Ninjutsu. Donn F. Draeger

Чтение книги онлайн.

      INTRODUCTION

      The Consummate Secret Agent

      by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

      The activities of spies, espionage agents, assassins, terrorists and counterterrorist forces are now regular news throughout most of the “civilized” world. These agents of death and destruction often utilize scientific technology that makes some of their feats seem almost supernatural.

      Many of the professionals in this nefarious and inhuman business learned some of their methods from studying the strategy, tactics and weapons of Japan's infamous feudal-age ninja who practiced the arts of ninjutsu. and were probably the best trained, most ingenious and deadliest undercover agents of all time.

      The roots of ninjutsu have been traced to the Chinese military classic Sun Tzu, written by the famed strategist Sun Tzu who lived around 400 B.C. The work was introduced into Japan in the 6th-century-A.D., where it was carefully studied by the Imperial Court and various clan leaders vying for power.

      Buddhism was introduced in Japan at about the same time, resulting in a conflict between those who wanted to make Buddhism the state religion and the defenders of Shintoism, the native religion.

      The predecessors of Japan's ninja were so-called rebels favoring the adoption of Buddhism who fled into the mountains near Kyoto as early as the 7th-century-A.D. to escape religious persecution and death at the hands of Imperial forces.

      These rebel groups came to be known as yamabushi or “mountain ascetics,” who sought enlightenment through pragmatic mysticism. To protect themselves, they combined the study and practice of martial arts and military strategy with psychological warfare and occult powers.

      A noted Yamabushi leader began trying to implement a compromise between the backers of Buddhism and the Shintoists, resulting in the Imperial Court sending warriors to invade the mountain domains of the rebels. The attempt to wipe them out failed.

      The threat from the Imperial Court continued, however, and over the centuries the yamabushi developed extraordinary survival and fighting skills that made them formidable enemies. By the beginning of Japan's feudal age in 1192, a number of family-clans descended from these rebels had become professional guerrillas and secret agents for hire, and were often retained by the various provincial lords (daimyo) in their inter-clan struggles for supremacy.

      Between 1192 and 1333 A.D., a total of 25 ninja “schools” developed, each with its own distinctive techniques and specialties. Ninja training camps flourished throughout the country. During most of this period two of Japan's provinces (now called prefectures) were dominated by ninja clans.

      There were more than 50 families in the Koga “school” of ninja in Koga province (now Shiga Prefecture), but only three ninja families, the Hattori, the Momochi and the Fujibayashi, controlled Iga province (now Mie Prefecture). These three were the most famous of feudal Japan's ninja families, the largest of which had over 1,000 members.

      THE GREATEST NINJA BATTLE

      The largest recorded gathering of ninja took place on November 3, 1581 when Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful clan leader of the time, led an army of 40,000 warriors against approximately 4,000 Iga ninja in the mountains of Iga province. Only a few of the Iga СКАЧАТЬ