| abstract | - Kōga-ryū is fundamentally different from all other fighting styles. This is because unlike other fighting styles it doesn't have an organized method of fighting with certain rules. It is a fighting style that is a lot more flexible to the point that learning other fighting style is part of its training. This led opponents to describing Kōga-ryū as "unorthodox", "dishonorable", or "unfair" because of how limitless Kōga-ryū's potential is and just how far shinobi of the fighting style are willing to go to achieve their goals. The reason for this comes from how Kōga-ryū isn't a fighting style to teach Koga shinobi how to fight. It is a fighting to teach Koga shinobi how to do their job and live as a member of the Koga Guild. Kōga-ryu is divided into three parts: physical, mental, and jutsu and using the parts together is what makes Kōga-ryū dangerous. When training the physical side students are taught how to use hundreds of armed and unharmed fighting styles and physical skills such as sports to give the shinobi complete freedom in how they fight and move. Achieving this would require tons of different types of physical training. The training is so harsh that many of the shinobi end up with physical abilities that surpass normal shinobi. Kōga-ryū's physical side serve as the string that connects the various fighting styles and skills together by giving its users a way to fluidly flow fighting styles together or use multiple at once to "fight as many and not as one" in order to be a very adaptable fighter. There is virtually nothing a master of Kōga-ryū can adapt to because of the many fighting style and skills they would have at their disposal. They just need they need to have the skill, knowledge, and wisdom to make their adaptability a threat. Ironically, the unorganized nature of Kōga-ryū does have a solid and organized philosophy and principle behind it. There is a method to this fighting style's madness. The entire philosophy is hidden Kōga-ryū's shin shin shin gan phrase, which translates to God's eyes, God's mind. This refers to trying to develop a broad vision and knowledge so that the shinobi is always prepared and has the tools to adapt to anything both mentally and physically. In short, Kōga-ryū is all about adapting. Shinobi who use the fighting style strive to be ready to adapt to anything whether it is an opponent, a mission, or a part of life. They never want to be caught off guard or surprised so they can easily and quickly learn about an opponent and their weaknesses. This is where the mental training of Kōga-ryū comes in. While the physical training focuses on making one's muscle memory as "malleable" as possible the mental training tries to make the mind as open as possible to quickly learn about the opponent and their weaknesses. They do this by requiring their shinobi to have a great deal of knowledge about many aspects outside of fighting like common professions or hobbies to improve their disguises and their ability to quickly understand their opponent. In addition, shinobi achieve a very high-level of academic knowledge, which are things like math, science, writing, and so on. Medical training is even included in this regardless of whether one has the ability to use Medical Ninjutsu or not. If they don't the Koga Guild teaches the shinobi both normal and unorthodox methods of medical care. Another part of the mental training is learning about the multitude of shinobi tactics and skills. This part of the mental training is harsher than the physical training and by the end their skill with stealth, espionage, sabotage, assassination, deceiving, countermeasures, and other similar skills are at a supernatural level. The evidence of this can be seen in how many think that the Koga Guild is a myth. Another main difference between Kōga-ryū and fighting styles like Strong Fist is that its teachings extend past the Taijutsu or Bukijutsu, but all other jutsu types. The Koga Guild, much like their Iga counterparts and normal shinobi divide their teachings into many parts. Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and so on. The reason why they did this is quite different from normal shinobi. They didn't do this because they learned how many ways chakra can be used back when chakra first appeared, but did this to learn how to use chakra for certain situations. This allowed them to focus like normal shinobi, but it also made it a lot easier to use the different types of jutsu together for a lethal combination. Koga shinobi can use jutsu types together so effectively that the Koga Guild has discovered a way to "progress" one jutsu type to another within a single technique. This shouldn't be confused for stuff like Nintaijutsu for that merges two jutsu types. Instead, it can be described as using one jutsu type to "evolve" the capabilities of the techniques original jutsu type. The result of this is new jutsu types that are the result of using one jutsu type to "evolve" or increase the capabilities of another. One example is Kukushi Bukijutsu. Kukushi Bukijutsu is a jutsu type that uses the idea behind the illusion part of Genjutsu to "evolve" Bukijutsu to gain the ability to craft and use weapons that on the border between illusion and reality. There are currently only seven of these jutsu types and their individual uses are limited, but because of how remarkable an unexpected their abilities are they're still more than enough to change the tides of battle in many situations. Naturally, normal chakra control isn't enough to perform any of these additional jutsu types. The user must be abnormally talented with both chakra control and all basic types of jutsu. When a Kōga-ryū is able to use these jutsu types it is a sign that they have completely mastered Kōga-ryū because shinobi have to have mastery over the physical and mental part of Kōga-ryū before they can hope to master the jutsu side. The reason for this is very similar to why mastery over the body and mind is necessary for mastery over chakra.
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