Akshay Kumar in Ninjutsu

NINJUTSU

Ninjutsu is the martial art, strategy, and tactics of unconventional warfare and guerrilla warfare as well as the art of espionage purportedly practiced by the shinobi (commonly known outside of Japan as ninja).

Developed by groups from the Iga Province and Kōka, Shiga of Japan, practitioners who mastered the art were the commandos and secret agents of their time having been seen as assassins, scouts, and spies. They are mainly noted for their use of stealth and deception. They have been associated in the public imagination with activities that are considered criminal by modern standards.

Ninjutsu was developed as a collection of fundamental survivalist techniques in the warring state of feudal Japan. The ninja used their art to ensure their survival in a time of violent political turmoil. Ninjutsu included methods of gathering information, and techniques of non-detection, avoidance, and misdirection. Ninjutsu can also involve training in disguise, escape, concealment, archery, medicine, explosives, and poisons.

Skills relating to espionage and assassination were highly useful to warring factions in feudal Japan. Because these activities were seen as dishonorable, Japanese warriors hired people who existed below Japan's social classes to perform these tasks. This form of espionage became known collectively as ninjutsu and the people who specialized in these tasks were called shinobi no mono.

Ninja jūhakkei was often studied along with Bugei Jūhappan, the "18 samurai fighting art skills". Though some are used in the same way by both samurai and ninja, other techniques were used differently by the two groups. These skills have included unarmed combat, sword fighting, stick and staff fighting, and other forms of fighting and tactics.

Ninjutsu training often started in early childhood, as such the ninja was in such superb condition that he could well outperform most opponents. His incredible physical prowess coupled with the many arts of deception mastered earned the ninja a reputation as being able to disappear and appear at will which fostered the “art of invisibility” known to Ninjutsu.

The Tokugawa family’s unification of Japan brought an end to ninja activities, and in the 17th century the practice of ninjutsu was banned. Ninjutsu was so feared by the government that even mentioned of it brought the death penalty.

Today, there are a number of modern schools of martial arts self-identifying as practicing ninjutsu. Neo-ninja is a term that refers to modern martial arts schools which claim to teach elements of the historic ninja of Japan, or base their school's philosophy upon traits attributed to the historic ninja of Japan.