In Search of the Niinja (30 page)

Using the original 1560 version only, this is the art of crouching and walking on the tops of your hands, left hand to right foot, right hand to left foot. Are you confused yet? I will now list the evolution of this misunderstood yet important ‘ninja’ step. Be aware that the manuals listed below are in their transcription order, that is the physical date that they were actually produced, not the date of the original writings they were copied from.

•
    Seventeenth century: the
Bansenshukai
names the ‘Rabbit Step’ for the first time but does not describe the process in any way and simply states ‘use normal or makeshift
Uho
steps like a leaf on water.’

•
    1731: The
Okimori
version of the
Shinobi Hiden
manual describes an unnamed step where the left hand goes under the right foot and the right hand goes under the left foot. This original version of the step comes from 1560 and remains unchanged until the mid-nineteenth century – which still leaves the issue of the transcription error in this edition, which uses two versions for left – the original manual is now lost.

•
    1843: The
Nagata
version of the
Shinobi Hiden
manual knowingly changes the above unnamed walk to left hand to left foot and right hand to right foot but without explanation for the alteration.

•
    1972: Nawa claims that the ‘Rabbit Step’ found in the
Bansenshukai
is actually the unnamed step in the
Shinobi Hiden
, without any explanation as to why he believes they are connected.

•
    Around the same time, researchers start to change the term
Shinso
, meaning ‘normal’ or ‘makeshift’ to ‘Deep Grass’, most likely to make sense of the use of the rabbit ideogram.

The modern ninjutsu community has adopted only the same-hand same-foot version which as can be seen, can only be dated as far as the late 1800s and has no connection to the
Bansenshukai’s
‘Rabbit Step’.

Therefore, without solid proof, such as an alternative manual
91
(if one exists) which describes this same hand to same foot ‘Rabbit Step’ mix in detail, then it is possible that this step could be one of the following. We favour option one.

1  A variation on the
Omyodo Uho
or ‘Emperor’s Step’ making the ‘Rabbit Step’ a form of sliding walk, similar to the
Suriashi
in the
Shoninki
.

2  The use of rabbit fur shoes.

3  The real name for the unnamed step in the
Shinobi Hiden
(however, to date no historical connection has been made).

4  An unknown alternative yet to be discovered in an undiscovered or revealed manual.

Notes

62
    This is due to bird flight being a tell-tale sign of an active
shinobi
within the area. If the birds are being scared by the gunfire it will be difficult to locate the ninja.

63
    Literally, ‘physical training’ however, it means ‘actual’ training in this context.

64
    Most likely, herbs and treatments.

65
    This simply states ‘
Sake
-farming’ and could mean the production of
Sake
or possibly selling
Sake
and farming as individual tasks. It seems more reasonable that this means production.

66
    These almost replicate the above five items, however this is by design, the first five are elements to be learnt whilst these seven are the actual methods of infiltration. The titles are expanded on here as the original document simply has an ideogram that would be understood within the context by a Japanese speaker.

67
    With the exception of a shinobi connected to an army; as the army is on the march he has no need of disguise.

68
    Whilst the form of horseshoe is not described in the manual, Japanese horse shoes where not constructed of metal but were a form of straw sandal. The instruction not to use them is presumably due to the need to change them often.

69
    This is a reference to the Taoist belief in the red phoenix defending the south; the text suggests that using the blood of sparrows will help you gain energy from this defending phoenix.

70
    Possibly a line of
Natori-ryu
.

71
    The ideogram can be used as both, making it hard to determine which was in the mind of the author.

72
    To date, no practical controlled tests have been performed.

73
    Some manuals talk of insects and worms, more so than mammal blood.

74
    This formula is based on blood and water having a similar density.

75
    Nutritional data supplied by Alex Allera of the Chemistry Department of Turin University
.

76
    This ingredient has been noted for its medicinal benefits.

77
    ‘0’ here means negligible in amount and ‘Nil’ means not found.

78
    Also an ingredient with medical qualities.

79
    A kilocalorie is equal to what we commonly refer to as a ‘calorie’ with an average of 2000 needed by a male per day, according to most sources.

80
    That is to maintain his weight, to simply survive it would require less.

81
    Depending on the amount of hours a person sleeps, an individual can go through, up to five Sleep Cycles a night. One cycle can measure from 90 to 120 minutes.

82
    The black-clad guise of the ninja is most probably an Edo period phenomenon and masked intruders were probably thieves who wished to hide their identity. As discussed previously, some shinobi may have also been involved in theft.

83
    In the image, the writing to the right states ‘This is
shinobi no jutsu
’. This is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, it shows the author felt he had to explain that ninjutsu also included mathematics. Secondly, to date it is the only record which shows how to pronounce the word as
shinobi no jutsu
. The name for the arts of the ninja is
ninjutsu
, however with the addition of the partial ‘no’ this makes the term
shinobi no jutsu
, adding to the building evidence for the preferred use of the term
shinobi
over
ninja
.

84
    An unknown skill.

85
    In this case the original has not been seen and I am working from secondary sources.

86
    In the past this has been mistranslated and many modern images show the sword on the last or outer six centimetres of the blade, which makes a long probing arm supported by a string. However, the original text states that the blade itself should only come out of the scabbard by six centimetres.

87
    The earliest reference found to date of the mix up of the ‘Rabbit Step’ as a form of walking on the hands and its attachment to the
Bansenshukai
version can be found in the works of Yumio Nawa, published in 1972. He adds further confusion by stating that the ‘Rabbit Step’ appears in the
Shinobi Hiden
manual – it does not.

88
    Often translated as
Toho
but which can be read as
Uho
.

89
    One variation has cloth wrapped around the hands and a sliding of the foot-hand combination little by little.

90
    This magical step is combined with a form of
Kuji
magic to protect from demons etc. The etymology of the name of this step ‘
Uho
’ shows that it used to be employed to describe a crippled walking gait in ancient China, after a Chinese Emperor who worked so hard for his people he became crippled.

91
    It is possible that Nawa had access to a manual that describes the ‘Rabbit Step’ as the same walk found in the
Shinobi Hiden
, however he himself did not declare this.

A
re the ninja manuals genuine? During the Edo period of peace the samurai looked back and reflected on the Sengoku period in a romanticised way. However, some documentation of the Edo period intended to save the military knowledge for future generations is an invaluable historical source.

Apart from a very select few manuals that were penned at the end of the Sengoku period or a minority that were written at the start of the Edo period, nearly all ninja manuals are written by those who never saw combat in warfare. The further the date of a manual gets from 1603, the more questionable its content. These problems have led academics in Japan to keep ninjutsu at arm’s length and in some cases to bring even the core manuals, such as the
Bansenshukai
,
Shoninki
and
Shinobi Hiden,
into question. However, a high percentage of researchers do not question the validity of the information provided by the
Bansenshukai
and the
Shoninki
(especially the latter). There are a few points that raise concern. Why, for example, has the author of the
Bansenshukai
taken so much information from external manuals, some of which were in the public domain; and why does Fujibayashi quote so heavily from the Chinese classics? In fact, these two questions are easily answered and reflect positively on the author. The issue of using other ninja manuals is explained in the text as an attempt to unify ninjutsu and bring about not only a record for future generations, but to establish a curriculum and to reject that which is not needed. Fujibayashi’
s
use of
Gunpo
Densho,
or war manuals, such as the
Gunpo Jiyoshu
, is evident. It is known that the
Gunpo Jiyoshu
manual itself was published at least 20 years before the writing of the
Bansenshukai;
but the shinobi information from that manual is in fact Hattori information and has its origins in Iga. So we have an Iga manual – the
Bansenshukai
– referring to a published work that is a copy of Ninja information from Iga. Some have claimed that references to Chinese classics were an attempt to look ‘worthy’ and ‘educated’, as an understanding of the Chinese classics and Chinese culture was deemed highly desirable at this time in Japan. This is true, but we must not forget that Fujibayashi was of samurai status (at some level) and was indeed educated. He is not pretending to be cultured. It is only the inclusion of ninjutsu that make people raise the point in the first place, implying that his ninjutsu is fake and the classics are there to give it credibility. Other contemporary manuals refer to Chinese culture and style, other samurai of the time did look to China and use Chinese literature as a foundation for their instruction. Therefore, Fujibayashi, whilst a shinobi, was samurai and was in fact simply following in the footsteps of his peers. This does not undermine the credibility of his instruction on ninjutsu in itself.

Having answered these two criticisms of the
Bansenshukai
, we must investigate its overall authenticity. Firstly, its contents beyond the Chinese link display a vast amount of understanding and knowledge of the shinobi arts, skills which ring true with the architecture of the time and contemporary military procedures. To make all this up would take an eccentric yet brilliant mind; or Fujibayashi was in fact acquainted with the Iga
shinobi
ways, which is of course backed up by the fact that he was born in Iga. Secondly, the
Bansenshukai
was clearly adopted by many (if not all) of the families of both Koka and Iga, families with hundreds of years of ninjutsu experience who were not likely to be duped by a forgery. To help save the traditions of Koka, copies of the
Bansenshukai
were distributed amongst them in an attempt to retain the correct skills of the ninja within the respective families. Lastly, there are the three
Koka Koshi,
or ‘displaced warriors of Koka’, who presented the
Bansenshukai
to the Shogun’s Magistrate to support their formal request for employment. The Ohara document names three warriors, Ohara Kazuma, Ueno Hachizaemon and Oki Moriichiro
,
who requested government sponsorship and employment for the Koka families who could no longer afford to train shinobi. They expressed concern for the future of their arts – whilst also trying to place the Ohara family at the top of the hierarchy. This was not the first attempt to gain government support, it was tried at various points. The frequently missed point here is that the
Bansenshukai
was presented as an official document to the Shogunate; this indirectly confirms the authenticity of the document. It is almost impossible that the combined families of Koka would petition the supreme ruler of Japan, with their future at stake, with a falsified document, a simple fact that has gone unremarked for years.

Another, not so well known factor is that one year before the
Bansenshukai
(1676), another ninja manual called the
Tsugeke Shinobi no Jutsu Hidensho
was written that was kept in the Inamasu family, who claimed to have been given ninjutsu by the Fujibayashi family. It is recorded that Inamasu Jirozaemon (who recived a Menkyo Kaiden certificate from a Fujibayashi member) taught ninjutsu in the Todo clan of Iga and their manual reflects Fujibayashi teachings. This confirms that the Fujibayashi family were practising shinobi. The ninjutsu in the
Bansenshukai
clearly reflects the ninjutsu as described in the manual preceding it. The following is a list of skills taken from the
Tsugeke
Ninjutsu
Hidensho
manual (1675) displaying similarities with the
Bansenshukai
.