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
Sun Tzu was a military specialist who lived during the sixth century BCE His work The Art of War is widely considered a masterpiece on the topic of warfare 10
THE HISTORY OF NINJAS manuals address the Chinese origins of their methods and beliefs Ninjutsu manuals often mention tactics first recorded by Chi nese general Sun Tzu’s classic essay on warfare The Art of War Sun Tzu’s five types of spies are often mirrored in ninja manuals There’s more proof that many ninja strategies were first used in ancient China These range from espionage and warfare tactics to specialized weaponry and incendiary devices IGA AND KOKA Before the era dominated by warring clans and power-hungry war lords the ninjas were established in a wild rocky area near Kyoto This area was made up of the provinces of Iga now part of Mie Prefecture and Koka now part of Shiga Prefecture This rugged country became a hiding place for criminals and soldiers who had lost in battle It was here that ninjutsu has its beginning Some stories and records say that Chinese soldiers fled to Iga and Koka long ago bringing ancient knowledge with them Over the years the ninjas of Iga and Koka trained in secret per fecting their many techniques and methods In time they devel oped the art of ninjutsu fostering the skills and passing them on to new generations References to ninjas became more common in records from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries This era is known as the Sengoku period or the Warring States period At this time many clans fought for power and territory Warlords known as daimyo waged constant 11
