SNEAKY NINJA FULL

Historically, the word 'ninja' was not generally used in Japanese historical documents, shinobi was often used. While commonly thought to have originated in Japan, ninjas may have originated in China, and the idea and practice later spread to Japan. Their mysterious histories and supposed rivalry have been popular fodder for Japanese fiction for years. During the Sengoku Jidai, the most prolific shinobi were of the Koka or Koga province and the Iga province, rugged, secretive clans notorious for guerilla warfare, unorthodox tactics and selling these services to warlords. Legendary ninja include Fuuma Kotaro, Hattori Hanzō and Sarutobi Sasuke. In some works of fiction, ninja are divided into three ranks: genin (lower), chūnin (middle), jōnin (upper).

The most common weapon for them is twin knives, which they Dual Wield and have at least one of them in a Reverse Grip. There may be some Truth in Fiction, as real-life kunoichi would often use their attractiveness to lower the guards of their male targets in order to assassinate them in privacy or bribe information. Kunoichi are also often seen in outfits that combine a hodgepodge of traditional clothing, fishnet, bared skin, and strategically-placed weapons, and tend to be given the Punny Name of 'Shinobu' in media. Kunoichi are often portrayed in media as experts in seduction and poisons. Even the split or toe-divided boots which are a trademark of the ninja costume are actually an Anachronism Stew: toe-divided shoes or ''jika-tabi'' were actually invented in the 20th century, and only some modern ninjutsu schools would adopt them for practicality reasons.įemale ninja are often called kunoichi in a pun on the kanji for woman (女, onna/ jo), which looks like it's made up of ku (く), no (ノ), and ichi (一). That way, they can move about unnoticed, day or night. Usually, though, ninjas simply dressed like ordinary people (peasants, monks, merchants, scholars, etc). For night stealth, real ninjas wore dark blue outfits someone dressed in solid black will stand out like a silhouette. The stereotypical black 'ninja outfit' would be actually horribly conspicuous, even at night.

SNEAKY NINJA FULL

It became a practice to hide ninja characters in full sight by putting them in the same outfits as the stagehands, for a startling effect when characters were suddenly attacked by 'thin air'. Japanese stagehands are frequently in full view on the stage, but the audience was meant to ignore them and thus they are considered 'invisible' by the audience. The 'classic' black ninja costume is, in fact, the outfit worn by stagehands in traditional Japanese theatre. Among many other things, a good ninja always knew where his sanjaku tenugui was. Plainly put, while a stereotypical ninja would jump around on rooftops in ridiculous clothing, a real ninja most likely would simply infiltrate the household staff and poison a meal.

Ninjas were also quite skilled with a variety of tools, such as the multipurpose kunai. One of the most popular Sengoku-era historians, Stephen Turnbull, has also written a dissertation refuting his own previously published work on ninja, bolstering the theory that a lot of what we know about (real-life, historical) ninja may also be based on legend and unreliable sources. All of the most famous historical figures known today as ninja were also samurai, specializing in guerilla tactics and espionage aside from the usual skills samurai were known for. More recent research indicates that ninja as even well-learnt historians thought of them may not have existed at all. Ninjas were mainly deployed for espionage, sabotage, and sometimes assassination. A popular myth states that ninjas came from lower classes (at least compared to the samurai) and they were often hired to do the dirty deeds honorable samurai would not do, but in reality ninjas were usually samurai, or in rare cases, mercenaries hired by samurai. Superior knowledge of survival skills, a lot of actual stealth, poisons, assassination techniques and unorthodox tactics (added to the fact that the ninjas actively encouraged the spread of rumors of their magical abilities) were the most important though. Their 'invisibility' was part psychological in cause - by dressing as a peasant, they were ignored and dismissed, or never even noticed at all, by the upper classes, a useful thing despite the oft fierce travel restrictions on the lower classes. While ninjas did indeed exist, their reputation for invisibility and infiltration more likely stemmed from their willingness to dress as members of a lower social class when no one in the nobility of Japan would consider doing such a thing.

Sneaky ninja