Shinobi

Despite many popular folktales, historical accounts of the ninja are scarce. The social origin of the ninja is seen as the reason they agree to operate in secret, trading their service for money without honor and glory. The first dubbed ninja was a man named Otomono Sahito , though historical evidence of his existence is scarce. However, some ninjutsu books described specifically what tactics ninja should use to fight, and the scenarios in which a ninja might find themselves can be deduced from those tactics.

For example, in the manuscript of volume 2 of Kanrin Seiyō (間林清陽) which is the original book of Bansenshūkai (万川集海), there are 48 points of ninja's fighting techniques, such as how to make makibishi from bamboo, how to make footwear that makes no sound, fighting techniques when surrounded by many enemies, precautions when using swords at night, how to listen to small sounds, kuji-kiri that prevents guard dogs from barking, and so on. Predecessors The title ninja has sometimes been attributed retrospectively to the semi-legendary 2nd-century prince Yamato Takeru . Prince Shotoku, who lived from 574-622 AD, was believed to have employed a ninja spy named Otomono Sahito. In the Kojiki , the young Yamato Takeru disguised himself as a charming maiden and assassinated two chiefs of the Kumaso people.

However, these records take place at a very early stage of Japanese history, and they are unlikely to be connected to the shinobi of later accounts. The first recorded use of espionage was under the employment of Prince Shōtoku in the 6th century. Such tactics were considered unsavory even in early times, when, according to the 10th-century Shōmonki , the boy spy Hasetsukabe no Koharumaru was killed for spying against the insurgent Taira no Masakado . The history of Ninjitsu schools recorded around the 12th century, when Daisuke Togakure and Kain Doshi formalized the teaching of Chinese and native Japanese guerilla tactics to which was as counter-culture of the time.

As a samurai, Daisuke lost his lands and title after being defeated in a regional conflict. Refusing to commit Seppuku , Daisuke travelled to the mountains of southwest Honshu in 1162. Here, he met Doshi, a Chinese warrior-monk. Daisuke abandoned his way of bushido , and worked with Doshi to formulate the guerilla art of war called ninjutsu.

Daisuke's descendants founded the first ninja-ryu, or ninja school, the Togakureryu . Later, the 14th-century war chronicle Taiheiki contained many references to shinobi and credited the destruction of a castle by fire to an unnamed but "highly skilled shinobi ".