Samurai and Ninja: The Real Story Behind the Japanese Warrior Myth That Shatters the Bushido Mystique (25 page)

地之巻

Chi no Maki

The Scroll of Earth

忍物語口傳書

Shinobi Monogatari Kudensho

Secret Shinobi Sagas that have been Orally Transmitted

[The second stage in Akutagawa-Ryu is to understand the deeds of shinobi that have gone before them: the tales of ancient masters. Often such stories are included in ninja scrolls to encourage students to aspire to the heights of previous shinobi. The tales often return to events in China, or of famous ninja who helped achieve a great victory, either by burning down a castle or succeeding in killing someone who was well protected—naturally all of these tales hold keys to the arts of the shinobi. These also hold applicability and correctly concentrate the mind.]

人之巻

Jin no maki

The Scroll of Man

[This scroll repeats from the first scroll; this is due to differing degrees of learning. The repeat skills have been left in place so that the full scroll-list is available; however no further explanations are given, they simply go into greater detail.]

空立火之事

The Art of Karatachihi

[Text missing from author’s collection]

巾着火之事

The Art of Kinchakubi Drawstring Leather Purse for Fire

[The recipe and construction for the skill described above]

胴之火之事

The Art of the Donohi

[A
donohi
is another form of fire-carrying tool, normally a cylinder or package which contains live burning embers.]

無音薬之事

The Art of the No Sound Power

[Recipes of powders that dampen the sound of tools, etc.]

郭公之事

The Art of the Cuckoo

[A shinobi must learn to imitate animal vocalizations; during an infiltration, the shinobi will call out like an animal or insect; anyone in the target house will be familiar with the noise and ignore any movement outside, thinking it is just the “animal” that is getting closer.]

霧之印之事

The Art of Mudra of Mist

[Blinding powders are often kept in small containers, muskets, canes or cloth. The idea is to gain a position upwind from the enemy and then sprinkle the contents on the wind so that the eyes of the enemy will become blurry and they will be confused. These powders can be thrown at the enemy’s face or placed inside of fire rockets and projectiles.]

無言薬之事

The Art of No Speech Power

[Recipes for the above]

眠リ薬之事

The Art of Sleeping Power

[Recipes for the above]

眠リ薬之事又ノ法

An Alternative Sleeping Powder

[Recipes for the above]

手火之事

The Art of the Palm Torch

[Recipes for the above]

松明之事

The Art of Torches

[Recipes for the above]

袖松明之事

The Art of the Sleeve Torch

[A form of torch kept in the sleeve; this is normally another way of carrying embers, or it can be a miniature torch.]

水防薬之事

The Art of Waterproof Medicine

[Shinobi need to have at least a basic knowledge of medicinal plants and travel medicines. Recipes to cure sunstroke, vomiting, headaches and aid in coagulation of blood to close wounds are all required alongside other medical treatments and first aid that is needed while out performing a mission.]

刀拭之事

The Art of Cleaning a Blade

[The concept of quick-cleaning and sharpening a blade, normally this is the skin of an animal with crushed stone applied. The shinobi will sharpen their sword or clean their blade with these methods.]

兵粮丸之事

The Art of Hunger Pills

[Working in “the field” for days if not weeks on end, a shinobi needs to maintain physical and mental stability. Hunger pills are common among soldiers in Japan and consist of different recipes that are formed into pills and tablets. These are light and small but calorie packed. They are to be taken to keep a shinobi from starving.]

遠道労ヲ治ス薬

The Art of Medicine to Cure Exhaustion after Extended Travel

[This requirement for energy and medical aid to prevent exhaustion helps to display the extreme conditions under which the shinobi worked. Shinobi were the long-distance scouts, a black ops team in enemy territory that may have had to infiltrate the enemy camp. They were expected to be in the field for extended periods of time with little or no food, and their health was expected to decline.]

灯燈之事

The Art of the Lantern

[There are various lanterns and lights that a shinobi must use; also there is the art of avoiding lights and illumination.]

御符之事

The Art of Charms

[This is where the arts of the shinobi start to become magical and superstitious. All Japanese war arts have an element of magic; however, it must be remembered that a modern English reader is probably from a Christian based country. “Magic” has become divided from “godly.” For samurai and shinobi the “magic arts” can be divine and given from the gods. They would perceive nothing heretical about this. Therefore to help shape the image of the shinobi, consider any charms or magical spells to be equal to a European knight’s prayer to God for success in battle. Consider it equal to using holy scripture to protect them, or even a cross emblazoned on armor. The samurai and shinobi would also ask the gods for protection in such a manner.]

削火方

The Art of the Shaved Fire

[Further recipes for starting fires]

紙燭之方

The Art of the Paper Candle

[Further fire recipes for illuminating areas]

続松

Torches

[Even more information on the use of torches]

隠形之文大事

The Art of Ongyo no Bun—words of hiding

[
Ongyo
is the art of hiding. It is a collection of spells and mantra’s to help a shinobi hide from the enemy in the dark. The power of the goddess Marashiten is called upon to cloak the shinobi from the eyes of the enemy.]

極意口傳之事

The Art of Oral Traditions of Deep Secrets

[Inside a shinobi school—or family—there are deeper secrets that are passed on to only a few of their students. These secrets differ from school to school but normally—not always—they gravitate towards the magical. With the basic skills now achieved, the shinobi can move towards the higher methods of their school, including esoteric Buddhism.]

Kaiden level

The first three scrolls in Akutagawa-Ryu teach the shinobi their skills and tricks. These they need to know to be a good infiltration agent. They have understood some of the deeper magical elements and can call on the gods for aid. However the final stage is the deepest level of “magic,” with ancient rites that have been passed down. They were given to the ancients by supernatural beings.

神伝矢車之法

The Way of the Divine Arrow Windmill

[A magical ritual where arrows are placed in a circle—upon a mirror—and connected by thread, allowing the image of the shinobi to be “buried” below ground where it will stay hidden until the shinobi has finished his mission.]

隠形法

The Way of Ongyo Hiding

[Deeper secrets from the tradition of the goddess Marashiten.]

縮地之法

The Way of Shrinking Great Distances

[A ritual which takes place at an altar and grants success and speed on dangerous missions.]

打電抄

Attacking Like Thunder

[The concept of attacking swiftly and striking the enemy with speed.]

芥子之秘法口授

The Oral Traditions and Secret Methods of Opium

[Poisons and drugs are used in secret missions. Different schools have different versions and uses. From the venom extracted from puffer fish to strychnine and opium, these chemicals are put to use in various ways, poisoning water supplies, food, guard dogs etc. The shinobi becomes a form of chemist and administers his deadly toxin. However, in Akutagawa-Ryu this article is an esoteric ritual.]

The above headings are the shinobi curriculum of the Akutagawa clan. The commentaries are of course mine, but they have been placed there to form a detailed idea of shinobi no jutsu. It becomes evident that the above is, primarily, a list of In-nin skills—
classic shinobi infiltration,
and that Yo-nin—
infiltration through disguise,
has not been addressed. However, other Akutagawa scrolls do have a small sample of disguise skills.
^*

The preceding is a basic understanding of the shinobi curriculum through the Akutagawa family. To give a further example, the next translation is a collection of extracts from a military manual known as
Giyoshu
義葉集
. This was written by Ohara Masanori
小原 正規
in 1690 and is divided into three volumes:

義葉集

The Giyoshu Manual

The
Giyoshu
manual is a collection of military articles that were written in 1690. The original collection is much larger than the selection presented here. To help form a better idea of the shinobi within the context of the samurai and the military, I have extracted any articles that mention the word shinobi and its sub-labels and also any article that is clearly a shinobi skill. In addition to this, any skill that has appeared in other shinobi literature has been retained, including basic scouting skills. Therefore, some of the following are very much connected to the shinobi, while some only show hints of the shinobi, yet all of them provide a window into samurai warfare and how the shinobi fits into that picture. The original Japanese articles have been left
in situ
above the translation; this has been done to aid any research undertaken by others and to help chronicle this important text for the future.