The Book of Ninja: The Bansenshukai - Japan's Premier Ninja Manual

590 Pages·2013·7.02 MB·English

by  Antony Cummins, Yoshie Minami

THE BOOK OF

NINJA

The First Complete Translation of

THE BANSENSHUKAI

JAPAN’S PREMIER NINJA MANUAL

ANTONY CUMMINS & YOSHIE MINAMI

READER WARNING

The Bansenshukai is a Japanese military manual based on samurai guerrilla
tactics, espionage, assassination and destruction, which contains dangerous and
deadly information. Instructions include: theft, explosives, poisonous gases,
toxins, clandestine and underhanded action and arson, among many other
military topics. This translation has been made available in English for the
purpose of history and for education and is a deep and academic look into the
misunderstood arts of the Japanese shinobi no mono, or ninja as they are more
commonly known. Therefore, the information contained within is for research
purposes only and should not be recreated nor re-enacted in any way.

DEDICATION

We should remember that within these pages is the combined knowledge of
generations of men who fought in forgotten wars and confrontations, who were
unknown, faceless and who died, not on the front lines, but way beyond its
borders. We must also remember that while the shinobi have become iconic in
our world, they were once real people who were caught up in the horrible reality
that is war, a practice humans still cling to even in our ‘enlightened society’.
These men of Iga and Koka should be collectively remembered, as while they
were part of that world, they pushed the conventional limits and went beyond the
required norm and perfected themselves on the darker path of clandestine
warfare. Thus, we should take their teachings and forge them into positive ways
for future generations, taking their seed of perfection and detailed thinking,
making the shinobi of tomorrow individuals who can fathom the logical
outcomes of today’s decisions and who can help make those decisions count, for
the benefit of everyone.

SPECIAL THANKS

A special thank you must go to members who have helped with the pursuit of
and the interpretation of this manual. Firstly and most importantly to Steven
Nojiri, who has become a corner stone of the Historical Ninjutsu Research Team
and whose knowledge on Japanese locks, history, politics and subtleties is
profound. Secondly, to Dr Nakashima Atsumi, whose avid research into the lives
of the people of Koka and Iga is helping to rediscover and respect the ways of
the untold numbers of faceless combatants from the past and to all the family
members and friends who have understood our need to drag ancient writings into
this modern age. Lastly, a thank you to our editor, James Hodgson, for his
phenomenal effort in bringing this script to life and to Rebecca and Deborah at
Watkins for all their hard work.

Foreword

by

Dr Nakashima Atsumi

First of all I would like to express my sincere admiration to Mr Antony
Cummins and Ms Yoshie Minami, who have translated the Bansenshukai and
introduced it to the English-speaking world. Therefore, to appreciate their
devoted work, I am going to comment on how this publication has been realized
and also on the outline of the Bansenshukai manual itself.

Antony came here to Japan, from the other side of the world, from the distant

land of England, and has travelled around this country of Japan with Ms Minami
conducting thorough research. Through these travels, we came to be known to
each other due to the fact that I have previously published a commentary on the
Shoninki ninja manual and other books on the subject of ninjutsu. The first time
we met, I realized that they were amazingly passionate and strongly determined
to publish the English translation of my Shoninki and then to follow up with the
Bansenshukai too, which moved me so deeply and in truth left me feeling a little
envious.

Of the numerous ninjutsu scrolls, the Bansenshukai is profound, and is the

largest compiled volume of information from the ninjutsu schools of both Iga
and Koka, which were considered the lands of the ninja. Fortunately, compared
to the Shoninki – which I believe is a real masterpiece – the text of the
Bansenshukai is straightforward and self-explanatory. In addition, it is also
fortunate that the transcription kept in the National Archives is written in a style
comparatively close to modern Japanese and can be read and understood by
those who are not so familiar with old writings, which is a great advantage.
Therefore, it is possible to convey to people what is written within without
making many serious mistakes. However, in order to achieve a complete
interpretation of the text, as there are so many places in its pages which have

deeper connotations and are difficult to understand in a profound way, even a
discourse of three thousand pages would not be enough to make a perfect
explanation of all the meanings within and it would take many years of study to
truly explain every detail. This is because hidden within the meaning of the text
is the masses of knowledge that was made up of kuden or oral tradition, which
now, unfortunately, has been lost.

Generally, when defined in short, ninjutsu is a set of arts, including: life skills,

espionage, sabotage, murder, military science, divination, astrology, astronomy,
magic, various kinds of observation skills, and any other skills people needed to
survive and achieve their aims. These might also include the martial arts, for a
ninja would have to train himself in arts such as jujutsu grappling, kenjutsu
swordsmanship, archery and horse riding etc. Also, there are many other skills
required by the ninja, but they are too extensive and various to mention here.
Manuscripts on ninjutsu have only the simplest mention of general skills of
living or astrological skills and the arts of astronomy, and assume that the reader
should well understand these things. In particular, they have no mention of
swordsmanship, horse-riding skills or other combat skills, because it was taken
for granted that people would naturally train themselves in those areas. Other
general skills that the ninja learned are left not in ninjutsu manuals but in other
forms. For example, in the Umasugi clan of Koka, they have passed down a
menkyo certificate for the horse-riding skills of the otsubo ryu in their family,
meaning that simply looking at just the ninja scrolls limits our understanding of
the full range of skills in which shinobi would have been proficient.

Most writings on ninjutsu have only simplified information, and where it

needs detailed explanations, they would not write down everything but simply
say ‘kuden’, which means ‘passed down in oral traditions’. Therefore, to
interpret those manuscripts, you need a great deal of capability. In other words, it
depends on your level of comprehension as to whether you feel that the
Bansenshukai is marvellous or it is not.

Even with the titanic work of the Bansenshukai, if you were a ninja, you

would not be able to fully understand everything at once. Therefore, please take
your time and try to read between the lines and with patience.

A number of transcriptions of the Bansenshukai have been left and, as they

were all transcribed by hand and not mechanically, no two transcriptions are
completely identical. I myself have interpreted four versions of the manual,
which are different from each other, some having missing parts, some adding
supplementary sections, or even omitting that which the transcriber thought was
unnecessary, etc.

Of the multiple transcriptions that exist today, this English translation is based

on the text kept in the Cabinet Library in the National Archives and the Ohara
version, which are considered to be standard versions, and has straightforward
and reasonable interpretations. It clearly indicates what is unknown, so I believe
it makes a great introduction to the Bansenshukai, and gives an objective
understanding of shinobi no jutsu to foreign people of different cultures.

Like most ninjutsu manuscripts, the Bansenshukai was written in the Edo

period, in 1676, which was a long tranquil time without war, leaving many ninja
– including the Koka ninja – unemployed. As a result, some Koka ninja
travelled the distance to Edo to appeal to the shogunate against their difficult
situation in the hope of recovering their status by offering them the
Bansenshukai manual in 1789. To their disappointment, however, their appeal
was not accepted. Through this deposit in Edo, this secret information was
revealed and later used in cartoons and stories, which even today is supplying
Japanese children with future dreams. The Bansenshukai is full of very
interesting stories, as it is a compilation of skills from various schools from Iga
and Koka and therefore documents the histories of various people.

The definition of ninja, however, is not so clear. In my opinion, ninja were

those who met the following two conditions:

1. They should have knowledge of the skills and arts of the ninja
2. They should work for a clan, have a clear aim, and measures that enable

them to fulfil their mutual aim successfully without delay and with the
greatest result possible.

The above is exactly what Iga mono and Koka mono were, and the Bansenshukai
was born in such an environment. If the Bansenshukai could be of any help to an
individual person, it would be only thieves, robbers or bandits. That is exactly
why it preaches the need for a correct mind and at great length. The ninja had to
lead a life as in-betweens, who were samurai and not samurai at the same time.
Most lived as farmers who carried their skills as their side business through the
pre-modern era of the Edo period, as those bushi of the early Warring States
period gradually faded into the mists of time.

It is fun for us to find the traces of ninja in the skills and tools of the shinobi.

A recent master whose name was Fujita Seiko, who acclaimed himself as the last
Koka ninja, founded the Bujutsu Research Institute and was involved actively as
the first chairman of the organization, an organization to which I once belonged.
Mr Fujita was the penultimate teacher of mine and he also taught at the Nakano
war school of the Japanese imperial army, which was a facility for the training of
spies during World War II. This teaching was on the subject of ninjutsu. My
beginnings and now this link with Antony and Yoshie make me feel that fate has

brought me to write this foreword.

Lastly, I am sincerely hoping that the Bansenshukai will be read by myriad

people from various fields and with interest, and furthermore that it will give you
inspiration to improve your life.

Dr Nakashima Atsumi

Chairman, the Federation of Japanese Koryu Bujutsu (an organization for the

traditional schools of the martial arts in Japan)

Contents

Foreword by Dr Nakashima Atsumi
Author’s notes
Introduction
A short introduction to Japanese locks and the art of lock-picking by Steven
Nojiri

The Bansenshukai

Volume One
Preface
Introductory notes
Table of contents
Questions and answers about ninjutsu

Volume Two
Seishin I – The Correct Mind I

Volume Three
Seishin II – The Correct Mind II

Volume Four
Shochi I – A Guideline for Commanders I

Volume Five
Shochi II – A Guideline for Commanders II

Volume Six
Shochi IV – A Guideline for Commanders IV

Volume Seven
Shochi V – A Guideline for Commanders V

Volume Eight
Yo-nin I – Open Disguise I

Volume Nine
Yo-nin II – Open Disguise II

Volume Ten
Yo-nin III – Open Disguise III

Volume Eleven
In-nin I – Hidden Infiltration I

Volume Twelve
In-nin II – Hidden Infiltration II

Volume Thirteen
In-nin III – Hidden Infiltration III

Volume Fourteen
In-nin IV – Hidden Infiltration IV

Volume Fifteen
In-nin V – Hidden Infiltration V

Volume Sixteen
Tenji I – Opportunities Bestowed by Heaven I

Volume Seventeen
Tenji II – Opportunities Bestowed by Heaven II

Volume Eighteen
Ninki I – Ninja Tools I

Volume Nineteen
Ninki II – Ninja Tools II

Volume Twenty
Ninki III – Ninja Tools III

Volume Twenty-One
Ninki IV – Ninja Tools IV

Volume Twenty-Two
Ninki V – Ninja Tools V

The Bansenshukai Gunyo-hiki

Secrets on Essential Military Principles
by Sasayama Kagenao of the Ohara Clan

Author’s Notes

In all my years of training, there was no way on earth that I would have believed
that one day the three greatest ninja manuals ever written would be in the laps of
other people, written in English and passing their knowledge on to a new
audience. Only in a dream did those books have my name upon them and it was
only in fantasy that it was I who caused them to exist. Then, Yoshie Minami
stepped into the breach, a new friend and a new partner, and year by year she has
helped me pass through the issues of the Japanese language and its complexities
and has allowed me to creep deeper into ninja territory. One after the other, the
combined forces of her language ability and my historical training pushed us
forward, etching out a new path in the historical record, a way to the true history
of the ninja, through the writings of the shinobi themselves. Tearing away the
media image, the real and very professional ninja came into view and
reconstructing their world started to look achievable. Then, the sheer wall that is
the Bansenshukai confronted us, the gleaming black ramparts of a fortress that
we could look into but yet whose vastness was incomprehensible. Yet, hour after
hour, day after day and even month after month, and eventually into years,
together we chipped away at those black foundations of the ancient text and have
found ourselves at the heart of the keep, no longer on the outside but now a
central part of the story of the Bansenshukai, the greatest of all ninja texts.

With this volume now in English, the hidden world of the shinobi is no longer

in the darkness nor is it covered by the whisper, ‘it is secret’, but it is here and
fully in the light for all to enjoy. So powerful is this manual that it breaks open a
window to a forgotten and misunderstood world and for the first time in the
English-speaking world, the most comprehensive set of instructions on ninjutsu
(shinobi no jutsu) can be studied. It is simply a joy to be even a small part of that
history and to have enabled the arts of the shinobi to penetrate the West for the
first time in full.

Without the aid of Yoshie and without the support of my team, family and

friends this would have been an impossible task, yet here we all stand at the
goal’s end and here you stand about to embark on one of the greatest journeys
into history you will ever take part in. Therefore, enjoy the practical and
appreciate the archaic but overall remember the people who lived this art for
real, those who are now long gone.

Antony Cummins

Saitama, Japan, 2013

Introduction

A brief introduction to the Japanese shinobi

The Japanese ninja, or shinobi no mono, as they were originally known, were
military units or single agents utilized by the medieval samurai clans and
families of Japan. These were specialists in clandestine and guerrilla warfare,
espionage and infiltration, arson and explosives and thievery – areas that all
come under the term shinobi no jutsu1 or the arts of the ninja. The ninja
themselves were taken from any social class but tended to come from the lower
samurai ranks and worked as retainers for a clan lord. This relationship was
either a continued and loyal service or was temporary and mercenary in nature.
While still a part of the samurai culture, the shinobi were specialized and few in
number when seen in army listings; approximately one for every four hundred
men in an army, and should be considered as extremely far-reaching scouts, men
who partook in what are colloquially known as ‘black operations’ and
undercover agents who infiltrated the enemy lines and acted in espionage.

The shinobi themselves do deserve the popularity and respect that is attributed

to them, as they represent some of the most well trained military units that
history has seen, with the premier groups coming from the provinces of Iga and
Koka, which to this day cling to their ninja fame. While their physical martial
arts and fighting skills were no different from the rest of their samurai ‘brothers’
they were trained in other elements, such as infiltration and burglary and,
whether the target be a mountain-top castle or a fortified manor house, the image
of the shinobi creeping in the black of night is historically correct. However, in
tandem with this, the ninja were the street peddlers, the merchants and
entertainers, swordsmen for hire, and they even took the guise of priests. No one
knew who the ninja were; a samurai lord might realize that ninja had infiltrated
his army or province, but the problem was how to find out who they were and
how to get rid of them. Recorded as early as the late fourteenth century and
finally in the turmoil of the nineteenth century restoration, the ninja enjoyed an

extended period of military use before they were superseded by the modern spy
and army Special Forces unit. From here on out the spy would take up espionage
and the Special Forces unit would take on the role of forward shock troops,
sharing between them the two main functions of the ninja.

When the Tokugawa family took control of Japan in 1603, the country entered

a period of relative peace and totalitarian control, which led to the decline of the
shinobi as a force on the battlefield and prompted them to concentrate more on
the espionage aspect of their skill set. This decline prompted an increase in the
compiling of ninja records, with the aim of preserving the ways of the ninja, and
in 1676 one shinobi named Fujibayashi Yasutake, who was probably of Iga and
from a former samurai family, finished working on his masterpiece, a collection
of shinobi information that he had obtained over an unknown amount of time
and through personal experience. This work was known as the Bansenshukai

, which translates as ‘A Myriad of Rivers Merging into One Ocean’.

A brief history of the Bansenshukai

In the dark recesses of ninja popularity, the name Bansenshukai has been
bandied around with a limited understanding of the work’s contents and details
and until now it has never been published outside of the Japanese language (even
then only in small sections). It has always been spoken of next to the Shinobi
Hiden (Ninpiden) and the Shoninki ninja manuals, and together they form the
triumvirate of ninja information. The Shinobi Hiden is a collection of skills
attributed to the sixteenth-century ninja master Hattori Hanzo, the Shoninki is a
record of the Natori family’s secret tactics, and the Bansenshukai is the universal
collection of ninja skills from Iga and possibly also from Koka. Written by
Fujibayashi in 1676, the Bansenshukai is a document that was written to
preserve the disappearing skills of the shinobi and to retain the complexities of
the detailed art known as shinobi no jutsu. Written in Japanese, in bound form it
consisted of ten books, which were divided into twenty-two volumes,2 with a
later additional volume titled Bansenshukai Gunyo-hiki, which is a collection of
military strategies. This complete collection of books appears to have been put
together by the author after extensive research and information-collecting from
other families and clans in the region who also held the arts of shinobi no jutsu.
From here multiple transcriptions appear, with slight variations, including
examples of reduced ‘pocket versions’.

Bansenshukai or Mansenshukai?