Ninja are totally awesome. They're silent, they can turn invisible, and they can totally

flip out and kill people, especially their mortal enemies, pirates. Or at least that is what popular

culture would like you to believe.

Were Ninjas really as powerful as they're made out to be?

Were they the ultimate silent assassins?

Learn more about Ninjas, the real Ninjas,

on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. If the only thing you know about Ninjas comes from movies and television, then what you know about

Ninjas is almost certainly wrong. The first thing you need to know about

Ninjas is that they weren't even called Ninjas. The Japanese actually called

them Shinobi, which was short for Shinobi No mono.

Shinobi basically means to hide, and Shinobi no mono would mean a person who hides.

The word Ninja actually came from a Chinese pronunciation of the Japanese conjure

characters which make Shinobi. For the rest of this episode I'm just going to use

the term Ninja because that is what everyone is used to.

The origin of ninjas is shrouded in history.

There are stories that go back quite far, but it's impossible to tell if they're real.

There is one tale that says ninjas came from a demon that was a half man and a half crow.

The development of the skill that made up the art of ninjutsu, the martial art practiced by

ninjas, originated between the seventh and 10th centuries.

A major change in Japanese military strategy

started at the beginning of the 10th century

when the Tang Dynasty and China collapsed

...