Ninja
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Ninja is a kind of spy or assassin who lived in Japan beginning in the 14th century.
[edit] History
Ninja (or shinobi) were a mystery in Japanese history. The correct Japanese word for these warriors was shinobi-no-mono. Ninja is easier to say, this is why it is wider used. Ninja warriors created secret associations and participated to many political killings. Their mystery comes from the two ideas: 1) they always participated in secret spy operations and political killings; 2) ninja were hired by heads of army as paid warriors (mercenaries). The art of fighting which was used by ninja was called ninjitsu, which was a combination of shinobi-no-jitsu and shinobi-jitsu.
A ninja was always considered a superman, who was able to fly and who possessed extra natural skills. Ninja existed during the entire history of Japan, but only at the beginning of 15th century ninja became specially trained people. They mainly trained in the region of Iga and Kogo.
Ninja were involved in samurai wars and were hired by samurai for different missions. But at the same time samurai didn't accepted them as noble warriors, because most of the ninja came from lower social levels. They were dangerous and could not be controlled. Their methods of fight didn't fit the samurai code. Japanese land lords (daymio) widely used the services of the Iga and Kogo ninja in the period of 1485-1581. But in 1581, one of the three daymio who united Japan – Oda Nobunaga attacked ninja from Iga province. The ninja remained alive and run to the provinces Kyi and Mikava, were Tokugawa Ieyasu protected them. Latter, Oda Nobunaga was killed by a ninja named Ekati Mitsuhide, who will become an enemy to Tokugawa Ieyasu.
The art of ninja fighting was transmitted from father to son, or from master (sensei) to best students. But in the middle of 17th century, Nakagawa Sosuntzin created a ninja school in the Mutsu Province. It was called Nakagawa-ryu and taught ninjitsu method of fighting. Nakagawa Sosuntzin himself trained a group of 10 men, which he called Hayamiti-no-mono (men of the short hit). Ninja was taught much more things than a samurai. He had to be skilled at handling swords, spears, bows and many more; but also he had to know about explosive and poisonous substances, to be a good path finder and to survive in different situations. Usually they were trained from young age and should have maintained their physical shape. A ninja who could read and write was very appreciated.
A ninja usually worn black clothes which helped him to hide in the dark. If they had to fight on the battlefield they put on a light armor, which protected him but also permitted to move easily. On the feet they worn Japanese socks which separated the big toe (the socks were called tabi).
The diversity of ninja weapons and attributes is much wider than that of the samurai. The main weapon of ninja was the sword. Ninja sword was usually shorter than samurai katana and had a straight blade. When they climbed, the sword was put on the left shoulder, thus the handle of the sword was close to the left ear. Ninja also used different types of throwing knives, and a weapon for fist called tagaki. They used metallic claws on their feet which served them for climbing and for feet hits.