History: Ninjutsu

Himeji Castle, Hyogo Japan

   No one actually exactly knows about the true origin of Ninjutsu. There are several stories and folklores. Some say that Ninjutsu was taught to humans by a creature half human, half crow or goat like. Others relate similar stories. It is an art more than thousand years old to which very few written records exist; most of the art is transmitted orally. Then several things are lost and added through every transmission. Thus it's difficult to sail exactly over the true history of Ninja and Ninjutsu. The only way is to discover from whatever record exists. For this purpose, I will relate from several shinobi traditions here:

Introduction: Ninja and Ninjutsu

Path of Endurance

  '忍者' is the Kanji used for 'Ninja' or 'Shinobi'. 'Ninja' is an Onyomi reading of this Kanji while 'Shinobi-mono' is its Kunyomi reading and is the more appropriate one. Although most people think that 'Ninja' is a newer term than 'Shinobi' and that it is something that people from the 20th century have came up with, it is only true to some extent. The truth is that Ninja is an older term; the first word used was simply 'Kan' (chinese: observer /spy). It transformed through many words such as 'Kansai' to 'Kanja' to finally become 'Ninja' upon its introduction to Japan. Though as the art developed in Japan, the term 'Shinobi' came to be used in common; 'Ninja' too was used but not in common. It again became commonly known as 'Ninja' in 20th century, used by Seiko Fujita who introduced most of the dying art to 20th century. This was easy for the Newer Outer World to adapt with and thus now you see 'Shinobi' rarely used.

   If you ask me how do I feel about the term '忍', I will say 'very wisely chosen by a person of High Enlightenment'. The ideogram '忍' (Nin or Shinobi: 'to Hide' or 'persevere') consists of '刃' (yaiba: blade) and '心' (kokoro: heart) and thus form several meanings:

Introduction: Bujinkan

Enlightenment Way of Warrior

   Bujinkan Budō Taijutsu (also commonly called as Ninjutsu or Ninpō Taijutsu) meaning "Divine Warrior Hall Martial Way of Free-body Techniques", is the ultimate art of self-defence in daily-life and war periods, developed by Hatsumi Masaaki Sōke (34th Grandmaster Tōgakure-Ryū Ninpō) by combining the essence of nine schools of Budo and Ninpō, which He has inherited from his great master who was once famed as Mongolian Tiger named Takamatsu Toshitsugu, who was the grandson of 32nd grandmaster of Togakure Toda Shinryūken.


   The nine schools (ryū-ha) consist of: