Ninja: 1,000 Years of the Shadow Warrior

by John Man

Overview

The first major pop history of the Japanese stealth assassins, John Man's Ninja is a meticulously researched, entertaining blend of mythology, anthropology, travelogue, and history of the legendary shadow warriors.

Spies, assassins, saboteurs, and secret agents, Ninja have become the subject of countless legends that continue to enthrall us in modern movies, video games, and comics—and their arts are still practiced in our time by dedicated acolytes who study the ancient techniques.

Ninja: 1,000 Years of the Shadow Warrior, by British historian John Man, is as colorful and intriguing as the warriors it so vividly brings to life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062202659
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/18/2014
Series:	P.S.
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	112,604
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

John Man is the author of Attila, Genghis Khan, The Great Wall, Gobi: Tracking the Desert, Ninja, Samurai, and other works. Educated at Oxford and the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, he was awarded Mongolia’s Friendship Medal in 2007.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Ghosts of the Shadow Warriors 1

1 Origins 7

2 How to Be a Shadow Warrior, Part 1: Mind and Spirit 30

3 Anti-ninja: The Samurai 35

4 How to Be a Shadow Warrior, Part 2: Deception-and Charm 46

5 A World of Violence and Undercover Ops 53

6 How to Be a Shadow Warrior, Part 3: Magic 73

7 Building the Ninja Heartland 78

8 The Rise of the Conqueror 100

9 The Calm Before the Storm 120

10 The End of the Old Ninjas 139

11 Nobunaga's End, Ieyasu's Rise 156

12 The Final Battles 164

13 Shadows in Retreat 174

14 The Nakano Spy School 189

15 To Japan, with Love 226

16 The Last of the Ninjas 242

Acknowledgments 273

Bibliography 275

Index 279

What People are Saying About This

Simon Sebag Montefiore

“One could ask for no better storyteller than John Man.”

Editorial Reviews

One could ask for no better storyteller than John Man.

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Ninja is a racy popular history of a difficult and often mythologised subject and should appeal to the armchair warrior in us all.

Literary Review

An immensely entertaining history, packed with splendidly blood-thirsty tales of derring-do, feats of endurance and self-sacrifice.

The Guardian

As colorful and intriguing as the warriors it so vividly brings to life.

Bookreporter.com

A historian and travel writer specializing in Asia, Man exposes the history of the secretive ninja, a.k.a. shinobi, and differentiates him from his public counterpart, the samurai. Unlike the latter, the survivalist ninja eschewed self-sacrifice and the seppuku (hara-kiri) ordeal, aiming to "get close to the enemy" in order "to learn and return." Westerners recognize ninjas as "sinister men in black" acting as "spies, scouts, surprise attackers, and agitators," but may not realize they originated in the old Japanese provinces of Iga and Koga as peasant farmers linked to neighbors and communities in self-defense networks. Man explains other salient figures of the ninja heyday (1400-1600C.E.) like the shogun (chief samurai and military dictator) and daimyo (feudal lord). As experts in covert warfare, ninjas underwent extensive training including the casting of spells, which were "useful but not infallible." Ninjas were believed to "guarantee a quick victory" during wartime, up until their 17th century demise. Man employs humor and a casual, travelogue style, interposing relevant personal anecdotes to illustrate how the ninja's day is long past, or else his art of invisibility is more effective than ever.
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Publishers Weekly

In a book that is part history and part travelog, British popular historian Man (Attila) takes a wide view in searching for the truth about historical “shadow warriors” and their modern counterparts. Early chapters trace the development of ninjas and their skills by sweeping through Japan’s tumultuous history with accounts of their exploits, interspersed with Man’s own observations on rumored ninja techniques and various historical locations (such as the former sites of the Koga and Iga schools of ninjutsu). Later chapters explore the concept of the “modern” ninja, ninja ideals in World War II espionage, the romanticization of the ninja figure, and the transmission of the idea to Western culture (focusing in particular on the James Bond film You Only Live Twice). Man writes entertainingly while providing vivid anecdotes and dispelling myths, but he’s limited by both the paucity of historical accounts of ninjas and his own reliance on English-language sources or a translator. While the later chapters supply some interesting viewpoints, their connection to legitimate ninja history at times feels tenuous.

Verdict An engaging volume for the casual reader or those with a general interest, but others in search of a sturdier volume on the subject might prefer to rely on Stephen Turnbull’s works such as Ninja: The True Story of Japan’s Secret Warrior Cult.—Kathleen McCallister, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia
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Library Journal

Intriguing look at the enigmatic world of the deadly Asian assassin. Historian and travel writer Man (Samurai, 2011, etc.) carefully plumbs the ninja's surprisingly intricate history of stealth strategizing. Popularly thought of as "comic-book creatures," the author re-establishes the folklore of these fearless "shadow warriors" and examines their historical roots in China, where a "proto-ninja" was first thought to have been enlisted. Shrouded in secrecy, these commissioned, intuitive masters of disguise were able to covertly insinuate themselves into situations, carry out orders of espionage or sabotage, and just as elusively, slip out unnoticed from even the most well-guarded fortresses. In an early chapter, the author provides a ninja-style how-to guide of self-protection secrets, though the origins of their skill sets are somewhat sketchy. Man postulates that these ninja talents may have arisen from bandits, mountain ascetics called yamabushi or nomadic monks. With a conversational delivery, the author offers a guided tour through Japan's many ninja tourist attractions and fascinating glimpses into the shinobi legacy, which survived a hierarchy of unifiers and shoguns only to eventually acquiesce to Western culture's mythical interpretation of them. In today's world, Man concludes, a good amount of fantasy is necessary to keep the spirit and the lore of the ninja alive. A thoroughly researched, appealing examination of the "original men in black."

Kirkus Reviews