In Search of the Niinja (19 page)

This concept of ‘Substantial and Insubstantial’ appears in a selection of ninja manuals and is another example of shinobi tactics taken from, and sometimes directly quoted from, Chinese military philosophy.

The
Onmitsuhiji Shinobi-dai
ninja scroll clearly displays the influence of Chinese thought in the well known analogy of spies being akin to water, good to have but potentially disastrous if misused:

Generally the commander [of the group] should be a shinobi and the primary aim is to make the enemy confused. The Chinese classics say that an army is like a ship and spies are like water. A ship without water will not float but also too much water can overturn a ship. If you are not a sage you cannot use spies. Every general, both new and old, should understand this principle.

The above selection of examples of Chinese thought in shinobi writings is by no means comprehensive, though they should be enough to establish the Chinese connection.
53
Arguably, most of Japanese culture was an import from mainland Asia. We therefore move on to the skill sets that the two nations shared.

To formalise a connection between the two nations, a shared skill set needs to be found. Having seen linguistic connections, it is now time to compare the ‘field skills’ of the Chinese agents and the ninja. If a varied and extensive use of identical or close to matching skills can be found, then there is a strong argument that the skills of the ninja were in fact Chinese imports.

The first section perhaps belongs by rights to the linguistic discussion, though it does define the skills of the spy. The Chinese ideogram
Kan
means ‘to spy’ and has an interesting etymology. Firstly, the ideogram for gate is
Mon
and is considered to be the gateway or gatehouse to a residence, whilst ideogram for sun
54
is
. As can be seen,
Kan
is made up of the sun coming through a gateway. The concept here is that the moment you open a gap, even just a fraction, the light will infiltrate. This ideogram is also found later with the following variation
which has the symbol for eye next to the original spying, meaning to look through the gap. Whilst the ideogram is not actually used in the following excerpt, Natori in his
Shoninki
quotes what he calls ‘an old verse’, a rhyme that clearly links the Chinese ideogram and the ideology of the shinobi. ‘As a matter of course you may be certain of your victory with the coming of dawn but the moment that you open the door, a ray of the moon will get in through it.’

There is a difference between the Chinese spy agents and the Japanese ninja. The Chinese
Hsin-ling Chun
manual states that they use ‘dog thieves’, whilst some manuals use the term ‘
Hsing-jen
’ spies (and their complex subsections), and this manual has the addition of ‘incendiary thieves’, people who start fires. As discussed at the start of this book, the concept of ninja is hard to pinpoint but can be generally accepted as one whose skills include:

1    Espionage

2    Thieving and infiltration

3    Clandestine and incendiary warfare

These three specialisations being performed by one individual is what separates the shinobi agent from all other spies worldwide, including Chinese. Whilst it cannot be claimed with utmost confidence, it appears that the Chinese had specialists who were highly trained in the individual elements above or a combination of two of them, who were equal to the shinobi
in their own specialisation. But the Japanese combined the three separate specialist areas and produced the characteristic ninja figure. If this theory holds, it would mean that one would see Chinese agents in ninja-like situations, such as creeping into thieve, or elite troops infiltrating with the intent of arson, but by far the most numerous accounts of the three activities in Chinese manuals are of an agent disguising himself and infiltrating the ranks of the enemy as a soldier or as an agent-spy. Of course there are examples of Chinese agents performing more than one of the skills, however it appears only ever to be two out of the three activities, such as an agent in disguise who may also set fire to a city, yet does not, say, display the creeping in of a ninja to listen. Hsu Tung hints at this possible specialisation. ‘The fluent and loquacious should be employed to work as spies, [whilst] those good at filching things like rats and snatching things like dogs should be dispatched to steal the enemy signals and investigate them.’

So the Chinese tended to use people in one main application; however, there is evidence to suggest that there is also a difference in the types of Japanese shinobi. The writings of Kimura and Chikamatsu, translated at the end of this book, talk of how tacticians in their time – the end of the seventeenth century – do not understand the difference between the types of shinobi, implying that the shinobi sub-specialised into spies and ‘stealers in’. Also, Fujibayashi states that
In-nin
or unseen infiltration is the skill of lower people, whereas the five types of spy or
Yo-nin
is the work of the more educated samurai. This is further supported by other writings that claim that there is a distinction between the types of shinobi. If this is the case, then the shinobi is even closer to his Chinese counterpart.

Infiltrating the ranks of other forces, normally other ‘Houses’ or clans, is not a factor that can contribute to the establishment of a connection between Chinese spies and the ninja. Espionage and estrangement is present in both Japanese and Chinese texts but it is also a logical skill of espionage all over the world. However, its usage by both nations as a fundamental spying skill must be noted and the following is an example that shows how the ninja were used.

This quote comes from the
Mikawafudoki
document, in a dialogue that was supposed to have taken place between Tokugawa Ieyasu and a samurai called Ii (pronounced ‘E’):

Tokugawa Ieyasu asked Ii, ‘Have we planted shinobi in the enemy ranks?’ Ii replied, ‘Yes we have, we planted three inside of [your enemy] the Lord Ishida’s forces the other day.’ However, Lord Tokugawa then replied, ‘You should send them not only to Lord Ishida, but also to other generals, including Ukita, and thus obtain what you need about the enemy’s tactics. Or you can make [the shinobi] spread disinformation to cause confusion among the enemy, as this is the first priority of warfare. Therefore, be sure not to let even your allies know of this arrangement [that you have with your ninja]’. Next, Lord Ieyasu and Ii chose dozens of people from Iga and Koka who were older and more experienced and sent them to those enemy Daimyo to spread disinformation.

They [the people of Iga and Koka] went to the enemy area and spread rumours, saying that some people had betrayed their Lords. Also, they ‘hung around’ in and on the outside of castle [boundaries], and went to the Lords of the west and informed the people that certain Lords would betray Lord Ishida and they would allow the Kanto east armies into their castles when they came. Also, they accused some people who [were loyal retainers] in the castle of being long term spies and said that they were reporting everything to the eastern side. In this manner, the people of the castles were confused by this disinformation.

We have to eliminate the obvious shared skill sets, which are common to all forms of spying, such as the work of double agents. The next step is to investigate the topics which appear to have too many identical details to be simply coincidence and that show the same skills shared by Japan and China.

Whilst ninja are not primarily assassins, they were called upon to assassinate at times. Assassination is not a medieval concept of course and is as old as man. But it is important to note that the subject is discussed in more detail in Chinese texts and it is possible that this art of assassination was a stand-alone profession, outside of spying. The ninja on the other hand, without doubt killed during their missions but it is not clear if the killing was the primary aim and stealing a by-product or if the theft was the primary goal and the killing was ancillary. The thirteenth chapter of the
Bansenshukai
goes into detail about infiltrating a house and most of the examples given require killing the occupants; however it is not clear why the shinobi is entering the house. In contrast, a ninja when infiltrating a castle appears not to kill people, making his main role that of information gatherer or arsonist. When infiltrating a house, killing seems to have been the norm. Therefore, calling shinobi ‘assassins’ is potentially misleading, as they did perform assassinations but it does not appear to have been their primary role. Remembering that killing was a fundamental part of life in the Sengoku period and killing is not necessarily assassination, Fujibayashi’
s
silence on
why
a ninja should kill means we do not know if they went to assassinate, or if they went to steal.
55

The ‘skill’ of understanding a man’s character by his features was a mixture of pseudo-science and mysticism. This ‘art’ enjoyed an extensive period of popularity in both the east and west. However, here it truly lights a path of dissemination of information from China to Japan. China’s physiognomic analysis predates that of Japan and was used as part of Chinese espionage. The
Natori-ryu
of Japan includes this art in their curriculum as a part of their ninja way, showing a real connection between Chinese and Japanese intelligence skills.

This quite specific skill is often translated as ghost-skill, however, the western and eastern concepts of ‘ghost’ differ.
Bakemono
can have connotations of invisibility and transformation, which better fits the skill description. The idea is to become the enemy, to don his clothes, to use his speech and thus to infiltrate. The Chinese manuals echo this skill: ‘Disguising some men as enemy emissaries is the means by which to sever their supply lines.’