Despite many popular folktales, historical accounts of the ninja are scarce. The social origin of the ninja is seen as the reason they agree to operate in secret, trading their service for money without honor and glory. The first dubbed ninja was a man named
Otomono Sahito, though historical evidence of his existence is scarce. However, some
ninjutsu books described specifically what tactics ninja should use to fight, and the scenarios in which a ninja might find themselves can be deduced from those tactics. For example, in the manuscript of volume 2 of
Kanrin Seiyō (間林清陽) which is the original book of
Bansenshūkai (万川集海), there are 48 points of ninja's fighting techniques, such as how to make
makibishi from bamboo, how to make footwear that makes no sound, fighting techniques when surrounded by many enemies, precautions when using swords at night, how to listen to small sounds,
kuji-kiri that prevents guard dogs from barking, and so on.
Predecessors , 1886. The title
ninja has sometimes been attributed retrospectively to the semi-legendary 2nd-century prince
Yamato Takeru. Prince Shotoku, who lived from 574–622 AD, was believed to have employed a ninja spy named Otomono Sahito. However, these records take place at a very early stage of Japanese history, and they are unlikely to be connected to the
shinobi of later accounts. The first recorded use of espionage was under the employment of
Prince Shōtoku in the 6th century. Such tactics were considered unsavory even in early times, when, according to the 10th-century
Shōmonki, the boy spy
Hasetsukabe no Koharumaru was killed for spying against the insurgent
Taira no Masakado. The history of Ninjitsu schools recorded around the 12th century, when Daisuke Togakure and Kain Doshi formalized the teaching of Chinese and native Japanese guerilla tactics to which was as counter-culture of the time. As a samurai, Daisuke lost his lands and title after being defeated in a regional conflict. Refusing to commit
Seppuku, Daisuke travelled to the mountains of southwest Honshu in 1162. Here, he met Doshi, a Chinese warrior-monk. Daisuke abandoned his way of
bushido, and worked with Doshi to formulate the guerilla art of war called ninjutsu. Daisuke's descendants founded the first ninja-ryu, or ninja school, the
Togakureryu. By the Sengoku period, the
shinobi had several roles, including spy (
kanchō),
scout (
teisatsu), surprise attacker (
kishu), and agitator (
konran). The ninja families were organized into larger
guilds, each with their own territories. A system of rank existed. A
jōnin ("upper person") was the highest rank, representing the group and hiring out mercenaries. This is followed by the
chūnin ("middle person"), assistants to the
jōnin. At the bottom was the
genin ("lower person"), field agents drawn from the lower class and assigned to carry out actual missions.
Iga and Kōga clans , nested in secluded mountains, gave rise to villages specialized in the training of ninja. The Iga and Kōga "clans" were
jizamurai families living in the province of
Iga (modern
Mie Prefecture) and the adjacent region of
Kōka (later written as
Kōga), named after a village in what is now
Shiga Prefecture. From these regions, villages devoted to the training of ninja first appeared. The remoteness and inaccessibility of the surrounding mountains in Iga may have had a role in the ninja's secretive development. By the 1460s, the leading families in the regions had established
de facto independence from their
shugo. The
Kōka ikki persisted until 1574, when it was forced to become a vassal of
Oda Nobunaga. The
Iga ikki continued until 1581, when Nobunaga invaded Iga Province and wiped out the organized clans. Survivors were forced to flee, some to the mountains of
Kii, but others arrived before
Tokugawa Ieyasu, where they were well treated. Some former Iga clan members, including
Hattori Hanzō, would later serve as Tokugawa's bodyguards. Prior to the conquest of Kōka in 1574, the two confederacies worked in
alliance together. At an approximate date of 1560, the alliance between Iga and Kōka was formalized in constitutional document. Following the
Battle of Okehazama in 1560, Tokugawa employed a group of eighty Kōga ninja, led by Tomo Sukesada. They were tasked to raid an outpost of the
Imagawa clan. The account of this assault is given in the
Mikawa Go Fudoki, where it was written that Kōga ninja infiltrated the castle, set fire to its towers, and killed the
castellan along with two hundred of the garrison.
Iga Ninja theory's controversy After the assassination of Oda Nobunaga, the Iga and Kōka ninja helped Ieyasu undergo the famous
Shinkun Iga-goe journey to escape Nobunaga's enemies in
Sakai and return to
Mikawa, according to tradition. However, one theory by
Mie University researchers suggests that the Kōka clan's
Jizamurai militias, not ninja, provided the help. Their journey was very dangerous due to the existence of
"Ochimusha-gari" groups across the route. During this journey, Tokugawa generals such as
Ii Naomasa,
Sakai Tadatsugu and
Honda Tadakatsu fought their way through raids and harassment from
Ochimusha-gari outlaws to secure the way for Ieyasu, while sometimes advancing by usage of gold and silver bribes given to some of the more amenable Ochimusha-gari groups. As they reached Kada, an area between
Kameyama town and Iga, the attacks from Ochimusha-gari finally ended as they reached the former territory of the Kōka ikki, who were friendly to the Tokugawa clan. The Koka clan helped the Tokugawa escort group eliminate the Ochimusha-gari outlaw threat. Then, they escorted the group until they reached
Iga Province, where they were further protected by samurai clans from Iga ikki which accompanied the Ieyasu group until they safely reached Mikawa. It was reported by Edo period traditional records that
Hattori Hanzō, a Tokugawa vassal from Iga, negotiated with
Iga ninjas to hire them as guards along the way to avoid the ochimusha-gari. The local Koka-Ikki ninjas and Iga-Ikki ninjas under Hanzo who helped Ieyasu to travel into safety consisted of 300 Ninjas. However, a modern scholar such as Tatsuo Fujita doubted the credibility of Hattori Hattori Hanzō's ninja army theory, since it was first appeared in
Iga-sha yuishogaki record which circulated in
Edo period during the rule of Shogun
Tokugawa Yoshimune. It has been argued that the circulation of the myth about Hattori Hanzō ninja army helping Ieyasu was created as propaganda to increase the prestige of the Iga and Koka clan confederations in Tokugawa Shogunate. It was reported that Tōdō Takatora employs the
Iga-ryū Ninjas. Aside from Ninjas, he also employs local clans of Iga province as "Musokunin", which is a class of part time Samurai who has been allowed to retain their clan name but does not own any land or
Han. The Musokunin also worked as farmer during peace, while they are obliged to take arms in the time of war. In 1614, the Iga province warriors saw action during the
siege of Osaka. Takatora brought the Musokunin auxiliaries from Iga province to besiege the Osaka castle during the winter phase. These written accounts are the last mention of ninja in war.
Edo period After the Shimabara Rebellion, there were almost no major wars or battles until the
bakumatsu era. To earn a living, ninja had to be employed by the governments of their
Han (domain), or change their profession. Many lords still hired ninja, not for battle but as bodyguards or spies. Their duties included spying on other domains, guarding the daimyō, and fire patrol. A few domains like
Tsu,
Hirosaki and
Saga continued to employ their own ninja into the
bakumatsu era, although their precise numbers are unknown. Many former ninja were employed as security guards by the
Tokugawa shogunate, though the role of espionage was transferred to newly created organizations like the
onmitsu and the
oniwaban. Others used their
ninjutsu knowledge to become doctors, medicine sellers, merchants, martial artists, and fireworks manufacturers. Some unemployed ninja were reduced to banditry, such as
Fūma Kotarō and
Ishikawa Goemon.
Ninja stereotypes in theatre {{multiple image Many ubiquitous stereotypes about ninjas were developed within Edo theatre. These include their black clothing, which was supposed to imitate the outfits worn by Kuroko|, stagehands meant to be ignored by the audience; and their use of Shuriken|, which was meant to contrast with the use of swords by onstage samurai. In
kabuki theatre, ninja were "dishonorable and often sorcerous counterparts" to samurai, and possessed "almost, if not outright, magical means of camouflage."
Contemporary Between 1960 and 2010 artifacts dating to the
Siege of Odawara (1590) were uncovered which experts say are ninja weapons. Archeologist Iwata Akihiro of
Saitama Prefectural Museum of History and Folklore said the flat throwing stones "were used to stop the movement of the enemy who was going to attack [a soldier] at any moment, and while the enemy freezed the soldier escaped". Scientific researchers and scholars of different disciplines study ancient documents and how it can be used in the modern world. On June 19, 2022,
Kōka city in
Shiga Prefecture announced that a written copy of "Kanrinseiyo", which is the original source of a famous book on the art of ninja called "Bansenshukai" (1676) from the Edo period was discovered in a warehouse of Kazuraki Shrine. The book describes 48 types of ninjutsu. ==Roles==