It’s ninja time! From a ninja who can do magic and swallow a cow whole, to a female ninja who started an underground network of over 200 ninjas to spy on enemies. This is a list of 5 remarkable real life Ninja.
Kato Danzo The Ninja Sorcerer
Kato Danzo was a real life ninja whose magic and skills were known to all. He would perform magic in front of crowds of people, including throwing seeds on the ground and having them sprout instantly, to swallowing an entire cow in one go, and even flying through the air. Today most people believe that he was simply using tricks like dynamo, or David Blaine would. Some historians believe he was just a incredibly skilled hypnotist. Whether his magic was real or not eventually warlords heard his name and decided to test his skills for themselves.
The war lord Uesugi Kenshin challenged him to steal his prized Naginata which had been stolen from him, and kept in a heavily guarded fortress. Somehow the person he was going to steal the naginata back from found out beforehand that Danzo was coming, so he prepared a trap in anticipation. This made it all the more dangerous for Danzo, however he somehow managed to sense that there was a trap ahead, and so tricked the guards with a fake dummy. When the guards tried to shoot him they merely hit the dummy, and then Danzo raised the dummy in the air, and they believed that Danzo was not only unhurt by the arrows, but could also fly. From that point on he would be known as flying Danzo. Escaping this trap he went on to steal the prized naginata and a servant girl. This impressed Uesugi Kenshin greatly, however their relationship became dangerous, and Danzo had to flee to Kenshin’s enemy for protection, unfortunately he was then executed for being a spy.
Jinichi Kawakami
Kawakam is the last living ninja alive today. Taught by a Buddhist monk in the secret art of Ninjutsu from the age of six, Kawakami can jump seven feet in the air, hear a needle drop in a completely different room, and kill a man from 20 paces away. He is the head, and only member of the last ninja clan left alive. He refuses to take on an apprentice as he believes there is no place for ninja in the modern world. When he became head of the clan he obtained a cache of secret ninja scrolls and equipment he hasn’t revealed to world, it seems the art and all it’s secrets will be lost forever.
Kido Yazaemon
Kido Yazaemon was a legendary ninja from the warring states period of Japan. Kido was an expert marksman, and may have been a follower of the Ikko religion. Yazaemon was born in the Iga province in 1539, he was later made famous in1579 for his attempt on Oda Nobunaga’s life. Yazaemon attempted to snipe Nobunaga from a distance with his matchlock rifle, unfortunately for him he failed, but managed to kill some of his top guards. It’s believed he may have attempted to assinate him because of Nobunaga’s agression towards the Ikko-Ikki, and for destroying the Nagashima fortress.
Fuma Kotaro
Fuma Kotaro was founder of the famous Ninja Fuma clan, who became a powerful force in Japan. The clan specialized in horseback guerrilla warfare, and Naval espionage. Kataro was Jonin ninja in charge of his 200 clansman. Their most famous achievement was when they successfully snuck into an enemy Takeda camp and attacked them in the night, causing mass panic among them, and forcing the enemies to turn on each other. Kotaro is also believed by some people to have killed one of the most famous ninja in the world, Hattori Hanzo.
Mochizuki Chiyome
Chiyome raised 200-300 different female children as real life ninja. Her training center was disguised as an orphanage, and she really would take in many orphaned children but only to raise them as an army of ninja, trained to be able to disguise themselves so they could freely move between villages. She was ordered to set this up by the Takeda clan she was a part of. They would use her female Ninja or Kunoichi to gain information on enemy clans, in ways only they could disguised as actresses, Geisha, or prostitutes.