A ninja (忍者, Japanese pronunciation: [ɲiꜜɲdʑa]) or shinobi (忍び, [ɕinobi]) was a

covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included

reconnaissance, espionage, infiltration, deception, ambush, bodyguarding and their
fighting skills in martial arts, including ninjutsu.[1] Their covert methods of
waging irregular warfare were deemed dishonorable and beneath the honor of the
samurai.[2] Though shinobi proper, as specially trained spies and mercenaries,
appeared in the 15th century during the Sengoku period,[3] antecedents may have
existed as early as the 12th century.[4][5]

In the unrest of the Sengoku period, mercenaries and spies for hire became active
in Iga Province and the adjacent area around the village of Kōga. It is from these
areas that much of the knowledge regarding the ninja is drawn. Following the
unification of Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate in the 17th century, the ninja
faded into obscurity.[6] A number of shinobi manuals, often based on Chinese
military philosophy, were written in the 17th and 18th centuries, most notably the
Bansenshūkai (1676).[7]

By the time of the Meiji Restoration (1868), shinobi had become a topic of popular
imagination and mystery in Japan. Ninja figured prominently in legend and folklore,
where they were associated with legendary abilities such as invisibility, walking
on water and control over natural elements. Much of their perception in popular
culture is based on such legends and folklore, as opposed to the covert actors of
the Sengoku period.

he word shinobi appears in the written record as far back as the late 8th century
in poems in the Man'yōshū.[9][10] The underlying connotation of shinobi (忍) means
"to steal away; to hide" and—by extension—"to forbear", hence its association with
stealth and invisibility. Mono (者) means "a person".

Historically, the word ninja was not in common use, and a variety of regional
colloquialisms evolved to describe what would later be dubbed ninja. Along with
shinobi, these include monomi ("one who sees"), nokizaru ("macaque on the roof"),
rappa ("ruffian"), kusa ("grass") and Iga-mono ("one from Iga").[6] In historical
documents, shinobi is almost always used.

Kunoichi (くノ一）is, originally, an argot which means "woman";[11]:  p168  it

supposedly comes from the characters くノ一 (respectively hiragana ku, katakana no
and kanji ichi), which make up the three strokes that form the kanji for "woman"
(女).[11]: p168  In fiction written in the modern era kunoichi means "female ninja".
[11]: 
p167 

In the Western world, the word ninja became more prevalent than shinobi in the
post–World War II culture, possibly because it was more comfortable for Western
speakers.[12] In English, the plural of ninja can be either unchanged as ninja,
reflecting the Japanese language's lack of grammatical number, or the regular
English plural ninjas.[13]