What is shinobi12/18/2022 ![]() Neither the emperor nor the shogun could control the local lords, and rival provinces battled over resources and political influence. In the Sengoku Period, Japan fell into a time of near-constant conflict and political upheaval. The most reliable accounts first appear in the 15th-century. They began to attribute the magical abilities we see in pop culture today. ![]() By this time, the shinobi had fallen in obscurity, and writers described these warriors through a nostalgic lens. The word appears in written accounts as far back as the 8th-century, but verified records of the formation and deeds of the shinobi are limited.ĭuring the Meiji Era, ninja began appearing in literary poems, novels, and folktales. Native Japanese speakers read 忍者 as shinobi-no-mono, and define the word as “a person who learned the art of stealth.” The pronunciation ninja didn’t appear until the 1950s, and it’s thought that Westerns adopted it into English because they found it more accessible. In Chinese, 忍 ( ren or nin) means endurance, but when we use the kun’yomi reading, 忍 gets interpreted as “concealment.” The first character, 忍 is a little more complicated. We see 者 in other words such as 芸者 ( geisha) and 作者 ( sakusha writer). Sometimes we’ll use the Early Middle Chinese reading ( on’yomi) or the native Japanese ( kun’yomi).įollowing on’yomi phonemics, 者 is read as sha or ja and translates into English as someone who practices a technique. Each character has a meaning and phoneme, but they might change depending on the context. The writing system uses Chinese-derived ideographs called kanji. To understand the etymology of “Ninja 忍者,” we’ll need to review some basics about the Japanese language. ![]() Let’s go over some of your burning questions about ninjas and where to see them on your next trip to Japan. The short answer is yes, and they still exist today, but their origins might be a little different from your imagination. The conflicting reports might make you start to wonder if ninjas were real. However, scholars also debate the trustworthiness of texts written after the Sengoku Period (1467-1600). Unsurprisingly, the characters we see in anime and manga aren’t historically accurate portrayals of ninjas. Maybe they possess supernatural powers like the ability to control elements, summon animals, or walk on water. In the movies, ninjas play the protagonists that defeat tyrannical warlords with guerilla warfare and guile, or they’re merciless sell-swords. Turn to the person to your left and ask, “What is a Japanese ninja?” Chances are, they’ll tell you something about a masked assassin who studied the mysterious arts of ninjitsu. Before you read the rest of this article, I’ve got a simple exercise for you.
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