The first professional spies: where the legendary ninjas lived and what they did

Author Anton Evseev

07/01/2011 17:00 (Updated: 05/27/2021 00:19)

Science » Good to know

Ninjas, Japanese assassins, spies and saboteurs still attract the attention of many artists and the general public to this day. About their adventures

• write books
• draw comics,
• making films.

However, most ninja fans do not realize that this is all nothing more than a myth. In reality, their lives and activities were completely different...

Ninjas are not shadow warriors or "stalkers in the night"

Let's start with the title. The word “ninja” itself (if written in hieroglyphs, it would be忍者) means: “one who hides.” However, this word arose as a result of the Japaneseized Chinese reading of these signs (as we know, in the Japanese language there are two ways of reading hieroglyphs - Chinese and Japanese), but if you read it according to the Japanese tradition, you get “sino mono”. From this combination comes another name for these people

• "Shinobu mono" (literally: professional patient hider)
• or “shinobi mono” (literally: professional peeping hider).

Most often, representatives of this profession in modern Japan are simply called “shinobi”, so in this article I will use this term, along with “ninja”. As for such translation options often used in fiction as “stalkers in the night” and “shadow warriors”, they were created by the imagination of writers of the last and the century before last and have nothing to do with the original.

Preparation

The main idea of ​​shinobi training is to place the student in an aggressive environment to form a flexible reaction to a dangerous situation. This approach is more effective than training under normal conditions: the student better applies the acquired skills and knowledge in a real combat situation, adapts to reality, following the rhythm of reality. Ninja training implied the formation of creative thinking, since only in this way could a warrior quickly determine a non-standard successful way out of a situation, having a limited amount of time and insufficient information.

Ninja training is active-dynamic, aimed at mental and physical fitness. The trainee learned to independently regulate himself, maintaining pace and rhythm, calmness, and a cool mind. For this, “simulators” were used: mannequins, death corridors. This training was consistent with the basics of Zen Buddhism. Each student took it for granted that intuition is preferable to reason, so he learned to cleanse the spirit of experience, formalities, and basic logic. Shinobi were taught to listen to intuitive knowledge, to form a state of high receptivity of the spirit, in which an unexpected situation causes an instantaneous correct reaction.

One of the principles of ninjutsu is respect for the teacher.

Principles of preparation:

• gradualism - increasing loads without haste;
• continuity is a key factor for success, requiring systematic training and daily practice;
• moderation - in nutrition, sensual pleasures;
• prohibition on sexual relations, alcohol, meat;
• self-control - maintaining composure in the most tense situations;
• courtesy - respectfulness, composure, diligence, strict adherence to the instructions of a teacher or elder.

Ninja: who are they really?

Now about who the shinobi really were. After representatives of this, let’s say, not very prestigious profession became popular in the West (this happened in the twentieth century), they began to be credited with a very noble origin. Popularizers of the culture and history of the Land of the Rising Sun (by the way, in most cases did not speak Japanese and used as primary sources the notes of various European travelers of the 19th century, who often accepted stories as truth) wrote that the ninja is a secret society, the roots of which follow look in Buddhist monasteries in Tibet and China .

These authors report that they were in possession of secret

• respiratory,
• combat
• and meditative

techniques, which made them practically “superhumans”.

At the same time, they somehow lost sight of the following fact, repeatedly mentioned in Japanese historical sources: when a shinobi died, none of the Buddha’s servants agreed to perform his burial ceremony . It’s some kind of paradox - why shouldn’t a priest read prayers over such a “highly spiritual” person, because according to the rules of Japanese Buddhist sects, the priests themselves will only benefit from this in their future life?

Less romantic and mystical authors believe that shinobi are a product of exclusively Japanese “production.”

Second version

The idea of ​​​​creating specialized schools for training professional spies and saboteurs arose in the families of samurai warriors, who passed on their skills from father or master (sensei) to son. They became famous ninja families. From childhood, the future ninja learned to ride, swim and handle weapons of all kinds. Since the 15th century AD. e., ninjas were trained in special camps, which could include entire villages. Some schools have become particularly famous, such as those in Iga and Koga provinces. Because the leaders did not want rivals to copy their tactics, all training was conducted secretly and orally to prevent written records from falling into the wrong hands.

Ninja grew up physically healthy and an agile athlete; Jumping from heights and over ditches and other obstacles was a particularly useful skill and is likely the source of the legends associated with the flying ninja. In addition, they were also trained to work in acrobatic teams so that they could use each other to reach great heights. Ninjas could also throw grappling hooks, climb and descend ropes and folding ladders, pick various locks, master various civilian professions, could read and write, know various languages ​​and accents, and enter any places closed to less experienced saboteurs. Ninjas could create spyglasses using pocket folding saws and gouging tools. Ninjas were taught useful skills such as hiding in various places, surviving to live outside the country, reading topography and maps, understanding signs of weather changes, using explosives, securely tying up prisoners, mixing poisons, destroying buildings by fire , and when things went wrong not very good, the art of escape and medicine.

Ninja is not a social position. This is a military role. This is work, so ninjas could be former samurai, ronin. Almost 100% of the ninja texts known today were written by samurai. Illustrated manuals were written as guides for future practitioners, the most famous of which is the Bansen shukai compiled by Fujibayashi Samuji in 1676.

Why Ninjas Shouldn't Be Represented as Monks

They seem to come from the medieval wandering monks of the Yamabushi, who, like the monks of the mendicant orders of medieval Europe, constantly wandered around the country in search of alms and along the way treated the sick, expelled demons, and also engaged in espionage for the benefit of daimyo (regional rulers).

Nevertheless, this is very doubtful, because the Yamabushi were monks, that is, they could not marry or have children, and it is known about ninjas that they had family clans. In addition, according to the rules, yamabushi could not stay in one place for a long time; as for shinobi, it is known that they had permanent settlements in mountainous, inaccessible areas.

So, as you can see, a lot of things don't add up here. Most likely, the opposite process took place - when shinobi did their work, they often disguised themselves as yamabushi (however, they were not the only ones who often did this

• and samurai,
• and traders,
• and even traveling artisans).

This, most likely, served as the basis for this version.

Examples[edit]

During the 1950s and 1960s, Japan experienced a boom in interest in ninjas. Many films and TV series have been shot, books and comics have been published. And in the 1980s, ninjas became popular in America.

Cinema[edit]

• We should start with the huge variety of ninja films of varying degrees of trashiness that were popular in the 1980s. “Revenge of the Ninja”, “Pray for Death”, “Enter the Ninja”, “Nine Deaths of a Ninja”, “White Ninja”... Many of them starred Sho Kosugi (later shaking up the old days in “Blind Fury”). Also, many famous actors appeared in films about ninjas - stars of the by that time exhausted spaghetti western genre: Franco Nero (“Enter the Ninja”), Lee Van Cleef (TV series “The Master”), Richard Harrison (“Ninja Terminator”, “ Ninja Dragon”, “Ninja Defender” and a good dozen more films about shadow warriors). Harrison, who conveniently missed out on the chance to star in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, gained cult status at the very end of his film career thanks to films about ninjas. In the same frame is the famous low-budget tetralogy “American Ninja”.
• And also a semi-parody stylization of similar films, entitled “American Ninja 5” (this is a bastard sequel - because it is not a plot continuation of the first four, Bradley simply also starred there, and in a completely different role).

TV series[edit]

• Tokusatsu (the genre of superhero series) has had a tender love for the subject since its birth. Back in the sixties, toku series about ninjas were released on Japanese TV, first in black and white (Hakuba Douji, etc.), and then in color. For example, the super popular Kamen No Ninja Akakage, based on the manga of the same name. There were three warriors in multi-colored masks - Red Shadow, Blue Shadow, White Shadow. The series was translated into English, and a full-length remake was released in 2001. In the seventies, a duology appeared - Kaiketsu Lion Maru (the intro song is a musical tripper for toku fans) and the sequel Fuun Lion Maru, as well as the lesser-known Shiro Jishi Kamen (White Lion Mask), and Henshin Ninja Arashi. In the eighties, the Metal Hero cycle joined the subject with its Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraya season (Jiraiya himself became so popular that he even appeared in crossovers). We should also talk about Super Sentai and Power Rangers, where they couldn’t get around the ninja theme. First there was the 1994 season of Kakuranger - five colorful shinobi, a team of kunoichi enemies (Hanarangers) and a powerful exploitation of Japanese mythology. And in addition, intelligent robots are straight from that era (Invincible Shogun, Divine Shogun, Tsubasamaru). For the third season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Americans took only zords, but still gave the heroes ninja skills (as well as ninjetti robes with masks). The next nod to the subject was the season of Hurricanger - good ninjas from the “academy” against evil ninjas from space, and its remake Power Rangers Ninja Storm. And finally, the season of Ninninger, which poked more fun at the theme and turned it into a fun circus (suffice it to say that the motto of these rangers is “Ninjas-Who-Don’t-Hide,” which is in direct contradiction to the word “shinobi”). The red rangers from previous ninja seasons once visited the Ninningers, who were slightly puzzled by how the youth behaved, and Jiraiya also appeared. The golden StarNinger, stylized as a cowboy and with a blade-guitar, with his strange manner of taking selfies in front of a defeated monster, adds a degree of inadequacy to this team. In 2017, the Americans made an even more obscure remake of the Ninningers - Power Rangers Ninja Steel.

Animation[edit]

• Amateur flash cartoon "Ninja in action." The law of conservation of ninjutsu is there in all fields.
• Animated series “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (TMNT).

Comics[edit]

• NichtLustig. Here the notorious “invisibility” of the ninja is undermined from all sides. No matter how hard the poor ninjas try to attract attention, no one notices them. Even the photocells of supermarket doors do not respond to them.

Webcomics[edit]

• "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja" is exactly what it says on the tin, he's a doctor, he's Scottish and he's a ninja.
• Meme “FEEL LIKE A NINJIA”. Usually, when a comic character (Ololosh, Dorp, Trololo, Olololya) does something unnoticed by others, then this meme appears.

Anime and manga[edit]

• Jūbē Ninpūchō (Japanese 獣兵衛忍風帖 ju:bei nimpu:cho:) due to its over-brain, called Ninja Scroll - there is no manuscript here (the "manuscript" should actually be translated as "legend" or "history"), there are ninjas , and the main character’s name is Yagu Jubei Mitsuyoshi, the anime is named after him, and he is a historical, real-life character who has entered into legend, and at the same time is actually a samurai.
• Basilisk: A fragile peace exists between two ninja clans that have been at war for centuries. But the current shogun Tokugawa, exhausted by the choice of an heir between the eldest and youngest grandsons, as if matching each of his grandsons with one of the clans, decided to use a war between the clans to identify the most worthy successor.
• Naruto and its sequels - in all fields! Although one could argue that these are just “ordinary” mercenary battle mages who are called shinobi only because of their appearance. And then traditional Japanese mythology and Kishimoto’s terribly overgrown grass went on and on.

• City Hunter - anime and manga parody the cliches of action films of the 80-90s. And in one of the episodes, the main character confronts a completely caricatured ninja. Having realized after a health flogging that this was not the Middle Ages, they became ordinary clerks, although they had not lost their training (at the end of the episode, having missed the train, they decided to get to work by running along the railway, passengers, dumbfounded by the sight of office clerks who were about to overtake train, attached).
• Nobunaga no Shinobi is a comedy about how the Shinobi served Nobunaga.

Video games[edit]

• Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is a tactical stealth game where there is one full-fledged shinobi and his student, and there is also a kunoichi.
• Tenchu: Stealth Assassins - in the stealth genre. The game received many sequels and prequels.
• Ninja Gaiden: Perhaps the most famous game starring a ninja. On consoles, at least. The law of conservation of ninjutsu also does not sleep.
• Shinobi: The main competitor of the above NG in the fight for the title of the main ninja video game series.
• Tekken: Yoshimitsu!
• Zen the Intergalactic Ninja: The name says it all. The protagonist is a blue ninja alien.
• The Strider series is about the futuristic ninja Hiryu.
• Overwatch: Cyborg Ninja Genji.
• Samurai Shodown aka Samurai Spirits: Hanzo Hattori (), a classic ninja, he also has a ninja wife and two ninja sons. Galford D. Weller, American, also trained in the arts of the ninja.
• Total War: Shogun - you can create an entire intelligence network of ninjas covering all of Japan
• Guilty Gear - "gaijin" Chipp Zanuff. A little later, his “senpai” Ansver appeared.
• Mortal Kombat. Male ninjas, female ninjas, lizard ninjas, cyborg ninjas, demigod ninjas. And almost all the colors of the rainbow! Otherwise, how to distinguish them from each other? (Early games generally used the same sprites, recolored in different colors.)
• Bully - just for fun. Sometimes, while hiding from the prefects or the police in a trash can, Jimmy may mutter (or think?) something like, “I’m just like some kind of ninja.”
• Mega man - Shadowman from the third part.
• In Heroes of Might and Magic IV, a hero who has studied Intelligence and Death Magic can become a ninja.
• Mark of the Ninja is a stealth platformer from the talented Klei Entertaiment. To defeat a powerful mega-corporation, the protagonist receives that very “mark” - a tattoo made of poisonous ink. At first, this poison gives powerful abilities, but later the warrior goes crazy and becomes entangled in his own hallucinations.
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - we play as a one-armed shinobi with a combat prosthesis. Place and time of action: Japan of the Sengoku period, but with an admixture of dragons, demonic monkeys and other mythological devilry. The game is pretty hardcore, like everything From Software does. And since the studio is Japanese, they cram Japaneseness everywhere. In the same Dark Souls, among the huge European arsenal[2], you can find a naturally black ninja suit, a pack of katanas, claws and special rings for the ninja build. And there is an NPC in this suit and with a katana.

Board games[edit]

• “Berserk: Universe of Magic Battles” - there is a “Shinobi” card that can fly up when jumping. And the entire order of the Coyars as a whole fits the trope thanks to stealth
  and
  camouflage
  (these are game mechanics). And if you consider that the Koyars (such secret warriors) came from the books of Nik Perumov, and there they are the spitting image of ninjas (only from the “quasi-European” culture, and not from Utai)…

Real life[edit]

• If we take those qualities of a ninja that are applicable in the real world and which, unlike murders, can end up in a biography (an impoverished samurai of the mountainous province of Ito, who constantly travels around the country on mysterious missions, disguised as a merchant or monk, stalks and spies, meets in secret with influential people, masters calligraphy and secret writing, keeps a detailed diary, some parts of which have not yet been deciphered), then the legendary poet Matsuo Basho possessed all the signs of a shadow warrior.
• The Iga-ryu museum, dedicated to ninjas, was robbed in August 2021 according to their own rules: they secretly entered, took out the safe and quietly left. The safe weighed about 150 kg, and there was about a million yen inside.
• The assassins of the Middle East were similar to them - they also loved to hide, and their excessive religiosity made them more cruel.

Ninjas came from Quinin and Eta

The real state of affairs turned out to be much simpler and sadder. All medieval sources (for example, “The Tale of the Great Peace,” which tells about the samurai civil strife of the 14th-15th centuries) say that ninjas came from the Khinin and Eta. This was the name of two class groups, whose position was the same as the famous Indian pariahs (untouchables).

Quinine (literally translated as “non-humans”) specialized in everything related to human corpses and sewage - they were

• gravediggers,
• cleaners,
• sewer trucks
• and even executioners (who executed “ignoble people” about whom the samurai did not want to dirty their swords).

That is, they were engaged in those things that a devout Japanese would never do, since everything that is associated with decomposition and decay is considered a source of defilement for an adherent of both Shinto and Buddhism.

Quinine also included

• former prisoners
• and tramps
• as well as people who committed acts contrary to the ethics of that time

(For example,

• zoophiles
• or people who have committed incest).

Eta (literally: “tanners”) included

• cattle slaughterers,
• flayers,
• butchers,
• hunters,

that is, everyone who had to deal with the constant killing of animals and cutting up carcasses.

However, this same group also included

• midwives,
• junior hospital staff
• and the Ama (pearl divers and shellfish gatherers).

In addition, many Ainu who lived in Honshu and Hokkaido, as well as immigrants from Korea and the Philippines, were traditionally classified as Eta.

Ninja parents were not valued at all

Representatives of both groups were practically outside all laws. If one of these “untouchables” was killed, then no trial was even scheduled, not only for samurai, but also for representatives of other classes (if a samurai, for example, killed a peasant, then there was still a formal trial). Their lives were valued less than the lives of domestic and wild animals.

Quinine and this one had no right

• live in cities and villages,
• enter temples
• be the first to speak with representatives of other classes,
• own property
• and engage in farming (they, however, did not pay taxes either).

They were forbidden

• marry with representatives of other classes (although there were, of course, exceptions)
• and even touch full-fledged residents of Japan.

In case of violation of any prohibition, the villages of the “untouchables” were simply wiped off the face of the earth, exterminating all the inhabitants without exception.

Equipment

The traditional ninja outfit is kuro sezoku; shoes - waraji. Shinobi often dressed in dark blue clothes - they believed that the color drove away poisonous snakes.

Shinobi work clothes are a baggy outfit of a dark gray color, allowing one to blend into the environment.

Ninjas did not wear full armor. If protection was required, a hemispherical helmet was worn, and the most attacked areas of the body were covered with plates.

There is a list of Rokugu - 6 elements of a ninja outfit:

• amigasa (straw hat);
• kaginawa (cat);
• sekihitsu (pencil) or yadate (inkwell);
• yakukhin (first aid kit);
• sanjaku-tenugui (towel);
• uchidake (tsukedake) (pencil case for smoldering coal).

Thanks to the complete set, the warrior could make notes or sketches, a plan, or a mark on the ground at any time.

Ninjas did not wear full armor

Ninja life

It was from this class that shinobi came out. You understand that the fact that they possessed some kind of hidden techniques of breathing and hand-to-hand combat is out of the question - who would teach these techniques to illiterate, downtrodden and in every possible way despised people? Apparently, shinobi came up with all their original methods of hand-to-hand combat themselves, simply in order to protect themselves from offenders. And since the “untouchables” were

• hunters,
• gravediggers
• and flayers,

then, naturally, they knew human and animal anatomy and physiology very well.

This helped them a lot, as did the ability to hold their breath for a long time - otherwise, working all day (note, without a respirator) among decaying corpses, you wouldn’t last long.

The hunting craft developed in them

• attentiveness,
• observation
• and provided information about various poisonous plants.

In short, ninjas had the opportunity to gain special knowledge on the spot, without resorting to “secret” techniques from

• China,
• India
• and Tibet

(and, by the way, no matter how they recognized them - not a single captain would agree to take an “untouchable” on board his ship, and not a single visiting priest would communicate with them).

Ninja specific weapons, e.g.

• “flying stars” and “hairpins” (shaken or shuriken)
• or folding braids (kusari-kama)
• and mini-flails (nunchaku, or, in the Chinese style, nunchaku),

appeared as a result of the fact that the “untouchables” were forbidden to have any traditional weapons, such as

• swords,
• bows
• or copies.

Therefore, they created objects that looked like ordinary tools or household items (the same shurikens were originally just elements of hairpins), but which could also be used in battle. And in handling them, shinobi reached unprecedented heights. But they preferred not to use samurai swords or bows, as is often shown in Hollywood films.

Reality is more than a myth

You may find legends of ninjas flying kites, dropping bombs on the troops below and then turning invisible, but to me the truth about ninjas is way cooler than any legend. There are many museums dedicated entirely to the history of ninjas, and the main one is Iga-Ueno Castle in Mie Prefecture, one of the ancestral homes of ninja warriors.

Ninjas, who have now become legends, have appeared in many films, novels, and manga. Some martial arts practitioners created ninja schools (though not for killing) to develop certain physical characteristics in their followers, creating a kind of magical mysticism around their practice. All of the above has nothing to do with real ninjas, but it's good marketing. Their "art" is called ninjutsu (忍術), nimpo (忍法) or shinobi, and their followers are called ninjutsu-ka.

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Ninjas mastered one art - acting.

But the main art of the ninja was not hand-to-hand combat techniques, but the ability to instantly transform into

• samurai,
• peasant,
• courtier,
• merchant,
• monk, etc., -

in other words, acting (that is, they mastered the Stanislavsky system hundreds of years before its author was born).

This is what gave them the opportunity to move throughout Japan without much risk to themselves. And it was for this that they were valued by the leaders of the samurai armies, who hired shinobi as spies.

Sources claim that the main flowering of the ninja occurred in the period from the 12th to the 17th centuries, that is, at a time when Japan was rocked by internecine wars. The fighting took place over a fairly large area, and it was impossible to do without professional spies.

Thanks to the activities of shinobi, such generals as

• Minamoto Yoshitsune,
• Ashikaga Takauji,
• Takeda Shingen,
• Oda Nobunaga,
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi
• and Tokugawa Ieyasu,

They were often able to defeat their stronger opponents, since they knew everything about their plans on the eve of the battle.

[edit] Sources

1. BBC News, Japan Japan's ninjas heading for extinction
2. A.M.Gorbylev. Ninja: martial arts. What is ninjutsu?
3. magazine "Japan: The Way of the Brush and Sword". No. 1/2004. A. Gorbylev. “The Secret of Invisibility” page 42
4. magazine "Japan: The Way of the Brush and Sword". No. 1/2004. A. Gorbylev. “The Secret of Invisibility” page 42
5. Maslov, 2004
6. BBC News, Japan Japan's ninjas heading for extinction
7. Air Force Ukraine. The Last of the Ninjas in Japan
8. BBC News, Japan Japan's ninjas heading for extinction
9. Air Force Ukraine. The Last of the Ninjas in Japan

Ninjas were not used as assassins

But ninjas were used extremely rarely as hired killers. The fact is that in the era of samurai wars this was unprofitable - if a samurai himself killed or executed an enemy commander, then he was entitled to a reward for this, and most of the enemy warriors went over to the side of his master (that loyalty to the overlord was not at all the main valor samurai, you can read in the article “ The whole truth about samurai ”). In the case of a secret murder, the prestige of the customer did not rise at all, and he did not receive any awards. Therefore, even in hopeless situations, the commanders did not give the shinobi the task of eliminating a competitor.

Here is a typical example of this. What prevented Tokugawa Ieyasu, who, by the way, actively communicated with shinobi, from using their services and eliminating his competitors in the person of

• Ishida Mitsunari
• and Toyotomi Hideeri?

A deft throw of the shaken, a drop of poison dropped into the sleeper’s mouth along a thread, and the problems would immediately disappear. However, he nevertheless preferred in both cases

• long,
• bloody
• and ruinous

war, because he knew for sure that the sudden death of the enemy would not strengthen his authority among the samurai.