SHINOBI SOLDIERS

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE NINJA

EPISODE 3: IS NINJUTSU A MARTIAL ART?

Antony Cummins MA

Is Ninjutsu a martial art…no, does it have martial arts in it…no, do ninjas do martial
arts?..yes! To start, it is understood that you have what we could class as a Ninja, a man
being brought up in the mountain regions of Koga and Iga and other such places, learning
the Shinobi arts. Also, that you have sections of the Samurai class learning Ninjutsu, or
having been taught Ninjutsu. We know that this was a basic given fact and we can verify
this by historical documents. This leads to the question, if the Samurai also studies
Ninjutsu, then what are they learning? Surely a Samurai would be an extremely
competent martial artist? Some people automatically say, ‘well, they must have learnt
secret weapons’, this is a mute reply, as most of the weapons we think of as Ninja
weapons were in fact open to other Samurai martial arts schools. Hidden canes, throwing
stars, chain weapons, Etc, we can verify that they used most outside of the realm of the
Ninja. Therefore, what did the Samurai learn when they were taught Ninjutsu?

On the other hand, if we look to the ‘birthplace of the Ninja’ Iga and Koga in Mie/shiga
prefecture, they were at the time of the Ninja, basically a separate state to themselves, a
self ruling body, would this not put them on a comparable level of the Samurai, an elite
warrior aristocracy? Or did the Iga state have a recognized Samurai family? These
questions are difficult to answer, but that is irrelevant to an extent as the function of the
question is to highlight the point, if warrior elites go to learn Ninjutsu as an external skill,
what are the learning as it can not be fighting styles.

The comparisons between battlefield martial arts developed before the Edo period and
Ninpo Taijutsu (skill with the body) taught today will lead you to a very clear
comparison, they both look the same. Thus, Ninpo Taijustu is a form of Kobudo or old
martial arts. This fits in perfectly with the argument that battlefield martial arts are just a
small section of Ninjutsu, whereas now it is the main focus of 99% of today’s Ninjutsu
students. This still leaves the glaring question, what were the other sections taught?
There are three major texts on Ninjutsu from the medieval period, The Bansenshukai, the
Shoninki and the Ninpiden. Out of over 20 volumes in the Bansenshukai, only 5 are
aimed at weaponry, there are no references to martial arts in the Shoninki (Lit: True Ninja
Account) and the Ninpiden deals with espionage tools, some of which are weapons. This
information or lack of martial information is a glaring beacon for the fact that the arts of
Ninjutsu were predominantly that of, espionage and infiltration. We can postulate with
reasonable faith that, using the original sources, to be a Shinobi, was not the way of

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learning Ninpo Taijutsu martial arts, but to understand how to infiltrate and disturb the
enemy, to creep in and gain secrets and or to dispose of people, stores or buildings (by
fire). Furthermore, you have in-depth accounts of psychology, meteorology, esoteric
rituals, endurance testing and others. We have been led to believe that to learn the arts of
the Ninja today, is to learn how to fight or kill with weapons. When in fact, life as a
warrior, which the Ninja would have been, during the feudal age, to be able to fight and
kill was fundamental need. It is comparable to asking a modern day butcher about his
trade and he give you a 10 year lesson on sharpening knives, a fundamental section of his
training, that will not teach you how to butcher animals. Like Ninjutsu training, if all you
do is learn how to fight, you have only ventured into the basics. Yet we have ‘Ninjutsu
Masters’ around the world claiming to teach Shinobi no Jutsu (the original way to
pronounce Ninjutsu) , and their curriculum comprising of fighting alone? I am yet to see
the DVD on sale that is a Ninjutsu DVD that teaches meteorology or arson? What good
would it do you to creep into a camp, kill a guard then not be able to set that camp on
fire? ‘oh gosh could someone lend me a match?!’

This brings us to the point that, when you hear of Ninjutsu, you should not understand it
as a selection of martial artists dressed in black making an investigation into body
movement, no matter how good or bad they are. See, them as a selection of people
studying Kobudo, old martial arts. Thus, when you think of the Ninja, consider the
rigorous training and ability you would need to be a; spy, an infiltrator, an arsonist, a
meteorologist, a con artist, a survival expert, a doctor, a disguise artist, a fighter, a
horseman, an archer, a botanist and more then likely, a harsh and real killer of men. We
now see the Ninja as the spiritual warrior, but what we forget is that these were men of
pure daring and capability, true warriors beyond that of most modern martial artists.

After thought

I once spoke to a WWII ex-SAS veteran. He was about 85 and told me how he had killed
men, many of them by infiltration and by the knife. His eyes were that of those few men
you find out there that are truly dangerous. they really lit up with killer instinct as he told
me some of the Germans he killed had begged to be left alive; he smiled as he told them
that ‘they were soldiers and should die with honour!’ No matter what style of martial arts
you do, no matter if you are a world champion or cage fighter. I would dare you to deify
that shadow in the dark, who grips you and shoves a dagger in your heart as he tells you
to die with honour, that is a ‘Ninja’ a man of true daring.

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