Despite the popularity of the image of the ninja in the cinema, the real assassins from medieval Japan have little in common with their screen characters. Nevertheless, living under the laws of their clans and not entering the local feudal system, they really were trained killers, strong, cunning, and able to act both with a blade and poison.
The first ninjas appeared in Japan around the 12th century. The history of the appearance of ninjutsu is still not known. One theory claims that it was developed jointly by a Chinese warrior and a runaway Japanese samurai. The word “ninja” is a Chinese interpretation of Japanese hieroglyphs, and it came into use only in the last century. In Japanese, the hired killers of the Middle Ages were called “sinobi no mono”.
Ninja clans began to train future members of the organization since childhood. Assassination Initiation was carried out at the age of 15. Ninja killer could be both young people and girls. There were whole hereditary ninja clans. Judging by the surviving and historical evidence, ninja willingly resorted to various poisons, using them even more often than weapons. In the ninja clans came people from various backgrounds, from peasants to samurai. Among other disciplines, future assassins studied literacy and theatrical mastery. The latter was necessary to play someone else’s role, if it was necessary to complete the task. Ninjas have invented a kind of water ski, having put on that, they could glide relatively quickly over water. They were something like small bamboo rafts that were attached to their legs. Going on a mission, the ninja always had a poison. He was taken as an assassin if he was captured. Thus, to capture the assassin alive was almost impossible.
Contrary to the replicated image, ninjas never wore black clothes. They preferred dark gray or dark brown tones – they are much better merged with the night darkness than the deep black color. The famous shurikens, throwing stars, were not invented by ninjas. They were also actively used by samurai, being a rather auxiliary weapon for Japan of those years. No special ninja uniform was ever worn. They preferred traditional clothing, different depending on the circumstances, in order to merge with the civilian population. The martial art of ninjas, based on jiu-jitsu, was modified by them for surprise attacks and combat in a limited space. Since the fights often took place on the premises, the assassins preferred short blades to long ones. In addition to poisons and blades, ninjas used explosives, poison gases and other ways to eliminate the target. Currently aware of the existence in the past nine ninja schools. None of them has survived to this day.
