“The Ninja” – Eric Van Lustbader

“I believe it as my father did. He was a great and wise man in all matters, Nicholas. He was no fool. He knew well that there exist on the Asian continent many things which defy analysis; which, perhaps, have no place in the modern world. They relate to another set of Laws; they are timeless.”

Mushasi’s history is awash with myth.

So-Peng speaking to the Colonel

Words of wisdom – I do not believe in that phrase. One cannot learn wisdom by sitting at another’s feet. One must live one’s own life, make one’s own mistakes, feel one’s own ecstasy to learn the true meaning of existence, for it is different in each individual. Fall down, get up, and do it all over again in another context. Experience. And learn. That is the only way.

‘As you may know, Japanese society has always been rigorously stratified. There is a highly defined social order and no one would even contemplate deserting his station in life; it’s part of one’s karma, and this has religious as well as social overtones.

‘The samurai, for instance, the warriors of feudal Japan, were gentlemen, of the bushi class; no one else was allowed to become samurai or carry two swords. Well, the ninja evolved from the opposite end of the spectrum, the hinin. This level was so low that the translation of that term literally means “not human”. Naturally, they were a far cry from the aristocratic bushi. Yet, as clan warfare increased in Japan, the samurai recognised a growing need for the specific skills of the ninja, for the samurai themselves were bound by an iron-clad code of bushido which strictly forbade them many actions. Thus, the samurai clans hired the freelance ninja to perform acts of arson, assassination, infiltration and terrorism which they themselves were duty bound to shun. History tells us, for instance, that the ninja made their first appearance in the sixth century A.D Prince Shotoku employed them as spies.’

‘… each ryi, that is, school, and, in the ninja’s case, clan, specialised in different forms of combat, espionage, lore, and son on, so that one was often able to tell by his methods from which ryu a particular assassin came from. For instance, the Fodo ryu was known for its work with many kinds of small concealed blades, the Gyokku was expert at using thumb and forefinger on the body’s nerve-centres in hand-to-hand combat, the Kotto was proficient at breaking bones, others used hypnotism and so on.