Ninjutsu. Donn F. Draeger

      If it became necessary for the ninja to squeeze through small openings, he could do so by manipulation of his joints. The skill was also useful in certain aspects of hand-to-hand combat such as at the time an enemy applied a painful joint lock against the ninja. By dislocation techniques the ninja could minimize the pain and actually escape from the leverage being applied.

      The ninja's expertise at walking was the result of the use of ten styles or techniques:

      1. Nuki ashi . . . . . .Stealthy step

      2. Suri ashi . . . . . . .Rub step

      3. Shime ashi . . . . .Tight step

      4. Tobi ashi . . . . . .Flying step

      5. Kata ashi. . . . . .One step

      6. So ashi . . . . . . .Big step

      7. Ko ashi . . . . . . .Little step

      8. Kakizami . . . . . .Small step

      9. Wari ashi . . . . . .Proper step

      10. Tsune ashi . . . . .Normal step

      But he also used another interesting method called yoko-aruki or “side walking.” By a specific technique of moving the legs sideways in cross step fashion, the ninja confused the enemy. Tracks left by this method do not reveal which direction the ninja is traveling. Side walking also had uses in narrow passages or lanes such as found in castle corridors or in bamboo groves.

      Swimming was one of the ninja's most reliable skills. He was trained to move through water for great distances, silently, but not in a particularly swift manner. By use of his special swimming techniques the ninja could negotiate a moat without being seen or heard. He could, if called upon to do so, swim with great loads, using self-made flotation devices. The use of powerful and very skillful strokes made the ninja able to swim against tides and currents or to cut across them. If caught in water plants and seaweed, he used still other stroking methods to disentangle himself.

      A special vertical kind of swimming enabled him to carry things to their destination without wetting them. He could actually write while swimming and keep the paper from becoming water-soaked. The ninja also practiced hand-to-hand combat in and under water, learning to fight with and without weapons. He was equally skilled at grappling with an enemy on the deck of a boat, and could cleverly manage to hurl both himself and his enemy, locked in combat, into water, where his skill would greatly reduce the chances for survival of the enemy. By other methods of swimming the ninja could keep himself afloat and in position to fire arrows or firearms, his powerful legs making this possible.

      Breath control methods gave him the ability to remain under water for about three minutes. Longer periods were made possible by use of special breathing devices. Diving and swimming under water involved precision techniques useful in avoiding detection or the missiles fired by his enemies. The ninja knew precisely at which depth he must swim in order to avoid arrows, spears, or rifle balls.

      The ninja's ability to suppress his breathing was useful in more ways than in running, walking, and swimming. Breath control often became important as a lifesaving technique when the ninja went into hiding near a position occupied by an enemy. The slightest sound made by either inhalation or exhalation would surely bring a spear or sword thrust his way.

      Some ninja reduced their breathing by methods of concentration. Others relied upon mechanical means such as placing a small piece of cotton flannel cloth in the mouth to muffle the flow of air.

      Underwater training.

      NINJA DISGUISES

      It was necessary for the ninja to train himself to recognize a wide variety of sounds without sighting the person or object causing them. The noises usually made by gates or doors as they were being opened and closed not only told the ninja what specific dimensions were involved, but in which direction these portals lay. The ninja was also able to quickly judge the number of persons in a room from the sounds of their breathing, their steps, and the rustling of their garments.

      A telltale rhythmic breathing also enabled him to distinguish a light from a heavy sleeper, a false sleep from a genuine one, knowing that a person feigning sleep is tense enough for his body to emit sounds as the joints moved ever so slightly, if under muscular strain.

      The ninja was an exceptionally good dancer. He was trained to dance folk rhythms so that he could, under appropriate conditions, mingle with the people of a specific region and thereby learn more about the target to which he had been assigned. Since the ninja had to conceal his true identity, he had to make use of disguises, with which he physically transformed himself and imitated somebody useful to the accomplishment of his mission.

      Disguises included those of: (1) warriors, (2) farmers, (3) artisans, (4) theatrical artists, (5) merchants, and (6) monks, priests, or nuns. But clever disguise was often not enough, for the ninja had also to be able to copy the social and personal mannerisms of the person being imitated. The best physical transformation would be compromised if the ninja failed in the other aspects of his deceptive ruse.

      Considerable study of different social classes of people had to be made by ninja in order to effect their disguises, and so skillful did some of them become that they retained their false identities for years without being discovered. For example, if a ninja wished to operate in the disguise of a priest, it was necessary for him to become competent in performing the religious duties of the clergy.

      As a master of deception the ninja was also competent in the use of camouflage to conceal his whereabouts. Both natural and man-made objects served to let him carry out his insidious activities without being seen. For example, the ninja arranged to disappear from sight by jumping into a hole in the ground that had been filled with the fine ashes of the paulownia tree (shinobi bai). From a distance the hole was invisible. Because of such deceptions many persons credited the ninja with supernatural powers.

      NINJA IN THE FIELD