In Search of the Niinja (16 page)

The
Akuto
or evil bands were written of in the records of Toidaji Temple (twelfth century) being both demonised and incorrectly given the honour of being the originators of ninjutsu. The Toidaji Temple is close to the lands of Iga and Koka in Nara and was a dominant centre, having control over the whole area. Kusunoki Masashige and others in the area rebelled against the power of the Temple and this led to them being labelled
Akuto
or evil bands by the Temple (for obvious reasons). This rebellion, coupled with Kusunoki Masashige’s connection to the ninja, has given rise to the theory that the
Akuto
were the originators of ninjutsu. Whilst there is no doubt that Masashige did influence ninjutsu he cannot be attributed with its invention, as this would leave out the entire Yoshimori and Chinese chapters of the ninja story. In reality it is most likely that constant warfare in that area helped hone skills that were all ready in existence, it forged the ninja and their skills but did not create the shinobi themselves.

In summary, a ninja is a person whose primary purpose is to perform what we would see as criminal actions; however he is employed (or retained) by others to perform his skills in war. When the ninja is hired by a private individual or takes it upon himself to use ninjutsu for personal gain, he then becomes a criminal; it is then questionable if he is still a shinobi or if he is a
Nusubito
-thief by definition – a distinction that was most likely very blurred during the Sengoku period.

Notes

48
    Both are made up of two ideograms and both include the ideogram
– steal.

Jiang Ziya, who was Prime Minister to King Wen of the Zhou state, wrote 71 chapters [
The Six Secret Teachings
] on shinobi ways.

The origin of ninjutsu, taken from the
Shinobi Hiden,
1560

T
he Sengoku period in China (403–221
BC
) witnessed the development and expansion of espionage and clandestine warfare. However, unorthodox combat and intelligence gathering are not fundamentally Chinese, nor are they considered to have solely originated in China. Nevertheless the ninja of Japan are thought to have a Chinese root or connection. The aim of this chapter is to identify any relationship and look for evidence of an antecedent in the military writings of China that influenced the Japanese ninja of a later period.

It is a common myth that the ninja were Chinese immigrants who fled the horrors of their homeland and took root in Iga and thus gave birth to the ninja. This in itself is unfounded, and it is unknown if ninjutsu even began in Iga, and whilst there were Chinese immigrants or colonists who reached the shores of Japan, the beginnings of the ninja, as discussed earlier, are simply not known. It is only by a comparison of military literature that we may get an inkling of any factual connection between Chinese and Japanese spies.

As we have seen in the chapter on the origins of the ninja, they themselves believed in a Chinese connection. To prove it we need to find linguistic similarities, shared skill sets and tactics. The main argument against this form of analysis is of course that espionage and clandestine warfare have existed since time immemorial and all must contain similarities. The counter is to compare the number and the quality of the similarities between the two nations. If the comparisons are vague, universal and logical in all warfare, then it can be concluded that ninjutsu originated in Japan, without Chinese influence. However, as will be seen, the comparisons are detailed and numerous, which argues a strong case for China and the Asian mainland as the parent of ninjutsu. That leaves the mystery of its more specific origins.

Possibly the most dominant linguistic connection between ninjutsu and the Chinese methods of spying is the use of the names
Yutei
(playing/roving agent) and
Yushi
(playing/roving warrior/officer). The
Bansenshukai
uses the term
Yutei
in its introduction, where it explains the origin of the shinobi. The base ideogram of
which is ‘playing’ or ‘roving’ also forms the basis of the word
Yushi
. Fujibayashi in the
Bansenshukai
talks of
Yushi
as an origin for, or Chinese example of, the ninja and refers to the
Ta
’
i Kungs,
The Six Secret Teachings as his example. In this Chinese manual we do find that the description of
Yushi
rings true to our image of certain part of the ninja’s role, as can be seen in the following quote from The Six Secret Teachings:

‘Yushi
, eight of: Responsible for spying on the enemy’s licentiousness and observing their changes, manipulating their emotions and observing the enemy’s thoughts in order to act as spies.

The
Bansenshukai
:

In The Six Secret Teachings it is referred to as Yushi
‘playing warrior’ and in the Yin Jing
manual written by Risen it is known as Koujin
. As seen in these, it has been described in many different ways according to the period, or the lord’s intention. It is quite similar in our country, as we call it shinobi,
Yato, Suppa, Nokizaaru, Mitsumono, Kyoudan
, etc.