Get your ninja on, Japanese style

I assumed my ninja training in Japan would continue the way it had begun when I sat on a low Japanese stool to watch the master meditate and the chair collapsed under my weight.

The ninja, elite "families" of mercenary spies and assassins in feudal Japan, were famously possessed of cat-like agility.

I, on the other hand, am infamously cursed with tree-like agility, so I never expected my part in the Musashi Clan Elite Ninja Experience in Tokyo to go very well.

But, sometimes, I surprise even myself.

I was visiting the Musashi dojo with my teenage son. (See photo!)

Once our interpreter had found me a new stool, we listened to the master give a short talk on various ninja weapons such as shuriken throwing stars, shuko claws, concealed knives and, er, dried water chestnuts (they use them like tire spikes).

We were helped into matching black ninja costumes and taught how to "stealth walk" - basically to avoid unseen obstacles by stepping high and landing lightly on tippy-toes.

Then we were blindfolded and instructed to negotiate a mat scattered with small and harmless objects, in what I imagine is a standard team-building exercise.

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It was fun, though, especially as we didn't have to bond with Slimy Simon from Marketing or Chirpy Charlotte from HR.

Next, we took turns practising with weapons. I was handed a throwing star and shown how to send it spinning through the air to lodge in a piece of timber.

Now I can barely even hit a dartboard with a dart but, incredibly, my shuriken spun like wheels and their points penetrated the board.

Then came the bo-shuriken, a sort of twirling sharpened stick.

With a casually murderous flick of the wrist, I sent my bo-shuriken whirling into the target.

"Hardly anyone ever does that," said our astonished interpreter.

That kind of thing never happens to me: the collapsing stool is the kind of thing that happens to me.

Predictably, however, the introduction of the katana, a curved samurai sword, signalled a return to my usual form.

We rehearsed with wooden katana, which my son - who has a replica sword at home - swiftly tamed, but I could barely remove from the scabbard.

When we switched to iron swords for the dramatic and satisfying final photoshoot, I alarmed both the master and translator by trying to jam the sword back into its sheaf against the curve of the blade.

They rushed to stop me.

"Because you're a ninja, you come here to destroy everything," said the interpreter.

But this indiscretion was forgotten by the end of our oddly exhilarating session, when I asked the master to name the hardest part of ninja training.

"Shuriken," he replied, without hesitation.

That, of course, was my speciality.

"You're so talented!" said the interpreter. "You can join our group. You could be the Australian ninja master!"

And I could, too.

Probably.

Where: Kikai Shinko Kaikan building, Minato City , Tokyo.

When: The Musashi Clan Elite Ninja Experience is available three times a day: morning, afternoon and evening.

How much: Prices start at Y16,000 ($175) per person. Advance booking is necessary with at least three days' notice.

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