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CHAPTER 1

History and Organization

Some of the basic ideas behind the development of ninjutsu came to Japan from China, but like much else in Japanese culture which stems from foreign sources of influence, ninjutsu quickly became Japanized. In Chinese military classics such as the Sonshi (Sun-Tzu in Chinese) can be found descriptions of methods of espionage. The Sun-Tzu was known in Japan as early as the sixth century A.D.

In the seventh century a considerable number of persons wanted for various reasons by the Imperial Court had taken refuge in the mountainous wilds near Kyoto. They were greatly outnumbered by the government warriors sent out to disperse them, and therefore it became necessary for them to develop clever tactics and strategy to guarantee their survival.

The yamabushi (mountain ascetics) were one such group that had invoked the wrath of the aristocratic court by founding a religion the court believed to be contrary to its best interests.

Prince Regent Shotoku, serving his country in the early years of the seventh century, proved to be a wise and benevolent ruler. But he is generally regarded as the first Japanese ruler to use spies. He used them to determine the facts in civil cases and to improve his means for judgment in deciding these cases. He also used them to investigate and gather intelligence about a particular enemy or potential enemies, to harass them, and to dilute their military prowess.

Ninja masters were believed to be able to fly on eagles, as depicted here. Ninja did use giant kites to fly over enemy positions.

By the time of the rise to power of the professional Samurai warrior class and the Shogunate form of government in the 12th century, all successful military commanders employed specialists in ninjutsu. They had also made the Sonshi (the Chinese military classic) their standard text.

THE NINJA FAMILIES

Ninja were born and trained in families devoted to the study and practice of ninjutsu as their profession. Each ninja family was dedicated to a specific tradition (ryu) that characterized its particular brand of espionage and assassination methods. Some seventy different ninjutsu traditions were developed, the most famous of which were those of Iga and Koga provinces on the main island of Honshu.

The ninja clans were found scattered throughout the country, however, their distribution in part due to the fractionization of the older and more organized traditions.

Because individual ninja became attached to and supported different political causes it was possible for father to operate against son, and brother against brother, each in the hire of some very influential land baron who required the services of military spies. But no one ninjutsu organization ever became powerful enough to withstand the onslaught of the combined forces of the Shogun's government.

Secrecy was the foundation upon which all successful ninja depended. Rigid security measures began at the very root of all ninja organizations, that is, within the head family in charge of each particular tradition of ninjutsu. Ninja, when not actually dispatched on missions, resided at base training camps, the locations of which were secret to all but those who belonged to the tradition. A ninja base training camp was always located in a remote mountainous area, in some of the most inaccessible places imaginable.

In order that secrecy surrounding their tradition could be maintained, each tradition established three classes of ninja. At the top level stood the jonin, a high-ranked administrator or boss. He was assisted by the chunin, a small group of middle-ranking ninja whose duties included that of being go-betweens or connecting links between the jonin and the lowest level of ninja, the genin.

It was the genin and his exploits that made the ninja most famous, for they were the men who operated in the field. Though under the strict control of a jonin, it is doubtful whether any genin ever discovered who his boss was. Orders were passed to him through the chunin.

The system was made further complicated by some very clever jonin acting as head of more than one tradition of ninjutsu. In the Koga area alone, over fifty chunin families, each comprised of from 30 to 40 genin, directed all activities of the Koga genin. In Iga, three jonin families controlled all ninja operating under that tradition.

THE NINJA AND THE LORDS

A daimyo warlord wishing to hire ninja in the furtherance of his military or political cause usually chose and trained his own men, but on occasion he would make contact with ninja leaders through the chunin simply by sending an envoy into the areas where chunin were known to operate. The chunin would find the envoy. The uncertainty of this process of communication was lessened by the constant activities of chunin who were always alert to the possibilities of engaging in espionage.

But the process was fraught with danger to the lord hiring the ninja, for such a contract might result in employing such men who were unfriendly. For this important reason all lords had means of their own by which ninja were to be tested and proven loyal. A newly hired ninja might be given some false data or a meaningless task, the treacherous discloser of which would produce a certain calculated result, sure evidence that the ninja had betrayed his employer.

Then too, ninja who had served a lord faithfully for a period of time could be expected to be approached by enemy ninja who would urge severance of that loyalty.

Lords thus became highly suspicious of ninja in their own hire. Jonin, too, wishing to please their lord clients would dispatch a ninja whom they specially trusted to watch the one operating for a lord; even a third ninja, to watch both might be assigned to a mission.

Because of all the complicated subterfuge connected with the hiring and use of ninja, genin ninja became especially sensitive, always suspicious of all persons, jonin, chunin, and lord alike, and became extremely watchful of all personal contacts, even within their own group.

Ordinary townsfolk considered the ninja as social outcasts, and Samurai warriors looked down upon them as traitorous cowards. Since they were regarded as a pariah class and considered as something less than human, ninja who were captured by warriors usually suffered a horrible death. They might be boiled alive in oil, or have their skin slowly peeled from their bodies.

One particular method of killing a captured ninja was designed to produce a lingering pain and slow death. It consisted of suspending him, having been tightly bound on a wooden frame, over a sharpened bamboo stake. The victim was positioned as though seated in the air with his legs straight and widely stretched; the frame kept the victim from changing his position. The entire load, ninja and frame, was made to hang directly over the stake. When the rope holding the load became wet it elongated and the ninja would slowly be inched downward, anus first, onto the sharp point.

At first a clever ninja might somehow oscillate himself so as to avoid the stake, but as hunger and fatigue set in, his struggles would prove useless. Morning fogs, rains, and heavy dews served to wet the rope sufficiently, but if such natural phenomena did not occur, the ninja's captors would apply water.

Such barbarous treatment helped to make it a common practice for ninja to kill themselves when capture was imminent by taking virulent poisons or stabbing themselves with their own swords. The ninja also disfigured their faces so that they might not be recognized and the source of their ninjutsu traced. A ninja who had been bound would take his own life by simply biting off his tongue, thus producing a fatal hemorrhage.

NINJA OPERATIONS

Ninja could be dispatched to operate in one or more combinations of five ways: (1) native, (2) inside, (3) living, (4) doubled, and (5) expendable.

The “native” agent was a person of the enemy's regional area who had full knowledge of the customs and geography of that area. Such a ninja was most difficult to sustain inasmuch as his features were well known by the local folk and the enemy warriors. Inside agents were ninja recruited from among the enemy's own officials and personnel. These traitors were chosen from among those who had been deprived of wealth or title, or those who were overly desirous of gaining immediate wealth.

“Living” agents were ninja expected to penetrate the enemy's area, complete their missions, and return to the lord employing them. These men were the most highly trained and clever of ninja. They usually had access to the enemy's area and were not known to be ninja.

The “doubled” agent was an enemy ninja whose loyalty had been switched, by bribes, to a new lord. While they continued in the service of their original lord, they were traitors to his cause. “Expendable” agents were sent, usually unknown to themselves, with false information on their person and into missions which ensured their capture by the enemy.

Not all ninja were known for changeable loyalties. Many were devoted to one warlord and served him with distinction. These ninja were indeed men of courage and though they did not enjoy the social status of the privileged aristocratic warrior, in many respects they equaled the latter in bravery, loyalty, and fighting skill.