Hi, how have you been?
I’m quite worn out cuz these days I had an enormous amount of work to do. I really needed a break, so I worked out, had a Thai massage, ate a lot of cakes and watched clips of bonfire and submarine on YouTube with a glass of wine. I feel much better now! This is my own personal ritual when I get tired.
How about you? What’s your way to unwind?

Last blog(http://ninjacenter.rscn.mie-u.ac.jp/en/blog/2020/0701-2/) I covered the difference between the Shinobi, the historical figure and the Ninja, its fictional depiction. Well, let’s delve into this depiction of the Ninja.

Shinobi were active during the Sengoku period(1467-1603). From the Edo period(1603-1867) when civil wars ceased, their duties gradually decreased and their official duties stopped with the end of the Tokugawa government.

Gradually Ninja started to be depicted in novels and performing arts like Kabuki. During the early Edo period, typical patterns started to emerge. ①A Ninja sneaks into an estate with using Ninjutsu(忍術) to steal something valuable. (Ex.Ishikawa Goemon 石川五右衛門,Katoh Danzou加藤段蔵).
②A Ninja attempts to take control of a clan or overthrow the government using Ninjutsu (including magical spells like transforming into a big frog , drawing mystical symbols with their fingers and disappearing). (Ex.Tenjiku Tokube天竺徳兵衛,Nikki Danjo仁木弾 正).
In this period, Ninja were depicted as a shady malevolent scoundrel who performed dark deeds like theft and abduction.

In a Kabuki performance, Ninja would often wear a black costume. Novelist can describe how evil a Ninja is using words but that won’t work with Kabuki. They needed a theatrical device to let the audience know that the character is an evil ninja at first glance.
The solution was the black costume. Therefore, the image of the Ninja wearing black came from the Kabuki theatre during the Edo period.

Similarly, it seems that the Ninja stars(Shuriken 手裏剣) were a prop to convey the same idea of meanness and cowardice. Ninja stars are indeed used stealthily from a distance. This was against the Bushido(武士道 the moral code of the Samurai ).

Much further in time, the character Sarutobi Sasuke(猿飛佐助) in Tatsukawa Bunko(立川文庫, 1913) became very popular. Tatsukawa Bunko is a group of novels that were published between 1911 and 1926, written by Tamada Gyokushusai the second(二代目玉田玉秀斎) and his family. Tatsukawa Bunko is called Koudanbon(講談本),book of oral narratives that Koudanshi(講談師story teller) used to tell.
Sarutobi Sasuke contributed to change the bad image of the Ninja. He learned Ninjutsu from his master Tozawa Hakuunsai(戸沢白雲斎) and became a vassal of Sanada Yukimura(真田幸村). Sarutobi Sasuke was depicted as a ninja fighting for justice who devoted his life for the sake of the world and his lord.

After this literary work, Ninja started to be depicted as heroes of justice. The modern Ninja character Uzumaki Naruto(うずまきナルト) from anime NARUTO-ナルト- is also depicted as a hero who help his native place using Ninjutsu, right? The image of the ninja that Sarutobi Sasuke changed has been passed down to the present day.

By the way, the word Ninja became commonly used in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s trough novels. Before that, they were called Shinobi(忍び), Rappa(乱波), Suppa(透波), Kusa(草),Dakkou(奪口), and Kamari(かまり) in different regions. Before I began to study about Ninja, I wasn’t aware that the word Ninja started to be used so recently.

Most of the above description are referenced from Professor Katsuya Yoshimaru’s lectures and books. He is a specialist of Japanese early modern literature and he is researching about fictional Ninja.

Next blog will be titled “Does Shinobi/Ninja exist now?”.
See you!

Senku(仙空)