Black clothes, throwing stars, secret techniques — that's the ninja you know from anime and games. In this episode we look at what the ninja of the Warring States period were really like.
This is Episode 8 of our mini-series on Japanese history, made for JLPT N5–N3 learners. In about seven minutes, you'll learn that a ninja's real job was gathering information (情報 / jōhō / jouhou), why Iga (伊賀) and Koga (甲賀 / Kōka / Kouka) became famous, and where the black costume actually came from — the kabuki (歌舞伎) stage of the Edo period. We also meet Hattori Hanzo (服部半蔵 / Hattori Hanzō / Hattori Hanzou), the "strongest ninja" of games who was in fact a spearman, and whose name still lives on at Tokyo's Hanzomon (半蔵門) subway station.
You'll also pick up five useful everyday words: 情報 (jōhō), 集める (atsumeru), 協力 (kyōryoku), 危険な (kiken na), and 無事に (buji ni).
Next episode: Battle tactics — how huge armies were moved, and how guns changed the way wars were fought.
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