Origins of the Ninja

Ninja - History of the Ninja

Origins of the Ninja:

It is difficult to pin down the emergence of the first ninja, more properly called shinobi. After all, people around the world have always used spies and assassins.

Japanese folklore states that the ninja descended from a demon that was half man and half crow. However, it seems more likely that the ninja slowly evolved as an opposing force to their upper-class contemporaries, the samurai, in early feudal Japan.

Most sources indicate that the skills that became ninjutsu, the ninja's art of stealth, began to develop between 600-900 A.D. Prince Shotoku, (574-622), is said to have employed Otomono Sahito as a shinobi spy.

The Rise and Fall of the Ninja:

The ninja came
into their own during the tumultuous era between 1336 and 1600. In an
atmosphere of constant war, ninja skills were essential for all sides.

The Nanbukucho Wars (1336-1392)

For more than 50 years in the 14th century, Japan had two separate imperial courts, which fought for control of the country.

The
Northern Court was controlled by the shoguns. The Southern Court
belonged to Emperor Go-Daigo, who wanted to rule in his own right.

Ninja
played an important role on both sides in this struggle, infiltrating
castles as spies, and even burning down the South's Hachiman-yama
Fortress.

The Northern Court eventually won, and the puppet-Emperor system was retained.

The Onin War (1467-1477)

About 70 years later, the Onin War broke out. Ninja featured heavily in this conflict, as well.

The war began as a succession fight within the ruling Ashikaga clan, but soon devolved into a nation-wide civil war.

Although the Onin War ended after 10 years, it ushered in a century of turmoil called the Sengoku Jidai, or "Warring States Period" (though it was actually samurai clans fighting, rather than states).

Ninja served a number of purposes during the Sengoku Period (1467-1568). They acted as kancho (spies), koran (agitators), teisatsu (scouts), and kisho
(surprise attackers). They were most effective in castle sieges,
infiltrating and distracting the defenders inside while the main
besieging army attacked from outside.

Destruction of the Ninja Bases (1581)

The
ninja were an important tool during the Sengoku Period, but a
destabilizing influence. When war-lord Oda Nobunaga emerged as the
strongest daimyo and began to reunite Japan (1551-1582), he saw the
ninja strongholds at Iga and Koga as a threat.

Nobunaga's
lightning-quick attack on Iga forced the ninja to fight open battles;
they were defeated and scattered to nearby provinces or the mountains of
Kii.

While their power-base was destroyed, the ninja did not
vanish entirely. Some went into the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who
later became shogun in 1603.

The much-reduced ninja continued to
serve both sides in struggles. In one famous incident from 1600, a ninja
sneaked through a group of Tokugawa's defenders at Hataya castle, and
planted the flag of the besieging army high on the front gate!