dmaud56
|
The original Ninja clans got had their origin as spies for Samurai families, but they proved inefective, thus, the Samurai families ordered them to travel to China to learn espionage skills from the emperor's secret police, whom I believe were called the "moshu nan ren." Every emperor had a secret order of bodguards that stayed out of sight, but always watched the emperor, in case his offical royal guard betrayed him. Through a large bribe of the Chinese emperor (not sure how much), one of them revealed some of his secrets to the would-be Japanese spies. Hence the birth of the ninja clans but see, the moshu nanren did not reveal all their secrets to the Japanese, and all the things the Ninja are famous for, is only half the skill possesed by the emperor's secret police in other words; the Chinese had better "ninja" than, well, the ninja.
So anyway, the clans were divided into, I believe, 3 castes, though this are not the official names; they were the soldier caste, the "boss" caste, and finally the generals. The soldiers were in charge of all the dirty work, the stuff you see in the movies; breaking and entering, killing people, that sort of thing. The "boss" caste, was in charge of gathering intelligence through infiltration, but it was infiltration, where an individual was disguised as a court official, as one of the concubines of a Samurai, that sort of thing. In other words, they were the "brain" spies, but, despite the fact that they did not do breaking and entering stuff like the soldiers, their job was the most dangerous for obvious reasons.
Then there were the generals; the generals were the defacto "kings" of the ninja clans, and they were in charge of gathering ALL, and I mean ALL intelligence gathered by soldiers and bosses alike, and to use that intelligence at their leisure or, sell it for a high price. The "general" ninja, were adept manipulators of people; in the same way, say, a psychiatrist, a dirty one, will manipulate a victim of rape to say it was consensual for example, using his knowledge of the human mind, general ninja ofted did the same thing, to, for example, have sons murder their own fathers. General ninja would sometimes have someone assasinated, by manipulating the people close to them, and they would do these things by having the "boss" caste ninja poison their minds with lies or playing on their paranoia "your husband is cheating on you.... you are still young and beautiful and that young man is handsome...... he's in the way....." You could have a Samurai's wife for example, murder her husband. They had all kinds of tricks that go well beyond feeding desires or paranoia, many more underhanded than others.
If the general ninja could not gather intel from manipulating people, then the "boss" ninja would disguise themselves as this court official or that, and do it that way. If that did not work then as a last resort, the soldier ninja would break and enter an often booby trapped palace. Feudal era Japanese castles all had booby traps, reason being, they were well aware spies wanted to break in. If a soldier ninja failed to gather information then, true to the instructions of Sun Tzu's the art of war, it would likely lead to an outright siege on the part of a rival Samurai clan.
Are the ninja still around?
If they are, likely they are not what you see in the movies. Remember they were an espionage body, and they were never shy about inovation to be better at their job. Like the CIA and Mossad, they likely use every modern method, from fancy poisons, to electric shock or whatever. Also highly likely the "general" or "boss" ninja are adept hackers, with modern "soldier" ninja dressed and equiped more like a modern commando, or rather a government spy with silenced pistol and all, than with throwing stars and knives. Again, a modern soldier ninja more than likely ressembles a CIA or Mossad dog, clad in a ski mask, and armed with black gloves and a silenced pistol, than the ones you see in the movies, assuming they are still around.
The Japanese, have a respect for tradition, but also like to inovate. Thus they take what works best from tradition, and what they feel works best from inovation, and because of this balance of respecting stuff that worked from the past, along with new discoveries, that is one of the reasons Japan is an economic powerhouse. That is, they trust the wisdom of experience going back 1,000 years (traditions), but, only what is practical in a modern context. Since the Ninja are Japanese, likely they combine old training methods, such as their infamous obstacle course (much harder than the ninja warrior show one), along with modern weapons such as pistols, poisons, hacking and what not. If they are still around modern ninja may even use plastic surgery to pass themselves of as white people to spy on america. Again, ninja being ninja, don't put it beyond them. Thanks to plastic surgery, you can hide your face with more than a mask you know.
This is all likely conjecture; IF they are still around, which is possible because they were an espionage body good at hiding, you will not likely run into one. IF, they are still around, most likely they work for big shot Japanese corporations and even more likely, Yakuza bosses descended from Samurai families. If you hear stories about varios criminal organizations unable to get a foothold in Japan, or some guido mafia guy dying mysteriously while visiting Japan, it COULD be the work of ninja killers. Although that is conjecture, not fact.
Please take time to think; the Ninja were spies. History says they were wiped out but since spies are, well, spies, and good at hiding, what was to stop them from hiding until it was safe to come out? A ninja's skill, was, common among all castes, hiding. And because they were good at hiding, if they are still around, what on earth makes you think that, other than assasinate you, they would reveal themselves to a foreigner?
Think about it man, also....
Japan is a peaceful country now, so peaceful that I don't think even Yakuza would have need for ninja. Also, corporations probably have more than one brainy nerd to do any hacking for them, and I doubt they would use ninja to have someone killed.
Food for thought, and sorry I could not be of any more help but please take time to thing about your question. |
News
Travel Topics
Travel Forum Travel Directories
Dictionary 
Travel
Forum 
Asia Pacific 
No Spam
Adult 
Gambling
Unfinished
Deception
Plagiarism
Not English
