Ninja Attack!. Hiroko Yoda

      The Ninja Nation

      This map portrays many of the events described in the pages of this book, from En no Ozunu’s travels in times of antiquity all the way through American warships arriving in Edo harbor in 1853. This covers a massive swath of history, and therefore it is intended as a stylized composite rather than to represent any one moment in time. It is not only out of proportion to what we know to be Japan today, but sharp-eyed readers will notice that the illustration omits the island of Hokkaido and the archipelago of Okinawa. This is because it is based on a centuries-old chart created in an era before these territories were officially incorporated into the nation.

      NINJA

      (Plural: “ninja.” No “s,” please.)

      The colloquial name for groups and individuals who carried out intelligence-gathering, assassinations, and other espionage-related work for Japanese warlords, mainly between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries, with their peak being in the mid-to-late sixteenth century. In Japanese, the word is written with the kanji characters nin 忍, meaning “clandestine,” and ja 者, meaning “person.” The use of the term “ninja” to refer to these individuals is relatively recent; historically, they were more commonly called by a wide variety of regional colloquialisms including (but by no means limited to):

      Hayamichi no mono (The Short-cutters)

      Iga-mono (One from Iga)

      Kamari (Those Who Hide)

      Koga-mono (One from Koga)

      Kusa (The Grasses)

      Ninjutsu-tsukai (A practitioner of ninjutsu)

      Nokizaru (Roof-monkeys)

      Onmitsu (The secret service)

      Rappa (in the Kanto region)

      Shinobi

      Shinobi no mono

      Suppa (in the Kai region)

      Ukami (The Silent Watchers)

      Yama-kuguri (“Mountain-runners”)

      NOTE: Although the kanji characters are identical, the name of the region that the Koga ninja hail from is actually pronounced “Koka.” For ease of understanding, we use Koga to refer to both throughout the book.

       NINJA ANCESTORS (~1500)

      Name

       Prince Shotoku

       En no Ozunu

       Minamoto no Yoshitsune

       Togakushi Daisuke

       Tomoe Gozen

       Hino Kumawaka-Maru

       Mochizuki Izumo no Kami

      The Ninja “Family tree” begins here.

      PRINCE SHOTOKU

       Ten conversations simultaneously: Prince Umayato

      NINJA MASTERS

      593 A.D.

      Name: PRINCE SHOTOKU

      聖徳太子

      Birth/Death: 574-622

      Occupation: Regent

      Duration of Reign: 593-622

      Cause of Death: Unknown

      A.K.A.: Shotoku Taishi

      Prince Umayato

      Umayato-no-oh

      Umayato-no-mikoto

      Toyoto-mimi

      Toyoto-mimi-no-nori-no-ohokimi

      Uetsumiya-no-umayato-no-oyotomimi-no-mikoto

      Known Associates: Otomo-no-sabito (see below)

      Hobbies: Multi-tasking

      Preferred Weapon: Shinobi

      Existence: Confirmed

      The Man

Prince Shotoku was a precocious young politician with a literal gift of gab, said to be capable of holding discreet conversations* with ten people simultaneously (quite a trick, close to a millenium and a half before the Internet chat room was invented). Never actually taking the throne, the prince served as the regent to Empress Suiko, his aunt. In title, he was a humble advisor. It is believed, however, that he ruled the entire country in her name.

      Having lived so long ago, he occupies the crossroads between Japanese history and mythology, and over the centuries all sorts of incredible achievements have been ascribed to him. Some are down-to-earth (establishing the nation’s first constitution and promoting the spread of Buddhism), while others are obvious flights of fancy (inventing sushi and giving Japan its now-official name of “Nihon”).

      Insightful and talented though he may have been, the path to the empress’ side was anything but smooth for the prince. Perhaps this is why he was among the first proponents of Sun Tzu’s Art of War in Japan. Its teachings—particularly good old chapter 13, “The Use of Spies”—played a key role in his rise to power at the age of eighteen, particularly in his befriending of a brilliant tactician named (perhaps a little too fittingly) Otomo-no-saibito, or “Otomo the Clandestine.” Like the prince, Otomo posessed a few special comunication skills. In the Nihon Shoki, Japan’s oldest historical text (written in 720 AD), Otomo’s family line was said to be able to communicate in words only intelligible to other clan members and allies—or to put it more precisely, secret code.

      The two men’s relationship changed the course of Japanese history in more ways than one. For Otomo is now known as the very first ninja—or more precisely, shinobi, as the young prince dubbed both him and his operatives. The word has remained a synonym for ninja ever since.

      Until the mid-1980s, Prince Shotoku appeared on several Japanese bank notes.

      The Moment of Glory

      The 587 death of Emperor Yomei, Prince Shotoku’s father, touched off a bloody power struggle between his clan and that of the rival Moriya. Being just thirteen, the young prince knew he needed expert advice if he was to triumph in the confrontation—after all, his troops were hugely outnumbered by the enemy. (By some accounts, he led just two hundred men against some thirty thousand Moriya soldiers.)

      The enemy