The ninja of Japan have become mired with the brush of misunderstanding and their story is being rewritten by the continuation of misnomers. Antony Cummins, a postgraduate in the area of history and archaeology has formed the Historical Ninjutsu Research Team with the aim of translating and understanding the ninja or shinobi in their correct historical context. Therefore, here you will find the historical truth behind some of the most advanced tools and weapons of medieval Japan, items established and propagated by the ninja themselves.
While there are many ninja manuals in existence, only a few hold authority without question and out of these, three hold the title as being the core manuals left to us from the shinobi (original reading of ninja) of the past. These are the Bansenshukai, the Ninpiden and the Shoninki. Together these manuals deliver the message that the historical ninja were not shuriken throwing men leaping from tree to tree and disregarding the laws of physics, instead it tells us of an elite corps of professionals that conducted espionage and hard line guerrilla warfare, where torture, infiltration, demolitions and pre-emptive strikes where the order of the day. At the head of this military branch were the innovative weapons and tools that helped the ninja ‘cause hell’ among the enemy ranks.
The misnomers
The first thing one should set in concrete when considering the ninja is, those objects you believe to be ninja weapon are in fact not. This mistake comes in two guises. Firstly, the error that shuriken (throwing stars), chain weapons, sickles, blowpipes and hidden canes where created and used solely by the ninja. All of these weapons are not and never have been attributed to the ninja from a historical point of view. All of the above are well documented samurai weapons that were used within many of the martial schools of Japan and their history and genealogy can be easily traced through the history of conflict in Japan. For an extensive look at these weapons and their subcategories see Classical Weaponry of Japan by Serge Mol from Kodansha Publishing. Secondly, ninjutsu or the art of the ninja is not a martial art and ninja weapons are not considered to objects of hand to hand fighting. It is a common mistake to see the ninja and the samurai as separate classes, however, in the Sengoku or Warring Period in Japan the concept of a rigid hierarchy was not established, and while the aristocracy and warrior elite did exist, social mobility was not restricted. This was also the height of the ninja and their golden years. Therefore, many of the ninja were in fact samurai, with the skills of the ninja and were at least considered to be part of the warrior cast. In short, one should consider the ninja as a warrior/samurai whose job was to do perform the arts of the ninja, no matter if he was a foot soldier or high ranking samurai, he was still a ninja.
