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Ninja

"Shinobi" redirects here. For other uses, see Shinobi (disambiguation).

For other uses, see Ninja (disambiguation).

Drawing of the archetypical ninja, from a series of sketches (Hokusai manga) byHokusai. Woodblock print on paper. Volume six, 1817.

A ninja (忍者^?) or shinobi (忍び^?) was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations.^[1] The ninja, using covert methods of waging war, were contrasted with the samurai, who had strict rules about honor and combat.^[2]

In his Buke Myōmokushō, military historian Hanawa Hokinoichi writes of the ninja:

“

They travelled in disguise to other territories to judge the situation of the enemy, they would inveigle their way into the midst of the enemy to discover gaps, and enter enemy castles to set them on fire, and carried out assassinations, arriving in secret.[3]

”

The origin of the ninja is obscure and difficult to determine, but can be surmised to be around the 14th century.^[4] However, the antecedents to the Ninja may have existed as early as theHeian^[5] and early Kamakura eras.^[6] Few written records exist to detail the activities of the ninja. The word shinobi did not exist to describe a ninja-like agent until the 15th century, and it is unlikely that spies and mercenaries prior to this time were seen as a specialized group. In the unrest of the Sengoku period (15th - 17th centuries), mercenaries and spies for hire arose out of the Iga and Kōga regions of Japan, and it is from these clans that much of later knowledge regarding the ninja is inferred. Following the unification of Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate, the ninja descended again into obscurity.^[7] However, in the 17th and 18th centuries, manuals such as the Bansenshukai (1676) — often centered around Chinesemilitary philosophy — appeared in significant numbers.^[8] These writings revealed an assortment of philosophies, religious beliefs, their application in warfare, as well as the espionage techniques that form the basis of the ninja's art. The word ninjutsu would later come to describe a wide variety of practices related to the ninja.

The mysterious nature of the ninja has long captured popular imagination in Japan, and later the rest of the world. Ninjas figure prominently in folklore and legend, and as a result it is often difficult to separate historical fact from myth. Some legendary abilities include invisibility, walking on water, and control over natural elements. The ninja is also prevalent in popular culture, appearing in many forms of entertainment media.

Etymology

Ninja is the on'yomi reading of the two kanji "忍者". In the native kun'yomi reading, it is readshinobi, a shortened form of the longer transcription shinobi-no-mono (忍の者). Both pronunciation (ninja/ninsha or shinobi-no-mono) have similar meaning for these kanji words^[9]. The term shinobihas been traced as far back as the late 8th century to poems in the Man'yōshū.^[10][11] The underlying connotation of shinobi (忍) means "to steal away" and — by extension — "to forbear", hence its association with stealth and invisibility. Mono (者) means "a person".

Historically, the word ninja was not in common use, and a variety of regional colloquialismsevolved to describe what would later be dubbed ninjas. Along with shinobi, some examples include monomi ("one who sees"), nokizaru ("macaque on the roof"), rappa ("ruffian"), kusa("grass") and Iga-mono ("one from Iga").^[7] In historical documents, shinobi is almost always used.

Kunoichi, meaning a female ninja,^[12] supposedly came from the characters くノ一 (pronounced ku, no and ichi), which make up the three strokes that form the kanji for "woman" (女).

In the West, the word ninja became more prevalent than shinobi in the post-World War II culture, possibly because it was more comfortable for Western speakers.^[13] In English, the plural of ninja can be either unchanged as ninja, reflecting the Japanese language's lack ofgrammatical number, or the regular English plural ninjas.^[14]

History

Despite many popular folktales, historical accounts of the ninja are scarce. Historian Stephen Turnbull asserts that the ninja were mostly recruited from the lower class, and therefore little literary interest was taken in them.^[15] Instead, war epics such as the Tale of Hōgen(Hōgen Monogatari) and the Tale of the Heike (Heike Monogatari) focus mainly on the aristocratic samurai, whose deeds were apparently more appealing to the audience.^[13] Historian Kiyoshi Watatani states that the ninja were trained to be particularly secretive about their actions and existence:

"So-called ninjutsu techniques, in short are the skills of shinobi-no-jutsu and shinobijutsu, which have the aims of ensuring that one's opponent does not know of one's existence, and for which there was special training."^[16]

Origins

The origin of the ninja is based on the spies and assassins that have existed throughout Japanese history. The title ninja has sometimes been attributed to the semi-legendary 4th century prince Yamato Takeru.^[17] In the Kojiki, the young Yamato Takeru disguised himself as a charming maiden, and assassinated two chiefs of the Kumaso people.^[18] However, these records take place at a very early stage of Japanese history, and is unlikely to be connected to the shinobi of later accounts.

Yamato Takeru dressed as a maidservant, preparing to kill the Kumaso leaders. Woodblock print on paper. Yoshitoshi, 1886.

The first recorded use of espionage was under the employment of Prince Shōtoku in the 6th century.^[1]Such tactics were considered unsavory even in early times, when, according to the 10th centuryShōmonki, the boy spy Koharumaru was killed for spying against the insurgent Taira no Masakado.^[19]Later, the 14th century war chronicle Taiheiki contained many references to shinobi,^[17] and credited the destruction of a castle by fire to an unnamed but "highly skilled shinobi".^[20]

However, it was not until the 15th century that spies were specially trained for their purpose.^[15] It was around this time that the word shinobi appeared to define and clearly identify ninjas as a secretive group of agents. Evidence for this can be seen in historical documents, which began to refer to stealthy soldiers as shinobi during the Sengoku period.^[21] Later manuals regarding espionage are often grounded in Chinese military strategy, quoting works such as The Art of War (Sunzi Bingfa), by Sun Tzu.^[22]

Development

The ninja emerged as mercenaries in the 15th century, where they were recruited as spies, raiders,arsonists and even terrorists. Amongst the samurai, a sense of ritual and decorum was observed, where one was expected to fight or duel openly. Combined with the unrest of the Sengoku era, these factors created a demand for men willing to commit deeds considered not respectable for conventional warriors.^[1][2] By the Sengoku period, the shinobi had several roles, including spy (kanchō), scout(teisatsu), surprise attacker (kishu), and agitator (konran).^[21] The ninja families were organized into largerguilds, each with their own territories.^[23] A system of rank existed. A jōnin ("upper man") was the highest rank, representing the group and hiring out mercenaries. This is followed by the chūnin ("middle man"), assistants to the jōnin. At the bottom was the genin ("lower man"), field agents drawn from the lower class and assigned to carry out actual missions.^[24]

Development

The ninja emerged as mercenaries in the 15th century, where they were recruited as spies, raiders,arsonists and even terrorists. Amongst the samurai, a sense of ritual and decorum was observed, where one was expected to fight or duel openly. Combined with the unrest of the Sengoku era, these factors created a demand for men willing to commit deeds considered not respectable for conventional warriors.^[1][2] By the Sengoku period, the shinobi had several roles, including spy (kanchō), scout(teisatsu), surprise attacker (kishu), and agitator (konran).^[21] The ninja families were organized into largerguilds, each with their own territories.^[23] A system of rank existed. A jōnin ("upper man") was the highest rank, representing the group and hiring out mercenaries. This is followed by the chūnin ("middle man"), assistants to the jōnin. At the bottom was the genin ("lower man"), field agents drawn from the lower class and assigned to carry out actual missions.^[24]

Iga and Kōga clans

The Iga and Kōga clans have come to describe families living in the province of Iga (modern Mie Prefecture) and the adjacent region of Kōka (later written as Kōga), named after a village in what is now Shiga Prefecture. From these regions, villages devoted to the training of ninjas first appeared.^[25] The remoteness and inaccessibility of the surrounding mountains may have had a role in the ninja's secretive development.^[24] Historical documents regarding the ninja's origins in these mountainous regions are considered generally correct.^[26] The chronicle Go Kagami Furoku writes, of the two clans' origins:

"There was a retainer of the family of Kawai Aki-no-kami of Iga, of pre-eminent skill inshinobi, and consequently for generations the name of people from Iga became established. Another tradition grew in Kōga".^[26]

Likewise, a supplement to the Nochi Kagami, a record of the Ashikaga shogunate, confirms the same Iga origin:

"Inside the camp at Magari of the Shogun [Ashikaga] Yoshihisa there were shinobi whose names were famous throughout the land. When Yoshihisa attacked Rokkaku Takayori, the family of Kawai Aki-no-kami of Iga, who served him at Magari, earned considerable merit as shinobi in front of the great army of the Shogun. Since then successive generations of Iga men have been admired. This is the origin of the fame of the men of Iga."^[27]

A distinction is to be made between the ninja from these areas, and commoners or samurai hired as spies or mercenaries. Unlike their counterparts, the Iga and Kōga clans produced professional ninja, specifically trained for their roles.^[21] These professional ninja were actively hired by daimyos between 1485 and 1581,^[21] until Oda Nobunaga invaded Iga province and wiped out the organized clans.^[28]Survivors were forced to flee, some to the mountains of Kii, but others arrived before Tokugawa Ieyasu, where they were well treated.^[29]Some former Iga clan members, including Hattori Hanzō, would later serve as Tokugawa's bodyguards.^[30]

Following the Battle of Okehazama in 1560, Tokugawa employed a group of eighty Kōga ninja, led by Tomo Sukesada. They were tasked to raid an outpost of the Imagawa clan. The account of this assault is given in the Mikawa Go Fudoki, where it was written that Kōga ninja infiltrated the castle, set fire to its towers, and killed the castellan along with two hundred of the garrison.^[31] The Kōga ninjas are said to have played a role in the later Battle of Sekigahara (1600), where several hundred Kōga assisted soldiers under Torii Mototada in the defence of Fushimi Castle.^[32] After Tokugawa's victory at Sekigahara, the Iga acted as guards for the inner compounds of Edo Castle, while the Kōga acted as a police force and assisted in guarding the outer gate.^[30] In 1614, the initial "winter campaign" at the Siege of Osakasaw the ninja in use once again. Miura Yoemon, a ninja in Tokugawa's service, recruited shinobi from the Iga region, and sent ten ninjas intoOsaka Castle in an effort to foster antagonism between enemy commanders.^[33] During the later "summer campaign", these hired ninjas fought alongside regular troops at the Battle of Tennōji.^[33

The plains of Iga, nested in secluded mountains, gave rise to villages specialized in the training of ninjas.