The Truth About Ninjas

When most people think about ninjas they imagine swords, knives, black masks, matching pajamas, shuriken, throwing stars and Chuck Norris.  While all of these things certainly contribute to their well-deserved badass image, you should know that those kind of pajama-wearing ninjas never really existed. For centuries, ninjas have existed in Japan essentially as  mercenaries.  These agents of darkness lived entirely against the grain of Japan's usually traditional and honorable societal laws, working only for the patrons that paid the most, and doing such work completely through deceit and craftiness. Their underhanded tactics contrast with the Samurai, who worked to uphold a reputable image. Yet, the mystique that surrounded these enigmatic creatures of the night has kept them well enough alive throughout history, and today they are even revered by people all around the world. Outside of modern pop culture, historical accounts of ninja are actually quite scarce.  The first ninja, or at least the first person to ever be accounted as one, was Prince Yamato from the first century A.D. At age sixteen Prince Yamato became the first ninja, disguising himself as a woman and single handedly assassinating two rebel leaders that opposed his father, the emperor..  Let's not leave out either that he also happened to kill his own brother for not showing up to dinner for about a week, how's that for badass? Another early "ninja" was Hino Kumawaka. At age 13 a young Kumawaka was kept from seeing his dying father by a monk who was holding his father prisoner.  This forced the adolescent to employ a very ninjaesque plot to exact revenge.  Making his way into the monk's home through a guise of illness, Kumawaka stalked the grounds at night planning the assassination.  Then, one night, he entered the monk's room as he slept and left the window open so that moths would fly in and cover the lantern, leaving the room in darkness.  Under the veil of night, Kumawaka stole the monk's sword and killed him in his bed. But, this tale does not end at just murder.  Kumawaka was forced to flee the monk's home as patrolling guards caught onto his scheme.  He went out the window and ran down to the river, where he used bamboo stalks to cross the river in a very Crouching-Tiger-Hidden-Dragon-like manner, escaping his pursuers entirely. So Kumawaka and Yamato were not technically ninjas by the modern definition, but they did utilize stealth, deceit, and the overall cleverness that marks the foundation of how ninjas work, and they were the first to do it... or, at least the first to be recorded.  And, they did it all without throwing stars, martial arts, or even black masks with matching pajamas. Not that any ninjas really used those things.