Interesting facts about Ninja not everyone knows

If you are a fan of the famous Naruto manga, you are probably not too unfamiliar with the concept of Ninja. It was a term for people who were on secret missions and had high martial arts abilities along with their spying and assassination skills at the top of the peak. However, the behavior is extremely mysterious.
​

​

In movies or cartoons, Ninja are depicted with the image of extremely almighty people, appearing and disappearing with unparalleled strength. However, in real life, Ninja is not so terrible or mysterious.

Let’s find out together now!

Ninja is not the original name

The term Ninja began to appear after the 20th century. Due to the secretive nature of the sects organizing mercenaries, there is no specific record of the origin of “Ninja”. The name used to describe the warriors will depend on the characteristics and language of each locality.
​

​

Ninja is also known by many different names such as: Ukagami, Dakkou, Kusa, Nokisaru, Kamari, Kanshi, Ninjutsu Tsukai, …In which, Shinobi No Mono or Shinobi is the most used word. The term appears as early as the 8th century in a poem by the author Manyoshu. Shinobi means “stealth” and “persistence”, Mono means “person”. If women practice Shinobi, they are called Kunoichi.

The word Ninja was born and popularized after the Second World War when the West introduced culture to Japan.

Ninjas are intelligence-gathering spies, not assassins or soldiers

Many people mistakenly believe that Ninja has a mission to assassinate and attack according to the organization’s orders, but in fact their main job is to collect information. Ninja always scout and grasp the secret information of the opponent, once discovered, they will immediately play cards of escape.
​

Ninjas practice Ninjutsu martial arts with the slogan “Escape when possible”, if not, then they choose to kill the enemy. They are taught, learn martial arts to find a way out of danger, protect themselves and only attack when exposed.

However, later on, Ninja not only did a secret mission anymore, but also a bodyguard, spy or hired assassin.

Ninja belonged to the lower class in feudal society

In feudal Japan, there were two types of warriors: Samurai and Ninja. Samurai is considered a force of soldiers belonging to the aristocracy, respected and admired.

Meanwhile, Ninja has a lower status. They often came from commoner families and worked as mercenaries for the samurai. Ninja can also be former samurai who have suffered an accident or been stripped of their titles.

Ninja’s outfit is normal clothes

The influence of movies and comics makes many people think that Ninja’s costumes are those covered in black from head to toe. But in fact, their costumes are dark brown and Ninja often dressed as civilians to easily blend in and the crowd to easily do reconnaissance and information search.
​

​

There are also a few cases where Ninja have to dress up and dress differently to suit, not too prominent, to attract the attention of people around to do the task. Because Ninja often appear in all kinds of appearances and costumes, folk often hire them to weave, so stories are that they have the ability to invisibility.

Competence based on combat equipment and weapon

Like spies in the West, Ninjas on duty are often equipped with all kinds of powerful weapons. We often hear about how Ninja can catch swords with their bare hands, become invisible and magically appear and disappear.
​

​

But the truth is that the Ninja do not have the ability to enter the demon like that, but they are supported by equipment such as smoke bombs, dry sand to escape in front of the opponent, tricking the eyes to let the enemy lose their vigilance. find a way to escape. Ninja often avoid killing and counterattack with weapons like darts – but only to scare.
​

​

Ninja also has strange items, unique to each organization to give cues and reveal the whereabouts of colleagues. When operating on missions, Ninja usually do not attack the enemy, only when ordered to perform assassination. When the mission failed, sometimes Ninja even took his own life to ensure the safety of the organization’s operational information.

​