battles a snake with the help of a
toad;
woodblock print on paper by
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, circa 1843 Ninjas first entered popular culture in the
Edo period. In modern Japan, ninja are a
national myth that stems from
folk tales and continues through modern day popular culture. Though many Japanese warriors performed amazing feats, there is no evidence that any of them were supernatural. Some of the folk tales are based on historical figures, such as a
daimyō (lord) challenging a ninja to prove his worth by stealing his pillow or weapon while he slept.
Legendary abilities Superhuman or
supernatural powers were sometimes associated with the ninja. Such powers include
flight,
invisibility,
shapeshifting, the ability to "split" into multiple bodies, the summoning of animals, and control over the
five classical elements. These notions stemmed from popular imagination regarding the ninja's mysterious status, as well as romantic ideas found in later Japanese art during the
Edo period. Magical powers were sometimes rooted in the ninja's own efforts to disseminate fanciful information. For example, Nakagawa Shoshujin, the 17th-century founder of Nakagawa-ryū, or martial art style, claimed in his own writings (
Okufuji Monogatari) that he had the ability to transform into birds and animals. '' seal, which allows him to transform into a giant
rat. Woodblock print on paper.
Kunisada, 1857. The ninja's adaption of
kites in espionage and warfare is another subject of legends. Accounts exist of ninja being lifted into the air by kites, where they flew over hostile terrain and descended into or dropped bombs on enemy territory. Kites were indeed used in Japanese warfare, but mostly for the purpose of sending messages and relaying signals. Turnbull suggests that kites lifting a man into midair might have been technically feasible, but states that the use of kites to form a human "
hang glider" falls squarely in the realm of fantasy. In
China, this tradition mixed with
Buddhist beliefs, assigning each of the nine words to a Buddhist deity. The
kuji may have arrived in Japan via Buddhism, where it flourished within
Shugendō. Later, the use of
kuji passed onto certain
bujutsu (martial arts) and
ninjutsu schools, where it was said to have many purposes. The second "ninja boom" was in the 1960s, with the rise of Japanese
ninja films,
manga and
television shows that became popular in Japan. During this second boom, some of the Japanese ninja-themed media were exported to several international markets such as Australia and Italy, but did not reach North America. The third "ninja boom" was in the 1980s. In 1977, the Japanese
arcade game company Kasco released a
light gun shooter electro-mechanical game called
Ninja Gun, which helped introduce a number of American children to ninjas by the early 1980s.
Eric Van Lustbader's novel
The Ninja was published in 1980 and went on to become a
New York Times Best Seller. Around 1980, several American companies took notice of the "ninja craze" in Japan and were planning to capitalize on it with their own ninja-themed productions targeting the North American market. In March 1981,
Variety magazine announced that fourteen American entertainment companies were planning to produce ninja films, including
Zanuck/Brown Company's
The Ninja,
Stirling Silliphant's
The Masters, and
The Equals starring
Scott Glenn and
Toshirō Mifune, among others. However, several of these ninja-themed productions either did not release or failed to gain much success upon release. A wave of ninja-themed films and television shows during the early-to-mid-1980s, especially those starring Sho Kosugi, led to "ninjamania" becoming a pop culture phenomenon across North America. Early ninja-themed video games included
SNK's arcade
shooting game Sasuke vs. Commander (1980),
Taito's arcade games
Ninja Hayate (1984) and
Legend of Kage (1985),
Sega's
Ninja Princess (1985) starring a
female ninja, and
Konami's
Ganbare Goemon series (1986 debut) based on the folk hero
Ishikawa Goemon. Early ninja-themed
home computer games included
Saboteur (1985) and
Ninja (1986), the latter featuring artwork resembling Sho Kosugi. Perhaps the most influential ninja video game was Sega's
arcade hit
Shinobi (1987), which spawned the
Shinobi series, the longest-running ninja video game franchise. Series protagonist
Joe Musashi was one of
Sega's flagship characters in the late 1980s, along with
Alex Kidd (before
Sonic the Hedgehog).
System 3 Software's
Last Ninja series,
Data East's arcade hit
Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja (1988),
Tecmo's
Ninja Gaiden and
Dead or Alive series starring
Ryu Hayabusa, Some of the largest ninja-themed international media franchises include
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (
comic book debuted in 1984,
animated series in 1987) and
Naruto (manga debuted in 1999,
anime series in 2002).
1998 East Java ninja scare The 1998 East Java ninja scare was an outbreak of
mass hysteria in
East Java,
Indonesia, in which the local population believed they were being targeted by sorcerers known as
ninja, who were blamed for mysterious killings of religious leaders by assassins dressed in black. As many as 150-300 “sorcerers” were killed between February and October, with the most deaths occurring between August and September.
Armed groups Several real life paramilitary, police and militia groups use the names "Ninja" or "Ninjas": • The Santomean special-police force of the
Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, officially known as the Emergency Police, are popularly known as Ninja. • Rebels in the
Pool Region of the Republic of the Congo called themselves
Ninja. • The Red Berets, a
Croatian Serb rebel paramilitary group of
Dragan Vasiljković based in
Knin, Croatia, called themselves "Kninjas". During the early 1990s, the Kninjas were the subject of a
Serbian comic-book series. • Although some death squads active during the
Indonesian occupation of East Timor called themselves "Ninja", the name was apparently borrowed from film rather than the Japanese model. "Ninja" gangs were also active elsewhere in Indonesia. • During the
Algerian Civil War, the government's commando units were known as "Ninja" because of their black hoods. • The FBI's Hostage Rescue Team have been nicknamed "Ninjas".
Other According to
Indeed.com, there was a 7,000-percent increase in the number of job listings with the word "ninja" from 2006 to 2012. A former Russian soldier who committed robberies in Italy in black attire and a bow was called a "Russian ninja" by the BBC. The video-game series
Tenchu was adapted for the Japanese stage. In 2006, Miss Japan
Kurara Chibana appeared in a ninja-samurai costume for the
Miss Universe competition. Goth Ninja, a type of Japanese street fashion, became popular in 2009. In information technology, "cyber ninja" are sophisticated counter-hackers.
Business ninja-themed trains in
Mie Prefecture, Japan in 2010
Iga Ueno Ninja Festa, the annual ninja festival in
Iga in the former
province of Iga, has had ninja-inspired performances, competitions and opportunities to practice ninja skills since 1964.
Attractions Other ninja attractions in Japan include the Koga Ninja Village and Kogaryu Ninjutsu Yashiki (Ninja Houses) in Koga-gun,
Shiga Prefecture, the Togakushi Ninja Village for children, the Togakushi Ninpo Museum and Karakuri Yashiki (Ninja House) in
Togakushi, Nagano, the
Edo Wonderland theme park in
Nikkō, Tochigi and the restaurants Men no Sato and Ninja Akasaka in Tokyo and Ninja Kyoto in
Kyoto. ==Examples==