During the Edo period of peace the samurai looked back and reflected on the Sengoku period in a romanticised way. However, some documentation of the Edo period intended to save the military knowledge for future generations is an invaluable historical source. Apart from a very select few manuals that were penned at the end of the Sengoku period or a minority that were written at the start of the Edo period, nearly all ninja manuals are written by those who never saw combat in warfare. The further the date of a manual gets from 1603, the more questionable its content. These problems have led academics in Japan to keep ninjutsu at arm’s length and in some cases to bring even the core manuals, such as the Bansenshukai, Shoninki and Shinobi Hiden, into question. However, a high percentage of researchers do not question the validity of the information provided by the Bansenshukai and the Shoninki (especially the latter). There are a few points that raise concern. Why, for example, has the author of the Bansenshukai taken so much information from external manuals, some of which were in the public domain; and why does Fujibayashi quote so heavily from the Chinese classics?
What do You think about In Search Of The Niinja (2012)?
