9781422286739

N I N J U T S U

as the comic book characters known as the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” In Hollywood films, the ninja themselves are portrayed either as cold-blooded assassins who assail the good guys (and who, despite their terrifying skills, are always defeated) or as Asian Robin Hoods fighting for truth, justice, and the Japanese way. In fact, the historical ninja were an intriguing mixture of good and bad, sometimes on the side of the forces of law and order, and sometimes at odds with them. MYTHS AND HISTORY OF THE NINJA Japan is a country where historical fact and myth are still intertwined in complex ways. Take the imperial family, for example. Although the A historical print of ancient Japan, with Mount Fuji visible in the distance. The heyday of the ninja clans was the feudal age, from the 12th to the 17th century, when Japan was ruled by a succession of military dictators, or shoguns.

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