Lost in modern myth, false history, and general misinterpretation, the Ninja have been misrepresented for many years, but recently, a desire for a more historical view of the ninja has become a popular theme in the history/martial arts community. Providing a rare, accurate view of the Ninja, In Search of the Ninja is based upon the Historical Ninjutsu Research Team’s translations of the major ninja manuals and consists of genuinely new material. Little historical research has been done on the Ninja of Japan. Here for the first time the connection of the famous Hattori family warriors with the Ninja is explained, the Samurai versus Ninja myth is dispelled, and the realities of Ninja skills are analyzed. Such questions are answered as How did a Ninja work underwater when mining castle walls? and How can a bird be used to set fire to the enemy’s camp? The book explores newly discovered connections to ancient Chinese manuals, lost skills, and the “hidden: Zen philosophy that the Ninja followed.
About the Book:
In Search of the Ninja is the hunt for the illusive Japanese figure known as the shinobi, Japan’s premier spies and guerrilla fighters. The ninja is an image and idea that has become a household subject, known across the world and understood by all. This popularity does not separate fact from fiction, therefore, here for the first time, the shinobi as a historical military figure has been investigated and recorded, separating truth from untruth.
Using original ninja scrolls and working from documentation of the period, Antony Cummins takes you on a journey through the ninja’s origins and birth in China, to their glorious heyday in the Warring Periods of Japan and through to their final decline and fall in the restoration of power to the Imperial government. Packed with medieval quotations and extracts, the skills of the ninja and their position in espionage and war are fleshed out, bringing about a truth on this dark section of military history.
Included in this volume are translations of previously unknown and famous ninja documents, such as; the Rodanshu scroll, the fire skills of the ninja of Iga province – the homeland of the shinobi – and the sad reflections on the fall of the ninja and way of Koka warriors by the famous samurai strategist Shigenori Chikamatsu and his master.
Grandmaster Ashida Kim shares his review of Anthony Cummings book “Search of the Ninja”
Who were the real Ninja, what skills did they possess and how were they employed in warfare? Based upon new translations of the three most important ninja scrolls and other authentic documents, some never seen before.
