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Summary: An illustrated history of the fascinating Ninja
Comment: There are a few things everyone knows about Ninjas. They wear black costumes. They are sneaky, almost able to be invisible. They uses an arsenal of strange and interesting weapons. But is any of that the truth?
While not everything I would want it to be, Steven Turnbull has done an admirable job bringing together the known historical facts and the wild fictional fantasies of the Japanese warrior known as the Ninja. "Ninja: The True Story of Japan's Secret Warrior Cult" is very small, 150 pages, many of which are stuffed with illustrations, leaving not much room for a thorough exploration of the Ninja mysteries. The format is almost "coffee table" style, being a larger sized format. Although it doesn't leave as much room for text as one would wish, the book has a stunning collection of old Ninja-related Japanese artwork, from full-color reproductions of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints to small black and white pornographic scenes of ninjas produced in cheap books of the time.
The meat of the work is found in the first eight chapters, detailing the history of what we have come to know as Ninja, although at the time known primarily as Shinobi. Pure history is obviously Turnbull's specialty, as he details the rise of the use of stealth skills in combat in Japan, primarily in terms of castle-breaking, where Shinobi would scale the walls of an enemy castle at night and set first to it from the inside, forcing the panicked population to retreat from the burning structure and into the swords of the Samurai waiting outside. He shows the establishment of Ninja clans at Iga and Ueno, who would rent out their military services, a shockingly dishonorable practice at the time, and engage in activities thought unsuitable for Samurai. This is followed by the eventual destruction of these Ninja clans by the Tokugawa armies, and the dispersion of their skills into general Japanese armies.
The book's main weakness lies in the ability to interpret these historical facts in light of the modern view of the Ninja. Turnbull shows the development of the stereotypical black Ninja costume in the illustrations, but doesn't comment on whether the Iga or Ueno Ninja clans ever actually employed this outfit. There is some attempt at rationalizing the "Hollywood" version of the Ninja with the historical, but all in all the book merely skims over this fascinating area, remaining basically a Ninja-history book with a few token attempts at acknowledging the present. I would really like to see the evolution of the Ninja from the dishonorable castle-breaker to the black-clad superhero of today. How did it happen? Is there any truth at all to the modern image of the Ninja? These kinds of questions go largely unanswered.
As a straight history book with a top-class collection of old Ninja artwork, "Ninja: The True Story of Japan's Secret Warrior Cult" succeeds. However, when looking for some historical analysis, or unique insight on the part of the author towards the Ninja, then the book is not satisfying. While not much has been accurately written on the Ninja, this is definitely not a definitive text. But it is better than much of what is out there.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Historical Ninja
Comment: For the first time, westerners are able to read a detailed history of the various groups of Japanese fighters, spies, and assassins collectivly known as ninja. Turnbull is a detailed historian, known for many works on Japanese warfare. THis book is no exception to his high standard of quality.Drawing on personal research and a familiarity with the primary sources, Turnbull weaves an exciting tale.
Great illustrations. I was, however, suprised that he didn't make more of Hastumi Masaaki. I understnad that Hatsumi is not albe to produce written documentation for all of his nine ryu, but it seemed odd that his is only mentioned in passing a few times. Nonetheless, Hatsumi does write the forward, so I shouldnt read into things.
Turnbull's "Samurai Warrior" is aslo outstanding with some of the best art I have ever seen!
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Summary: Very Informative: Pure History and Ground for Analysis
Comment: For the time being, this is the only book on the historical examination of ninja and their place in Japanese history, their origin, development and roles. Readers will find out in which province ninjutsu originated (starting with as far back in history as ninja's Chinese ancestors), analysis of the term "ninja" and its synonims, how ninjutsu developed including analysis of it as art and as social phenomena (clans and loyalties), famous revolts of ninja in the province of Iga and cruel campaign of Nobunaga against ninja.A reader should keep in mind one very important thing - this subject is very difficult study because of lack of historical reference. However, Dr. Turnbull does an amazing job of analysis of all variety of Japanese language sources including legends and historical transcripts. I have had the feeling that having done this, the author gives this as it is (more or less so) to the reader, so the reader has to complete the analysis. While this type of presentation of the material may present problem to some readers, I was flattered by the thought that this book was mostly oriented towards thinking/analysing reader.
A flipside of such approach is that the author consdiers many forms of open military (like, for example, trained sharpshooters of Shimazu clan left behind retreating troops to take out enemy generals) and "dark side" (spies and assasins) actions and puts them together labelling all as "ninja". However, this approach also pays letting a sophisticated reader to "sort out" for himself.
I highly recommend this book for anybody interested in Japanese military history and history of special units and techniques.
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Summary: Truth is stranger than fiction
Comment: Any book that claims to be "The True Story" has to be taken with a certain amount of sketimism but skeptics beware, there is an awful lot of documentation in this book. The moderen legends regarding the ninja are steeped in historical evidence dating back hundreds of years. Super powers have been attributed to the ninja for at least three centuries. The book begins with an excellent and concise introduction of the authors intent. Much information was gathered for this book and extensive research was compiled by Turnbull. Whereas the samurai is a known part of the history of Japan the ninja is schrouded in mysticim, espionage, guerrilla warfare, assassinations and even magic. The ninja was involved in the covert actions of the military and the the most powerful families who vowed for power. Turnbull begins with the ninja in historical terms, including it's roots from the Chinese language and continues with concrete examples of the exploits of some of the most legendary ninjutsu or those possessing ninja knowledge and skills. Miltary historical information is given throughout and there are pictures and illustrations but what is missing is the fine illustrations of James Field who he has teamed up with before. I think Fields illustrations would have made the book better, more visually exciting and less dry. Turnbull gives scholarly detail to his writing to let the reader decide for himself whether it is truth or fiction. An example of this is how a well documented story relates when a great daimyo or warlord was assassinated while using the toilet. Accounts vary but the ninja version states that an assassin or ninja concealed himself in the sewage pit and thrust a sword at the critical moment up the daimyo's anus. Ouch!! Turnbull gives various detailed accounts of this same incident and it seems he did die while using the toilet but some accounts say he later dies by some other complications from using the toilet. There is even an acount of a ninja assassination by an "angry ghost". The reader is left to decipher fact from fiction but nonetheless it is a fascinating read. Recommended for all interested in Japanese military history or stories and anecdotes about ninjas.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Reads too much like a government history book
Comment: An excellent book for factual research, but it is written dryly
