With the arguable exception of pirates, there's nothing cooler than a ninja, but there's a
lot of mythbusting that has to be done regarding these elusive figures in Japanese history.
If you happened to find yourself in feudal Japan, you were less likely to come across
a ninja battling a giant snake with the assistance of his summoned toad, than you were to pass
by a seemingly regular looking peasant wearing something like this. Because that's what ninjas
did, they tried blend in and nothing says 'I'm not blending in' more than battling a
giant snake with a massive summoned toad.
In contrast to their more honor bound counterparts, the samurai, ninja, or shinobi as they were
often called, were a loosely defined group multi-function mercenaries and covert agents
whose duties included: espionage, infiltration, sabotage, assassination and in some cases,
open combat.
The Sengoku Period was an era of almost constant war in Japan filled with social upheaval,
political intrigue and where the shinobi most likely originated. I say 'most likely' because
historians are still a bit unclear on this and some people believe shinobi were sneaking
around Japan almost 200 years before the Sengoku Period. It's tough to trace the history of
a group of people whose job it was not to be traced.
Becoming a ninja was tough; first of all, you had to be born into it and, OH, the training
you had to go through. In addition to the standard repertoire of martial arts, scouting,
and survival skills, you were expected to be proficient in poisons, explosives, medicine
and have an in-depth knowledge of various professions so that you could disappear into
the civilian population if the need arose. On top of that, long distance runs, climbing,
stealth walking and stealth swimming were musts for a mid-15th century ninja.
The ninja were sneaky, and not always honorable. Dressing as the enemy to cause confusion,
and even firing upon the backs of friendly troops causing them to charge backward and
facilitate a retreat were not below the ninja. Diverting the enemy with fire, hiding in trees
disguised among the foliage, scattering plant life over the water to conceal movement and
curling up in a ball while remaining motionless to appear like a stone were among the techniques
the ninja employed to carry out their clandestine tasks.
In addition to disguising themselves as members of the civilian population, ninja also used
tools such as: hand claws, climbing cleats, climbing hooks, concealed cane swords, caltrops,
throwing darts, chain and sickle weapons and the list goes on!
Ninja are all over pop culture and there have been quite a few mystical abilities attributed
to their group of people. Flight, invisibility, shapeshifting and the ability to split into
multiple bodies are sometimes claimed as skills possessed by the ninja. While these probably
weren't part of the ninjutsu training, it's easy to see how the ninja techniques inspired
by elements of nature could lead to pretty fantastic storytelling. With few doings below
the ninja, one Nakagawa Shoshujin claimed in writing that he had the ability to transform
into birds and other animals.
But all that glitz aside, there's actually quite a bit of historical haze and legend
that surrounds the existence of the ninja, and you know what, that just means that they
were pretty darn good at doing their jobs. After all, you never know the truth about
a ninja until it's too late...
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