Last Updated: Jan 10, 2023

The Ninja of Iga-Ueno

Authentic Ninjutsu in Mie Prefecture

Let’s get one thing straight. I absolutely loathe ninja, at least so much as they are portrayed in popular culture. While I won’t bore you with the details of how these stealthy warriors (who also go by the moniker of “shinobi”) managed to seep into Hollywood over the years. For the most part, whatever you see on the silver screen is flat out incorrect. Alas, while I do have a strong disdain for the commonly held image of the ninja, the historical counterpart to the misconception has long held my fascination. You see, while pop culture ninja are often shown to be masters of combat the real McCoys were much more akin to spies.

When it comes to learning about authentic ninja techniques (which are known in Japanese as “ninjutsu”), we are sadly lacking many of the details. As you might imagine, the historical ninja were quite cautious when it came to documenting anything on paper. After all, the entire allure of these crafty corps to the various warlords of days gone by was their secrecy. Today, much of what we do know about the ninja has been inferred by taking the kernels of truth found in common tropes and cross referencing them with scanty threads of archival narrative.