Ninja - the Invisible Assassins
I think it's important to remember that this book was written back in 1970. It is almost funny to have so much of the book dedicated to just what a ninja IS - having to lay out in detail that they liked to sneak around, that they were hired assassins, that they threw mysterious objects called shurikens and dropped other mysterious objects called caltrops. I think every movie-watching person alive in modern times has SEEN many movies about ninja, knows what they are like, what they do and so on.
Mr. Adams starts from the beginning. he compares ninja to Spartans, which again is funny to me, implying that everybody knows about the Spartan lifestyle, culture and training program but knows nothing about ninja. I would have to guess that, aside from the people who watched "300", that most people in modern times know little about Spartans and know a fair amount about ninjas. On to the comparisons, Adams then talks about how ninja were like American Indians - they could walk noiselessly, cover long distances, hear hoofbeats through ground vibrations. He says they are like 007 spies, with gadgets and disguises to get the job done.
OK, yes, we get it. Ninjas are highly trained from birth super-assassins with a plethora of weapons and disguises at their arsenal to get the job done. They would rather die than give away their clan's secrets. They were so effective and feared that in the 1600s the Tokugawa regime banned ninjutsu to the point that even mentioning it could bring death. In that sense, we are extraordinarily lucky that there are even practitioners left in modern times who retain some of the skills and training as well as archival equipment to examine.
I do think this book has many valuable lessons. For example, movies often show shurikens thrown as death-weapons to cut someone's throat open. Quite the contrary, these were distraction tools, thrown to get someone to defend their eyes or face while the ninja escaped. Many of the ninja's feats were amazing but of course quite explainable. They could dislocate limbs at will, much like magicians do to perform tricks. They could endure amazing amounts of cold and hunger, and hold their breath for long periods of time, again due to long, well choreographed training. They had the balance of a gymnast. The martial arts training of a black belt. They were taught these things from birth and their loyalty to their clan was above all else.
So yes, things like the ninja breathing through bamboo tubes might have been amazing to read about back in the 1970s, but by now that sort of "trick" is well known to any action movie watcher. The same is true for a lot of what this book touts. I'm not saying the book is bad! It was amazing and fresh back in 1970. However, in modern times you can get several books on ninja which do not feel the need to spend page after page giving strange references to try to help us understand the basics of ninjutsu. The more modern books can give a much more rich depth to the topic, going into the details because we do know those basics.
Still, if you're a fan of all things ninja, this is an important book to have as a "foundation of where ninja lore began".
Well recommended.
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