A ninja ( 忍者 ) or shinobi ( 忍び ) was a warrior-spy in the medieval Japan. The term used to designate a woman ninja is kunoichi ( くノ一 ).
In the imaginary one of the Westerners and even of the Japanese, image largely hawked besides by films, cartoons… one represents the ninjas like warriors vêtus of black, a hood masking their face, achieving physical exploits in combat, acrobatics, and experts in the techniques of dissimulation, poisoning, and especially of diversion. Their principal asset was their furtivity/discretion.
This fantasmatic and romantic image, and the term even of ninja , are relatively recent (towards 1780). The terms used to appoint these warrior-spies were rather shinobi or shinobu , sometimes grated , seppa or kagimono-hiki , or kusa (grasses, one of the techniques consisting in awaiting carpet in grass and attacking the troops of back after their passage). Because of their probable geographic origin, the ninjas are also sometimes named “man of Iga” ( Iga No mono ) or “man of Koga” ( koga No mono ), or “troop of Iga” or “Koga” ( Iga shu , Koga shu ).
The ninjas resulted indeed probably from these two close provinces located beside Kyōto. These provinces being independent, they were not indebted of any tax and enjoyed a freedom of movement that the bushi did not have (or Samurai S), which were them pledged with the Daimyō (feudal lord); they were not subjected either to the bushidō (code of honor of the bushi ), and could thus practice techniques of not-orthodoxe war (espionage, guerilla, ambushes, assassinations). Not being related to the big families, those used them for their dirty works (plunderings, assassinations). One their great specialities was to be introduced of night into the castles and military camps and to light a fire, in order to facilitate the attack by traditional troops; they were disguised in general to carry the same behavior that their victims (they were thus not inevitably vêtus of black) in order to sow confusion.
In addition, the noble families started to call upon mercenaries (undoubtedly ninjas) at the time of the Period Kamakura (1185 - 1333), period marked by many conflicts enter families and assassinations. These practices, even if they did not correspond to the “gun” of the bushido , were very thus early used by the feudal capacity and lords.
With the eyes of the population, ninjas, by their criminal activity (assassination, flight, etc…) and their not very orthodoxe method (incompatible with the code of honor of the samurai), belonged to the social class Hinin (not-human). The caste of the Hinin which one pejoratively called “waste of the company”, included/understood the criminals, beggars, vagrants and others bet company.
A possible explanation of the etymology of kunoichi , the term designating a woman ninja, is that each character which composes this word (Hiragana ku く, Katakana No ノ, Kanji ichi 一) constitute the features of the kanji onna (女), which means woman.
The ninpō, doctrines of the ninjas
The term Ninpō (忍法), or shinobu Ho , indicates the doctrines of the ninjas. It stresses the endurance, perseverance, the capacity of adaptation. This thus includes/understands of course the techniques of combat and survival in the nature (of which camouflage and the medical care), of hardening of the body and the spirit, but also the capacity to envisage the danger and to avoid it. In fact, the ninja must be capable of imitation, it must be able to show adaptability (mental flexibility) and not to stick to fixed and rigid forms. Contrary to the bushi , the ninja does not seek direct confrontation, it does not seek to show its courage, but rather to survive and conclude its mission, without feeling shame nor of anger. The ninja initially seeks to protect and protect its family. In addition, one can also refer to the treaty of Chinese strategy the Art of the war of Sun Tzu (to pronounce Souen Tseu ) , which develops the techniques of information and misinformation within the framework of the war:- to get information about the enemy (“Who knows other and knows itself, in hundred engagements will not be demolishes”, chap. III),
- désinformer the enemy
- to locate the enemy spies and to bribe them.
The ninja was furtive and secret; it could be disguised to be made pass for somebody of another social class or another area. The teaching of these techniques in schools (ryu) was not done groups some as for the bujutsu (technical of the samurais), but rather only with only, single individuals.
The ninjutsu, techniques of the ninjas
The term Ninjutsu (忍術), or shinobi jutsu , indicates the whole of the techniques of the ninjas, according to the principles of the ninpô . That of course includes/understands techniques of combat, and in particular the diverted use of traditional weapons, the combat with naked hands, but also of the techniques of Camouflage ( hensô jutsu , doton No jutsu ), of use of Explosif S, Poison S, the Prestidigitation ( gen jutsu ), the Natation, the horsemanship…But the ninjutsu comprises also knowledge in Météorologie, Astrologie, Médecine and Mathématiques. Thus, certain ninjas designed dams or worked mines, they were what one would now call of the “Engineer S”.
Specific equipment
The ninjas used specific weapons and material:- Jitte : left nonsharp scraping-knife and not perforating provided with a guard curved forwards (with the difference of the saï , there is not that a branch with the guard), being used to block the sabers;
- Kaginawa : Hook;
- Kamayari : launch to hook;
- Kusarigama : sickle connected to a chain;
- Metsubushi : smoke, in general produced by a mixture of powder placed in a hollowed out egg, and being used to plug the adversary;
- Mizu gumo : floating shoes provided with bladders inflated and allowing to be held upright on water, for espionner or to defend themselves;
- Ninjatô : saber;
- Otzu Tsu : firearm, kind of mortar makes in a hollow trunk;
- Ashiko : claws of feet, located under the sole, being used for the climbing, to work on a slipping ground or as arms;
- Tegaki or shuko : left claws related to the palm, being used to climb, strike or to block the sabers.
- Kunaï : Left metal dart.
- Shuriken : sharp metal star being able to have several different forms (three or four branches, square, round…). However, as opposed to what believe the majority of people, the shuriken is not a weapon of direct attack, the damage generated being only about one cut or being completely stopped by the armor of Bushi. Moreover its trajectory is rather random. It is thus a weapon of terror more particularly used to disorientate the enemy (whistle, edge, circular trajectory,…).
- Makibishi or Tetsubishi : small nails with four points used to cover an escape; those crossed the sandals of the prosecutors.
- OJ : stick of four feet and approximately an inch and half of diameter. Being used formerly as cane, it became a frightening weapon that even the old men could handle very effectively.
- Fukumibari : darts punts hidden in the mouth and intended to be spit with the face.
To draw up here a exaustive list of the weapons of the ninpô would raise of the challenge… and, obviously, which the question it is quite out ofit is quite out of to speak about another thing that the basic ones of the first levels of knowledge.
The principal weapons are tools of modified peasants.
History of the ninjas
Attention the ninjas are not samurais! The ninjas were a priori at the origin of troops formed between the VIII {{E}} and the IX {{E}} century, of emigrants Korea NS, Chinese, and of Bushi overcome without lords ( Ronin ), who took refuge in the provinces of Iga and Kōga (maintaining the Préfecture S of Mie and Shiga, on the side of the Lac Biwa). Having jointly the uprooting and the defeat, they developed techniques of survival in these wild regions, as well as pragmatic techniques of combat coming of various origins (Japan, China, Korea). They were subject to undoubtedly the influence:- of the Pirate S ( kaizoku ) of the area of Kumano, with which they owe the techniques of use of the hooks,
- of the Yamabushi , ascetics living in the mountain and followers of the shugendō (practical mystics),
- of the Buddhist monks of the area, in particular of the esoteric Buddhists Shingon ,
- and of the hinin , basic people social condition used for the tasks considered to be impure, in particular in relation to blood and leather.
The establishment in these regions wild and surrounded by mountains, therefore without much economic interest and protected from the invasions of the close lords, undoubtedly contributed to develop a spirit of independence, and in particular the absence of attachment to a lord and any moral reserve to be turned over against old allies. That also contributed to the secrecy and thus with mystery will have which surrounds them.
Among the probable founders of the ninjutsu, one counts the Chinese general Ikai who exiled himself in Iga in the middle of the 11th century and brought back techniques of combat.
The ninjas were undoubtedly at the origin of the troops of warriors similar to civil militia ( will jizamurai ) of which the goal was the defense of the province; they were probably not only warriors but exerted another trade (country). It is difficult to give an exact date of the appearance of the ninjas, it undoubtedly acts of a progressive evolution. The first documented recourse dated from the use of these troops of Iga and Kôga (the Iga shû and the Kôga shû ) is undoubtedly the attack of the castle of the Rokkaku lord in Magari by the Ashikaga lord towards 1487. Ieyasu Tokugawa, which was Daimyō (feudal lord) then Shogun (military dictator of Japan) at the 16th century frequently had recourse to these mercenaries. But the ninjas were also sometimes pledged warriors with their lord and not having any relationship with Iga and Kôga, such as for example those used by Shingen Takeda at the same period.
The most important event was undoubtedly the bloody tender of the province of Iga by the troops of Nobunaga Oda in 1579. Nobunaga was the regent (although it was not named shogun by the emperor), and the independence of Iga represented a challenge with its authority. The first two attempts at tender showed a failure. For the third, it invades the province with six armies coming from six different places. In front of the crushing number of adversaries, the techniques of guerilla appeared insufficient and the families of Iga were massacred. Some survivors went to take refuge at the close daimyō (whose Ieyasu Tokugawa) and is reflected with their service.
From there, certain ninjas, named onmitsu , were used by the shogun for espionner the daimyo , and others, the oniwaban , were used to ensure the safety brought closer to the shogun and the monitoring of its castle, like to a certain extent the police force in the capital Edo. Indeed, the Period Edo is characterized by a relative peace between the clans, the not armed techniques of control or with nonsharp weapons developed by the ninjas were particularly interesting in this context.
Teaching of the ninjutsu nowadays
The ninjutsu was very médiatisé and strongly deformed by the cinema, in the continuity of the vagueness of the cinema of martial arts after the death of Bruce Lee.Contrary to the Bujutsu which underwent a pacificatory transformation into Budo of the XVIIIe at the 20th century and has a teaching of mass undergoes as of the end of the XIXè century, the ninjutsu was transmitted in a secret way to some people to the surroundings of the 2nd world war.
At present, the school of Ninpo the most known and médiatisée is Bujinkan, of Masaaki Hatsumi. Masaaki Hatsumi, after having studied various Budo in its youth, draws part of its lesson of Takamatsu Toshitsugu, which would have in particular been bodyguard personnel of the emperor Po, in China.
Masaaki Hatsumi opened its teaching in Gaijin (not-Japanese), following the arrival, assiduity, the courage and the perseverance of an Israeli, Mr Doron Navon and one of his/her friends. It is first not-Japanese who had access to Ninjutsu as a " disciple". Hito Atashi (1921-2007), secret ninja which was always in activity in the Seventies, left Japan for Canada. François Chenier (1972-) raises personal of Hito was his single sucessor, the only nonJapanese heir to a style of Koga Ryu, according to certain Hito rumors would have been the secret pupil of Saiko Fujita. Today renamed Hito ryu ninjutsu.
Other people, disuniting themselves thereafter of Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, such Shoto Tanemura, his/her cousin - police officer who had followed the same studies simultaneously and considered his opening towards occident (primarily the USA with Mr. Hayes) too commercial, decided to transmit their vision to the general public, with a commercial competition and a polemic relating to the authenticity of the techniques.
The ninjutsu, of share its image romantic and cinematographic, tends to attract individuals in search of feelings or imaginary. Unfortunately, certain teachers agree to play the game of these disturbed pupils. The ninjutsu is indeed for a long time obscured by the desires of individuals in search of glory, parallel to the ignorance of realities on behalf of the neophytes. This is why, it is capital to seek information with the source, if one does not wish to see oneself misled by charlatans having for only resemblance to a Ninja only one contemporary black suit and some accessories.
Ninpo preaches the values of patience, the endurance, perseverance in the difficulties, and thus of courage.
The Ninja, whose word NIN means PERSEVERANCE, in Japanese, are people with multiple facets but which needed to use violence only when the circumstances required it. Their technicality, advances some on the majority of knowledge of their time, and especially their ingeniousness interfered audacity their was worth good number of legends of which some (in particular incomprehension as for the fact that the Ninja could " to fly and go on the eau") they through cinematographic generated already quoted.
Source and References
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