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The word "ninja" in kanji script. Ninja is the on'yomi (Early Middle Chinese–influenced) reading of the two kanji "忍者". In the native kun'yomi reading, it is pronounced shinobi, a shortened form of shinobi-no-mono (忍びの者).
Historically, there is no evidence for the existence of this "katana-like short sword legendarily used by ninja" before the 20th century. [12] Instead, the designs demonstrated by alleged replicas may be based on the design of wakizashi or chokutō swords or the swords associated with ashigaru—common infantrymen with no "ninja" aspects. [1]
Ninjutsu (忍術), is the term for the techniques and skills used by spies and scouts in pre-modern Japan known as ninja. Some of these techniques are recorded in ninja scrolls, some which have been published and translated. The study of these scrolls have changed the perception of ninja and ninjutsu. [1] [2]
The ninja of the Iga-ryū was also divided into different "classes" and ranks, based solely on the ninja's skill level. This hierarchy was simplified in the writings of the mid-20th-century author Heishichiro Okuse, who labeled them into three general categories: "jonin (upper ninja)", "chūnin (middle ninja)", and "genin (lower ninja)".
People dressed as ninja during the 2009 Himeji Castle Festival in Himeji, Hyōgo, Japan. In the history of Japan, ninja (also known as shinobi) operated as spies, assassins, or thieves; they formed their own caste outside the usual feudal social categories such as lords, samurai, and serfs.
In 1972, Masaaki Hatsumi founded the Bujinkan organization. It uses the concepts of Ninjutsu in three of its nine schools [3] though they have since steered away from the "Ninjutsu" moniker in order to avoid stereotypes and since the art, which contains 9 ryūha (or schools), only has 3 schools based on the ninja while the other 6 are based on samurai tactics.
The beginnings of the Kōga-ryū may be traced to near the end of the Muromachi period.While the district of Kōga, in Ōmi Province, was under the jurisdiction of the Rokkaku clan, it was a kind of autonomous municipality, composed of localized unions called sō (惣).
The eighth volume of the ninja handbook Bansenshukai written in 1676 describes Kunoichi-no-jutsu (くノ一の術, the ninjutsu of a woman), which can be interpreted as "a technique to utilize a woman". [1] The Bansenshukai compiles the knowledge of the ninja clans in the regions of Iga and Kōka.