CAPTIVATING FACTS ABOUT THE REAL NINJA OF HISTORY

THE NINJA SUIT

The popular image of the ninja is of the iconic ninja suit.

This is a bit of a misnomer as the ninja “suit” only appears

to be a uniform to the western eye. In truth it is just

traditional Japanese clothes with a mask attached.

Black Japanese clothes would be comparable to a black

suit in modern London. People in medieval Japan could

wear masks in the street to hide their identity, it is only

the modern ‘off the shelf’ ninja suit that looks out of place.

“NINJA WEAR BLACK, OH NO THEY DO NOT

THEY WEAR BLUE”

A popular argument today is that ninja did not wear black

as it was too dark at night time and in fact they wore blue.

This is a misunderstanding which originated from a ninja

manual called the Shoninki (True Path of the Ninja) written

in 1681. It states that a ninja can wear blue to blend in with

crowds as this colour was popular, meaning that a ninja

would not stand out in a city or town if people were looking

for them, it was used to blend in with the masses. In fact

ninja documents say to wear black on a moonless

night and white on a full moon.

NINJA DID NOT USE STRAIGHT SWORDS

The now famous “ninja-to” or ninja sword is a straight bladed

sword with a square handguard. The origin of this myth is

hard to trace. Swords which were almost straight, only having

a 1mm curve, existed in medieval Japan, as did square

handguards, but their association with the ninja appears to

come about in the 20th century. Ninja manuals point to

the use of ordinary swords.

SECRET HAND SPELLS

The ninja are famous for their secret spells with hand gestures.

This is called kuji, and has no real connection to the ninja. 

Kuji as it is called by the Japanese was most likely started in

India and moved to China and to Japan. It is a series of

gestures to ward off evil in certain situations, as one would

use the sign of a cross to aid you or the sign of the horns

to ward off the evil eye. Again their connection comes in

the 20th century.

NINJA DO NOT USE SMOKE BOMBS

The image of the ninja using a smoke bomb is universal.

While not wholly incorrect it is misleading. Ninja manuals

do not really contain smoke bombs but they do contain

hundreds of recipes for fire tools such as; land mines,

hand grenades, waterproof torches, forms of Greek fire,

fire arrows, explosives and poisoned gas.

NO ONE KNOWS THE IDENTITY OF A NINJA

This is a half-truth. Ninja agents were divided into those who

could be seen Yang-ninja and those who remain hidden

Yin-ninja. Hidden ninja were those whose identity was kept

secret so that they could move out on missions without

anyone knowing who they were. On the other hand, a group

of ninja would be hired in the open, they moved with an

army, had their own barracks, were exempt from day time

camp duties and were well known among their peers.

In the later years of peace they even had their own

jacket and crest that they wore around the castle.

NINJA ARE BLACK WIZARDS

Before the image of the ninja assassin came the image

of the ninja wizard, a warrior magician. Old Japanese

movies show the ninja using magic to outwit his enemies.

Interestingly, ninja skills do hold a certain amount of

ritual magic, from magical hairpins that give invisibility to

dog sacrifice to obtain the aid of the gods. However,

standard samurai skills also hold an element of magic.

This was common for the time.

NINJA WERE NOT ASSASSINS

This is more of a semantic argument, simply put, the ninja

were not brought up from a young age studying the ways

of assassination so that they could be hired out to other

clans. Most ninja were trained in covert operations,

propaganda, spy-craft, infiltration and explosives, the

ninja were only used as assassins as secondary and

ninja manuals rarely talk about the subject.