Page 41 - Martial Science August #22-2017

NINJA

SHINOBI

We all have engraved in the retina, in one way or another,
the image of ninja; a figure that appears from the shade

dressed in black, hooded and with a katana at the back. Un-
doubtedly, cinema, video games and comics have
totally distorted the image of this feudal warrior, making him

look totally a fictional character and not a real warrior spe-
cialized in unconventional war.

n order to delve deeper into this historical JUTSU 術 which means: art, technique, ability,
Ifigure, I will begin by defining the words nin- resources.
ja, shinobi and, of course, Ninjutsu.
In this way, we could define Ninjutsu as the art
The term ninja, very well-known nowadays, of resistance, patience and perseverance or the
was begun to be used more recurrently after art of stealth, among others, and ninja or shino-
the World War II, because its pronunciation bi as the person who dominates this art.
was much easier for westerners than shino- What is a ninja or shinobi?
bi-no-mono or shinobi.
It would take much more than a single article to
I will focus on defining these terms even know- answer this question in depth, but I will try to
ing that, depending on area and time, these make the historical figure of the ninja as clear
warriors received different names like Kanja as possible. Certainly, the main functions per-
間 者, Rappa 乱 破, Suppa 透 破, Ukami 伺 formed by ninjas were espionage, sabotage, in-
見, among many others. filtration, etc., which were studied along with
the following disciplines:
Words SHINOBI - NINJA - NINJUTSU are
composed of the following kanji: - Inton Jutsu: infiltration techniques
- Shinobi Iri: concealment and
SHINOBI 忍, that separately, means: camouflage techniques
- Cho Ho: espionage techniques
- SHI: doer - Henso Jutsu: masking and disguise
- NO: expert techniques.
- BI: information
The ninja was in charge of being infiltrated
As a whole, SHINOBI or NIN 忍 means: re- on enemy lines to observe its situation, being
sist, patience, persevere, endure, hide, secret, able later on to give the necessary information
sneak, stealth. to the one who hired him. He was responsible
for sabotaging and frustrating enemy’s attack,
JA 者 which means: person. guiding troops in hostile terrain, managed to

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