The Ninja Articles Begin -Enter the Ninja!

Ninjas, Academics, Pseudo-history, and the Limits of History, and the Relationship between Historical Knowledge and the Publication of Books.

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Presenting an introduction to the study of history, how academics really feel when theyir students try to write papers on ninjas, and the quest for finding the truth about claims of historical ninja.

Before we begin, my friend, Paul Kazee, known for both his knowledge of films and enthusiastic organizing of film festivals and film events far and wide, has pointed out to me that to meet proper Japanese usage standards, the plural of “ninja” should be “ninja” and not “ninjas.” Having acknowledged and recognized that, I am, sadly, going to ignore it, simply because I have been saying “ninjas” for years and it sounds right to me.

This piece got a little longer than I had planned, but I think that it really does present a good background on understanding ninja claims and why academic historians generally ignore the subject. When combined with my previous pieces on history and pseudohistory, it also gives a solid background on evaluating strange and obscure historical claims.

Sho Kosugi, lead actor in many of the classic ninja films of the 1980s

Before we get down to the actual nitty gritty of ninjas and evaluating their alleged history, striving to determine which parts are real or imagined, it seems prudent to spend some time speaking on history and the limits of knowledge.

Sometimes in history, an event is of such great importance and is so big in scope and involves such a huge amount of people and has such great impact that there are documents, documents, documents, evidence, and artifacts everywhere. There’s so much just plain “stuff” relating to the event that can be studied, examined, looked at, analyzed, and interpreted that there’s always new things being published on some aspect of the event and many, many of these publications are both useful and insightful,

World War Two is like this. Over 75 years later, many new and valid books offer interesting and important aspects of the war and new and valid theories and interpretations of events are still emerging.  So it is also with the Vietnam War. New studies on World War Two and the Vietnam War will continue for centuries. There is just so much plain “stuff” out there to be looked at, processed, pondered, and written about, interesting historical analysis and valuable writings will happen in these areas for a long, long time.

Likewise, I am convinced that for the next few centuries, the Trump years will be a subject of great historical interest and endless debate. Our 23^rd Century descendants and successors will very likely be writing class papers, dissertations, and theses and making presentations debating, arguing, and discussing, for instance, whether or not Melania had warm feelings for Donald and if not what exactly was going on between those two, and why didn’t she leave him? I am sure, unless the truth emerges in the form of now hidden, definitive documents, these same people will be debating, arguing, and discussing the exact relationship between Putin and Trump as well. (At the very least, Putin is one of the few foreign leaders who Trump has smiled at and shook hands with politely, instead of trying to bully and humiliate, which is odd, interesting, and undoubtedly significant -see my Trump book please.¹)

And unless some horrible cataclysm occurs between now and then, they will have a huge amount of data and evidence on all of these subjects to sort, sift through, analyze, and interpret.

With other topics of history, often not so much. Sometimes there never was much evidence in the first place or whatever there was has been lost. For instance, while I am not an expert on the subject, one of history’s great mysteries is “who was Jack the Ripper? Who committed the Jack the Ripper murders?”  While unsolved at the time, and still unsolved today, it’s interesting to speculate about whether or not the killer would have been caught and the mystery solved if modern forensic techniques were available and had been utilized. As for utilizing them now, well some of what would now be considered important evidence was never collected at the time as no one knew exactly what might be important later (i.e. fingerprint identification was not yet a thing) and other evidence collected was either discarded as garbage years later or destroyed during World War Two.²

And responsible historical research can only be done when actual evidence exists. If there’s no evidence or data, there’s nothing really to study.

It’s like when mom leaves the kitchen for an hour leaving four kids behind, and when she returns the cookie jar is empty.  “Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?” she cries.

“Not I,” cry all four children.

She inspects their hands, makes them open their mouths, and analyzes the cookie jar itself. Everything’s cleaned up. No fingerprints or cookie stains anywhere. None of the kids fess up.

Alas! The case of the missing cookies becomes just one more unsolved and seemingly unsolvable mystery of history. Could it have been Johny, Sally, Joey, or Janey? No one knows. They say it was the dog, but the dog doesn’t even like cookies. The next door neighbor suggests perhaps it was ancient astronauts. Could be, but probably not. Still someone always like to suggest ancient astronauts. Ultimately, no way to tell who stole the cookies from the cookie jar that day, although it probably was not ancient astronauts.

Sometimes studying and researching history is a little bit like that. There are definite limitations on knowledge. There are things that happened that no one knows.

A story comes to mind. Sometimes when one has the chance to spend time around a high skilled master of a craft, be they a top level martial artist, a master chef, or an advanced scholar such as one finds at a good college, they can make a casual comment or perform a casual act that causes one to gain great insight if it hits you at the right time. One such example for me occurred in graduate school during a seminar on Marco Polo, Genghis Khan, and the Mongols taught by Professor Charles Peterson. “There are a lot of books out there on Genghis Khan. New ones come out each year. I don’t really know why, as it’s not like they learn new things about him each year.” (quoted from memory, years later)

Boom! Heavy lesson. Sometimes there are more books being written on a subject than there is new knowledge to fit in those books. In other words, people are writing books and filling them with stuff, even if there is no need for anyone to write those books as the books that already exist on that subject contain all the knowledge there is.  At best many of these books are simply regurgitating old knowledge sometimes with a new interpretation of it. At worst, they are just inventing stuff and spreading misinformation on a popular subject. Quantity of popular books published on a subject does not necessarily have any correlation to how much is known or how much new knowledge exists about the subject of the books.

Remember how I said that the knowledge, facts, and clues that exist as to who was the real Jack the Ripper Murderer are limited? Nevertheless, despite the lack of new and important evidence, new books continue to be published on Jack the Ripper each and every year many of them having stranger and stranger theories about who the Ripper was. A quick check at Goodreads.com, a website intend to allow people to list books and share reviews of books, indicates that there may easily be over a thousand books that have been published on the subject of Jack the Ripper, both fiction and non-fiction. Does each and every one of those books offer new and important information or a valid interpretation of the subject of Jack the Ripper and his gruesome murders? Undoubtedly no. ³

The amount of books published on Jack the Ripper has no correlation with the amount of knowledge that needs to be published about Jack the Ripper. Instead, the amount of books published on Jack the Ripper correlates with the number of books on Jack the Ripper that people feel they are able to buy and sell.

Getting back to the story above about the unsolved mystery of who stole the cookies from the cookie jar, at first glance it seems unlikely that anyone would bother to write a book about such an event. But wait, what if their mom was a major celebrity? Or the kids themselves?

“When Taylor Swift was a child, did she steal the cookies from the cookie jar that dark and lonely night long ago? New book coming in May of next year tells all. This book promises to tell a much more complete story and offers ground breaking revelations on whether or not 9 year old Taylor Swift years ago stole those cookies from her mom’s cookie jar! Much better than the last five books from our competitors on 9 year old Taylor Swift and the missing cookies from the cookie jar. Pre-order your copy now!”

Yup, it could happen. Could be a best seller. Remember, just because there are books or even many, many books on a subject does not mean that there is sufficient knowledge to warrant the existence of such books. It just means there is a market for such books and someone wants to read about the subject. Nothing more. Often these books pad existing knowledge with irrelevant filler material, blatant speculation without factual basis (sometimes labelled as such, sometimes not), and in many cases just plain invented nonsense, a.k.a. misinformation, or knowing distortion of the real facts.

Why College History Professors Sob and Scream when their Students want to write about Ninjas, and why students hate them when they do.

Which brings us to ninjas and books on ninjas, and while we are at it, let’s throw in books on the Shaolin Temple too. We’re going to look at how college professors react to these subjects.

While I have never taught history at the college level (although I have taught English as a second language at the college level in several institutions), as someone who did study Asian history at the graduate level and dreamed of entering academia and making my living as a scholar of history, I have had the opportunity to sit in on internet forums that were largely populated by Asian history professors. And here’s one thing I learned that Asian history professors hate.

They’ll be teaching something like “Introduction to Japanese history” or “Chinese history 101,” and after class they will be approached by an eager young Freshman, perhaps 18 years old, sometimes a little older or a year ahead, and the student will say something like “Professor Jones (or Professor Smith or Chen or whatever), I love your class. I really do. I am learning so many wonderful things about these fascinating countries and their history. In fact, I am really looking forward to writing your next paper, and I know exactly what I will write about!”

Now normally interactions like this are exactly what college professors dream about. These are the things that make teaching worthwhile and a professor feel lucky to have his or her job. But then things come to a screeching halt when the following interaction takes place.

“Wonderful, my dear student (or suitable, alternative salutation), what will you write about?”

“I, dear professor (or whatever), am going to write a wonderful paper on ninjas!! A wonderful, wonderful paper on ninjas! And I have already read 14 books on the subject of ninjas and their awesome ninja skills!”

Or be it a Chinese history class instead of a Japanese history class, the proposed paper will instead be on the Shaolin Temple and their Kung Fu Master Monks and the many books that the student has collected on these monks and their amazing kung fu prowess and how to reproduce their skills. (For the record, the Shaolin Temple was real and did originate in the Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644 AD, and you can read about it in at least on reputable book, Meir Shahar’s “The Shaolin Monastery, History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts,” which was published by the University of Hawaii Press in 2008. Nevertheless, almost everything written everywhere else about the Shaolin Temple and almost everything in every movie or TV show needs to be approached with not just great but really, really intense caution. For centuries, people have enjoyed creating fantastic stories and inventing things about the Shaolin Temple and its monks, just as Americans have about Billy the Kid, the young gunfighter, and a lot of what is passed off as real in that area is pure fantasy.)         

“No! No!” cries the professor. “Please don’t write about ninja,” using the proper Japanese plural form of the term. “People simply don’t know enough about them. The information is not there. Your paper will be no good.”

“But how can you say that?” cries the student. “I told you, I have already read 14 different books on ninjas. They are full of exciting stuff on each and every page, and they were all really, really cool! I have been reading about ninjas, since I was in eighth grade.”

“But those books are no good!” cries the professor. “They are full of speculation and misinformation.”

“Have you read them?” screams the student.

“No, of course not,” cries the professor. “I am a busy man with important things to do and my career depends on getting published in scholarly journals, plus a full life outside of work. I don’t have time to read that type of silly books.”

“Then how do you know my ninja books are all silly if you haven’t read them?” screams the student even more loudly.

“Because I am a PhD professor who has spent years learning to recognize good and bad history books.”

“Nonsense,” cries the student. “You’re just stuck in your own little world and scared to read what regular people read. They are damn good books, and I’ve read some of them more than once. I am a veritable expert on ninjas, and I destroyed my very own bedroom door at age 15 after months of using that door as a target for my daily shuriken, throwing star practice! In fact, I have decided I hate you and your silly class. I’m going home to watch 1980s Cannon Films about Ninjas!! Lucinda Dickey and Ninja 3: The Domination forever!!!!”⁴

And the professor falls to his knees and sobs, realizing that he has just turned off a young mind completely to the joys of scholarship and studying Asian history.

Seriously, I exaggerate, but such interactions do happen, and when such interactions happen, no one leaves happy or satisfied. (or alternatively, if Chinese history, such interactions involve the Shaolin Temple, but nevertheless, no one leaves happy.)

Which brings us back to looking at all those ninja books, something I for one am looking forward to doing here from time to time, and I hope you, the reader, will come along for the ride.

We will start with Andrew Adam’s 1970 classic work on ninja, “Ninja, the Invisible Assasins,” probably the most important book in creating the popular American image of what a ninja was and is.

EVALUATING NINJA OR OTHER CLAIMS -STEP ONE, DEFINE TERMS

When evaluating the truth of a claim, a good first step is to define terms. Make sure that everyone is using the same words to represent the same concepts, images, or things. If this is not done, it is surprisingly common for people to say “Well, you have proven that dragons as you define them don’t exist, but what I meant was dragons as I define them, and you have not spoken about them at all.”  At this point, one must begin all over again, while hoping that whoever it is that you wish to convince is still paying attention. (Often, trust me, they have moved on, especially if it looks like you might actually stand a good chance of demolishing their favorite sacred cow or solving their great “unsolvable mystery” by demonstrating that it wasn’t a mystery at all. Oh no!)

If you don’t define terms, you get bizarre statements like this one, which came from a website promising to teach children amazing facts.

"If you’re a fan of ninjas, you’ll be pleased to know that ninjas were indeed real. However, the real ninjas of the past were probably nothing like today’s version. In fact, they weren’t even called ninjas! The ninjas of ancient Japan were called shinobis. The word “ninja” is a Chinese term. It wasn’t used until the 20th Century." ⁵

In other words, ninja did exist but they weren’t actually like ninjas and were not called ninjas but they were somehow actually ninjas. Okay. Got it. And just for the record, “ninja” is not a Chinese term. It’s not even the Chinese word for ninja which is “Rhenzhe” ( 忍者 ). Oh well. The website did not promise “true facts” for children. Just “amazing facts” for children.

And therefore, for this reason, I am going to begin by defining terms, explaining as exactly as possible what they refer to, and explain where that definition came from.

I will begin by using the description of a ninja or ninjas described in great detail in Andrew Adams “Ninja, the Invisible Assassins.” Adams’ book, which was first published in 1970, by Ohara Publications, Inc, a popular US based, martial arts publishing company. This book was undoubtedly seen my many as the first “real” book on ninjas and had a major role in shaping American and Western views of ninjas.  

According to Adams, Ninja existed from the 13^th to the 17^th Century (AD, of course). (Adams, p. 13) In two provinces of Japan, Iga and Koga, Ninja clans and networks of Ninja were quite important, and this areas is where the best ninja came from. Members of these clans were born and raised to be Ninjas (p. 20) Again according to Adams, in these places there were large networks of a thousand ninjas or more, living in secret, yet ready to appear when called by the heads of these ninja clans.  ( p. 28)

Ninjas were, according to Adams, highly skilled in using a variety of exotic and specialized weapons, many of which were unheard of and never used by anyone but ninjas. These included three foot chains with weights on the end, a free swinging scythe attached by a six foot chain to a handle, long poles with hidden weights in them, a unique style of sword called a “ninjato,”  blow guns, caltrops, and, of course, lots and lots and lots of shuriken (throwing stars) among others. (p.24)  

Being trained from birth and thus heavily conditioned (Adams says “the ninja was a superathlete” –apparently every single one of all those thousands of ninja people were superathletes, it seems.) The ninjas were capable of amazing feats. They could control their breathing and slow it down, and they were capable of holding their breath for “several minutes at a time” while under water. (p. 24)

Adams’ sources in Japan told him that ninjas were capable of jumping seven feet and “walking” 350 miles, the distance between Tokyo and Osaka, in three days. (p.24) ⁶

The ninjas were masters of escape and hiding, They could dislocate their joints at will, and, and I quote from Adams, “made Houdini look like a rank amateur.” (p. 24-25) Pretty impressive, if true, but probably not true, but we will look at it later, and it needs to be mentioned Houdini faked a lot of his escapes. Houdini is not a good role model in this context.

And, on top of all this, Ninjas had to hide their identity, assume a role, and were masters of disguise and great actors. (p. 25)

In order to assume their cover identity as a skilled craftsman or priest, they had to know how to do this kind of work well. Therefore, in addition to being able to do all these incredible ninja things, they were generally also master craftsmen, skilled in a second or third mundane, civilian profession of some kind. (p. 25)

Ultimately, after reading Adams, one comes to an amazing conclusion. All of these people, who were through random luck of the draw born into the life of being a ninja simply because their parents before them were also born into a ninja clan, were amazingly above average in all ways. At no point, does he discuss what was done with the children who, like 99% of the human race, were not able to perform to the standards described above, and therefore, one has to assume they did not exist. The implications of this, if true, are simply mind boggling. It needs to be remembered half of most people are below average. I find myself wondering if these two provinces are over-represented on the Japanese Olympic team or if the descendants of these ninja were somehow the progenitors of Khan Noonian Singh and those genetically enhanced supermen and women who caused the Eugenic Wars in Star Trek. (Yeah, my brain works that way.)

Or perhaps something is wrong with the claims that Adams is making? That does seem quite possible. In the upcoming weeks and months, we hope to look at this and other ninjas claims, both present day and historical.

In the meanitme, “Lucinda Dickey forever!!” Go watch, Ninja 3, the Domination.

Ninja 3 -The Domination trailer on YouTube

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, Andrew. Ninja, the Invisible Assassins. Burbank, CA: Ohara Publications. 1970.

Meir Shahar’s “The Shaolin Monastery, History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts,” which was published by the University of Hawaii Press in 2008

Rumbelow, Donald. The Complete Jack the Ripper. St Ives, UK: Virgin Books. 2013.

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1. Huston, Peter. Scams from the Great Beyond -The Presidential Edition. Indepentdly Published. 2020. easily available at Amazon

2. Rumbelow,139-142.

3. Results of a quick search using the term "Jack the Ripper" at Goodreads.com

4. “Lucinda Dickey forever!!”

Lucinda Dickey was an actress and dancer who starred in not just some classic and entertaining break dancing movies but also one of the strangest, ninja films ever made.

Go watch her in, Ninja 3, the Domination.

Ninja 3 -The Domination trailer on YouTube

5. Wonderopolis, Where the Wonders of Learning Never Cease. “Wonder of the Day # 1971 - Are Ninjas Real?” Accessed on April 6, 2024. https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/are-ninjas-real

6. FYI, although I do plan to look at these claims in depth, over time, slowly and carefully, I couldn’t help jumping ahead for the one. Google maps tells me it is actually approximately 310 miles from Osaka to Tokyo -not sure why that is different from Adams’ distance, but it is, and I am going to go with Google maps. If we assume the ninjas making the trip do not sleep, that’s 72 hours of travel or walking time, so that’s moving at a speed of about 4.3 miles per hour. If we assume the ninja takes 8 hours off from walking every 24 hours, that is 310 miles in 16 x 3 or 48 hours or a travel rate of 6.45 miles an hour. Google tells me that a marathon is a little over 26.2 miles and running a marathon takes an average male, marathon runner, about 4 hours and 21 minutes or 261 minutes of about 6 miles per hours and at the end of that time the runner is generally completely exhausted and can’t run anymore, so that’s pretty fast, but it’s not as fast the ninja if he takes the 8 hours off each day. FYI, google maps says that if one were to walk from Tokyo to Osaka, it should take approximately 115 hours or 4 days and 19 hours, again assuming no sleep and good luck walking in a straight line after four days with no sleep, or a little over a week if you take 8 hours off a day. Either way, your average speed would be approximately 2.7 miles per hour. I got curious about how many calories someone would burn if walking (jogging? running?) for 72 hours and covering 310 miles in that time.

Now don’t consider this formal research, but I then went to Google, searched for a website that calculated calories burned through walking, and went to the first one I saw. - https://www.omnicalculator.com/sports/walking-calorie

I entered data for a 150 lb man walking 310 miles in 72 hours and guessed / esimated an average slope of 5% as I assume that roads in Japan were not that great back then, and it is supposed to be a hilly country. Of course, you can change the ninja’s weight, sex, and slope of his route and recalculate if you wish.

I learned that if one does this, one will burn off 41,816 calories and lose almost 12 pounds of weight. (Hmmm, I am now wondering how much extra body fat a 17th Century ninja as described by Adams, actually had. Not much, undoubtedly, but Adams actually does spend time describing the secret ninja snacks ninjas would make from old family recipes and carry on a trip like this. (See Andrews, p. 28, p. 90)