ninja boom that spread widely overseas as part of a larger international fas-
cination with martial arts. Consequently, ninjutsu has been incorporated
widely into action novels and films set in locations worldwide and has even
lost its Japanese character, as American kids and even cartoon character
turtles have been cast as ninja. The ninja has become a thoroughly roman-
ticized and orientalized figure in contemporary global culture.Early History of Ninjutsu
Ninjutsu ryûha texts maintain legends about its origins, but scholars con-
sider them to be highly inaccurate. It seems probable that techniques of
spying and scouting, gathering information for purposes of waging war,
were introduced in the seventh and eighth centuries—most likely in orga-
nized form through the Chinese military classic by Sunzi (ca. 300–237
B.C.), The Art of War.Prince Shôtoku is said to have been the first to em-
ploy someone as a shinobi in the defeat of the Mononobe in 587. Others
suggest that yamabushi(mountain ascetics) who were practitioners of
shugendô—a syncretic form of Shintô-Buddhist belief focusing on the wor-
ship of mountains—may be the progenitors of later ninjutsu. In general,
early accounts of ninja activities are unsubstantiated.
As the scale of battles increased and war bands became better orga-
nized in medieval times, the need for spies and unconventional tactics be-
came critical. In the early fourteenth century, for example, Kusunoki
Masashige is said to have relied on ninjalike activities. He reputedly em-
ployed Iga ninja to steal into Kyoto to discern the military situation. More-
over, in defense of his fortress, Masashige placed lifelike dolls on the bat-
tlements to make his troops appear more numerous. His skills in guerilla
warfare led later schools of ninjutsu to claim connection with Masashige.
After the Ônin War (1467–1477) and the spread of warfare through-
out Japan, various daimyo (regional warlords) began to employ ninja as
spies on a regular basis to assist them in expanding their domains. Although
ninjutsu ultimately spread from the capital region to central and eastern
Japan, local village samurai families in Iga and Kôga (plains areas sur-
rounded by mountains on the border of Iga and Ômi provinces) primarily
developed the techniques. By the late fifteenth century there were reputedly
fifty-three Kôga and two Iga ninja houses, the leading families being the
Hattori and two of that house’s offshoots, the Fujibayashi and Momochi.
Among the daimyo who employed ninja for their skills in espionage
were Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, and Hôjô Ujiyasu. In the Battle of
Magari in Ômi province in 1487, Rokaku Takayori sent ninja into the
camp of the besieging Ashikaga bakufu army, where they set fire to the
headquarters and forced the withdrawal of Ashikaga troops. It was
through such deeds that the reputation of ninja spread among the daimyo356 Ninjutsu