50 Fun Facts About Ninja

Nokizaru, one old regional nickname for a ninja, literally means what?

Other colloquialisms included monomi ("one who sees"), rappa ("ruffian") and kusa ("grass"); "ninja" itself was rarely used.

What does the character shinobi (忍) literally mean?

By extension it also means "to forbear", which is how the word came to stand for stealth and invisibility.

What were the self-defence leagues formed by the peasant-fighters of Iga and Koka called?

The jizamurai who formed them sold their services as mercenaries and spies across the nearby regions.

The Koga ninja district, now the city of Koka, lies in which modern prefecture?

Neighbouring Iga, the other ninja heartland, is in Mie Prefecture.

Which warlord invaded Iga in 1581 and wiped out its organised ninja clans?

His son had tried two years earlier with 8,000 men and was ambushed at Nagano Pass.

In 1579, whose first attempt to conquer Iga ended in a humiliating ambush?

The Iga defenders used the terrain and guerrilla tactics; the chronicle Iranki puts his losses in the thousands.

The ninja's social position was organised into ranks; which was the highest?

The "upper person" represented the group and hired out its mercenaries; the lowest rank did the actual missions.

Which rank described the field agents who actually carried out missions?

They were drawn from the lower classes; the chunin above them acted as assistants to the leaders.

What was the ninja's chief role, according to the historical record?

Despite popular belief, there is little evidence that they worked as assassins.

What was the ninja's primary form of sabotage?

In 1541 men of Iga slipped into Kasagi castle and set fire to the priests' quarters, according to an abbot's diary.

In the 1558 attack on Sawayama Castle, ninja got inside by copying what?

They stole a lantern bearing the defenders' family crest, made replicas and walked in without a fight.

The last detailed record of ninja in open warfare comes from which conflict?

Koga men scouted Hara Castle's moat and walls, stole provisions and captured a banner bearing the Christian cross.

Which Tokugawa shogun sent the Koga ninja against the Christian rebels at Hara Castle?

After the castle fell, Christianity in Japan was forced underground and the ninja vanished from war records.

After 1560, Tokugawa Ieyasu hired eighty Koga ninja to raid an outpost of which clan?

Led by Tomo Sukesada, they set fire to the towers and killed the castellan with two hundred of the garrison.

The famous 1676 ninja manual compiled from Iga and Koga knowledge is called what?

Its title means "Ten Thousand Rivers Flowing Together to Form an Ocean".

A 1748 copy of Kanrinseiyo, the lost source of the famous 1676 manual, turned up in 2022 where?

It describes 48 techniques, including cotton-padded sandals for silent movement and charred owl powder for hiding.

The black ninja costume of fiction is thought to imitate which figures from Edo theatre?

Stagehands dressed in black were meant to be ignored by the audience, which made the outfit a visual shorthand for invisibility.

Real ninja night clothing was most likely which colour, rather than black?

Brown blended better into darkness; in peacetime they wore indigo-dyed farm clothes.

Which Kyoto castle has "nightingale floors" built to squeak and betray intruders?

The boards rest on metal hinges called uguisu-bari; gravel grounds and trip-wire alarm bells were other countermeasures.

What does the word shuriken literally mean?

They were used by samurai as well as ninja, often to distract rather than to kill.

Shuriken were sometimes left lying in plain sight for a victim to pick up, coated in what?

They could also be wrapped in a fuse and thrown to start fires, or embedded in the ground to injure anyone who stepped on them.

Makibishi, scattered to slow pursuers, are the Japanese version of which weapon?

Clay versions dating to a 1590 siege have been dug up and identified as ninja kit.

There is no evidence for the straight-bladed "ninja sword" before which century?

The first known photograph of one appears in a 1956 Japanese booklet; the design resembles the swords of common infantrymen.

In 2025, which country banned the possession and sale of so-called "ninja swords"?

The law targeted blades of 14 to 24 inches with one straight cutting edge and a tanto-style point.

Despite his ninja reputation, what was Hattori Hanzo's actual station in life?

He is counted among the Tokugawa's 16 divine generals and credited with saving Ieyasu's life.

What nickname did Hattori Hanzo earn for his ferocity in the early 1570s?

A fellow commander, Watanabe Moritsuna, picked up a rival nickname after the same campaign.

What is named Hanzomon after Hattori Hanzo in modern Tokyo?

His house once stood outside the gate of the shogun's palace, now the Imperial Palace.

Which weapon of Hattori Hanzo is still kept at Sainen-ji temple in Tokyo?

Originally over four metres long, it lost its tip in the 1855 earthquake and was damaged again in the 1945 bombing.

Roughly how many people have carried the name Hattori Hanzo through history?

It was a hereditary title passed down the leaders of the Hattori family, including the famous general's father and son.

Fuma Kotaro, leader of the Fuma ninja clan, served which warlord family?

His 200 "rappa" were split into brigands, pirates, burglars and thieves, and wrecked a rival camp by night in 1580.

How did Fuma Kotaro meet his end in 1603?

A rival ninja, Kosaka Jinnai, guided the shogunate's enforcers to him, and Ieyasu ordered the execution.

Legendary outlaw Ishikawa Goemon was executed in 1594 by what method?

A large iron kettle-shaped bathtub is still called a goemonburo, a "Goemon bath", in his honour.

Whom did Ishikawa Goemon fail to assassinate, sealing his fate?

One version has him knocking a bell off a table in the warlord's room at Fushimi Castle and waking the guards.

The word kunoichi, used for female ninja, was originally slang meaning what?

The three kana ku, no and ichi are said to be the strokes that make up the kanji for woman.

Which novelist popularised the term kunoichi with his 1964 novel Ninpo Hakkenden?

Mie University historians have found no records of women doing reconnaissance the way male shinobi did.

Mochizuki Chiyome, said to have run a kunoichi network, is tied in fiction to which clan?

Modern historians doubt she existed at all; she is also described as a 16th-century poet and noblewoman.

In which year did Mie University open the world's first ninja research centre?

Its master's course, based in Iga, takes about three students a year who must read historical ninja documents.

Museum honorary director Jinichi Kawakami claims to be which head of his ninjutsu school?

He says he learned the art as a boy from a medicine peddler named Masazo Ishida and has no ninja bloodline of his own.

What did thieves take from the Iga-ryu Ninja Museum in three minutes in August 2020?

It held over a million yen in admission fees; the museum itself has stood near Iga Ueno Castle since 1964.

Flat ninja throwing stones have been unearthed at the site of which 1590 siege?

Archaeologists say the stones and clay spikes were hastily made precursors of shuriken and makibishi.

Which 1981 Cannon film, starring Franco Nero and Sho Kosugi, kicked off a Hollywood craze?

It was the first of Cannon's Ninja Trilogy, followed by Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja III: The Domination.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were created in 1984 by Kevin Eastman and whom?

Eastman drew a masked turtle with nunchucks to make his housemate laugh; his partner added the words "teenage mutant".

The four Turtles are named after artists of which period?

The creators considered Japanese names first but felt Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo were "just quirky enough".

Which Marvel hero's ninja elements did the Turtles comic originally parody?

Like that hero they were mutated by radioactive material, and their sensei Splinter is a play on his sensei, Stick.

The Shredder leads which ninja clan in the Turtles franchise?

His real identity is usually Oroku Saki, and his second in command Karai is sometimes his daughter.

Who wrote and drew the ninja manga Naruto?

It ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2014 and has sold over 250 million copies in 46 countries.

In Naruto, what title does the hero dream of earning as leader of his village?

His village is Konoha in the Land of Fire, and the sequel series follows his son Boruto.

The obstacle-course show Sasuke, known abroad as Ninja Warrior, is recorded in which city?

It has aired on TBS since 1997, with 100 competitors attacking a four-stage course each tournament.

Who in 1999 became the first person ever to conquer the entire Sasuke course?

The same fourth tournament introduced the Cliffhanger, now a staple of Ninja Warrior courses worldwide.

The Ninja Gaiden video games were released under what title in Europe?

Tecmo's series was Ninja Ryukenden in Japan; "gaiden" means "side story".