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NinjaA ninja or shinobi (忍者, literally, "stealth person") is a warrior and assassin, trained in the Japanese art of ninjutsu (roughly the art of stealth). Ninja, like samurai, followed their own special code of conduct called ninpo. According to some modern practitioners of ninjutsu, the ninja's specialty was not assassination but rather espionage. There are still modern practitioners of the martial arts used by the historical ninja. The current grandmaster of virtually all of the independent ninjutsu schools is Hatsumi Masaaki, who is listed as a living national treasure of Japan. As well as the various individual schools, he teaches a combined form under the name of bujinkan. There are many people who claim to be teachers of ninjustu, and possibly teach a variant, however the most reliably authentic instructors will come from this school of combat. The bujinkan techniques are made up of nine ryu (schools), of which three are ninjutsu and six come from samurai influences.
The traditional ninja were probably demonized by the dominant samurai-culture because some of the ninjas' methods were considered less than honorable by the samurai, and so they spared no effort in making ninja seem evil and without honor.
There are many myths and legends concerning ninja, who were most prevalent during Japan's feudal era and often served daimyos, or feudal lords, for secret missions. Their special abilities are also often exaggerated, such as becoming invisible, turning into animals, jumping over buildings, and the ability to fly and foresee the future. These myths were proliferated by people witnessing the "ninja's" feats; the "ninja" they witnessed were usually yamabushi who would visit towns performing tricks for money.
It is popularly believed that the ancient ninja were peasants, who were forbidden under law from studying the samurai swordplay techniques because of the caste structure of their society. This was not necessarily true as most ninja were also samurai, operating as special forces for jobs where normal samurai would be useless.
In western popular culture, ninja are often depicted as simply supremely well trained martial artists who use many kinds of exotic equipment and skills to accomplish their missions. This, combined with the popular image of the legendary costume of an all black suit and hood which leaves only the eye area of the face exposed, often makes up the western idea of the ninja as a popular foe of fictional spies (especially on missions in East Asia), superheroes and supervillains.
Ninja used several special weapons against their enemies, the shuriken (throwing stars) and handclaws (shuko, tekagi) probably being the most famous. Weapons could also be used cleverly as tools such as using the cord of their sword scabbard to construct a hammock between tree branches. Contrary to popular belief, nunchaku were never used by the ninja, or indeed any mainland Japanese traditional martial art.
For references to ninja in popular western culture, including film and comic appearances and the recent spate of websites devoted to ninja-centric parody, see ninja in western fiction
external links
Howstuffworks "How Ninja Work"
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Ninjas Realm
Includes history, weapons and equipment summary, photos, poems, and training skills.
http://www.freewebs.com/ninjas_realm/
Enter the Ninja
Information on various aspects of ninja discipline including on training, weapons, and kuji-in. On-line media files are available. Features video games, movies and books based on the ninja.
http://www.entertheninja.com/
The Art of Ninjutsu
History and information about the art of the ninja. Features weapons, movies, schools, gallery, links and general information.
http://www.geocities.com/the_ninjutsu/welcome.html
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