6 INTRODUCTION In a modern world where action films and exciting video games are so popular it’s no wonder that ninjas have established an iconic presence in popular culture With their traditional black clothes enigmatic masks and extraordinary weaponry ninjas are surrounded by an aura of deadly mystery This trait stems from their historical presence as figures who conducted missions based on se crecy spying and sometimes assassinations While many facts about ninjas have been clouded by stories and modern entertainment trends they were real warriors in Japan hundreds of years ago The original ninjas were members of secret societies formed in Japan prior to 1500 At that time warlords and their followers ruled Japan For security reasons various clans trained individ uals as spies saboteurs and fighters to engage in what would be called covert action today These stealthy soldiers were called many things We know them as ninjas although that term did not appear until the twentieth century Ninjas were trained in the art of ninjutsu another newer term Unlike other martial arts ninjutsu doesn’t focus solely on hand to-hand combat and the use of weapons Ninjutsu is a discipline based more on the methods of espionage and treachery The origi nal term for ninjutsu was shinobi no jutsu which can be translated as skills of stealth and perseverance Any man or woman who helped spy on or disrupt the enemy could have been considered a ninja Professional ninjas studied ninjutsu and mastered its many useful talents particularly those that aid in spying Ninjas were
7 Caption Title This is a page from an eighteenth-century collection of hand-colored illustrations of Japanese trades and customs The two men in the illustration are shinobi or ninjas also scouts arsonists thieves soldiers and to a lesser extent assas sins Today ninja tactics are considered an early form of guerrilla warfare Modern military tacticians still follow principles found in many ninjutsu manuals Modern myths often say that ninjas were outlaw enemies of the samurai who were military leaders employed by powerful generals
NINJAS However records from long ago describe the ninja as a functional part of a warlord’s reign and they often worked side by side for the same generals In fact some samurai also acted as ninjas Together ninjas and samurai helped defend their clan from en emies The samurai were military leaders and very visible The ninjas were often soldiers who worked behind the scenes and in disguise Ninja societies were outlawed under the Tokugawa shogunate in the seventeenth century The art of ninjutsu was all but forgotten over the years The ninjas true purpose and methods were cloud ed by myths and legends They became shadowy figures in black clothing and masks flourishing exotic weapons and killing silently While these stories are rooted in historical facts they don’t give a complete perspective of one of history’s more mysterious warriors Today the myths and legends still dominate the public’s per ception of ninjas At the movies viewers love to watch ninjas go to war They appear in video games cartoons and popular literature Some modern ninjutsu grand masters claim to be direct de scendants of ninja clans but this is highly unlikely Only carefully guarded scrolls some of which have only just recently been exam ined and translated by Western scholars reveal the true nature of the ninjas and how they served their leaders 88
CHAPTER 1 THE HISTORY OF NINJAS During the fourteenth century which is considered Japan’s medieval period Japan was not unified under a single gov ernment Many clans were at war with each other Feudal warlords sent armies led by generals and samurai to defend their clan and crush their enemies They also hired ninjas trained in the deadly arts of ninjutsu to spy on and if needed kill their enemies Ninjas were known by many names depending on the type of ninja as well as the location where they operated In official records dating from the fourteenth century ninjas were most commonly known as shinobi Eventually this changed to shinobi no mono which translates to a man of perseverance and stealth CHINESE ORIGINS So far the earliest reference to ninjas in historical Japanese doc uments occurred in the late fourteenth century However many ninja resources contain origin stories that predate this time by hun dreds of years Sources often disagree so it’s difficult to say for sure how or where ninjutsu originated However there’s good evidence that ninjutsu was born in China Espionage and spying had been used as warfare tactics for hun dreds of years before the shinobi appeared in Japan Several ninja 9
