and his exploits that made the ninja most famous, for they were the men who operated in the field. Though under the strict control of a jonin, it is doubtful whether any genin ever discovered who his boss was. Orders were passed to him through the chunin.
The system was made further complicated by some very clever jonin acting as head of more than one tradition of ninjutsu. In the Koga area alone, over fifty chunin families, each comprised of from 30 to 40 genin, directed all activities of the Koga genin. In Iga, three jonin families controlled all ninja operating under that tradition.
THE NINJA AND THE LORDS
A daimyo warlord wishing to hire ninja in the furtherance of his military or political cause usually chose and trained his own men, but on occasion he would make contact with ninja leaders through the chunin simply by sending an envoy into the areas where chunin were known to operate. The chunin would find the envoy. The uncertainty of this process of communication was lessened by the constant activities of chunin who were always alert to the possibilities of engaging in espionage.
But the process was fraught with danger to the lord hiring the ninja, for such a contract might result in employing such men who were unfriendly. For this important reason all lords had means of their own by which ninja were to be tested and proven loyal. A newly hired ninja might be given some false data or a meaningless task, the treacherous discloser of which would produce a certain calculated result, sure evidence that the ninja had betrayed his employer.
Then too, ninja who had served a lord faithfully for a period of time could be expected to be approached by enemy ninja who would urge severance of that loyalty.
Lords thus became highly suspicious of ninja in their own hire. Jonin, too, wishing to please their lord clients would dispatch a ninja whom they specially trusted to watch the one operating for a lord; even a third ninja, to watch both might be assigned to a mission.
Because of all the complicated subterfuge connected with the hiring and use of ninja, genin ninja became especially sensitive, always suspicious of all persons, jonin, chunin, and lord alike, and became extremely watchful of all personal contacts, even within their own group.
Ordinary townsfolk considered the ninja as social outcasts, and Samurai warriors looked down upon them as traitorous cowards. Since they were regarded as a pariah class and considered as something less than human, ninja who were captured by warriors usually suffered a horrible death. They might be boiled alive in oil, or have their skin slowly peeled from their bodies.
One particular method of killing a captured ninja was designed to produce a lingering pain and slow death. It consisted of suspending him, having been tightly bound on a wooden frame, over a sharpened bamboo stake. The victim was positioned as though seated in the air with his legs straight and widely stretched; the frame kept the victim from changing his position. The entire load, ninja and frame, was made to hang directly over the stake. When the rope holding the load became wet it elongated and the ninja would slowly be inched downward, anus first, onto the sharp point.
At first a clever ninja might somehow oscillate himself so as to avoid the stake, but as hunger and fatigue set in, his struggles would prove useless. Morning fogs, rains, and heavy dews served to wet the rope sufficiently, but if such natural phenomena did not occur, the ninja's captors would apply water.
Such barbarous treatment helped to make it a common practice for ninja to kill themselves when capture was imminent by taking virulent poisons or stabbing themselves with their own swords. The ninja also disfigured their faces so that they might not be recognized and the source of their ninjutsu traced. A ninja who had been bound would take his own life by simply biting off his tongue, thus producing a fatal hemorrhage.
NINJA OPERATIONS
Ninja could be dispatched to operate in one or more combinations of five ways: (1) native, (2) inside, (3) living, (4) doubled, and (5) expendable.
The “native” agent was a person of the enemy's regional area who had full knowledge of the customs and geography of that area. Such a ninja was most difficult to sustain inasmuch as his features were well known by the local folk and the enemy warriors. Inside agents were ninja recruited from among the enemy's own officials and personnel. These traitors were chosen from among those who had been deprived of wealth or title, or those who were overly desirous of gaining immediate wealth.
“Living” agents were ninja expected to penetrate the enemy's area, complete their missions, and return to the lord employing them. These men were the most highly trained and clever of ninja. They usually had access to the enemy's area and were not known to be ninja.
The “doubled” agent was an enemy ninja whose loyalty had been switched, by bribes, to a new lord. While they continued in the service of their original lord, they were traitors to his cause. “Expendable” agents were sent, usually unknown to themselves, with false information on their person and into missions which ensured their capture by the enemy.
Not all ninja were known for changeable loyalties. Many were devoted to one warlord and served him with distinction. These ninja were indeed men of courage and though they did not enjoy the social status of the privileged aristocratic warrior, in many respects they equaled the latter in bravery, loyalty, and fighting skill.
CHAPTER 2
Training and Skills
A child, either male or female, born into a professional ninja family was expected to carry on the family tradition. Training began at the age of five or six years and was carried out for the remainder of the person's natural life. Five kinds of exercises characterized this training: those of balance, agility, strength, stamina, and various special skills.
One of the first exercises given to youthful trainees was designed to develop a keen sense of balance. A small tree was felled and its branches cut off. The remaining log was placed horizontally about two or three feet off of the ground. Trainees were made to “walk the beam”, to turn around on it, to lower themselves, to sit, to rise, even to jump and turn around on it, all without losing balance and falling to the ground.
As skill in maintaining balance grew, the trainee was made to repeat the exercises at greater heights until no fear of high places was felt and he or she was capable of performing incredible feats of balance. One day such a skill would serve the ninja well as he inched his way along narrow areas high on walls, roofs, or in trees.
Balance training in youth.
Training for agility began by making young hopefuls leap over a kind of rope which was suspended between two uprights in full view of the trainee. The nature of the material from which the rope was constructed made this exercise a bit more difficult and dangerous than simply high jumping over a slack rope. A kind of hemp vine that was covered with prickly thorns was used as the rope. Should the rope be touched in flight over it, its thorns would cause severe lacerations and profuse bleeding.
At an advanced level of skill with this exercise, trainees would in the course of other exercises suddenly come upon this rope, which had been stretched in dark or hidden places. Mastery of this exercise laid the basis for the ninja's skill in clearing obstacles that could not be avoided except by jumping over them.
One of the most classic training exercises used for the development of stamina was one that also produced the ability to run swiftly. Ninja had to be superior runners, not only to elude pursuers, but to carry important intelligence, which they had gathered, back to their superiors. All young trainees became familiar with both speed and distance running before they reached
