Learn the way of the Ninja at Odawara Castle
The ninja then and now
Mysterious warriors, cloaked in shadow, trained from youth in the remote mountainous regions of Japan and possessed of all-but-supernatural powers. It's easy to understand why the ninja have never ceased to capture the popular imagination. From their origins amid the brutal civil wars of Japan's Warring States era, to depictions throughout traditional Japanese theatre, ninja today possess a near mythical status in modern popular culture spanning film, tv, comics and video games.
The Fuma Ninja Experience, at Odawara Castle, takes visitors back to a time when ninja operated as covert agents in service to the Hojo clan, the onetime masters of this crucial stronghold. During the 15th century, when rival clans fought for ultimate control of the nation, the ninja played a vital role in the castle's defences, and it was the Fuma Ninja clan in particular that protected this region.
The Ninja Experience takes place at Odawara Castle. (Image Credit: Photo AC)
Who were the ninja?
But who were the ninja, and how much of the myth is rooted in reality? To answer this question, we first need to consider the Japanese warrior code, bushido.
Bushido, while not a fixed set of rules, represented an overarching collection of principles that Japan's warrior class, the samurai, were expected to uphold. While the emphasis of bushido changed over time, on the whole, samurai were expected to act with courage, honesty, loyalty and honour and considered personal disgrace, or dishonour, deeply shameful. It is from this warrior code that the famous act of seppuku comes, a form of ritual suicide carried out often as a result of dishonour through some breach of bushido.
Did you know: The dark clothing commonly associated with the ninja in popular culture is thought to have emerged from traditional Japanese theatre, where the kuroko, or stage hands, who would change the arrangement of props and scenery on stage, were dressed so that they would blend in with the scene around them, and not distract the audience from the actors. They began to be used as a theatrical device in kabuki, and would suddenly step out of the shadows to assassinate one of the characters in the play.
Inconveniently, warfare often called for methods that were considered distasteful to this code of conduct. Covert actions, espionage, intelligence gathering, assassination, sabotage, forgery: tactics which could tip the tide of battle, or even remove powerful enemies without a fight, were considered to be beneath the honourable conduct expected of a samurai.
To undertake this kind of tactic, the generals and lords of feudal Japan turned to hired mercenaries, not of the warrior class, who could operate 'in the shadows' without bringing dishonour upon their employers. As time went on, villages emerged in Japan's remote mountainous regions, largely hidden away from the rest of society, that devoted themselves to training warriors in the skills that were so in demand.
It is from this connection between the rugged environs of the Iga and Koga mountains and these communities of trained covert operatives, or shinobi, that the idea of ninja as rugged warrior ascetics, possessed of a mystic connection to nature, came. Far from the niceties of courtly life and the confines of public image, the ninja were trained in the wilds, influenced by the principles of shugendo, a strict regimen of physical and spiritual discipline practised in the mountains, and the broader tradition of shinto, the belief in deities that dwelled within nature and the elements.
The Fuma Ninja Experience
Within the imposing walls of Odawara Castle, visitors to the Fuma Ninja Experience will learn to think, move and act as ninja once did, under the expert tutelage of Hiroshi Jinkawa, an expert on the methods and practices of the ninja. Visitors first undergo a period of meditation, to attain the oneness of body and mind necessary for the focus required by ninja warriors to execute their duties. Then they are introduced to the tools and equipment ninja would use, including the Shinobi Rokugu: six objects every ninja would carry. These range from cloth for carrying shuriken, to a hooked rope for climbing, and even a bamboo cylinder for carrying cinders for setting fires.
Enjoying the Ninja Experience. Ninja practitioner, descendant of the Fuma Ninja, Jinkawa Hiroshi in the middle. (Image credit: TokudAw Inc.)
Next comes training in the use of the sword, rope climbing exercises, disguise and concealment, and how to move without making a sound. By the end of the session, visitors will understand the hard work and training required to live as a ninja, and the ways in which the historical ninja differed from the ninja of popular culture.
For any visitors to Japan interested in the dramatic history of the Warring States era, clashes between samurai clans to decide the future of the nation, and the important role played by the ninja in this period, the Fuma Ninja Experience at Odawara Castle brings the realities of this era powerfully to life.
