116-414: A ninja ( Japanese : 忍者 , lit. 'one who is invisible'; [ɲiꜜɲdʑa] ) or shinobi ( Japanese : 忍び , lit. 'one who sneaks'; [ɕinobi] ) was an infiltration agent, mercenary , or guerrilla warfare and later bodyguard expert in feudal Japan . They were often employed in siege , espionage missions, and military deception . They often appear in
232-426: A jōnin rank ("upper person"), followed by the chūnin rank ("middle person"), whose task was to be a personal assistant to the jōnin, and genin rank ("lower person"), field agents drawn from the lower class for field operations. Ninja trainees also studied survival, poisons and explosives . Physical training involved long-distance runs, climbing, and stealth methods of walking. Training in techniques of disguise
348-469: A ninjatō appeared in a booklet by Heishichirō Okuse in 1956. Ninja also used darts , spikes, knives , and shuriken as weapons, The chain and sickle ( kusarigama ) was also used by the ninja. Variant explosives such as soft-cased grenades designed to release smoke or poison gas, along with iron or ceramic shrapnel explosives were also reportedly used. The term of ninja was attributed retrospectively to 2nd-century prince of Japan Yamato Takeru . In
464-559: A pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has
580-624: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
696-446: A code system, and to make trails that could be followed later. Ninja often used the katana as their weapon of choice, which was carried on the back. The scabbard of the katana sword of a ninja could be extended out of the sword and used as a long probing device. The sword could also be used to scale a wall, using tsuba . There is no known historical information about the straight ninjatō pre-20th century. The first photograph of
812-589: A complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
928-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
1044-709: A final stand at Hara Castle , in Hizen Province . A diary kept by a member of the Matsudaira clan , the Amakusa Gunki , relates: "Men from Kōga in Ōmi Province who concealed their appearance would steal up to the castle every night and go inside as they pleased." The Ukai diary, written by a descendant of Ukai Kanemon, has several entries describing the reconnaissance actions taken by the Kōga. They [the Kōga] were ordered to reconnoitre
1160-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
1276-479: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
SECTION 10
#17328484046611392-528: A natural type of makibishi called tennenbishi . The term makabishi literally means "scattered water chestnut" in Japanese. Both types of makibishi could penetrate the thin soles of the shoes such as the waraji sandals that were commonly worn in feudal Japan when the makibishi was dropped on the ground or planted in advance. Makibishi could be carried in a bag attached to a belt along with other commonly carried weapons and/or tools such as shuriken and kaginawa . Makibishi could be thrown like
1508-757: A ninja in Tokugawa's service, recruited agents from Iga province, and sent 10 of his members into Osaka Castle in an effort to spread rumors and misinformation to weaken the enemy forces internally. Later On the Osaka battles, these hired ninja fought alongside regular troops at the Battle of Tennōji . A final but detailed record of ninja employed in open warfare occurred during the Shimabara Rebellion (1637–1638). The Kōga ninja were recruited by shōgun Tokugawa Iemitsu against Christian rebels led by Amakusa Shirō , who made
1624-523: A researcher of Iga Ninja history, has stated there is research which revealed that Hattori Yasuji, one of the ninjas who accompanied leyasu on his journey in Iga province, also served as a bodyguard and espionage officer under Muromachi Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki . The attacks from Ochimusha-gari finally ended as they reached the former territory of the Kōka ikki, who were friendly to the Tokugawa clan. The Koka ninja assisted
1740-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
1856-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
1972-408: A squad of 48 ninja to burn Sawayama Castle , led by a chūnin (ninja term for a squad's captain). To conduct their operation, the ninja squad also stole a lantern which based on the drawing of the family crest on it ( mon ) belongs to the enemy clan, and recreated replica lanterns with the similar crest. By wielding these lanterns, they were allowed to enter the castle by the guards. As they entered
2088-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
2204-468: Is also demonstrated in war epics such as The Tale of Hōgen (Hōgen Monogatari) and The Tale of the Heike (Heike Monogatari) , which focus mainly on the aristocratic samurai, whose deeds were apparently more appealing to the audience. Historian Kiyoshi Watatani states that the ninja were trained to be particularly secretive about their actions and existence: So-called ninjutsu techniques, in short are
2320-445: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
2436-519: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
SECTION 20
#17328484046612552-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
2668-684: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
2784-462: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
2900-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
3016-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
3132-722: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
3248-517: Is little evidence for these claims. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes
3364-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
3480-489: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
3596-444: Is the original book of Bansenshūkai (万川集海), there are 48 points of ninja's fighting techniques, such as how to make makibishi from bamboo, how to make footwear that makes no sound, fighting techniques when surrounded by many enemies, precautions when using swords at night, how to listen to small sounds, kuji-kiri that prevents guard dogs from barking, and more. Later in history, the Kōga ninja would become regarded as agents of
Ninja - Misplaced Pages Continue
3712-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
3828-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
3944-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
4060-579: The Kojiki , Takeru disguised as woman and assassinated two leaders of the Kumaso group. Although its unlikely related to the commonly known ninja of later era. The earliest recorded ninja activities were traced during the reign of Prince Shōtoku in the 6th century. An adolescent espionage agent Hasetsukabe no Koharumaru was executed for spying against the insurgent Taira no Masakado . Later, 14th century chronicle Taiheiki recorded many ninja activities. In 1541,
4176-537: The tantō . Minstrel or sarugaku outfits could have allowed the ninja to spy in enemy buildings without rousing suspicion. Disguises as a komusō , a mendicant monk known for playing the shakuhachi , were also effective, as the large "basket" hats traditionally worn by them concealed the head completely. Ninja are believed to have used a large variety of tools and weaponries, including climbing equipment, extending spears, rocket -propelled arrows, and small collapsible boats, which are described and illustrated in
4292-508: The Imagawa clan . This assault is recorded in the Mikawa Go Fudoki chronicle, where those Kōka set fire to its towers, and killed the castellan along with 200 defenders of the garrison. In 1571, a Kōka ninja Sugitani Zenjubō attempted to assassinate Nobunaga with two Tanegashima (gun) rifles. However, his attempts was failed as his shots failed to penetrate the armor of Nobunaga. Sugitani
4408-505: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
4524-454: The Miyoshi clan , ninja warriors were actually feared as mercenaries who were proficient in the castle siege warfare. Buildings were constructed with traps and trip wires attached to alarm bells to prevent enemy ninja infiltrations. In battle, the ninja were also used to cause confusion amongst the enemy. A degree of psychological warfare in the capturing of enemy banners can be seen illustrated in
4640-483: The Nochi Kagami briefly describes the ninja's role in espionage, as Stephen Turnbull stated that the Iga and Kōka ninja usually infiltrated enemy castles. Turnbull further added that Ninja gained notability as hired mercenaries during the 15th century to use many asymmetrical warfare tactics such as scouting operations, raiding operations, arson, and even terrorism . These tactics were considered abhorrent by members of
4756-504: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
Ninja - Misplaced Pages Continue
4872-556: The Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from
4988-590: The Sekigahara Campaign after the Eastern Army's victory at Sekigahara, the Iga acted as guards for the inner compounds of Edo Castle , while the Kōka acted as a police force and assisted in guarding the outer gate. It was said that at one occasion, a group of Mogami clan 's ninja infiltrated the camp of Naoe Kanetsugu , stealing his battle standard, which later hoisted on the Hasedō Castle's gate, demoralized
5104-549: The Tamon-in Nikki (16th century) —a diary written by abbot Eishun of Kōfuku-ji temple— describes a sabotaging operation in which an Iga ninja squad entered Kasagi castle in secret and set fire to a few of the priests' quarters. They also set fire to outbuildings in various places inside the San-no-maru . They captured the ichi-no-maru (inner bailey ) and the ni-no-maru (second bailey). In 1558, Rokkaku Yoshikata employed
5220-605: The Tokugawa bakufu , at a time when the Shogunate used the ninja in an intelligence network to monitor regional daimyōs as well as the Imperial court . During this time, there are some definitive terms to classify their activities such as spying ( kanchō ), scout ( teisatsu ), ambush ( kishu ), and Agitprop ( konran ). The ninja clans organized into a larger confederation, with their own respective territories. A system of rank existed:
5336-716: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
5452-794: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
5568-657: The ni-no-maru and the san-no-maru (outer bailey) ... With the fall of Hara Castle, the Shimabara Rebellion came to an end, and Christianity in Japan was forced underground . These written accounts are the last mention of ninja in war. After the Shimabara Rebellion, there were almost no major wars or battles until the bakumatsu era. To earn a living, ninja had to be employed by the governments of their Han (domain), or change their profession. Many lords still hired ninja, not for battle but as bodyguards or spies. Their duties included spying on other domains, guarding
5684-460: The oniwabanshū as "ninja". In 1649 record Tokugawa shogunate law on military service, The shinobi was considered as profession, as only daimyōs with an income of over 10,000 koku were allowed to employ ninja or shinobi. In the two centuries that followed, a number of ninjutsu manuals were written by descendants of Hattori Hanzō as well as members of the Fujibayashi clan, an offshoot of
5800-452: The samurai class. During the Sengoku period , demands for such unconventional operations increased. Meanwhile, Turnbull also stated there is no evidence to prove that Ninja were actively employed as professional assassins and it could be argued that they were just hired bandits. Modern historian Tatsuo Fujita opined that, based on the historical texts in 16th century by Naito Munekatsu, vassal of
5916-448: The standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics ,
SECTION 50
#17328484046616032-405: The Ōu Eikei Gunki , in which a ninja once stole the banner of samurai lord Naoe Kanetsugu and hoisted it to next day to demoralize Kanetsugu's army in the war. Most ninjutsu techniques recorded in scrolls and manuals revolve around ways to avoid detection and methods of escape. These techniques were loosely grouped under corresponding natural elements. Some examples are: The use of disguises
6148-518: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
6264-688: The 17th and 18th centuries, most notably the Bansenshūkai (1676). Ninja is the on'yomi ( Early Middle Chinese–influenced ) the two kanji "忍者". In the native kun'yomi reading, it is pronounced shinobi , a shortened form of shinobi-no-mono (忍びの者). The word shinobi appears in the written record as far back as the late 8th century in poems in the Man'yōshū . The underlying connotation of shinobi ( 忍 ) means "to steal away; to hide" and—by extension—"to forbear", hence its association with stealth and invisibility. Mono ( 者 ) means "a person". The word ninja
6380-712: The 17th century record Bansenshūkai . Although it is commonly believed that the ninja wore black garb ( shinobi shōzoku ) during their work, as depicted in modern media, there is no evidence for such attire. Instead, ninja usually operated disguised as civilians. Accounts about ninjas' armor cannot be verified. Depictions of famous persons later deemed ninja often show them in Japanese armour , including concealable types of armour made with Kusari (Japanese mail armour) and Karuta (armour) that could have been worn by ninja including katabira (jackets) made with armour hidden between layers of cloth. Shin and arm guards along with metal-reinforced hoods are also speculated to have made up
6496-522: The 220,000, then grow further in productivity to the total revenue of 320,000 koku under Takatora governance. It was reported that Tōdō Takatora employs the Iga-ryū Ninjas. Aside from Ninjas, he also employs local clans of Iga province as "Musokunin", which is a class of part time Samurai who has been allowed to retain their clan name but does not own any land or Han . The Musokunin also worked as farmer during peace, while they are obliged to take arms in
6612-461: The 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of
6728-582: The Hattori. Major examples include the Ninpiden (1655), the Bansenshūkai (1675), and the Shōninki (1681). Many famous people in Japanese history have been associated or identified as ninja, but their status as ninja is difficult to prove and may be the product of later imagination. Rumors surrounding famous warriors, such as Kusunoki Masashige or Minamoto no Yoshitsune sometimes describe them as ninja, but there
6844-409: The Iga professionals were sought after for their skill at siege warfare, or " shirotori ", which included night attacks and ambush. By the 1460s, the leading families in the regions had established de facto independence from their shugo . In 1560, after the Battle of Okehazama , Tokugawa dispatched a group of 80 Kōka ninja under the command of Tomo Sukesada, which was tasked to raid an outpost of
6960-482: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
7076-425: The Japanese version of the caltrop . The tool ( igadama ) is a sharp spiked object that was used in feudal Japan to slow down pursuers and also was used in the defense of samurai fortifications. Makibishi was one of the items supposedly used by the ninja . It had six or eight pointed spikes. Iron makibishi were called tetsubishi while the makibishi made from the dried seed pod of the water chestnut formed
SECTION 60
#17328484046617192-724: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
7308-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
7424-512: The Tokugawa escort group in eliminating the threats of Ochimusha-gari outlaws, then escorting them until they reached Iga Province , where they were further protected by another group from Iga-ikki which accompanied the Ieyasu group until they safely reached Mikawa. The Ietada nikki journal records that the escort group of Ieyasu had suffered roughly 200 casualties during their journey from Osaka. However, modern scholars such as Tatsuo Fujita doubted
7540-463: The Uesugi troops greatly in effect. In 1603, a group of ninja from Iga clan led by Miura Yo'emon were assigned under the command of Red Demon brigades of Ii Naomasa, the daimyo of Hikone under Tokugawa shogunate. In 1608, a daimyo named Tōdō Takatora was assigned by Ieyasu to control of Tsu , a newly established domain which covered portions of Iga and Ise Province . The domain at first worth of to
7656-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
7772-408: The castle by night, obtaining secret passwords. Days later, Nobutsuna ordered an intelligence gathering mission to determine the castle's supplies. Several Kōga ninja—some apparently descended from those involved in the 1562 assault on an Imagawa clan castle—volunteered despite being warned that chances of survival were slim. A volley of shots was fired into the sky, causing the defenders to extinguish
7888-505: The castle lights in preparation. Under the cloak of darkness, ninja disguised as defenders infiltrated the castle, capturing a banner of the Christian cross . The Ukai diary writes, We dispersed spies who were prepared to die inside Hara castle. ... those who went on the reconnaissance in force captured an enemy flag; both Arakawa Shichirobei and Mochizuki Yo'emon met extreme resistance and suffered from their serious wounds for 40 days. As
8004-462: The castle, they immediately set fire to the castle. In 1561, Kizawa Nagamasa generals hired three Iga ninja during the capture of a castle in Maibara , which was owned by Rokkaku Yoshitaka, who was also the employer of Iga Ninja previously. However, those ninja agents refused to take orders and threatened to desert the operation if they were not allowed to conduct the operation in their own way. The fire
8120-510: The credibility of Hattori Hanzō's ninja army theory, since it first appeared in Iga-sha yuishogaki record which circulated during the Edo period during the rule of Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune . During his rule, Yoshimune was known for establishing the Oniwaban secret police institution whose members hailed from the confederation warriors of Koka and Iga areas. It has been argued that the circulation of
8236-612: The daimyō, and fire patrol. A few domains like Tsu , Hirosaki and Saga continued to employ their own ninja into the bakumatsu era, although their precise numbers are unknown. Many former ninja were employed as security guards by the Tokugawa shogunate , though the role of espionage was transferred to newly created organizations like the onmitsu and the oniwaban . Others used their ninjutsu knowledge to become doctors, medicine sellers, merchants, martial artists, and fireworks manufacturers. Some unemployed ninja were reduced to banditry, such as Fūma Kotarō and Ishikawa Goemon . In
8352-412: The early 18th century, shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune founded the oniwaban ("garden keepers"), an intelligence agency and secret service . Members of the oniwaban were agents involved in collecting information on daimyō and government officials. The secretive nature of the oniwaban —along with the earlier tradition of using Iga and Kōga clan members as palace guards—have led some sources to define
8468-564: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
8584-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
8700-563: The historical record during the Sengoku period , although antecedents may have existed as early as the 12th century. During the Japan's warring state period , jizamurai clans of peasant-warriors in Iga Province and the adjacent Kōka District formed ikki – "revolts" or "leagues" – as a means of self-defense. Following the Tokugawa shogunate in the 17th century, the ninja faded into obscurity. A number of shinobi manuals, often based on Chinese military philosophy , were written in
8816-453: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
8932-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
9048-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
9164-496: The modern era kunoichi means "female ninja". By the time of the Meiji Restoration in 1868, shinobi had become a topic of popular culture in Japan which featured in many legend and folklore, where they were associated with many supernatural abilities. It was believed the espionage activities of Ninja were attributed to Chinese military strategy , such as The Art of War by Sun Tzu . According to traditional evaluation,
9280-474: The myth about Hattori Hanzō ninja army helping Ieyasu were created as propaganda to increase the prestige of Iga and Koka clan confederations in Tokugawa Shogunate. In an undisclosed time, a ninja named Hachisuka Tenzō was sent by Nobunaga to assassinate daimyō Takeda Shingen , although it ended in failure. There is a record that there is an assassination attempt were on Toyotomi Hideyoshi , although it
9396-571: The ninja to understand the martial qualities of even the most menial task. These factors show how the ninjutsu established among the ninja class the fundamental principle of adaptation . Ninja usually worked in a team to scale a wall by providing a human platform to assist their team members in reaching the top of the wall. The Mikawa Go Fudoki gives an account of a coordinated team of infiltrators, who usually made use of passwords to communicate, so they could recognize their allies during their covert operations and when in disguise, as they dressed in
9512-489: The ninja were stealth soldiers and mercenaries hired mostly by daimyōs . Despite many popular folktales, historical accounts of the ninja are scarce. Historian Stephen Turnbull asserts that the ninja were mostly recruited from the lower class, and therefore little literary interest was taken in them. The social origin of the ninja is seen as the reason they agree to operate in secret, trading their service for money without honor and glory. The scarcity of historical accounts
9628-585: The ninja's armor. Tools used for infiltration and espionage are some of the most abundant artifacts related to the ninja. Ropes and grappling hooks were common, and were tied to the belt. A collapsible ladder is illustrated in the Bansenshukai , featuring spikes at both ends to anchor the ladder. Spiked or hooked climbing gear worn on the hands and feet also doubled as weapons. Other implements include chisels , hammers , drills , and picks . Ninja also used mizugumo to walk on water. This footwear distributed
9744-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
9860-477: The origin of those ninja clans were traced to the family of Kawai Aki-no-kami of Iga. This is also supported by the supplementary record to the Nochi Kagami , a historical record of the Ashikaga shogunate . The clans of Iga and Kōla became professionals which specifically trained for the asymmetrical warfare tactics of the ninja. These ninja mercenary were often hired by daimyōs between 1485 and 1581. Specifically,
9976-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
10092-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
10208-448: The plan of construction of Hara Castle, and surveyed the distance from the defensive moat to the ni-no-maru (second bailey ), the depth of the moat, the conditions of roads, the height of the wall, and the shape of the loopholes. Suspecting that the castle's supplies might be running low, the siege commander Matsudaira Nobutsuna ordered a raid on the castle's provisions. Here, the Kōga captured bags of enemy provisions, and infiltrated
10324-477: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
10440-510: The same clothes as the enemy. In his Buke Myōmokushō , military historian Hanawa Hokinoichi writes of the ninja that they travelled in disguise into foreign territories to scout enemy forces, set enemy castles on fire, and carry out assassinations using infiltration tactics . Espionage was the chief role of the ninja. With the aid of disguises, the ninja gathered information on enemy terrain and building specifications as well as obtaining passwords and communiques. The aforementioned supplement to
10556-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
10672-401: The siege went on, the extreme shortage of food later reduced the defenders to eating moss and grass. This desperation would mount to futile charges by the rebels, where they were eventually defeated by the shogunate army. The Kōga would later take part in conquering the castle: More and more general raids were begun, the Kōga ninja band under the direct control of Matsudaira Nobutsuna captured
10788-488: The skills of shinobi-no-jutsu and shinobijutsu , which have the aims of ensuring that one's opponent does not know of one's existence, and for which there was special training. However, some ninjutsu books described specifically what tactics ninja should use to fight, and the scenarios in which a ninja might find themselves can be deduced from those tactics. For example, in the manuscript of volume 2 of Kanrin Seiyō (間林清陽) which
10904-797: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
11020-476: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
11136-463: The summer phase of Osaka siege, The Ii clan Red Demons ninjas led by Miura Yo'emon, Shimotani Sanzo, Okuda Kasa'emon, and Saga Kita'emon saw action once again during the Battle of Tennōji , as they were reportedly fought together with the Tokugawa regular army storming on the south gate of Osaka castle. In 1614, the initial "winter campaign" at the Siege of Osaka saw the ninja in use once again. Miura Yoemon,
11252-583: The suppression of the Iga province by Nobunaga, some of them escaped from the province and sought refuge with the Tokugawa clan . One of the most prominent members was Fujibayashi Yasumasa, son of the Fujibayashi Yasutoyo from the Fujibayashi clan. After the assassination of Oda Nobunaga, Iga and Kōka ninja, according to tradition, helped Ieyasu undergo an arduous journey to escape the enemies of Nobunaga in Sakai and return to Mikawa . However, their journey
11368-523: The time of war. In 1614, The Iga province warriors saw action during the siege of Osaka . Takatora brought the Musokunin auxiliaries from Iga province to besiege the Osaka castle during the winter phase. Meanwhile the ninja units of Iga province were deployed under several commanders such as Hattori Hanzō , and Yamaoka Kagetsuge, and Ii Naotora , heir of Naomasa who also given control of Ii clan's Red Demons ninja squad after Naomasa died. Later in 1615, during
11484-580: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Makibishi The term makibishi ( 撒き菱 or 撒菱 ) refers to
11600-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
11716-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
11832-413: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
11948-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
12064-503: The wearer's weight over the shoes' wide bottom surface, allowing the wearer to walk on the surface of water. The name of this equipment mizugumo was derived from the native name for the Japanese water spider ( Argyroneta aquatica japonica ). Similar footwear, known as ukidari , also existed in the form of a flat round bucket , although this may have been less stable. Goshiki-mai (go, five ; shiki, color ; mai, rice ) colored (red, blue, yellow, black, purple) rice grains were used in
12180-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
12296-770: Was also taught. Some evidence of medical training can be derived from one account, where an Iga ninja provided medical attention to Ii Naomasa , a general of Tokugawa who was injured by gunfire during the Sekigahara battle . The skill sets of ninja agents known in modern times as ninjutsu ( 忍術 ) comprised a variety of espionage and survival skills with each its own unique characteristic for each ninjutsu school. Some view ninjutsu as evidence that ninja were not simple mercenaries because texts contained not only information on combat training, but also information about daily needs, which even included mining techniques. The guidance provided for daily work also included elements that enable
12412-535: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
12528-629: Was captured 4 years later and tortured to death. In 1573, Manabe Rokurō, a vassal of daimyō Hatano Hideharu , attempted to assassinate Nobunaga by infiltrating Azuchi Castle , although the mission failed and Rokurō was forced to commit suicide. According to a document, the Iranki , when Nobunaga was inspecting Iga province after the Tenshō Iga War , three ninja attempted to assassinate him with rifles, but failed and instead killed seven of Nobunaga's attendants. The Kōka ikki persisted until 1574, when it
12644-502: Was common and is well documented. Ninjas disguised themselves as priests, entertainers, fortune tellers, merchants, rōnin , and monks. The Buke Myōmokushō states that their missions were to disguise themselves as firewood gatherers in order to gain information about the enemy. The attire of a mountain ascetic ( yamabushi ) facilitated travel, as they were common and could travel freely between political boundaries. The loose robes of Buddhist priests also allowed concealed weapons, such as
12760-408: Was eventually set, allowing Nagamasa's army to capture the castle. The Iga and Kōga ninja were actually jizamurai clans inhabited Iga Province (modern Mie Prefecture ) and the nearby region of Kōka District, Shiga named after a village in modern day Shiga Prefecture . The remote location of Iga may have contributed to ninja's secretive development. The chronicle Go Kagami Furoku stated that
12876-525: Was forced to become a vassal of Oda Nobunaga . The Iga ikki continued until 1581, when Nobunaga attacked the Iga Province and destroyed those clans who rebelled against him. The Iga clans survivors fled to the Kii Mountains , but others escaped to enter the service under Tokugawa Ieyasu . Prior to the conquest of Kōka in 1574, the two confederacies worked in alliance together since at least 1487. After
12992-718: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
13108-465: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
13224-436: Was thwarted. A ninja named Kirigakure Saizō (possibly Kirigakure Shikaemon) attempted to assassinate Hideyoshi with a spear, but was unsuccessful, as his attempt was foiled by a ninja worked under the command of Hideyoshi who smoked his place. However, the reliability of this story was considered fictional publications as it was the same publisher which depicted Saizō as one of the legendary Sanada Ten Braves . In 1600, during
13340-415: Was uncommon, and a variety of regional colloquialisms evolved to describe what would later be dubbed ninja. The first known English use of the word ninja was in 1964. Kunoichi (くノ一) is, originally, an argot which means "woman"; it supposedly comes from the characters くノ一 (respectively hiragana ku , katakana no and kanji ichi ), which make up the form of kanji for "woman" (女). In fiction written in
13456-619: Was very dangerous due to the existence of " Ochimusha-gari " groups across the route. During this journey, Tokugawa generals such as Ii Naomasa , Sakai Tadatsugu and Honda Tadakatsu fought their way through raids and harassment from Ochimusha-gari ( samurai hunter) gangs to secure the way for Ieyasu, while sometimes also bribing some of the more amenable Ochimusha-gari gangs. As they reached Kada, an area between Kameyama town and Iga, The local Koka-Ikki ninjas and Iga-Ikki ninjas under Hanzo who helped leyasu to travel to safety consisted of three hundred Ninjas. Furthermore, Uejima Hidetomo,
#660339