Ninja, are they really exist?

“Ninja” Do They Really Exist?

 By. Muhamad Afief R.A

 Now Ninja is probably one of the most misunderstood   historical figures of the history of mankind.. Common people’s perception about ninja comes from manga, anime, or film. So maybe they just know about 10%  of all fact about  the real ninja. So in that essay I’ve decided to suggest a whole variety of myth and misconception to debunk together in order to get virtually perfect perspective to three dimensionally pinpoint into history what the ninja actually were and also in this essay will be discussed an overall understanding of all the Japanese character that have to do with the figure of the ninja.

When peoples talk about ninja, of course we will imagine about the actual figure of ninja which is probably one of the most famous things that come in mind when people think of ninja, that is the black uniform that they are wearing which of course has no historical fondation, but the fact that it’s black uniform, because in the internet, when we look for pictures of ninjas, surely the result is a person who wear black closed uniform. We can’t really say that ninjas have never used black as their clothing, we don’t know that, but it is true that most ninja in Japan using black uniform. The black clothes is identified with the silent killer. So that why ninjas in Japan using all-black uniform. In fact, most ninja in japan are professional spies. Historical information about ninjas is minimal because their organizations are very secretive and closed. No indiscriminate person can explore the science of ninja, usually a ninja is a person who master and explore the ninjutsu (art of silent movement).

The Sengoku Period (roughly 1467-1590) was the golden age of ninja in Japan, with Iga in Mie Prefecture and Koga in Shiga Prefecture, emerging as the bastions of two keys schools of these shadow warriors. According to Wikipedia, Iga-ryuu is a historical school of ninjutsu, acording to Japanese legend. The Iga-ryuu originated in the Iga Province in the area around the towns of Iga and Ueno (modern Iga city in Mie Prefecture). These ninja were trained in the arts of disguise, escape, concealment, poison, and multitude of weaponry.  Unlike the Igas’s ninja, Koga is very proficient in the field of drugs, explosives and developing ninja’s equipment. Altough not as wll known, they were said to have used both stealth and deception to mask their true size and power.The Koga was said to have been filled with hidden ninja villages deep in the mountains.

According to http://kumpulan-berita-unik.blogspot.co.id, there are several tools used by the ninja to help them in carrying out their mission, some of them like Goshiki-mai (five-colors rice). Rice colored with different colors and arranged into a combination to hide secret messages. If rice is sown in the streets, maybe a layman will only see it as regular rice that is scattered. But for certain people, they will understand the purpose of the message. Other examples of ninja equipment such as mizu-gumo (water spider), made of 4 curved woods or animal skins strung together with the 5th piece in the middle, can be used to walk on water. Maybe they cannot use it in the trenches around the palace, but it might be useful in the swamp. Besides those two tools, still many more tools used by ninja to help run their missions, such as rotten eggs, crickets, cat eyes, and any others.

Ninja does not always work alone. They also usually work in groups. The ninja are able to work in a coordinated manner and use keywords to communicate. In addition, they also have their own ninjutsu techniques in order not to be detected and able to escape. There are several examples of ninjutsu tactics, some of which are Hitsuke, Tanuki-gakure, Ukigusa-gakure, and Uzura-gakure. Hitsuke's tactics are done by distracting the guard by making fire far from the planned entry point. Tanuki-gakure is a technique of climbing trees and disguised among the leaves. Ukigusa-gakure is a technique to throw water plants on the water to disguise the movement under the water. Next there are uzura-gakure that is rolling technique like ball and silent not move to look like stone.

There is not much historical evidence about the ninja. But there are some researchers who examine the existence of the ninja; one of them is Antony Cummins. He is a historical ninjutsu researcher whose team has analysed existing sources about the shinobi and samurai.

  “There is no record that tells us what martial arts ninja trained in. None. So logic tells us they trained the same as everyone else”. (Antony Cummins)

Based on the Bansenshukai, shinobi also served as criminal hunters. For that specialization, it appears that the shinobi’s martial ability had to be better than their opponents.

  “The ninja would use gas, rope, fire, water and tools to capture and probably captured through having multiple agents against one, there is no evidence to say they must be better than the other person.”(Antony Cummins)

There are so many stories about the ninja, but the historical record of the ninja is actually very rare. Historian Stephen Turnbull says that ninjas are mostly recruited from lower-class society. That's why very few people are interested in them. For the people, samurai become more attractive than ninja. Because of the many historical relics that show the existence of samurai. Historian Kiyoshi Watatani says that ninjas are specially trained to always be secretive in their actions or whereabouts. This is what makes the history of the ninja very rare.

            Although the evidence about the ninja is very rare, it doesn’t mean that the existence of ninja is not real. Many famous people in Japanese history have been linked or identified as a ninja, but some of their status as a ninja is hard to prove, one of them is Hattori Hanzo. He is a samurai who serves Tokugawa Ieyasu. The ninjutsu given by his ancestors caused some sources call him a ninja. He is the most widely raised figure in popular modern culture such as the cute ninja hattori character. In addition to Hanzo, there are some people who are believed to be ninja, such as Ishikawa Goemon, Momochi Sandayu, Fuma Kotaro, Mochizuki Chiyome and any others.

            Evidence that shows the existence of the real ninja is the life of a person who is considered the last ninja; the name of this person is Jinichi Kawakami. According to http://www.jepang.net, He is the great master of the "Ban" clan, one of the ninja tribes whose history can be traced back 500 years ago. Jinichi is considered by some to be the last keeper of Japanese secret spies that are still alive to this day. Jinichi thinks he is referred to as the last ninja, probably because no one else is learning all the ninja skills directly from a ninja great master. He says That the real ninjas are gone now, confirming that he was the leader of the last "Ban" clan. No one will inherit his position because he thinks the ninja is no longer suitable to live in the modern world.

            At the end of this paragraph, we can conclude that ninjas really exist in this world. But ninjas are actually not like ninjas in cartoons or movies, they are more like spies and assassins hired by every kingdom in the era of sengoku, to stealing secret scrolls, infiltrate, and even kill the people who are targeted to be killed. Although the written historical evidence of the ninja is still very rare, but we can still see the historical heritage of ninja equipment and weapons in the museum of Iga-ryu.