|
|
| (collection of K. Rainville) |
The black suit (worn day or night), the requisite throwing stars and straight sword, an arsenal of weird spy gadgets, superhuman
athletic feats, devastating hand-to-hand combat skills, uncanny stealth, powers of hypnosis, mastery of arcane poisons and
assassination techniques, fanatical cult dedication in contrast to a mercenary nature — qualities irrevocably tied to
the shinobi. However one can argue that ninja never did exist in the broadly summarized way we see them now. A lot of people
profited greatly from propagating a completely unreal story of the shinobi, and there's seven or eight centuries worth of
mythmaking and mass marketing to deal with while sifting for the historical truth.
You can look at ninja history in three different aspects:
Military History
OR: A History of Common Sense in Japanese Warfare
Ninja, or more specifically shinobi-ku — units of warriors trained in specialized commando tactics — hold
a special fascination for modern military historians. In an age of ritualized combat and strict codes of battlefield behavior,
the use of these units became one of history's first organized applications of what we today call Special Forces. Typical
samurai behavior, like challenging each other to duels or collecting heads of fallen rivals for personal glory, did not an
efficient battlefield campaign make. So, going as far back as the 1300s, "shadow-skilled" specialists were used for then novel
tasks like monitoring troop movements, mapping layouts of enemy strongholds, and targeting command figures to disrupt enemy
maneuvers. By the 1500s, feudal lords were using castle raiding units to sneak into enemy fortresses dressed as guards, starting
fires or attacking other guards to suggest a fortress mutiny, generally causing all sorts of anarchy inside while the formal
military crept forward outside. A variety of specialized military or employed mercenary troops throughout Japan's feudal era
can be considered under the vague "ninja" umbrella: rappa were bandit gangs used to plague enemy territories, kusa
referred to special sentries hidden in tall grass, sutekamari no jutsu was the practice of leaving snipers behind retreating
armies to take shots at the advancing enemy's officers, and kesshi were suicide squads.
In the 1580s, Japan was unified by the Napoleon-like Hideyoshi Toyotomi, and 23 years later Ieyasu Tokugawa became Shogun.
The bloodsoaked fuedal era was over, as was the boom period for outre military specialists and contractors. The need for shinobi-ku
on the battlefield may have waned, but the perceived need of the shadow-skill set was a different matter entirely.
Their techniques were seen as vital to keeping the machinations of the new peace well oiled.
Ieyasu Tokugawa perhaps saw it best, and rewarded the famed warrior Hattori Hanzo and the surviving 'men of Iga' jobs as his
personal bodyguards. Iga province, fabled birthplace of the ninja, had been seen as a major threat by Tokugawa's predecessor
Oda Nobunaga. He invaded the mountainous territory in 1579, and was routed by a display of guerilla tactics that must have
horrified the samurai army of 12,000. He returned two years later with six armies (44,000 troops) and in a brutal application
of the 'scorched earth policy' razed the modest province and decimated its population. After Nobunaga's untimely death, Tokugawa
sheltered the remnants of Iga's warrior elite as his own, both surrounding himself with a capable guard and eliminating a
potential vengeful threat by co-opting the very people previously so feared. The example was followed by much of the new politic,
ninja were a must-have addition to any insecure lord's peacetime army.
Regardless of how legit the threat of shinobi agents actually was, ninja paranoia made for good business, particularly
for anti-ninja consultants (often ninja themselves) as well as architects specializing in anti-ninja housing. Equipped with
slippery walls, hidden viewports and creaking floors, these ninja-proof buildings are actually popular tourist attractions
today.
|
| The gravesite of famed ninja leader Hattori Hanzo. |
Martial Arts Traditions
...and the not-so-secret secret scrolls
Sun Tzu's profound Art of War introduced the very concepts of special forces, intelligence gathering and sabotage to
the Japanese as far back as the 7th Century AD. That seed grew into a thriving industry for samurai families choosing to specialize
in outre shadow skills. Contrary to traditions of ritualized warfare and rigid martial arts practices, these services required
out-of-the-box training, innovative methods, and an array of gadgetry that would baffle anyone outside the discipline. When
the age of internal warfare ceased in Japan, centuries of shadow skills were saved from obscurity by astute families adapting
the successes of the battlefield to the new political era facing them. Loosely organized tricks of the trade were codified
into "ryu" — what we would call 'styles' — sort of organic museums of martial arts traditions. Here's where you
get the vaunted "secret scrolls" being handed down through generations, rife with brushed ink illustrations of archaic weapons
and curious spyware. As the world grew up and ninja were less and less needed (or in many opinions, the world caught up
to the shinobi), some of these ryu endured as a sort of archeological record of a martial past.
Togakure Ryu was one such enduring tradition, and this style ensured it's survival like no other — it embraced
modern media and expanded it's teaching's worldwide. The style's last full Grandmaster Toshitsugu Takamatsu spent the last
15 years of his life training the current godfather of worldwide ninjutsu Masaaki Hatsumi. Together they served as technical
advisors to popular ninja films and found great success publishing ninja books. Hatsumi trained Europeans and Americans in
the traditions of his art and licensed them to spread the ryu worldwide, fueling a global explosion of modern ninja training
in the 1980s.
Reprints of the 1676 'secret scroll' Bansen Shukai, one of the more credible ninja history tomes. At right is Dr. Masaki
Hatsumi's early 1960's book Ninja for Kids, a bestseller and the start of his hugely sucessful run of globally distributed
works.
Popular Entertainment
A scroll may tell a thousand secret words, but a PICTURE...
It is the iconography of the ninja — the alluring image of the black-suited warrior with the exotic weapons —
that more often than not defines "ninja." Sensationalized notions of the ninja go back as far as the shinobi's genuine history,
and were even encouraged back in the day by families hiring-out their services or commandos planting terrifying ideas into
already paranoid palace guards. Ninja 'fish tales' and popular lore go back to the 1500s (and further by some definitions),
and were kept alive by kodanshi traveling performers and kabuki stage dramas. Popular novels and illustrations of the
1700-1800s finally lock down the image of the shinobi in the classic black suit and sinister mask. A lot of what we've coined
"retro-shinobification" took place, too, as historical figures were given credit for being ninja whether they had been
or not. Myriad military commanders and common thieves had their portraits inked-over with black night suits and their bios
spiced up with sensational shinobi activity.
In general, popular lore became popular media and the image and notion of what the public WANTED to believe was "ninja" replaced
any credible military history or martial arts tradition.
Collectible "cigarette cards" from the early 1900s, starring the first multi-media ninja sensation Sarutobi Sasuke.
This character has been reimagined by manga artists including Osamu Tezuka and in films like Renegade Ninjas and Samurai
Spy.
The 20th Century saw three distinct "ninja booms":
-- 1910-1920s - A monkey in every kid's pocket!
Tachikawa Bunko (Pocket Books) become all the rage when the 40th
volume of the kid's novel series features the "Leaping Monkey" Sarutobi Sasuke. Previously, ninja were portrayed as vile villains
or trouble-making wizards, but now shinobi were redefined as superheroes, and we've never looked back.
-- 1960s - Ninja come to manga and the movies!
The 60's saw explosions in both whimsical fantasy flicks and serious
historically accurate fare both on the pulp page and the silver screen. Anything and everything ninja sold, they were all
over TV, the toy shelf, product advertising and pornography. Although some of this media wave was exported to markets in Australia
and Italy, none of it made it here. We were SOOOOOOO robbed!
-- The 1980s - We Want Our Black Ninja, AND WE WANT HIM NOW!
American film studios race to get out a ninja flick,
based on the buzz created by Eric Van Lustbader's best-selling novel The Ninja. Alas, the exploitation filmmakers beat
the big guys to the punch, and for better or worse, Sho Kosugi, Chuck Norris and Michael Dudikoff would come to define ninja
to American audiences. At the same time, ninja training became the rage in the martial arts world, the turtles hit comics
and TV, and ninja were everywhere... EVERYWHERE!
It was a grand decade in black, but eventually the very word 'ninja' became poison. Media witch-hunters chose mail order weapons
as the ruin-of-society-du-jour. Ninja movies devolved into horrendous Hong Kong exploitation, or trite kids comedies. Then
the kickboxers took over martial arts cinema in the 90's and ninja were yesterday's news. We never got that high-end American
ninja movie we should have, and the rental market went to the gutter-grade material so quick there was nary a thought to import
the high-end Japanese stuff from decades past.
Many consider the start of the 21st Century to be a new ninja boom, born of nostalgia for the 1980's, the DVD revolution,
the internet, video games and new digital filmmaking. We'd have to agree!
ŠKeith J. Rainville, 2005
This humble article is less about ninja history than it is an illustration of WHY ninja history is so challenging. We recommend
the following:
N80's Amazon.com ninja history list
Stephen Turnbull's homepage
Roy Ron's Ninpo History
Warrior Information Network's ninja history
|
