Prologue

Who are Ninjas? Ancient Ninjas?
The image of a ninja and the birth of a ninja

NINJYA
Japanese notation: 忍者　　Japanese reading: NINJYA

I think many people associate ninjas with the image of Japan. Ninjas still appear frequently in entertainment, but what kind of people were the actual ninjas? This time, I will talk about the ninjas who are active in entertainment and then about the ancient ninjas.

Entertainment Works Featuring Ninjas

I will introduce some entertainment works that feature ninjas.

※If you want to know more details about the works, you can jump to Wikipedia from the links.

Taxi 2

This is a car action comedy movie where taxi driver Daniel and police officer Emilien confront the Japanese yakuza. Set in modern France, intense car action scenes unfold. Also, there are fighters who fight like ninjas with acrobatic moves against the enemies, and they have powerful battle scenes with the protagonists.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This is an action comic where turtles that became human-like by the power of mutagen, a substance that transforms animals into human-like forms, are active in New York. The protagonists learn ninjutsu from Splinter, a rat who also transformed by the power of mutagen, and fight against evil organizations as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

NARUTO

This is a battle action comic that takes place in a fictional world where ninjas live. The protagonist, Uzumaki Naruto, aims to become the Hokage, the hero of his village. Naruto grows with his friends and fights various enemies with diverse ninjutsu. It is popular all over the world and has been translated and published. I have all the volumes too.

There are many other works that feature characters who are ninjas as their profession.

The ninjas who appear in entertainment are often depicted as “fighting by bewildering their opponents with agile movements and ninjutsu”.
These depictions are highly fictional, but they are not something that emerged in modern times.
Actually, they have been around for quite a long time.

For example, in works such as “Sanada Ten Braves” drawn in the 17th century and “Nanso Satomi Hakkenden” drawn in the 19th century, ninjas are depicted as “fighting by bewildering their opponents with agile movements and ninjutsu”.

So, what kind of people were the actual ninjas?

The Beginning of Ninjas

Ancient Ninjas

The appearance of beings that are thought to be ninjas dates back to the 7th century. At that time, there is a record that Prince Shotoku, the son of the emperor, used people from Koga and called their existence “shinobi”.

Also, in the Jinshin War (672), a succession dispute between Emperor Tenmu and Prince Oama, there is a record that Emperor Tenmu utilized “takoya”, a kind of shinobi.

However, there is not much detail in the records of this period, and they do not go beyond the realm of legend.

From Villains to Ninjas

From Villains to Ninjas

It is said that the prototype of ninjas were the people who were called “akuto” (villains) who appeared from the Kamakura period (1192-1333) to the end of the Kamakura period (14th century).
Akuto were a general term for armed groups that opposed the shoen system, a system of land ownership and taxation, from the Heian period to the Kamakura period.
They were originally people who came from local lords who owned land.
They resisted the shoen lords, such as temples, shrines, and nobles, and used force.
Some of the akuto were also familiar with Shugendo, a syncretic religion that combines Buddhism and Shintoism.
They learned the tactics of yamabushi, ascetic mountain monks, in Shugendo, and also collected information when they traveled around various places as guides.

Shoen System
Japanese notation：荘園制度
Japanese reading：Syouen Seido
A land system from the 8th to the 16th centuries, based on the “shoen”, private lands of nobles and temples. The shoen lords collected taxes called nengu from their shoen. The shoen were exempt from taxation by the state, and the more shoen there were, the more they adversely affected the state finances. As the daimyo’s territorial control increased in various places after the Warring States period, the rights of the shoen were lost, and they were finally abolished by Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s “Taiko Land Survey”.

Ninjas in the Warring States Period

Ninjas began to play an active role from the Warring States period (1467-1603). At this time, there were many ninja organizations organized under the daimyo, feudal lords. There were also regions where ninjas ruled, such as Iga and Koga. They collected information, carried out sabotage, and disrupted battles in the midst of the warring daimyo. The era when ninjas were active was the Warring States period, so in future articles we will explain in detail about the ninjas of the Warring States period.

Epilogue