Japanese researchers have uncovered a rare, centuries-old ninja oath pledging never to divulge the secrets of their spying and sabotage skills — on pain of divine retribution for generations.
Written in cursive calligraphy, the oath contains six promises and was signed about 300 years ago by “Inosuke Kizu.”
Kizu was a ninja from a clan in Iga, a mountain-shrouded town near the ancient imperial capital of Kyoto.
Photo: AFP / International Ninja Research Center
Expressing gratitude to his superior for passing on ninjutsu or “the art of the ninja,” Kizu pledged he would never pass the knowledge on — even to his children or brothers — and would never use it to steal unless so ordered.
In his oath, the ninja acknowledges that if he broke the promises, he would be punished by “big and small gods in more than 60 provinces across Japan” for generations.
The document shows how strict ninjas were about keeping their skills and techniques secret, said Yoshiki Takao, an associate professor at Mie University’s International Ninja Research Center.
“Thieves and ninjas did the same thing — sneaking into other people’s houses — but ninjas prized morality highly,” Takao said. “Ninjas were ‘public servants’ in today’s terms, providing security services and collecting information.”
Also of interest to academics was a vow in the oath to report to his superiors any new skills, tools or firearms that were not in the Bansenshukai, a secretive 17th-century text considered to be somewhat of a ninja encyclopedia.
Kizu said he could show only three chapters of the Bansenshukai to top-ranking samurais who employed ninjas and vowed not to disclose the book’s contents in other writings.
This interests academics because “it shows that Bansenshukai was actually becoming used as a textbook,” Takao said, even though it left crucial points vague.
The contents of the multivolume book are now known to the public, but many ninja traditions remain hidden as important secrets were passed on by word of mouth.
The oath was among about 130 ancient documents left to the university by the 16th head of the Kizu family.
The existence of the oath was unveiled five decades ago, but its whereabouts were unknown until now, Takao said.
Inosuke, who submitted the oath, was the fifth head and last ninja from the Kizu family.
The document was believed to have been returned to his family after his death, Takao said.
One of Japan’s biggest pop stars and best-known TV hosts, Masahiro Nakai, yesterday announced his retirement over sexual misconduct allegations, reports said, in the latest scandal to rock Japan’s entertainment industry. Nakai’s announcement came after now-defunct boy band empire Johnny & Associates admitted in 2023 that its late founder, Johnny Kitagawa, for decades sexually assaulted teenage boys and young men. Nakai was a member of the now-disbanded SMAP — part of Johnny & Associates’s lucrative stable — that swept the charts in Japan and across Asia during the band’s nearly 30 years of fame. Reports emerged last month that Nakai, 52, who since
EYEING A SOLUTION: In unusually critical remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump said he was ‘destroying Russia by not making a deal’ US President Donald Trump on Wednesday stepped up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the war. Trump’s warning in a social media post came as the Republican seeks a quick solution to a grinding conflict that he had promised to end before even starting his second term. “If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
PINEAPPLE DEBATE: While the owners of the pizzeria dislike pineapple on pizza, a survey last year showed that over 50% of Britons either love or like the topping A trendy pizzeria in the English city of Norwich has declared war on pineapples, charging an eye-watering ￡100 (US$124) for a Hawaiian in a bid to put customers off the disputed topping. Lupa Pizza recently added pizza topped with ham and pineapple to its account on a food delivery app, writing in the description: “Yeah, for ￡100 you can have it. Order the champagne too! Go on, you monster!” “[We] vehemently dislike pineapple on pizza,” Lupa co-owner Francis Wolf said. “We feel like it doesn’t suit pizza at all,” he said. The other co-owner, head chef Quin Jianoran, said they kept tinned pineapple
RSS