Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast.

Episode 41, Striking from the Shadows.

So I've been resisting writing this episode a lot, but I think it's time I got to it.

Let's talk about the ninja.

First, before we get started, one of the reasons I've hesitated to write on this subject before is that there is not much good information on it.

There are a few reasons for that.

First, there are the usual aspects involved when writing about a secret group of any kind.

If you're a secret assassin of some kind, it's a really bad idea to, A, talk too much about

what you do, or B, write anything down, lest the wrong person hear of it and give you a bad

case of sudden head removal disease. Second, there's an issue far more specific to the ninja

themselves. They're very heavily mythologized, both historically and by modern

practitioners of ninjitsu. Speaking of which, I'm not going to get into the issue of modern

ninjitsu because it's not really an issue where it's possible to get objective information.

It's impossible to verify the credentials of someone who says they teach ninjitsu, which is very

different from

another martial art like karate or kendo, where the styles tend to have a central list of members

and ranks so you can track someone's instructor and verify their credentials.

All that means that, in the end, whether or not you buy the claim that someone teaches, quote,

real ninjitsu, is functionally a matter of faith on

your part. Anyway, almost everyone who has written on this topic is either a practitioner of modern

ninjutsu, or lacks training as an archivist or historian, which is something that you really

need in this case to do primary or original research on this topic.

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