Editor's note: This article is written by an unknown ninja master of Iga Ryu. The name "Iga Ryu" derives from his hometown of Iga (located in present-day Honmiyama Prefecture). The anonymous author lived during the reign of the eleventh shogun Tokugawa Ieki (1787-1837). In the meantime, Japan's state of isolation was challenged, so in 1789 the shogunate commissioned the "Ninja Treasure Hall" as a textbook for training ninjas to defend the country. The work was originally circulated as a manuscript. In 1853, perry knocked on the pass, and the shogunate hastily produced a set of illustrated woodblock editions of the Ninja Secret Treasure Hall. But it soon became clear that the ancient ninjutsu was useless in the face of Western guns, and the publication of the Ninja Treasure House stalled. In 1891, the original scrolls of the Ninja Vault were destroyed in fire. At present, only one set of woodblock prints has survived and is stored in the Nara Prefectural Library. This article helps us understand who real ninjas in history really are and what they are doing. Due to its subordinateity to the Tokugawa shogunate, the original text has a lot of praise for shoguns, and this part was omitted when editing.
Sorry, we are not assassins
Ninjas are a group of mysterious people.
The word "forbearance" is "blade" and "heart" is a reminder that ninjas often need to risk their lives. As you can see, it consists of two separate Chinese characters "blade" and "heart". The word "forbearance" actually has two meanings. Most people probably know that "forbearance" has the meaning of "hidden", and ninjas are "people who engage in secret activities", but "forbearance" can also be used to express qualities such as patience, patience, and tenacity. These are the qualities necessary to become a ninja, so we must also see ninjas as resilient people who can endure suffering, endure pain and discomfort, and survive adversity. "Ninjutsu" can be understood as a skill for covert activities or the ability to endure. Ninjas have to learn how to endure great suffering as well as how to climb into the daimyo's castle. Ninjas must learn how to survive on small amounts of food, how to fall asleep in cold storms, and must be able to face death bravely.
Ninja missions include espionage and infiltration. In other words, we gather intelligence from the enemy while creating chaos among them. We have developed many skills that will help us infiltrate well-defended strongholds, escape after completing our mission, and report important intelligence we have acquired to our superiors. As ninjas, we need to learn a lot of skills and knowledge – ninjas must be able to adapt to changes, because gathering intelligence requires wisdom! Ninjas must also learn how to draw maps, and the ability to read and write will give ninjas a greater advantage. Ninjas' vision and hearing must be very sensitive. Young ninjas also go deep into the mountains to learn how to survive and protect themselves so that they can become experts in field combat and survival in the wild. Of course, the premise is that he can survive the process of learning. Young ninjas need to be physically fit, able to run long distances (sometimes they have to travel long distances to pass on the information they have acquired), and be able to climb over walls into the city. Ninjas may even have to learn how to dislocate their joints so that they can drill into narrow openings or disguise themselves as disabled people without arousing suspicion. Strong lung capacity is also essential because ninjas must learn how to breathe with bamboo tubes under the surface of the water.
However, some believe that ninjas are nothing more than hired assassins. "You say ninjas?" Aren't they just killers who go around killing people? "Sometimes the actions of ninjas do cause death, which is regrettable. However, real ninjas do not accept assassination missions. Unfortunately, there have been some incidents in Japanese history that could have caused misunderstandings, such as assassins taking advantage of the night (and wearing black!). Climb into the mansion of a prominent official and assassinate him. Ordinary people and some ignorant people will think that these crimes were committed by ninjas. Please note that they are usually acts of personal revenge taken by acquaintances of the victim and are not committed by members of our honorable ninja organization. Ninjas are not hired assassins.
Ninjas need constant practice to master ninjutsu and martial arts. Note that I made a strict distinction between the two. Ninjutsu refers to the technique of espionage and infiltration in order to gain intelligence or create confusion among the enemy. Martial arts refer to fighting enemies with weapons or bare hands like ordinary samurai. Sadly, some scammers claim to be able to teach people — to those who trust them — the so-called "ninja martial arts." These crooks are actually teaching the techniques of using weapons and grappling. The reason why they ask students to wear black is only to mislead people. These people are liars, don't fool them.
There is no special so-called "ninja martial art"
Second, who is suitable to be a ninja
Whether you can become a ninja depends largely on where you come from.
First of all, allow me to say a few words to the noble samurai. Only the samurai enjoyed the privilege of taking the surname sabre, and these two swords symbolized the status and martial arts of the samurai. Your ancestors killed bravely on the battlefield and won great honors, and now you want to give up those honors and become a ninja?
There's a big difference between samurai and ninjas – your ancestors' battles are public, their exploits are rewarded, their names are remembered, and their deeds are passed down from generation to generation. As a ninja, your actions will never be known, so your name will neither appear in the Chronicles nor be praised by singers. As a ninja, you have to keep missions in secret, and even after a long time of successful mission, you still have to keep it a secret. Only you and your master know the truth – you are the one who climbs the walls and burns down the enemy city! You'll be rewarded with a bag of gold coins after a successful mission, but is it worth keeping you shut up forever? No one will know how brave you really are, can you accept that?
Also, as a ninja, you need to disguise yourself when performing your mission. You can't wear a good silk robe like a samurai and carry two samurai swords around your waist. Instead, you have to disguise yourself as a merchant, a wandering monk, or a farmer. Because your main job is to gather intelligence, to get important information, sometimes you have to live with the villagers, you have to imitate their way of life, and even develop certain habits that you may find unbearable. Passing samurai may scoff at you when they see you and kick you into the gutter. Imagine how you died. Neither the battlefield nor the glorious abdomen are ninjas. You must give the information you have obtained to your master at all costs, and you cannot choose to fight, let alone end your life like a samurai. You have to do your best to escape! And your comrades-in-arms will naturally see you as a coward.
Can you tolerate this? If your answer is yes, then you have the potential to become a ninja.
Now, let me say a few words to the bottom of society. Of course, the social bottom I am talking about here does not refer to the peasants who grow rice, nor to the merchants, craftsmen, actors, priests and monks. These people can't be ninjas. My words are addressed to the so-called "untouchables" (known as "filthy" or "inhuman"), who are excluded from the "peasants, industrialists, and merchants" and are thieves engaged in theft and robbery. Once caught, they were stabbed, imprisoned, and even sentenced to death. However, thanks to Providence, these pathetic men possess certain skills and talents that, when properly trained, can be transformed into useful skills that will enable them to serve as generals as ninjas.
You may well be one of those "untouchables". Will you slip on the door to pick a lock? If your answer is yes, then you have the potential to become a ninja. And, please note! Unlike noble samurai, no one will know what you did. A bag of coins is the only reward you can get. When you're about to be sentenced to death or thrown into a cauldron filled with boiling water, the "I was a ninja" rhetoric won't win you the slightest sympathy because no one will believe you and you won't have evidence to prove it. Can you tolerate this? If your answer is yes, then you have the potential to become a ninja.
Iga's ability to produce so many ninjas has a lot to do with the barrenness of the land. Elsewhere the area may be larger, the land may be more fertile, more suitable for rice cultivation, there may be large rivers nourished, there are more suitable roads for transportation and trade, but this is not the case in small Iga. Our rivers are too turbulent, and our mountains have very few areas suitable for farming. We are not blessed with a rich and stable life in the plains. Our ancestors either lived on barren land or by logging in the mountains to provide the timber needed to build nara monasteries. We must also acknowledge that many people have indeed done something wrong because of poverty. These acts were certainly unnatural, but over time, the gods made the Iga chiefs realize that a gift like ninjutsu could not be defiled by such evils as robbery and theft. In this way, ninjutsu was recognized and valued.
Iga, which is rich in ninjas, is a barren land
Third, the source of ninjas is spies
Much of the ninja's history is kept secret and will not be made public in the future. But we can start with distant ancient China.
Since ancient times, Japan has learned a lot from China, such as Buddhism, the way of government, cherry blossom viewing and tea ceremony, as well as knowledge about ninjas and ninjutsu. Many centuries ago, a wise man named Sun Tzu wrote a copy of Sun Tzu's Art of War. The princes and nobles originally hoped to learn the skills of car warfare and field warfare through this book, but this book was actually to warn people that they should be prepared before they actually fought the enemy. Sun Tzu believed that a wise general should first try to demoralize the enemy and should not act recklessly until the enemy's morale was demoralized. If the enemy is already in chaos before the engagement, then the general can easily win on the battlefield. Before going to war, the best generals would send spies to infiltrate enemy camps to do the job. They will infiltrate the enemy in various ways and wreak havoc. The people who perform these secret missions are what is now called ninjas.
The ninja originally played the role of a spy, gathering intelligence related to the enemy's movements so that the general could understand the enemy's plans. Everything, from the harvest of food to the popularity of a monarch, is essential to understanding the enemy and his country. At the same time, intelligence-gathering spies will spread rumors, such as exaggerating their own forces or lying about traitors within the enemy, sowing seeds of doubt and fear among the enemy. If the rift is successful, the enemy monarch may even get rid of his most loyal generals.
Sun Tzu called these spies "inter", and also divided the spies into five categories - cause, in, anti, dead, and alive. Inma is a local spy, referring to the temporary hiring of local residents (usually villagers) to act as their own eyeliner. The Inner Chamber is a spy who infiltrates the enemy army and is sometimes recruited directly from the enemy. Anti-Ma is a double agent. The enemy thinks their spies have brought back reliable intelligence, but what they get is false information deliberately made up to create chaos. Dead is a chilling term because they were likely killed, but the fake information they leaked under torture may have worked. The living beings are spies who survive and send back intelligence, which is the early ninja. The students had to infiltrate the enemy camp and bring back valuable information, so most of the people who served as students were astute people. They have the ability to overcome difficulties and the social skills needed to get close to the enemy's core figures. Shengma is the Chinese ancestor of ninjas.
During the Sengoku period, which lasted from 1467 to 1600, the role of ninjas was valued and their status was greatly enhanced. The first daimyo to use ninja heavily was Oda Nobunaga. Later Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu also knew how to use ninjas to win.
Two ninjas stood by the moat plotting how to enter the city, holding hooks and ropes that could be used to climb the walls, and someone was eavesdropping on their plans.
Who are ninjas primarily aimed at?
At the moment, the reason ninja exists is that the enemy is likely lurking in the shadows. We can divide these hostile or misguided people into six categories.
Enemy One: The Daimyo. They were daimyōs who had been with Tokugawa Ieyasu before the Battle of Sekigahara. After the Battle of Sekigahara, it was moved to a remote area of Japan. Some of these still disgruntled daimyōs threatened rebellion from time to time, so Tokugawa Iemitsu ordered their families to live permanently in Edo. The daimyō himself had to visit Edo Castle regularly. The Iga ninjas would closely monitor their movements as they traveled between the domain and Edo, investigating them and reporting to the shogunate's elders.
Enemy Two: Other Daimyo. Some daimyōs who supported Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1600 later began to question the wisdom of his rule. The descendants of these people openly flouted shogunate law and did disgraceful things in their territory, such as building bridges and roads. Every righteous person knows that easy transportation is a threat to the general. Loyal daimyōs should live in places where roads fall into disrepair, so as to ensure the safety of the country. Some otherwise loyal daimyōs were dissatisfied with etiquette, marital relationships, etc., and even reluctant to undertake financial obligations. Therefore, the shogunate sent ninjas to investigate them.
Enemy Three: Christians. In 1549, Portugal introduced Christianity to Japan. Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered the samurai class not to accept these unsatisfactory heresies. Although there were still a small number of Christians among the population, the shogunate kept a close watch on the coast to prevent missionaries from smuggling in, so that Christians would eventually disappear from Japan. Searching for missionaries is also one of the tasks ninjas may receive. This task is not very difficult, because the missionaries are mostly Europeans, which can be distinguished at a glance, of course, sometimes you still need to spend a lot of effort to find them. As for Christians, ninjas may be asked to raid suspicious homes that may harbor crosses or icons, and then hand over prisoners to the shogunate to receive appropriate punishment. This task is not decent enough, and to some extent it undermines the dignity of ninjas, but we must do our best to protect the kingdom of God.
Enemy Four: Ronin. Ronin are no master, wandering samurai, and their original masters have either passed away or their territories have been confiscated for crimes. The idle Ronin are very dangerous, and they are more inclined to rebel against the rule of the general. In 1651, a group of ronin plotted to set fire to Edo Castle and overthrow the shogunate, but the ninjas in charge of monitoring them discovered their plot in time. In 1703, at least forty-seven ronin murdered a daimyo together, simply to vent their anger, an act that was completely against providence. Their assassination plans were kept secret, and even the ninjas who monitored them were kept in the dark. Infiltrating the rebel party and stopping such atrocities is probably the most important job you need to do as a ninja.
Enemy Five: The rebellious peasants. Some peasants held grudges against the shogunate, and terrible riots occasionally broke out in the countryside, opening warehouses to release grain. As a ninja, one of your tasks is to nip such an event in the bud. To achieve this, you may need to dress like a farmer and behave as rudely as they do. It's certainly not a good job, but someone has to do it.
Sometimes, Japanese farmers whose job is to cultivate the fields will rise up, and ninjas will be asked to disguise themselves as farmers and mix with them.
Enemy Six: Foreigners. The third generation of shoguns, Iemitsu, believed that Japan should cut off ties with the outside world. As a result, in the past century and a half, very few foreigners have appeared in Japan. Some Chinese and North Koreans can do business in Nagasaki, but they are tightly controlled and must ensure that they do not pose any threat. Europeans were forbidden to enter Japan, with the only exception of loyal Dutch, who were required to bow down to the general. There are more Dutch people on Spice Island, in addition to Spaniards in the Philippines, Portuguese in Macau, China, and English speakers everywhere. In addition to the friendly Dutch, the troops stationed in these places posed a potential threat to Japan, and the United States did not know when it would invade Japan. As ninjas, you may be sent to terrible cities like Manila or Batavia to spy on them, and you have to keep a close eye on whether their ships have invaded Japanese waters—a few years ago, Kishu's whaling fleet encountered some eccentric strangers who said they were Americans and were also whaling. Our captain noticed that these foolish men had discarded precious fish flesh after catching the whales, leaving only useless oil and bones! Americans must be very abnormal, and we don't have to worry about them.
The last category of enemies is criminals. Many of the chicken and dog thieves led Edo's criminal gangs, engaged in illegal activities such as gambling, extortion, and even engaged in murderous and cross-border activities. The ninjas must investigate them and stop their criminal behavior. (Source: Tencent News)
This article is excerpted from The Ninja, the original book of Iga Ryu's Nameless Ninja, translated into English and annotated by the British scholar Stephen Turnbull, and translated from English by Egawa to Chinese. Produced by Houlang, published by Guangdong Tourism Publishing House in 2021. The original text is long and abridged, and the size of the title is prepared by the editor. Authorized by the producer.
About the Author: Stephen Turnbull is an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Leeds, a Research Assistant at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, a Visiting Professor at the International Liberal Arts University of Japan, and an expert on military history in Medieval Europe and the Far East. He is the author of "The Legend of the Samurai", "The Last Samurai", "Renaissance Art of War" and so on