Ninja — Japan’s hidden Warriors

Day 335 / 365

As a kid, I used to think that Ninjas are fictional, created just for the movies and cartoon shows. Ninjas are actually quite real and have been an integral part of Japanese culture and politics for centuries.

Ninjas were utilized mainly for secret missions, such as political assassinations. Armies used to hire them as paid assassins. They came into the picture around the 15th century, and most of them were from the Iga and Koga regions.

Another kind of warriors from Japan that you might have heard of was the Samurai warriors. Interestingly, the Samurais didn’t like the Ninjas methods and did not consider them as noble warriors. Ninjas mostly came from lower social classes as well, which is why there isn’t much written about them in the past.

Another interesting fact I found is that the popular cartoon “Ninja Hattori”, is actually named after a very famous Japanese warrior Hattori Hanzo. Technically he was a samurai, but he fought alongside Ninjas, and so in the modern pop culture he is often portrayed as a Ninja. He was thought to have supernatural powers such as teleportation.

Are there any ninjas today? Of course, there are! There are still functioning Ninja schools in Japan, where students train to become Ninjas.

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — Making the most of your time