the uses of Mugwort. Mugwort is used in medicine to heal and as a part of magick to bring out mystical visions and to kill depending on how it’s used, power is defined as the union of insight and the means to act and Mugwort shows this dual nature. The Koga believed in stopping war by killing one rather than by many dying, remove the cause of war and war ceases to be. The ninja are assumed to be assassins but that act and the martial arts are only one facet of what is actually a philosophy rather than a set of techniques. This philosophy is applicable through any martial art or means, because the core of the way is to endure and thus prevail through stealth. Often students of the Way start at one end of the spectrum or the other i.e. focused on healing or the other only to find that their lives demand the other aspects of the path. There is a time on the Path for each part and phase of the Path if it is walked truly and the most dangerous of warriors find cause to heal or the most open heart finds a cause worthy of defense to the point of fatal action. Moving between the extremes of the Path makes up the practice of many, but to fuse them is the way of the master which demands a rebirth.
