Читать книгу The Secrets of Spies - Weldon Owen - Страница 18

SECRET SHADOWS: JAPAN’S NINJAS

19

NINJA TRAINING

Preparation began in childhood, with an

emphasis on physical training, including

long-distance running, swimming, climbing,

silent walking, and martial arts. Within all

these disciplines, the goal was to develop

stealth. For example, the student was

taught to make breathing tubes out of

reeds and to scatter duckweed over

the water to conceal underwater

movement. As they matured, the

ninjas undertook advanced studies

in medicine, scouting, espionage

(including the use of disguises), and,

if necessary, assassination.

The prime role of the ninja was to

gather intelligence, relying on good

memories. Their existence was

intended to be like that of a shadow.

Ninjas would often disguise themselves

as travelers— fortune tellers, peddlers,

merchants, or monks—to avoid

suspicion. They would engage with the

local people to discover information

about the enemy.

CAPTURING

SAWAYAMA CASTLE

Ninjas used deception to conduct

sabotage missions. In 1558, the samurai

overlord Rokkaku Yoshikata ordered the

ninjas under his command to break into

the besieged Sawayama Castle in the

city of Hikone. One of the ninjas stole a

lantern that bore the enemy’s crest and

used it to produce a series of replicas.

A group of ninjas marched to the castle

gates carrying the lanterns and were

allowed in without question. Once inside,

they set fire to the castle, allowing

Yoshikata to capture it.

At the end of the sixteenth century,

both Iga and Koga were overrun in the

fighting that led to the unification of

Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate.

From then on, the ninja way of life declined,

becoming a subject for folklore and legend.

NINJAS IN THE

POPULAR IMAGINATION

In nineteenth-century Japan, popular literature

celebrated the ninjas as a form of super warrior,

with prints depicting black-clad men scaling

castle walls armed with a variety of special

weapons, most unknown to actual ninjas.

The original ninja aspiration to be as

invisible as possible was transformed into

a fictional ideal that they could actually

become invisible. After World War II,

growing Western interest in

Japanese martial arts brought

ninja stories to global

attention. Ninjas became

comic-book heroes, featuring in

animated films and games, and,

in perhaps their ultimate

humiliation, as denizens of the

New York sewage system as the

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Above: Nineteenth-century artist Utagawa Kunisada portrayed

the ninjas clad in black, performing daring assassinations.

Above: Rokkaku Yoshikata was the head

of the Rokkaku clan. He engaged in many

battles over control of the Kyoto region.