Introduction to Philosophy of Science and Medicine

in Pre-Modern Japan (16th-17th Century)

Vol. 1: Ninja Science

Preliminary Remarks

I: What is Ninja?

As popular as Ninja may be in our modern society, not much is known about
them. This is due to the fact that Ninja were an organized intelligence agency that
operated covertly in espionage, assassination, counter-intelligence and unconventional
warfare. In a way, one could see Ninja as a prototype of the American CIA or the Russian
KGB. Such was the nature of Ninja that their activities remained almost exclusively
invisible for the general public. In fact, activities of Ninja were so secretive that no one
knew who the Ninja were, and a Ninja whose name is most known to us is by definition a
Ninja who did not do his job well done. In other words, the most skilled Ninja were the
ones whose existence is not even known to us. Hence, it is not hard to understand why
they did not leave any manuscripts, and thus scholars of Ninja must work with historical
records left by the government officials and oftentimes secondhand account provided by
the offspring of Ninja families, many of which were written three generations after the
period in which Ninja were most active.1
During the Warring State Period, i.e. Sengoku Period, in the 16th century Japan,
feudal lords were raising their army to conquer the lands and claim the country. Warfare
in Japan was particularly advanced compared to that in Europe at the time both in the
number of soldiers employed and in the preparations for the provisions. For example, the
only countries in the world that could afford to mobilize soldiers over 100,000 in the 16th
century were Ming Dynasty in China, India and Turks. Even the Hapsburg in Spanish
Empire could only mobilize 50,000 soldiers in number. However, in Japan, at the end of
Warring State Period in the 16th century, each feudal lord had about 20,000 soldiers at
1
This would be the late 16th century, as is discussed below.

1
their disposal and in the Battle of Sekigahara (the battle which ended the Warring State
Period and opened Edo period) in 1600, over 150,000 soldiers were mobilized. The
number of soldiers employed in this battle exceeded the number of soldiers in all Europe
combined.2 From this, it also followed that the demand for swords, guns as well as food
was accelerated, and those militia groups who could not keep up with the provisions were
naturally at disadvantage. Driven by such necessities, Japanese were forced to find a way
to maximize the communication system amongst themselves, while minimizing the leak
of information to the outsiders. One of my aims in this paper is to briefly explain in what
aspects of warfare Ninja were employed for and to what extent. In passing, a general
philosophy of Ninja is discussed. Then, I will present their methods of activity as the
collectivity in Japanese empirical science, discuss about the medical practices of Ninja,
analyzing if what they practiced can be called a medical knowledge, and conclude with
overview of their science. However, we must begin by discussing a little about the
primary sources for my findings as well as a brief history regarding the origin of Ninja as
such.
There are three Ninja manuscripts that we use as semi-primary sources. These are
1) Bansenshukai3, 2) Shouninki4 and 3) Ninpiden5. Each of these includes detailed
descriptions on how-to guide for any aspiring Ninja to become one. Here, we might
wonder why they cared to write down any of their secrets, if indeed their prosperity was
dependent upon appropriation of their own unique knowledge. It seems to be the case that
after entering Edo period, centuries-long conflict had ended, and there was not much
demand for a covert political organization. Although Ninja still lived among people and
trained for a possible employment in the near future, it became increasingly evident that
Ninja were no longer needed in this peaceful time. As the name suggests, Ninja is
someone who sneaks in with a sword over his heart.6 It signifies someone whose life is
always in danger of death, requiring an attentive performance to do the job, but the

2
Atsushi Yamakita, All Things About Ninja (概説 忍者・忍術) (Japan: Shinkigensha, 2004), 21. Also as
opposed to the number of soldiers carrying guns being only 10% of the army in Europe, 30% of the army
were equipped with guns in Japan.
3
萬川集海 was written in 1676, written by Fujibayashi Yasutake.
4
正忍記 was written in 1681, written by Fujibayashi Masatake.
5
忍秘伝 was written in 1652-1727, presumably by Hattori Hanzo in 1560, originally.
6
That is, to be in the state of absolute detachment from the self, as if to kill his own heart. See Shouninki,
39.

2
current state of affairs offered them no such situations. Ninja families, hence, decreased
in number and gradually less and less people practiced Ninjutsu. Fearing that the
techniques that once determined the course of Japanese history would become forever
lost, the offspring of Ninja decided to write down their secrets. In this way, they chose to
preserve their tradition rather than disappearing into the shadow of the history. The nature
of their writings is such that there necessarily includes fabrication of techniques later
added to exaggerate their merit and incredible accounts of their activities. It is even
plausible that, although Ninja who wrote down their tradition were admired as Jo-Nin,
they did not quite understand some of the techniques described there. Hence, historians of
science must not take their records at face value, and instead try to distinguish a fable
from a true claim by comparing various manuscripts passed down to us as well as
performing empirical experiments.
Their essential activities, however, are known to us beyond dispute. These can be
reduced into four divisions mentioned above, namely 1) espionage, 2) counter-
intelligence, 3) conspiracy and 4) unconventional warfare. Ninja were most fitted for all
of these activities than any other groups of people. For instance, their ability to move
swiftly in small numbers enabled them to deliver information about the enemy’s
movement or act in disguise in enemy’s territories to collect inside information as well as
leak false information in their favour. The performance of such activities depended on the
knowledge of orology. Engaging in unconventional warfare too was a tactic often
employed by Ninja. Ninja may throw poison into a well, where they know their enemy
gets their water from, or set fire on their provisions. Disguising as a mercenary in the
enemy’s territory and spreading a rumour, saying, “we have no chance of winning this
war, it’s all over!” also served as a way to demotivate the soldiers. 7

II: Philosophy of Ninja

Seeing that Ninja primarily served as a covert military organization, who would
basically do whatever is asked to do, there is always a concern for the potential

7
Yamakita, All Things About Ninja, 27.

3
employers whether Ninja would not betray them in the end. What distinguished Ninja
from bandits or simple criminal organizations were the codes of conduct they firmly
adhered to. These are the principles of Jo-nin. Jo-nin means a ninja par excellence. Jo-
nin must be “dutiful (giri) to the employers, without desire… knowledgeable in all
matters… faithful to Confucianism and Buddhist teachings… respectful to codes of
warriors (i.e. Bushi-do)… familiar with the geography and customs… skillful at tactical
thinking” and so on.8 In reality, no one is this talented, and most Ninja were not erudite.
These “codes” of conduct are therefore to be taken only as an ideal to be aimed at, and
not actually laws that were enforced upon Ninja. This “principle as an ideal” seems to be
the central theme in Ninja philosophy, as we will see over and over again in their science.
As a matter of fact, Ninja were internally bounded between their members more than they
were to their employers, and they believed it utmost duty to help one another in times of
difficulties. This gave them a limited but relative freedom as to exchange information
amongst them, and Shouninki tells us that this is why some first rate secrets were often
concealed from them in their employment.
Ninja philosophy is essentially derivable from Chinese philosophy, though some
are more obvious than others. Shouninki, for instance, mentions Sun-Tzu’s The Art of
War as the central source for their philosophy, according to which Ninja are supposed to
be able to “master the languages of their enemy and become one of them.”9 Further, they
must “talk about an event as if you were there when you were not, speak of someone
whom you have never met as if your best friend, buy things when you do not have any
money and get drunk when you have not drunk at all. You go out at night and never stay
at an inn, sometimes you get surprised by the voice of a deer, and hide in the shadows of
the trees, avoiding moonlight and ensconce yourself in an uncomfortable place.” It ends
the chapter with a remark “what a sad life and full of hardships we suffer! Yet, one must
keep such experiences to yourself, lest not to divulge his identity to others. It is probably
for these reasons that people think Ninja are strange. But let them think so, if they do not
understand the hardships we go through. If we are asked, ‘Aren’t you stupid to live like

8
Ibid., 29.
9
Shouninki, 35.

4
that?’ let us respond, ‘yes, we are.’ This too is a way of Shinobi. The Unreal is the Falsity
and the Real is the Truth.”10
Here, the concept of Falsity-Truth dichotomy deserves some attention. In the
philosophy of Ninja, everything is flowing and nothing is absolute. This is an obvious
reference to Yin-Yang theory, which states everything is in motion.11 The success in a
mission depends upon perceiving the change in things accurately, and knowing when to
act. Shinobi states that whatever disadvantageous is the Falsity and whatever causes
benefit and power to them is the Truth. Hence, when times are in the Falsity, one must
wait until the right time comes. Acting hastily could ruin the entire operation as well as
his own life. “When samurai warriors fight one another, it is a fight between the Truth
and the Truth, but when a Ninja fights, you are always the Truth and the enemy always
the False. In such cases, it is important to have the enemy believe he is winning until his
ultimate defeat.”12 It is by this means that Ninja can make himself the Truth while
keeping the enemy the Falsity. This philosophy is vividly seen in the chapter that talks
about Enemy Prevention. Here the text says that “even if the opponent becomes angry
obviously because you did something wrong, you should blame the responsibility to
someone else and disappear as soon as possible. They say that blaming others for what
you did is wrong, but that is just what they say in general. There is no need for you to
think such a general principle also applies to you.”13 Although I have said that Ninja help
one another in times of difficulties, we must not forget that what is of utmost importance
to them is the fulfillment of their mission. It would negate their whole purpose of
existence if helping out a fellow Ninja would mean abandoning the mission. In order to
complete the mission, Ninja must do whatever it takes. As such fidelity to mission takes
precedence to ethics, they can justify aforementioned unconventional warfare, such as
poisoning the enemy, destroying their weapons in advance as well as assassination and
arson.14 Following this philosophy, Ninja believed anything is accomplishable. If you still
fail at your mission, then your reason may be troubled by emotions or preconceptions
10
Ibid., 39.
11
See Wing-Tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, 246. “the yin ang theory has also put
Chinese ethical and social teachings on a cosmological basis. It has helped to develop the view that things
are related and that reality is a process of constant transformation.
12
Ibid., 40.
13
Ibid., 123.
14
Ibid.

5
about things, which lead to a lack of conviction or impatience. To prevent this
psychological instability, one must maintain the qi at all times. As with Taoism, Ninja
teaches us that “human mind is mysterious and comprehends natural elements (activities)
namely Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Human heart is thus like the universe
itself… When our heart is at calm and observes nature, we can adapt to any situations
like flowing Water. It is like Fire changing its force depending on what it burns, and
Wood growing roots and leaves in their surrounding climate. If wind tries to sweep down
the Wood, accept it and you will wave in unison with the wind, but should you resist it,
you will be defeated. Similarly, Metal is hard but changes its shape according to the
human deeds. Earth relates to all the Five Activities, and keeps nature in harmony.”15
In this way, Ninja must obey the natural occurring of events as they unfold, and act
without going against the flow of the nature. Only by attaining this state of detachment of
the self can we recognize pure reason, and only through the use of pure reason can we be
mindful to the subtleties in nature. Thus, Ninja attack with the absolute detachment of the
self that “even if you ask for him, he is shapelessly merged into the universe, and even if
you ask of him, he is so detached that there is no answer. He will act only in accordance
with the pure reason.” This part of Ninja philosophy is largely taken by Zen philosophy,
which states that “the state of bodhisattva16 is inexpressible in words and is only
attainable by pure experience.”17
This view of activities as a part of the cosmic nature and that we must respect the
laws of nature is prevalent in Chinese medical philosophy.

III: Philosophy of Medicine

It is unfortunate that Ninja did not elaborate on their medical theories and seemed
to think it unimportant to subject their views to a theoretical analysis. This makes sense to
some extent, since Ninja were not philosophers or scientists by profession, but only
agents in covert operation. They had neither time nor interests in knowing how things

15
Ibid., 183-184.
16
Satori (悟り), or enlightenment.
17
Shouninki, 188-189.

6
worked, but only in that they worked. As a result, the parts in Shouninki where medicine
is treated are limited to describing how to make what and when to use it. In fact, there are
only two places where medicine is explicitly mentioned in Shouninki, and only few
places mention medical recipes in a more philosophical manuscript Bansenshukai. But
we know that medical knowledge played an important role in Ninja activities. This is
because one of the most basic tasks of Ninja was to get information in the local areas.
Whenever people needed to hide their identities in a foreign village, they would often
disguise either as monks or as pharmacists in those times. Ninja, too, followed the suit.
But they only needed the medical knowledge to the extent necessary, i.e. it must have
been enough to be able to answer questions about medicine they were selling when asked
about them. Because they were not certified doctors or experienced in medical
knowledge but rather “part-time doctors”, they carried simple medicine that would most
often be used by the general public. This worked in their advantage, as these medicines
would be useful for Ninja themselves during their missions.
Chinese medical philosophy is explained in complex combination of Yin Yang
theory and the Five Agents doctrine.18 Yin and Yang are opposite but complimentary
forces, elements or principles, the former being “negative, passive, weak, and destructive,
and [the latter,] positive, active, strong, and constructive.”19 Yin Yang theory sees the
events as containing both yin and yang qualities, thus “[e]ach thing or phenomenon could
be itself and its contrary,” that is to say, “Yin contains the seed of Yang and vice versa,
so that, contrary to Aristotelian logic, A can also be Non-A.”20 Adding to that is the Five
Agents doctrine, which introduces to Yin Yang theory a concept of rotation. These Five
Agents are conceived of at the level of Chinese cosmogony; for instance, Water generates
Wood, which generates Fire, which generates Earth, which generates Metal, which then
generates Water. The concept of generation here is similar to the Four Elements in Greek
philosophy. In Chinese philosophy, however, Water assumes an important basis, and is
the beginning of the sequence. There are two other sequences that are significant in
understanding how the agents interact with one another. One is called the Controlling

18
Also known as ‘Five Movements’ or ‘Five Actualities’.
19
Wing-Tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, 244.
20
Giovanni Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine: A Comprehensive Text for Acupuncturists
and Herbalists, 1.

7
Sequence in which each Agent controls another and is controlled by one. Thus, Water
controls Fire, Fire controls Metal, which then controls Wood, which again controls Earth
and back to Water. This sequence ensures that the balance is maintained among the Five
Agents. It self-regulates its balance as well, in combination with the generating sequence
we have just mentioned. In this model, Water controls Fire, but Fire generates Earth,
which controls Water. Similarly, on the one hand, Water controls Fire but also generates
Wood, which controls Fire, and so on. This sequence is a key model for sustaining health
when dealing with sickness or illness. The second sequence is called The Insulting
Sequence, which works the opposite of the Controlling Sequence. Hence, Water insults
Earth, Earth insults Wood, which insults Metal, which insults Fire, and which insults
Water. When there is an imbalance in the body, causing sickness, it is normally because
agents are insulted and the order no longer maintained.21
In this way, Chinese model may be comparable to that of Greek humoural
medicine. What is different from the Western medical thought is that each Agent has so
many correspondences, and what makes it more complex is that it is interlaced with the
Five Agents doctrine. Just to give an example, Water corresponds to the kidney in the
organ; Wood corresponds to the liver; Fire to the heart; Earth to the spleen; and Metal to
the lungs. In this scheme, the liver controls the spleen and generates the heart; the heart
controls the lungs and generates spleen; the spleen controls the kidneys and generates the
lungs; the lungs control the liver and generate kidneys; and the kidneys control the heart
and generate the liver.22 Further, Yin and Yang correspond to body parts, such as Front-
Back, Body-Head, Interior-Exterior, Structure of organs-Function of organs, and Yin
organs-Yang organs.23 Just as the Five Agents aim at maintaining the balance in the body,
Yin-Yang theory is applied to medicine to tonify either Yang or Ying quality or to
eliminate the excess of Yang quality or eliminate the excess of Ying quality.
For example, a seed of a fruit such as of a peach corresponds to Metal in the Five
Agents scheme, whereas in Yin-Yang theory, it corresponds to Yang quality since it is
hard rather than soft. Metal also corresponds to repelling of evil spirits, generating Water,
which is the beginning of the generation cycle, but it also has a quality to insult Wood,

21
Ibid., 18-20.
22
The sample list of correspondences of the Five Agents can be found in the handout. (from p.21)
23
Ibid., 7.

8
which represents Spring. In this way, Japanese people throw roasted soybeans outside the
house on the first day of spring to repel evil spirits for the new cycle of the year. We also
throw the beans inside the house, exclaiming “Demons out! Luck in!” The soybeans
signifying Metal goes out to guard against the evil demons, while at the same time, the
quality of Metal inside the house is weakened by us gnawing the beans to strengthen the
quality of Wood.24
As you can see, while such was the basic working principles in medical thought in
the pre-Modern Japan, it would have been too much to ask of crypto part-time doctors to
memorize and understand all the correlations among the Yin-Yang Five Agents Doctrine,
not to mention the measurements and dosages of each medicine. In effect, even one of the
most celebrated Buddhist doctors in Japan once lamented, “[o]ne cannot memorize all
this.”25 Did Ninja then not understand medicine when they talked about painkillers or
antidotes? Their poisons seem to have worked well enough and it is historically true that
they made poisons out of surrounding plants to kill. In order to determine their
philosophical framework regarding the formulation of medicines, we will now take a
look at two of the medical formulae that appear in the most authoritative text and
discussed in detail, and see if they follow the medical philosophy of the East.
The first medicine is called “Suikatsu-gan” (水渇丸), which, if taken in a dire
need of quenching your thirst, will make you suffer no more. The recipe for which is
rather simple and composed of three ingredients:

− 梅干し 肉 両 ４匁 ＝ Plum without skin, 37.3

− 氷砂糖 匁 ＝ Rock sugar, 7.5g
− 麦芽 麦門冬 麦角 匁 ＝ Malt, 3.75g26

You will mix them and powder it, and then make a small ball and take one
whenever you are thirsty.
The second medicine is “Kikatsu-gan” (飢渇丸), which will render no food
necessary when taken three each day.

24
Makoto Takemitsu, The Wisdom of Onmyo-do Every Japanese Should Know, 126-127. The festivity is
called Setsubun for those who wish to further research on this topic.
25
Andrew Edmund Goble, Confluences of Medicine in Medieval Japan, 51. Kajiwara Shozen (1265-1337)
26
Referenced in Shouninki, 52.

9
 − 人参 タ ニンジン) 両 ＝ carrot, 373g
− 蕎麦粉 両 ＝ soba flour, 746g
− 小麦粉 両 ＝ (all-purpose) flour, 746g
− ヤマ イモ 山芋 両 ＝ Japanese mountain yam, 746g
− 天草 耳草 こべ類 両 ＝ stellaria (or, chickweed,
stitchwort) 37.3g
− ヨ イニン トム 果 両 ＝ Job’s Tears, 373g
− 糯米粉 両 ＝ rice flour, 746g27

When you mix them all, you marinate it in five liters of sake for three years, and
when sake completely dries out, you make balls of about two centimeters in diameter.
Now, if you follow this recipe verbatim, it will rot before even sake gets dried
out.28 Perhaps you will need to find a way to dry sake out much quicker. But even if it
worked, will it have the effect they claim it does? Will it work in theory? As I have
mentioned earlier, Ninja did not elaborate at all on their theories but seemed to care only
that they worked. Any reflections on their medicine in light of Yin-Yang Five Agents
doctrine will be necessarily speculative and unfounded. So the question, which concerns
us most, now becomes: did they work? The answer seems to be a disappointing one, that
is, yes and no. Although Ninja medicine was not compatible to the Yin-Yang Five Agents
doctrine, it did accord with the other prevalent philosophy in medicine as well as in
Buddhist philosophy, that is, the transformation or the imbalance of Qi. Qi is the source
of all movement in human physiology, and assumes “different forms depending on its
state of condensation or dispersal… [and] is transformed, changed, transported, it enters,
exits, rises, descends and disperses.”29 Further, Qi forms a material body and has a Yin
quality when condensed, while it has a Yang quality when it is dispersed and in motion.
So when “Qi is flourishing there is health, if it is weak there is disease, if it is balanced
there is quiet, if it moves in the wrong direction there is disease.”30 Indeed, already by the
13th century, it was commonly believed that the disorder of Qi within the body was the
cause of many illnesses, as a famous Buddhist monk in the 13th century repeatedly
remarked in his medical corpus that “medicines that readjust the qi thereby treat the

27
Ibid.
28
Yamakita, All Things about Ninja, 183.
29
Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 59.
30
Ibid.

10
myriad illnesses and can’t go wrong,” categorizing the illnesses arising from the mind as
internal causes of ailments.31 After stating that “internal causes [of ailment] are found
where illnesses are produced from the disorder of the seven qi vital energies of joy, anger,
melancholy, worry, sadness, fear and fright,” he recounts us “the well-known Chinese
story of Yueguang, who exhibited severe symptoms and became ill because he had
imagined that he had swallowed a snake.” Apparently, he had mistaken the reflection of a
bow in his drink for a snake and believed that he had drunk the snake.32 In this way, it
was conceived that the evil passions and the source of mistakes arise from the imbalance
of the qi, which is in the mind. Once this becomes apparent, “emotions are neither
produced nor activated, the blood and qi are harmonized, and the mind and the body are
at rest.”33 This philosophy resembles much of what we have spoken of when we saw that
Ninja abided themselves by the principle of absolute detachment as discussed towards the
end of Shouninki.34 I would also like to mention in passing that when Ninja talked about
using amulets to protect themselves from danger and spells35 to accomplish their missions,
they also stated explicitly that “to actually expect they will work is to be utterly ignorant
about the world, yet because there is no particular reason to disregard them as mere
superstitions, the decision to use them or not depends upon you.”36 As the commentator
of Shouninki also explains, it seems that if something works actually or not was not a
concern to them, as long as it works at least apparently. It is in this sense that Ninja
medicine worked. That is, if amulets or medicines had a positive influence to control qi in
the person, that is all what was required for. From these considerations, it seems
reasonable to suggest that the fruit of Ninja medicine lies in the maintenance of the order
of qi rather than depending on the effects of the specific medicaments.37
Now, what about poisons? Poisons enjoyed a distinct status in Ninja science in that
they actually worked. However, here too, it seems that how they concocted deadly
poisons had not much to do with the monastic medical philosophy, but simply to do with

31
Goble, Confluences of Medicine, 63.
32
Ibid., 62
33
Ibid.
34
See Gokuhi-den in Shouninki, 189.
35
Shouninki,129.
36
Ibid.
37
This view is also contested by the other scholars working on Ninja, such as Yamakita Atsushi. See his All
Things About Ninja.

11
pure experience. With the healing medicines, it was possible to argue that whether they
work or not depended on how detached you are according to the Buddhist philosophy,
but because one cannot deceive another with a poison that does not actually work or
whose effects depend upon the enemy’s conviction that it works, Ninja had to actually
test them in a number of occasions, and they left recipes for those poisons that did work.
In fact, although there are only so few references as to healing medicines, the list of
poisonous medicines is incomparably large. There are recipes that use the ingredients like
toad’s oil, red spider lily, Japanese star anise, as well as cannabis and nux vomica, but
here I will list a few of the deadliest poisons. The first of which is the poison called
Machin (馬銭), whose main ingredient is nux vomica. It is a deciduous tree native to
India and Southeast Asia, which is highly toxic. Strychnine in the seed is said to kill you
if you ingest a mere gram.38 Ninja used this primarily to kill dogs that guarded the house
they tried to sneak into. They studied psychology and human behaviors, and they were
able quite accurately to predict how people would react to unknown noises at night or if
they would fall for a deception. But dogs were different. Even Ninja could not read dogs’
mind to deceive, since dogs react to movements immediately. In a way, dogs were the
Ninja’s enemy par excellence, whom they could not draw in to their side. So the
elimination of dogs would give them an advantage, and hence was the basic Ninjutsu.
They did this by first taming the dogs of the house, giving them rice balls, a few days
before they would sneak into. If they were completely tamed by the night of mission,
they would cause them no harm, but if the dogs were still cautious of them, Ninja would
give them rice balls mixed with powdered nux vomica. The dogs would remain at the
verge of death for a while, and if the missions were accomplished before they died, Ninja
would give them water, which would revive them. If you absolutely had to kill the dogs,
you would give them rice balls mixed with nux vomica and finely ground iron.39 Another
famous poison is called, loosely translated, ‘the poison of the teahouse.’ It uses Gyokuro,
a rare type of tealeaves. You make an extra strong tea, and pour it into a bamboo tube.
You will then bury it under the earth, and take it out after a month. It is said that a few

38
Shouninki, 97.
39
Ibid., 96-97. See also Masayuki Yamaguchi, Shinobi and Ninjutsu, 155.

12
drops would make you sick in one month and die in two months.40 Yet another unique
poison includes a mole, a newt and the blood of a snake mixed with other herbs. If you
light fire on it and throw it into the enemy’s house, the enemy who inhaled the smoke
would sleep or hallucinate, and would die in 70 days.41 But this probably did not work.
There is another medicine that probably did not work but is praised as a ‘medicine of the
enlightened,’ which uses black soybeans and cannabis in the ratio of 5:3. You mix them,
powder it and make a ball out of it. Then, you smoke it, and powder it again. If you drink
a cup of tea made from this formula, you can apparently maintain your energy and do not
have to eat or drink for seven days. If you drink two cups, you can stay alive without food
or drink for 49 days, and with five cups of it, you will live for 16,807 days.42
As we can see, Ninja corpus includes medicines that would and would not work in
tandem. This is probably due to the fact that they wrote the manuscripts long after their
prime time, and they were writing in part to heroicize their past glory in times of relative
peace, but also because their focus in medicine was more about controlling the qi rather
than following a theoretical formula.

IV: Psychology, Animal Philosophy and Observational Science

Although Ninja medicine lacked in a theoretical rigor, their observation excelled in

natural philosophy. Some of their astonishing scientific discoveries based on pure
observation include the colour of their costume, cat clock, as well as the accurate
observation of the sleeping patterns of human beings. People now take it for granted that
Ninja wore a black uniform, but a Ninja scholar, Yamakita, rightfully points out two
major problems with this common belief. First of all, wearing such a costume all the time
is utterly conspicuous, and illustrates insanity. Why would you wear clothes that speak
out ‘I am a Ninja!’ when you want to be invisible to the public eyes? As has been stated
earlier, the activities of Ninja primarily include information gathering, as such, they

40
Yamakita, All Things About Ninja, 183. However, I have yet to locate where he is getting this
information, as Gyokuro was first used in 1835, a long after Ninja had dwindled.
41
Ibid., 184.
42
Ibid., 183.

13
travel between the cities and meet people very frequently. If they really wore black
uniforms at night, they must have carried additional clothing for the daytime activities.
But carrying extra stuff in addition to several items to be used in their activities is already
a huge burden. This is also why Ninja had to invent medicines such as Suikatsu-gan
(mentioned above) that are tiny and do not take up space. Considering practicality, it
would be much easier and convenient for them to have worn clothes that are darker in
colour but could be worn in daytime as well without appearing suspicious. Secondly,
pure black colour is rather expensive. Ninja who would sneak into houses and castles
were normally the lower rank Ninja, and it would not have been plausible that they could
have afforded to have uniforms with pure black colour made for them for everyday use.
These are rather technical difficulties, but there is one more crucial scientific reason why
they could not have worn black uniform. We now need to look at the structure of human
eyes briefly. In retina of the eye, there are two layers of segments: retinal cone
photoreceptor cells and rod cell outer segments. The cone photoreceptor cells are
converged in the center of the eye and detect colours in daytime or in bright spaces,
whereas rod cell segments have photic sense and can see in dark places but detects only
light or dark. In short, human eyes can detect colours well only when we see something
with the center of the eye in fairly bright places. On the contrary, we cannot detect
colours well if we see something at the edge of the eye or in dark places. The cone
photoreceptor cells stop detecting colours starting with the ones with longer wavelength.
So the colour red which has the longest wavelength in the primary colours become
invisible first, and then yellow loses its colour, leaving the blue alone to be seen in the
end. This is why at dawn, everything looks somewhat blue-ish, because the photoreceptor
cells are inactive due to the lack of light, and as a result, we see things with the rod cell
segments of the eye. When you consider this fact, pure black clothing is actually a
disadvantage. The reasons being that, even at night, it is not a pitch black. There are
moonlight, starlight and candlelight from houses, and almost everything including plants
and rooftops reflect tiny amount of light. However, pure black suit would not have any
luminosity, so in a place where your surroundings emit some amount of light, you would
be more easily found because of the contrast your clothes creates. Now, in daytime, if
you hide behind trees or walls, it can be quite dark. Of course, if somebody sees you

14
directly from the front, then there is no chance you can avoid detection, but wearing
darker coloured clothing that has similar degree of luminosity as the surroundings would
be beneficial if you are seen with the corner of the eye, you may be able to escape their
detection. Now we see that clearly, black coloured uniforms are not practical for a covert
operation. In fact, the reason why we see Ninja wearing pure black in movies and shows
is because it is cool and also it is easy to spot. What Ninja in fact wore was a uniform in
dark reddish brown. This is because the cone photoreceptor cells lose colour red before
they lose yellow and blue, it is the first colour to disappear in the dark, and because it is
not completely pure black, it has the benefit of attaining some level of luminosity,
allowing it to be mingled with the surroundings.43
That Ninja were particularly observant as regards with lightness and darkness is
also seen from their use of cats in determining what time it is. Clocks existed back then,
but they were not portable. In order to find roughly what time it is, Ninja looked at eyes
of the cats nearby, and made a song to memorize: 6 when it’s round, 5 or 7 when it’s egg-
shaped, 4 or 8 when it’s a seed of a persimmon, and 9 when it’s a needle.44 This finding
of knowing the time by looking at the cat’s eyes was employed to argue in support of
knowing the best time to sneak into a house. Because the success of sneaking in depends
on the time when they sneak in, they left an instruction on when to do it with most
success in Shouninki. Here I will quote the article almost in full citation.

“although there is not a fixed time that is best to sneak in, you should in
general aim for when people are off-guard, like when they are busy. Do not be
inpatient. Some of the best times are at twilight, 10 pm, midnight, 4 am, 6 am, noon
and 6 pm. Should you not know what time it is, you should make an effort to know
it through experience. Even cat’s eyes become thin or round depending on the time
of the day, it is implausible that humans cannot be susceptible to it. In general,
people go to bed at around 9 to 10, and are in a deep sleep at 1 to 2 am, waking up
at 5 to 6 am. If you are in a deep sleep, the breathing sounds are irregular, if they
are regular, you are probably pretending to be asleep. Even if they are deep asleep,

43
Ibid., 154.
44
Ibid., 202-203. In Bansenshukai, it is stated that “6 when it’s round, 5 or 8 when it’s egg-shaped, 4 or 7
when it’s a seed of persimmon and 9 when it’s a needle.” Yamaguchi Masayuki thinks it is a mis-scribe and
offers the above mentioned interpretation.

15
 people often wake up regularly and you need to be careful to detect when they are
in a deep sleep and when they are in a shallow sleep… When climbing the rooftop
and walking on it, you will use your sword as a stepping stone and try not to make
any sound. If you see something unfamiliar on your way, throw a stone at it and see
how it will react. If they notice your presence, use the technique called “Ryofuri
(両降り)”, or “Falling from Both Sides”, and throw a stone at the opposite
direction to the one you are going to, and make a run for it.”45

Ninja were well aware that the eyes of cats are much more receptive and their eyes
could be thin even at noon if they are in the shadow. The commentator of Shouninki
states that the intent of this article is to encourage you to use all the senses possible, and
detect any information necessary to know the time by listening for bells at temples, cries
of animals or smells of food being prepared, etc… What is most interesting here is the
depiction of sleeping patterns. This is a clear reference to what we now call REM sleep,
when breathings become irregular and when we most likely dream. It appears once every
two hours or so, and lasts for 5 to 30 minutes. People in REM sleep look as if they are at
the verge of waking up but in fact they are in the deepest sleep and would not easily wake
up.46
Ninja also employed psychological means to hide their identity, and they learned
their survival techniques mostly from animals around them. For instance, when you hide
by the trees or in the shadows, it was possible for people to still hear heartbeats or
breathing sounds especially at a quiet night. There was not a single noise of a car to help
you make up for any sound you make. In such situations, Ninja often imitated animals for
a disguise. Although this sort of techniques is often used for a comical effect nowadays,
when your life depends on how well you imitate, the imitation must have been of the
highest quality. When people hear some unknown noise, they would be uneasy and a
desire to know what that noise is arises. Ninja observed this fact, and they answered that
if people are anxious to know what the noise they had just heard is, only false
information was necessary to make them believe they understood the cause of it. If they
heard a cat immediately after hearing the strange noise, they would reason that the sound

45
Shouninki, 90-92. Here, I quoted the article almost in full.
46
Shouninki, 92-93.

16
they just heard must have been of the cat they are hearing now. Once they are convinced,
even if they hear a stranger sound consequently, they would assume that the cat must be
of a big one or must be sick, and so on, to try to stick to the original conclusion they have
reached. Further, because they imitate the sound of animals, even if they constantly make
some noise, people would just think that cats are being noisy. Since cats and dogs were
often found in and out of the house, Ninja were particularly trained to disguise as cats or
dogs and were good at it.47 In addition to this, Ninja used a number of hiding techniques
learned from various animals. The famous instances of which are ‘Kitune-gakure (狐隠
れ)’ [the Way of Foxes], ‘Tanuki-gakure (狸隠れ)’ [the Way of Raccoon-dogs], and
‘Kakure-mino (隠れ蓑)’ [Hiding in the Straw]. Kitsune-gakure is the one in which Ninja
hide underwater. It received its name from the fact that foxes have strong smell, so when
they are chased after by hunting dogs, they are said to escape their detection by traversing
in the water. Here, Ninja will usually leave the face above the surface to breathe. With
water grass and algae around, it is difficult to be found. They probably did use a bamboo
tube or a scabbard (a sheath; a case for katana) to breathe, completely submerging
themselves under water, but the problem with it is that it would be unnatural and overtly
conspicuous if there is a bamboo tube sticking out where there is nothing else around. In
any case, to prevent Ninja from hiding, samurai warriors often cleared any water grass or
algae in the ponds in advance.48 This is also known as ‘Suiton no Jutsu (水遁 術)’
which is a collective name for a escaping method using water. Although it is famously
employed often in Ninja themed stories, it is not something you would want to do, as you
would be completely wet and anyone who sees you would be suspicious of you.49 On the
contrary, Tanuki-gakure is when you hide on the trees, camouflaging with the leaves. As
long as you are not seen climbing the tree, it probably works quite well. We are not used
to checking what is above us, so this too is a tactic that studied human psychology.50
Lastly, Kakure-mino is what you use when there is absolutely no time to climb trees or
hide under water without making any splashing sound. In Kakure-mino, you will find a
space or a container of rice, for example, to hide and wait until the enemy is gone. If you

47
Yamakita, All Things About Ninja, 207-208.
48
Ibid., 215-216.
49
Ibid., 217.
50
Ibid., 214.

17
do this, however, you are deprived of your freedom to move, and once you are found, you
probably get killed without a further ado.51
There are many other tricks or items Ninja used in their daily operations, some of
them ingenious while others are utterly useless. Before I conclude my paper, I would like
to mention one more invention of Ninja that most likely did not work but is seen as the
most characteristic item of Ninja, and that is: Mizugumo.52 As you can see in the photo, it
is virtually impossible to walk on water, let alone run from the enemy. It is apparently
made with a foxglove tree, but in order to float a person weighing 50 kg, you will need to
wear a cone tube that is 50 cm in diameter and 20 cm in height on both legs. You may be
able to float, but you certainly cannot move smoothly.53 Further, you would be looking
like a crab, unable to move on water, that you are an excellent target for the enemy to
throw stones at. Although it is hoisted as one of Ninja’s most famous invention, and also
is recorded in Bansenshukai, it is generally attested that such a device did not exist but
was later added by the offspring who left the manuscripts.54

51
Ibid.
52
Literally, ‘water-spider’.
53
Yamakita, All Things About Ninja, 177.
54
It was most likely taken from a Chinese book on warfare that I have not yet been able to locate.

18
 This concludes my findings on the philosophy of Ninja. I have illustrated that
Ninja were a professional spy organization, and hence needed to master techniques to
find out inside information, poison the enemy before the battle begins, and disguise
themselves so as to escape the enemy’s detection. In doing so, I have briefly discussed
the basic Chinese philosophy that was on the foundation of Japanese medical theory since
the 12th century onwards, such as Yin-Yang theory, Five Agents doctrine as well as
transformation of qi energy, and I have argued that Ninja medicine had not much to do
with any particular philosophical doctrines but rather much to do with being in control of
their own emotions and qi energy. In this respect, it is largely a reflection of Zen
philosophy, more so than of other schools of thought. I then concluded with some
discussions on their psychology, animal philosophy as well as scientific discoveries for
your information, which I term observational science. In sum, I believe Ninja did not
know and did not have any interest to Chinese medical corpus but rather collected
information on their own through experience and observation. Their interest rather lied
with the philosophy of warfare, and although they obtained a lot of information from the
Chinese books, their scientific enquiry remained limited and never left their own circle
for criticisms and improvement.

19