A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. Antecedents may have existed as early as the 12th century. Despite popular belief, there is little evidence that ninja were assassins.
In the unrest of the Sengoku period, the jizamurai, peasant-warriors in Iga Province and the adjacent Kōka District, formed ikki – "revolts" or "leagues" – as a means of self-defense. They became known for their military activities in the nearby regions and sold their services as mercenaries and spies. Following the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in the 17th century, the ninja faded into obscurity.
Etymology
Ninja is the on'yomi (Early Middle Chinese–influenced) reading of the two kanji "忍者". In the native kun'yomi reading, it is pronounced shinobi, a shortened form of shinobi-no-mono (忍びの者).Origin of word Ninja .
The word shinobi appears in the written record as far back as the late 8th century in poems in the Man'yōshū.; the full poem is "Yorozu yo ni / Kokoro ha tokete / Waga seko ga / Tsumishi te mitsutsu / Shinobi kanetsumo".; the Man'yōgana used for "shinobi is 志乃備, its meaning and characters are unrelated to the later mercenary shinobi. The literal meaning of shinobi (忍) is "to steal away; to hide" and—by extension—"to forbear", hence its association with stealth and invisibility. Mono (者) means "a person".
Historically, the word ninja was not in common use, and a variety of regional colloquialisms evolved to describe what would later be dubbed ninja. Along with shinobi, these include monomi ("one who sees"), nokizaru ("macaque on the roof"), rappa ("ruffian"), kusa ("grass") and Iga-mono ("one from Iga"). In historical documents, shinobi is almost always used.
In modern fiction, is also another word used to describe ninja, specifically female ones. It was originally argot for "woman". It supposedly comes from the characters く (ku), ノ (no), and 一 (ichi), which make up the three strokes that form the kanji for .
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.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.; American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed.; Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1).
History Despite many popular folktales, historical accounts of the ninja are scarce. The social origin of the ninja is seen as the reason they agree to operate in secret, trading their service for money without honor and glory. The first dubbed ninja was a man named Otomono Sahito, though historical evidence of his existence is scarce.
However, some ninjutsu books described specifically what tactics ninja should use to fight, and the scenarios in which a ninja might find themselves can be deduced from those tactics. For example, in the manuscript of volume 2 of Kanrin Seiyō (間林清陽) which is the original book of Bansenshūkai (万川集海), there are 48 points of ninja's fighting techniques, such as how to make makibishi from bamboo, how to make footwear that makes no sound, fighting techniques when surrounded by many enemies, precautions when using swords at night, how to listen to small sounds, kuji-kiri that prevents guard dogs from barking, and so on.
Predecessors
The title ninja has sometimes been attributed retrospectively to the semi-legendary 2nd-century prince Yamato Takeru.
Prince Shotoku, who lived from 574–622 AD, was believed to have employed a ninja spy named Otomono Sahito.
In the Kojiki, the young Yamato Takeru disguised himself as a charming maiden and assassinated two chiefs of the Kumaso people.; Volume 2, section 80 However, these records take place at a very early stage of Japanese history, and they are unlikely to be connected to the shinobi of later accounts. The first recorded use of espionage was under the employment of Prince Shōtoku in the 6th century. Such tactics were considered unsavory even in early times, when, according to the 10th-century Shōmonki, the boy spy Hasetsukabe no Koharumaru was killed for spying against the insurgent Taira no Masakado.
The history of Ninjitsu schools recorded around the 12th century, when Daisuke Togakure and Kain Doshi formalized the teaching of Chinese and native Japanese guerilla tactics to which was as counter-culture of the time. As a samurai, Daisuke lost his lands and title after being defeated in a regional conflict. Refusing to commit Seppuku, Daisuke travelled to the mountains of southwest Honshu in 1162. Here, he met Doshi, a Chinese warrior-monk. Daisuke abandoned his way of bushido, and worked with Doshi to formulate the guerilla art of war called ninjutsu. Daisuke's descendants founded the first ninja-ryu, or ninja school, the Togakureryu.
Later, the 14th-century war chronicle Taiheiki contained many references to shinobi and credited the destruction of a castle by fire to an unnamed but "highly skilled shinobi".
Early history It was not until the 15th century that spies were specially trained for their purpose. It was around this time that the word shinobi appeared to define and clearly identify ninja as a secretive group of agents. Evidence for this can be seen in historical documents, which began to refer to stealthy soldiers as shinobi during the Sengoku period. Later manuals regarding espionage are often grounded in Chinese military strategy, quoting works such as The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
By the Sengoku period, the shinobi had several roles, including spy (kanchō), scout (teisatsu), surprise attacker (kishu), and agitator (konran). The ninja families were organized into larger guilds, each with their own territories. A system of rank existed. A jōnin ("upper person") was the highest rank, representing the group and hiring out mercenaries. This is followed by the chūnin ("middle person"), assistants to the jōnin. At the bottom was the genin ("lower person"), field agents drawn from the lower class and assigned to carry out actual missions.
Iga and Kōga clans
The Iga and Kōga "clans" were jizamurai families living in the province of Iga (modern Mie Prefecture) and the adjacent region of Kōka (later written as Kōga), named after a village in what is now Shiga Prefecture. From these regions, villages devoted to the training of ninja first appeared. The remoteness and inaccessibility of the surrounding mountains in Iga may have had a role in the ninja's secretive development. The chronicle Go Kagami Furoku writes, of the two clans' origins:
Likewise, a supplement to the Nochi Kagami, a record of the Ashikaga shogunate, confirms the same Iga origin:
These professional ninjas were actively hired by daimyōs between 1485 and 1581. Specifically, the Iga professionals were sought after for their skill at siege warfare, or "shirotori", which included night attacks and ambush.; By the 1460s, the leading families in the regions had established de facto independence from their shugo. The Kōka ikki persisted until 1574, when it was forced to become a vassal of Oda Nobunaga. The Iga ikki continued until 1581, when Nobunaga invaded Iga Province and wiped out the organized clans. Survivors were forced to flee, some to the mountains of Kii, but others arrived before Tokugawa Ieyasu, where they were well treated. Some former Iga clan members, including Hattori Hanzō, would later serve as Tokugawa's bodyguards. Prior to the conquest of Kōka in 1574, the two confederacies worked in alliance together. At an approximate date of 1560, the alliance between Iga and Kōka was formalized in constitutional document.; ;
Following the Battle of Okehazama in 1560, Tokugawa employed a group of eighty Kōga ninja, led by Tomo Sukesada. They were tasked to raid an outpost of the Imagawa clan. The account of this assault is given in the Mikawa Go Fudoki, where it was written that Kōga ninja infiltrated the castle, set fire to its towers, and killed the castellan along with two hundred of the garrison.
Iga Ninja theory's controversy After the assassination of Oda Nobunaga, the Iga and Kōka ninja helped Ieyasu undergo the famous Shinkun Iga-goe journey to escape Nobunaga's enemies in Sakai and return to Mikawa, according to tradition. However, one theory by Mie University researchers suggests that the Kōka clan's Jizamurai militias, not ninja, provided the help.
Their journey was very dangerous due to the existence of "Ochimusha-gari" groups across the route. During this journey, Tokugawa generals such as Ii Naomasa, Sakai Tadatsugu and Honda Tadakatsu fought their way through raids and harassment from Ochimusha-gari outlaws to secure the way for Ieyasu, while sometimes advancing by usage of gold and silver bribes given to some of the more amenable Ochimusha-gari groups. As they reached Kada, an area between Kameyama town and Iga, the attacks from Ochimusha-gari finally ended as they reached the former territory of the Kōka ikki, who were friendly to the Tokugawa clan. The Koka clan helped the Tokugawa escort group eliminate the Ochimusha-gari outlaw threat. Then, they escorted the group until they reached Iga Province, where they were further protected by samurai clans from Iga ikki which accompanied the Ieyasu group until they safely reached Mikawa.
It was reported by Edo period traditional records that Hattori Hanzō, a Tokugawa vassal from Iga, negotiated with Iga ninjas to hire them as guards along the way to avoid the ochimusha-gari. The local Koka-Ikki ninjas and Iga-Ikki ninjas under Hanzo who helped Ieyasu to travel into safety consisted of 300 Ninjas. Furthermore, Uejima Hidetomo, a researcher of Iga Ninja history, has stated there is research which revealed that Hattori Yasuji, one of the ninjas who accompanied Ieyasu on his journey in Iga province, also served as a bodyguard and espionage officer under Muromachi Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki.
However, a modern scholar such as Tatsuo Fujita doubted the credibility of Hattori Hattori Hanzō's ninja army theory, since it was first appeared in Iga-sha yuishogaki record which circulated in Edo period during the rule of Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune. During his rule, Yoshimune were known for establishing the Oniwaban secret police institution whose members hailed from the confederation clans of Koka and Iga. It has been argued that the circulation of the myth about Hattori Hanzō ninja army helping Ieyasu was created as propaganda to increase the prestige of the Iga and Koka clan confederations in Tokugawa Shogunate.
Activities under Tokugawa
In one notable incident from 1600, a ninja snuck through Eastern Army defenders during the Siege of Hataya and planted the flag of the besieging army high on the front gate.
In 1608, a daimyo named Tōdō Takatora was assigned by Ieyasu to control of Tsu, a newly established domain which covered portions of Iga and Ise Province. The domain at first worth of to the 220,000, then grow further in productivity to the total revenue of 320,000 koku under Takatora governance. It was reported that Tōdō Takatora employs the Iga-ryū Ninjas. Aside from Ninjas, he also employs local clans of Iga province as "Musokunin", which is a class of part time Samurai who has been allowed to retain their clan name but does not own any land or Han. The Musokunin also worked as farmer during peace, while they are obliged to take arms in the time of war.
In 1614, the Iga province warriors saw action during the siege of Osaka. Takatora brought the Musokunin auxiliaries from Iga province to besiege the Osaka castle during the winter phase.
Shimabara rebellion
A final but detailed record of ninja employed in open warfare occurred during the Shimabara Rebellion (1637–1638). The Kōga ninja were recruited by shōgun Tokugawa Iemitsu against Christian rebels led by Amakusa Shirō, who made a final stand at Hara Castle, in Hizen Province. A diary kept by a member of the Matsudaira clan, the Amakusa Gunki, relates: "Men from Kōga in Ōmi Province who concealed their appearance would steal up to the castle every night and go inside as they pleased."