In this video, “The REAL Ninja: Essence of True Ninjutsu”. I wanted to give a lecture about the historical truths of the ninja, to help my students better understand the difficulties of how hard it really would have been, to be a spy in the feudal era of Japanese history.

A ninja (忍者) or shinobi (忍び) was a covert agent or samurai spy in feudal Japan. Some of the functions of a ninja included espionage, stealth, deception, and surprise attacks. Shinobi, as secretly trained spy, appeared in the 15th century during the Sengoku period (15th–17th centuries), antecedents may have existed as early as the 12th century.

In the unrest of the Sengoku period, spies for hire became active in Iga & Koka Prefectures, as well as other Province throughout the whole of Japan. Following the unification of Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate in the 17th century, the ninja faded into obscurity. A number of shinobi manuals, often based on Chinese military philosophy, were written in the 17th and 18th centuries, most notably the Bansenshukai (1676).

By the time of the Meiji Restoration (1868), shinobi had become a topic of popular imagination and mystery in Japan. Ninjas figured prominently in legend and folklore, where they were associated with legendary abilities such as invisibility, walking on water and control over the natural elements. As a consequence, their perception in popular culture is based more on such legend and folklore than on the spies of the Sengoku period.

The “ninja” as a military position ended in 1868. Today there are 4 individuals that claim to teach a ninja lineage that still dates back to the age of the samurai:

(1) MASAAKI HATSUMI; 34th Soke of the Togakure-ryu, 14th Soke of Kumogakure-yu and 21st Soke of Gyokushin-ryu.

(2) SHOTO TANEMURA; 55th Soke of the Shinden Tatara-ryu, 58th Soke of the Amatsu Tatara Buman & Shuman

(3) JINICHI KAWAKAMI; 21st Soke of the Kimura-ha Ban-ryu

(4) ANSHU (Christa Jacobson); 21st Soke of the Tomo-ryu

This lesson is directly for the practitioners of the ancient Japanese koryu martial arts of the ninja and samurai, such as ninjutsu (ninpo) and bujutsu (budo).

#Ninja #MartialArts #Ninjutsu
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BUDO RYU KAI
School of the Warrior Way
Authentic Ninjutsu & Samurai Bujutsu
http://budoryuninjutsu.com/
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