The Shadow Ninjas Clan link: http://vortexwars.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1686#p11826
"About Fact" A ninja or shinobi was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan who specialized in unorthodox warfare. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, and open combat in certain situations. Their covert methods of waging war contrasted the ninja with the samurai, who observed strict rules about honor and combat. The shinobi proper, a specially trained group of spies and mercenaries, appeared in the Sengoku or "warring states" period, in the 15th century, but antecedents may have existed in the 14th century, and possibly even in the 12th century (Heian or early Kamakura era).
NINJA
"About Myth" By the time of the Meiji Restoration (1868), the tradition of the shinobi had become a topic of popular imagination and mystery in Japan. Ninja figured prominently in folklore and legend, and as a result it is often difficult to separate historical fact from myth. Some legendary abilities purported to be in the province of ninja training include invisibility, walking on water, and control over the natural elements. As a consequence, their perception in western popular culture in the 20th century was based more on such legend and folklore than on the historical spies of the Sengoku period.
KUNOICHI
Short Movies
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Short Movies - Sticks
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Long Movies
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"About Myth" Black-clad figures with muffled faces skitter through a courtyard, swarming over walls like spiders and running lightly across rooftops, quick as cats.
An unsuspecting samurai sleeps peacefully as these shadows permanently silence his body guards. The bedroom door slides open without a sound, an up-raised blade glints in the moonlight, and...
This is the ninja of the movies and comic books, the stealthy assassin in black robes with magical abilities in the arts of concealment and murder.
This wraith-like being is very compelling, to be sure. But what is the historical reality behind the popular culture icon of the Ninja?
"About Fact" Origins of the Ninja:
It is difficult to pin down the emergence of the first ninja, more properly called shinobi. After all, people around the world have always used spies and assassins.
Japanese folklore states that the ninja descended from a demon that was half man and half crow. However, it seems more likely that the ninja slowly evolved as an opposing force to their upper-class contemporaries, the samurai, in early feudal Japan.
Most sources indicate that the skills that became ninjutsu, the ninja's art of stealth, began to develop between 600-900 A.D. Prince Shotoku, (574-622), is said to have employed Otomono Sahito as a shinobi spy.
NINJA - real image
NINJA EQUIPMENT
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"About Fact" The First Known Ninja School:
For a century or more, the blend of Chinese and native tactics that would become ninjutsu developed as a counter-culture, without rules.
It was first formalized by Daisuke Togakure and Kain Doshi.
Daisuke had been a samurai, but he was on the losing side in a regional battle. He forfeited his lands and his samurai title. Ordinarily, a samurai might commit seppuku under these circumstances, but Daisuke did not.
In 1162, Daisuke was wandering the mountains of southwest Honshu when he met Kain Doshi, a Chinese warrior-monk. Daisuke renounced his bushido code, and together the two developed a new theory of guerrilla warfare called ninjutsu.
Daisuke's descendants created the first ninja ryu, or school, the Togakureryu.
Ninja Wisdoms:
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"About Fact" Ninjutsu versus Bushido:
Ninjutsu developed as an opposing force to the samurai code of bushido.
Samurai valued loyalty and honor above all else.
Going into battle, a samurai would select a single opponent, announce his challenge, list his family pedigree, and then attack. Samurai wore bright colors on their armor to announce their clan identity. Bushido was noble and highly stylized, but it couldn't always get the job done.
That is where ninjutsu came in: the ninja code valued accomplishing a mission by whatever means necessary. Sneak attacks, poison, seduction and spying were all shameful to the samurai, but fair play by the rules of the ninja.
NINJA disguise - Monk Outfit
Ninja music:
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"About Fact" Who Were the Ninja?:
Some of the ninja leaders, or jonin, were disgraced samurai like Daisuke Togakure. They had lost in battle or had been renounced by their daimyo, but fled rather than committing ritual suicide.
Most ordinary ninja were not from the nobility, though. They were villagers and farmers, who learned to fight by any means necessary for their own self-preservation.
The most famous ninja strongholds were the Iga and Koga Provinces.
Women also served in ninja combat. Female ninja, or kunoichi, infiltrated enemy castles in the guise of dancers, concubines or servants. They were successful spies, and sometimes acted as assassins as well.
"About Fact" Samurai Use of the Ninja:
The samurai lords could not always prevail in open warfare, but they were constrained by bushido. So, they often hired ninja to do their dirty work.
Secrets could be spied out, opponents assassinated, or misinformation planted... without sullying a samurai's honor.
This system also transferred wealth to the lower classes, as ninja were paid handsomely for their work.
Of course, a samurai's enemies could also hire ninja. As a result, the samurai needed, despised, and feared the ninja, in equal measure.
The ninja "high man", or Jonin, gave orders to the Chunin, "middle man", who passed them on to the Genin, ordinary ninja.
SAMURAI
The Shadow Ninjas Clan link: http://vortexwars.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1686#p11826
