In Search of the Niinja (9 page)

The word ‘shinobi’ appears in the fourteenth century and then disappears for around 200 years, until it starts to re-emerge at the end of the Sengoku period and the start of the Edo period. Which begs the question, where did it go? As the Sengoku period was filled with warfare and fire, it is possible that documentation regarding the arts of the ninja or even references to them have been destroyed or were simply never made. It is also possible that there are still references to the shinobi to be found in letters and documents as yet unread. Alternative ideograms or the use of phonetics and the use of alternative names is also a possible explanation for the silence; a silence that may be broken by further research.

The final and possibly most significant problem with the term ‘shinobi’ is the minefield of alternatives. There is a list of names that are considered to be alternatives for the word ninja, words like
Kanja
,
Suppa
,
Rappa
,
Kamari
,
Onmitsu
,
Oniwaban
,
Iga no mono
,
Koka no mono, Monogiki, Kagi, Yutei, Yushi
and many more.
34
There is no supporting evidence or any solid connection to show why each alternative word is considered to be equal to shinobi, they are just given. The identification of which alternative word actually means ninja is confused by a web of arguments and counter arguments. The level of research required to establish a correct and proven full list for the alternatives to ninja would be a thesis in its own right and has not been presented here. This book concentrates on the main groups and touches on the alternatives for the ninja but predominantly focuses its search on the term ‘shinobi’ and its specific historical ‘footprint’.

The following quotes display the complexities of establishing a correct list of alternative names for the ninja, but will show that the ninja themselves considered the fact that there were many alternatives or titles for their art. The
Bansenshukai
gives a few options:

Question: Is this art called ninjutsu in China as well?

Answer: Shinobi is a name that was invented in our country. In the state of Wu
35
it was called Kan
, and in the Spring and Autumn period, Cho
, and in and after the Warring States period [in China], Saisaku
, Yutei
, and so on. All these names refer to ninjutsu. Alongside this, in the Six Secret Teachings
36
it is referred to as Yushi
‘playing warrior’ and in the Yin Jing
manual written by Risen it is known as Koujin
. As seen in these, it has been called many different names according to the period, or the lord’s intention. It is quite similar in our country, as we call it
shinobi Yato, Suppa, Nokizaaru, Mitsumono, Kyoudan
, etc.

The
Kusunoki-ryu Ninpo Dakko Shinobi No Makimono
also states:

Toryu
37
means the
Kusunoki-Ryu
and the skill of
Dakko
– which means depriving the world by mouth – and these are considered the art of the shinobi. Each family has their own name for this art and that name changes. In the Takeda clan it is called
Suppa
38
and in the Hojo clan it is called
Fuma
and that clan uses
Tozoku
(thieves). A common saying is ‘
Suppa no gotoku
’ that is to ‘be like
Suppa
’; this phrase comes from the shinobi of the Takeda clan. Another saying is: ‘
Ame furi Fuma ni shinobu
’ that is, ‘to steal in during the rainfall, just like
Fuma
’.

There exists a historical whirlpool, where true alternatives for the word or idea of the ninja clash and mix with the waters of false or misunderstood variations. The modern ninjutsu community swims in this mixture, sometimes stating the truth and sometimes accepting the incorrect as fact.

Notes

34
    The list represents those words which are considered to either be shinobi or close to the meaning.

35
    C.585–473BC, a state during the Spring and Autumn period in China.

36
    A treatise on military strategy in ancient China, believed to have been written by Jian Taigong, military adviser to King Wen and King Wu, which helped them to establish the Zhou Dynasty. Considered to be one of the Seven Military Classics.

37
    ‘Our school’.

38
    In this manual the pronunciation ‘
Suhha
’ is used.

Putting the
in Ninja

After the defeat of Moriya, we were named with the ideogram shinobi

The Ogiden manual, 16th century

‘
nin
’ is the infamous ideogram that sparks the imagination of a myriad martial artists and historians, even the sight of its black form on a page fascinates most ninja enthusiasts. However, this should not always be the case. Firstly, the shinobi come under many guises, as discussed above, and secondly, this Chinese ideogram is not always considered to mean ninja. The ideogram itself is thousands of years old, yet the shinobi can only be traced back to the fourteenth century, and without doubt this symbol is not solely linked to the ninja in the Japanese mind or language. There are multiple meanings that can be extracted from this ideogram, such as stealth, perseverance, creeping, hidden, and others. It can hold a number of connotations depending on the syntax. For example, a
shinobi-amigasa
(or
shinobi-gasa
) is often thought to be a ‘ninja-hat’; however, this is not the case as its true translation is ‘the hat that hides [the person’s face]’. It was worn by those who wanted to hide their face when travelling to places they did not wish to be seen, such as brothels or gambling houses and had no connection to the ninja themselves. (It would be illogical for a ninja to have a specific hat, unles it served some specific military purpose.) Further examples of this can be seen in the two images above, where the ideogram ‘
nin
’, not only has a different pronunciation to either ‘
nin
’ or ‘
shinobu
’ but in fact means to ‘persevere’, and not in the manner a ninja needs to.