Ninja [Hardcover]

S R Turnbull (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Firebird Bks.; 1ST edition (February 25, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853141097
• ISBN-13: 978-1853141096
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,487,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An illustrated history of the fascinating Ninja, October 11, 2004

By 

Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ninja (Hardcover)

There are a few things everyone knows about Ninjas. They wear black costumes. They are sneaky, almost able to be invisible. They uses an arsenal of strange and interesting weapons. But is any of that the truth?

While not everything I would want it to be, Steven Turnbull has done an admirable job bringing together the known historical facts and the wild fictional fantasies of the Japanese warrior known as the Ninja. "Ninja: The True Story of Japan's Secret Warrior Cult" is very small, 150 pages, many of which are stuffed with illustrations, leaving not much room for a thorough exploration of the Ninja mysteries. The format is almost "coffee table" style, being a larger sized format. Although it doesn't leave as much room for text as one would wish, the book has a stunning collection of old Ninja-related Japanese artwork, from full-color reproductions of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints to small black and white pornographic scenes of ninjas produced in cheap books of the time.

The meat of the work is found in the first eight chapters, detailing the history of what we have come to know as Ninja, although at the time known primarily as Shinobi. Pure history is obviously Turnbull's specialty, as he details the rise of the use of stealth skills in combat in Japan, primarily in terms of castle-breaking, where Shinobi would scale the walls of an enemy castle at night and set first to it from the inside, forcing the panicked population to retreat from the burning structure and into the swords of the Samurai waiting outside. He shows the establishment of Ninja clans at Iga and Ueno, who would rent out their military services, a shockingly dishonorable practice at the time, and engage in activities thought unsuitable for Samurai. This is followed by the eventual destruction of these Ninja clans by the Tokugawa armies, and the dispersion of their skills into general Japanese armies.

The book's main weakness lies in the ability to interpret these historical facts in light of the modern view of the Ninja. Turnbull shows the development of the stereotypical black Ninja costume in the illustrations, but doesn't comment on whether the Iga or Ueno Ninja clans ever actually employed this outfit. There is some attempt at rationalizing the "Hollywood" version of the Ninja with the historical, but all in all the book merely skims over this fascinating area, remaining basically a Ninja-history book with a few token attempts at acknowledging the present. I would really like to see the evolution of the Ninja from the dishonorable castle-breaker to the black-clad superhero of today. How did it happen? Is there any truth at all to the modern image of the Ninja? These kinds of questions go largely unanswered.

As a straight history book with a top-class collection of old Ninja artwork, "Ninja: The True Story of Japan's Secret Warrior Cult" succeeds. However, when looking for some historical analysis, or unique insight on the part of the author towards the Ninja, then the book is not satisfying. While not much has been accurately written on the Ninja, this is definitely not a definitive text. But it is better than much of what is out there.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Informative: Pure History and Ground for Analysis, September 20, 2001

By 

T Kibatullin (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ninja: The True Story of Japan's Secret Warrior Cult (Paperback)

For the time being, this is the only book on the historical examination of ninja and their place in Japanese history, their origin, development and roles. Readers will find out in which province ninjutsu originated (starting with as far back in history as ninja's Chinese ancestors), analysis of the term "ninja" and its synonims, how ninjutsu developed including analysis of it as art and as social phenomena (clans and loyalties), famous revolts of ninja in the province of Iga and cruel campaign of Nobunaga against ninja.

A reader should keep in mind one very important thing - this subject is very difficult study because of lack of historical reference. However, Dr. Turnbull does an amazing job of analysis of all variety of Japanese language sources including legends and historical transcripts. I have had the feeling that having done this, the author gives this as it is (more or less so) to the reader, so the reader has to complete the analysis. While this type of presentation of the material may present problem to some readers, I was flattered by the thought that this book was mostly oriented towards thinking/analysing reader.

A flipside of such approach is that the author consdiers many forms of open military (like, for example, trained sharpshooters of Shimazu clan left behind retreating troops to take out enemy generals) and "dark side" (spies and assasins) actions and puts them together labelling all as "ninja". However, this approach also pays letting a sophisticated reader to "sort out" for himself.

I highly recommend this book for anybody interested in Japanese military history and history of special units and techniques.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best, objective, book on the subject, March 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ninja: The True Story of Japan's Secret Warrior Cult (Paperback)

Turnbull has done a great service by writing this book. Even though it is not 100 percent in terms of completion,it is probably the best, objective, look at a very complicated subject. The biggest complaint I have is that he has barely scratched the surface when this book has to end due to constraints of space.I hope that a soft cover version will be re-printed.Turnbull, while not a practicioner of ninjutsu, writes in more depth and with more accuracy than many who claim to be.The only other books I would recomend as being objective looks at the history of the ninja are all in Japanese!