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In Japanese history, a ninja (忍者, ninja) is a warrior specially trained in a variety of unorthodox arts of war. These include assassination, illusion, espionage, and various martial arts.

The exact origin of the ninja is a matter of debate. It is known that ninja appeared in 14th century Japan and remained active from the Kamakura to the Edo period. The role of the ninja may have included sabotage, espionage, scouting and assassination as a method of destabilization or to cause social chaos. Such actions may have taken place at the service of a feudal lord (daimyo, shogun), or other entity waging guerilla warfare.

Etymology

Ninja is the on'yomi reading of the two kanji 忍者 used to write shinobi-no-mono (忍の者), which is the native Japanese word for people who practice ninjutsu (忍術, sometimes transliterated as ninjitsu). The term shinobi (historically sino₂bi₂ written with the Man'yōgana 志能備), has been traced as far back as the late 8th century to a poem to Ōtomo no Yakamochi. The underlying connotation of shinobi (忍) means "to steal away" and—by extension—"to forbear", hence its association with stealth and invisibility. Mono (者, likewise pronounced sha or ja) means a "person."

The word ninja became popular in the post-World War II culture. The nin of ninjitsu is the same as that in ninja, whereas jitsu (術) means skill or art, so ninjitsu means "the skill of going unperceived" or "the art of stealth"; hence, ninja and shinobi-no-mono (as well as shinobi) may be translated as "one skilled in the art of stealth." Similarly, the pre-war word ninjitsu-zukai means "one who uses the art of remaining unperceived."

Other terms which may be used include oniwaban (お庭番 "one in the garden"), suppa, rappa, mitsumono, kusa (草 grass) and Iga-mono ("one from Iga").

In English, the plural of ninja can be either unchanged as ninja, reflecting the Japanese language's lack of grammatical number, or the regular English plural ninjas.

Period of origin

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Ninja as a group first began to be written about in 14th century feudal Japan as martial organizations predominately in the regions of Iga and Koga of central Japan, though the practice of guerrilla warfare and undercover espionage operations goes back much further.

At this time, the conflicts between the clans of daimyo that controlled small regions of land had established guerrilla warfare and assassination as a valuable alternative to frontal assault. Since Bushidō, the samurai code, forbade such tactics as dishonorable, a daimyo could not expect his troops to perform the tasks required; thus, he had to buy or broker the assistance of ninja to perform selective strikes, espionage, assassination, and infiltration of enemy strongholds.

There are a few people and groups of people regarded as having been potential ninja from approximately the same period. They are typically considered assassins. However, in his book Mystic Arts of the Ninja Stephen K. Hayes depicts them in armor similar to a samurai. Hayes also says those who ended up recording the history of the ninja were typically those in positions of power in the military dictatorships. According to Hayes and Masaaki Hatsumi

"Ninjitsu did not come into being as a specific well defined art in the first place, and many centuries passed before ninjitsu was established as an independent system of knowledge in its own right. Ninjitsu developed as a highly illegal counter culture to the ruling samurai elite, and for this reason alone, the origins of the art were shrouded by centuries of mystery, concealment, and deliberate confusion of history."

A similar account is given by Hayes: "The predecessors of Japan's ninja were so-called rebels favoring Buddhism who fled into the mountains near Kyoto as early as the 7th century A.D. to escape religious persecution and death at the hands of imperial forces."

Myths

To begin this explanation its probably best to state the very basic misunderstanding: that ninja and samurai were two different types of warrior. In fact, ninja (or shinobi, as they were known during the Sengoku Jidai) were simply the special ops equivalent of the samurai. Some books and websites expound the idea that ninja were the warriors who were used when a daimyo needed something done that the "honorable samurai" could not do. Instead, when a job came along (such as spying, assassination, scouting, infiltrating, etc.) that your regular samurai simply was under qualified to do, a daimyo would seek out a samurai who was. There were some samurai who specialized in this; two famous examples were the Koga and Iga ninja who sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu. Hattori Hanzo, who was from the ninja, held the title of hatamoto (banner-bearer), the highest rank a samurai (and only a samurai) could have.

The ninja have been so butchered by Hollywood and popular misconception (on both sides of the Pacific) that there simply isn't room to dispel it all. Some fine places to learn about the ninja would be the two books put out by Stephen Turnbull. Irregardless, I will begin to explain some of the more famous misinformation. One simple example is the color ninja wore while on a night mission. Hollywood portrays them in black, in fact, they would wear dark blue (black outlines you at night). Another horrible fallacy is the so-called "ninja-to". The ninja sword is portrayed as straight, shorter, and with a square tsuba (guard). Websites explain that these swords were tools as well as weapons. The very simple truth is there were no "ninja-to". Ninja used the same exact weapons as any other samurai, and treated their weapon with the same respect. The second weapon that is poorly portrayed is the "ninja throwing star". More commonly called shuriken (this was the name for any small projectile weapon), a samurai would use a small knife or spike as opposed to a star. The ninja also used these weapons a lot less than one would expect. Shurikenjutsu was a real art, but it was used by different people during different times, and not always (or even generally) by ninja.

The use of "magic" is fortunately being more and more taken with a shaker of salt. Disappearing in a cloud of smoke, hand motions giving them super strength, and magic abilities like flight are all complete myths. Ninjutsu was simply the art of stealth; nowadays, its taken on the general form of bogus sensei teaching karate (at best) in black uniforms, along with some smoke bomb throwing.

Historical organization

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In their history, ninja groups were small and structured around families and villages, later developing a more martial hierarchy that was able to mesh more closely with samurai and the daimyo. These certain ninjitsu trained groups were set in these villages for protection against raiders and robbers.

Ninja museums in Japan declare women to have been ninja as well. A female ninja may be kunoichi (くノ一); the characters are derived from the strokes that make up the kanji for female (女). They were sometimes depicted as spies who learned the secrets of an enemy by seduction; though it's just as likely they were employed as household servants, putting them in a position to overhear potentially valuable information.

As a martial organization, it has been assumed that ninja would have had many rules, and keeping secret the ninja's clan and the daimyo who gave them their orders would have been one of the most important ones. For modern hierarchy in ninjitsu, see the article about ninjutsu.

Clothing and image

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There is no evidence historical ninja wore all-black suits. Some ninja may have worn the same armor or clothing as samurai or Japanese peasants.

The stereotypical ninja who wears easily identifiable black outfits (shinobi shozoku) comes from the kabuki theater. Prop handlers dress in black to move props around the stage. The audience sees the prop handlers but pretend they are invisible. Building on suspension of disbelief, ninja characters came to be portrayed in the theatre as wearing similar all-black suits. This made the audience unable to tell a ninja character from the prop handlers until the ninja character distinguished himself from the other stagehands with a scripted attack or assassination.

Boots that ninja used (jika-tabi), like much of the rest of Japanese footwear from the time, have a split-toe design that improves gripping and wall/rope climbing. They are soft enough to be virtually silent. Ninja also attached special spikes to the bottoms of the boots called aishiki. The spikes that were attached to their hands for climbing trees are known as shuku or tiger claws.

The head covering suggested by Masaaki Hatsumi in his book The Way of the Ninja: Secret Techniques uses sanjaku-tenugui, three-foot cloths. It involves the tying of two three-foot cloths around the head to make the mask flexible and securely bound.

Some wear a long robe, most of the time dark blue (紺色 kon'iro) for stealth.

Specialized weapons and tactics

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The assassination, espionage, and infiltration tasks of the ninja led to the development of specialized technology in concealable weapons and infiltration tools.

Ninja also employed a variety of weapons and tricks using gunpowder. Smoke bombs and firecrackers were widely used to aid an escape or create a diversion for an attack. They used timed fuses to delay explosions. Ōzutsu (cannons) they constructed could be used to launch fiery sparks as well as projectiles at a target. Small "bombs" called metsubushi (目潰し, "eye-closers") were filled with sand and sometimes metal dust. This sand would be carried in bamboo segments or in hollowed eggs and thrown at someone, the shell would crack, and the assailant would be blinded. Even land mines were constructed to use a mechanical fuse or a lit, oil-soaked string. Secrets of making desirable mixes of gunpowder were strictly guarded in many ninja clans.

Other forms of trickery were said to be used for escaping and combat. Ashiaro are wooden pads attached to the ninja's tabi (thick socks with a separate "toe" for bigger toe; used with sandals). The ashiaro would be carved to look like an animal's paw, or a child's foot, allowing the ninja to leave tracks that most likely would not be noticed.

A small ring worn on a ninja's finger called a shobo would be used for hand-to-hand combat. The shobo would have a small notch of wood used to hit assailant's pressure points for sharp pain, sometimes causing temporary paralysis. A suntetsu is very similar to a shobo. It could be a small oval shaped piece of wood affixed to the finger by a small strap. The suntetsu would be held against a finger on the palm-side and when the hand was thrust at an opponent using the longer piece of wood to target pressure points such as the solar plexus.

Some believe ninja used special short swords called ninjato, or shinobigatana. Ninjato are smaller than katana but larger than wakizashi. The ninjato was often more of a utilitarian tool than a weapon, not having the complex heat treatment of a usual weapon, and a straight blade. It should be noted there have been no actual Ninjato found, and their existence is purely speculative. In all probability, ninja used the standard swords of the time. Another version of the ninja sword was the shikoro ken (saw sword). The shikoro ken was said to be used to gain entry into buildings, and could also have a double use by cutting (or slashing in this case) opponents.

The shuriken is a weapon that was barely ever used for throwing. It would be stuck into a wall or the ground to be used as a distraction, similar to Caltrops. Shuriken were often used coated with poison so when in direct combat with another the ninja could throw the shuriken and have a more substantial effect than the minor physical injury (with potentially severe effects depending on the strength of the poison). Shuriken does not actually refer to a singular weapon, in actuality the word refers to the general group of a ninja's throwing weapons i.e.; shaken and kunai and various sharpened conical or spike-shaped pieces of metal.

Many ninja disguised themselves as farmers so their weapons (the kama, for example) could double as both weapons and farming implements. Many ninjas also viewed their hands as weapons to be used in combat. To be able to attack their enemies with enough force to damage them, ninjas would often wrap cloth, leather, or wear metal gloves around their hands to avoid breaking their knuckles and immobilizing them.

Modern organizations

There are several organizations currently purporting to teach ninjutsu, or provide neo-ninja training. Claims of authenticity are disputed with some sources stating that none of the modern schools have koryū origins.

In popular culture

Ninja appear in both Japanese and Western fiction. Depictions range from realistic to the fantastically exaggerated both fundamentally and aesthetically. Sources include books, television, movies, videogames and internet media. These examples often portray ninja in non-factual ways for humor or entertainment.Some examples of ninja in works of fiction are

• Naruto
• Ask a Ninja
• Ninja Warrior
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• How to be a Ninja

Self-styled modern groups

Among others:

• Death squad-type armed groups active under Indonesian rule in East Timor, which terrorized populations supporting independence and were allegedly controlled by the Indonesian military, in some cases called themselves "Ninja". The name seems to have been borrowed from the movies rather than being directly influenced by the Japanese model. The "ninja" gangs were also active elsewhere in Indonesia.
• The Angolan special police forces are a specialized paramilitary police force officially referred to as the Emergency Police, but popularly known as “Ninjas”.
• Rebels in the Pool Region of the Republic of the Congo also called themselves "Ninja".
• Red Berets, a Serb paramilitary group of Dragan Vasiljković based in Knin, Croatia, called themselves "Kninjas".

Notes

1. Takagi, Man'yōshū poem #3940; page 191
2. Satake, Man'yōshū poem #3940; page 108
3. Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.; American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed.; Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1).
4. The Historical Ninja (PDF); last accessed May 28, 2008
5. Ninjutsu: The Art of Invisibility (Google Books); last accessed May 28, 2008
6. Illuminated Lantern: Ninja
7. Skoss, Diane (ed.) (1999). "Ninjutsu: is it koryu bujutsu?". Koryu.com. Retrieved 2007-01-01. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
8. Green Left - 'Ninja' terror in East Timor
9. BBC News | Asia-Pacific | Indonesia's 'ninja' war
10. "Democracy Fact File: Angola" (PDF). sardc.net. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
11. Reuters AlertNet - Congo's Ninja rebels burn weapons and pledge peace
12. Captain Dragan set for extradition | The Australian

References

• Takagi, Ichinosuke (1962). Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei: Man'yōshū Volume 4. Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-060007-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Satake, Akihiro (2003). Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei: Man'yōshū Volume 4. Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-240004-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Hatsumi, Masaaki (1981). Ninjutsu: History and Tradition. Unique Publications. ISBN 0-86568-027-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Turnbull, Stephen (2003). Ninja AD 1460-1650. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-525-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• How Ninja Work at How Stuff Works
• History of the concept of the ninja, especially in theatre

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• Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from January 2009
• Japanese warriors
• Japanese words and phrases
• Ninja
• Ninjutsu
• Mercenary units and formations