WEBVTT 00:00.720 --> 00:06.640 Clouds cover the moon as a man climbs  up Azuchi Castle on his grappling hook. 00:06.640 --> 00:11.920 It’s 1580, and the intruder  is here to kill a warlord. 00:11.920 --> 00:15.440 Dressed in black, he sneaks  through the castle halls, 00:15.440 --> 00:18.720 throwing stars and smoke bombs fromon his belt. 00:18.720 --> 00:24.160 He avoids guards where he can and  silently kills them where he can’t. 00:24.160 --> 00:28.800 Sliding open a door, he  lunges – but guards are waiting. 00:28.800 --> 00:35.200 When the warlord demands to know who sent  him, the assassin bites off his own tongue. 00:35.200 --> 00:42.400 Oda Nobunaga, the first Great  Unifier of Japan, survives… for now. 00:42.400 --> 00:47.440 This scene has become part of the  legend of the ninja, or shinobi. 00:47.440 --> 00:52.960 The truth is… if anything like this had actually  happened, the killer would have been a doctor. 00:52.960 --> 00:55.920 He'd have had no smoke bombs or throwing stars and 00:55.920 --> 00:59.920 he wouldn't have murdered guards but  would have passed them with a smile. 00:59.920 --> 01:06.640 The ninja mythology is so strong, so cool, that  it pulls in stories that are totally unrelated. 01:06.640 --> 01:10.902 So who were the real ninja,  and where have they gone? 01:13.920 --> 01:15.340 A Shattered Empire 01:16.320 --> 01:20.640 Japan is ruled by a military  government: the Shogunate. 01:20.640 --> 01:24.800 Officially serving the Emperor, they  have been the real power for centuries. 01:24.800 --> 01:27.600 But their authority has crumbled. 01:27.600 --> 01:30.800 Daimyo, feudal lords, and their armies of bushi, 01:30.800 --> 01:35.520 Japan’s warrior class, are waging  war for territory and power. 01:35.520 --> 01:42.560 Close to the capital Kyoto, which all rising  powers hope to control, lie Iga and Kōka. 01:42.560 --> 01:47.280 More than one warlord thinks  they’re easy to conquer – a mistake: 01:47.280 --> 01:52.480 their mountains act as a natural  defense and their clans work together. 01:52.480 --> 01:56.400 But their real strength is the samurai  they lend to neighbours and allies, 01:56.400 --> 02:01.440 shifting allegiances and spying on  threats to keep the fighting far away. 02:01.440 --> 02:06.880 These skills of spying, ambush, and  stealth are called “shinobi tactics”, 02:06.880 --> 02:10.480 and Iga samurai gain a reputation for them. 02:10.480 --> 02:13.040 But in recent years a new power has risen, 02:13.040 --> 02:19.360 an inspiring leader and ruthless conqueror  who can unify Japan – Oda Nobunaga. 02:19.360 --> 02:25.280 After he deposes the shogun in Kyoto,  Oda is the most powerful man in Japan. 02:25.280 --> 02:30.240 To consolidate his control, Oda  invades Kōka with overwhelming force, 02:30.240 --> 02:33.520 and the district becomes his personal fief. 02:33.520 --> 02:36.880 Now alone, Iga’s days are numbered. 02:36.880 --> 02:42.640 In 1579, Oda’s son tries to  impress his dad by invading Iga. 02:42.640 --> 02:47.040 This plan backfires when local  samurai infiltrate his camps. 02:47.040 --> 02:51.680 Disguised as merchants and priests, they  learn the paths the armies are taking. 02:51.680 --> 02:55.040 Then, the men of Iga ambush and destroy them. 02:55.040 --> 03:01.760 Oda is furious: “You were guilty of a fiasco  on the Iga border. Take this as a lesson.” 03:01.760 --> 03:05.040 He will not make the same mistakes as his son. 03:05.040 --> 03:11.040 When the warlord himself invades Iga in  1581, he sends more than 40,000 samurai 03:11.040 --> 03:15.840 who destroy every village and temple  they encounter, killing thousands. 03:15.840 --> 03:19.440 Iga’s samurai are soon  bottled up in their castles. 03:19.440 --> 03:24.880 The defenders use all kinds of shinobi tricks  – lighting torches for fake reinforcements, 03:24.880 --> 03:30.000 setting fire to enemy camps, killing  scouts, and leading night raids. 03:30.000 --> 03:35.120 Three musketeers lie in wait for Oda  Nobunaga himself and kill his guards, 03:35.120 --> 03:37.680 but the warlord is undeterred. 03:37.680 --> 03:42.160 After long sieges, Iga submits to the Oda clan. 03:42.160 --> 03:44.720 This victory lasts only a year. 03:44.720 --> 03:51.680 Then, Oda Nobunaga is murdered – not by a ninja,  but in an ambush by disloyal subordinates. 03:51.680 --> 03:55.200 The warlord refuses to die  by any hand but his own. 03:55.200 --> 04:00.160 He commits seppuku – disembowelling  himself with his own sword. 04:00.160 --> 04:05.280 Oda's story may be over, but the  story of the ninja is just beginning. 04:05.280 --> 04:09.520 Without his authority, former  allies become rivals – and the   04:09.520 --> 04:13.087 men of Iga will help decide who wins that fight. 04:15.920 --> 04:17.766 History on a Knife Edge 04:18.560 --> 04:23.600 The fearsome Oda Nobunaga is dead!  Finally, old grudges are paid back 04:23.600 --> 04:28.640 in blood, and Oda supporters like  Tokugawa Ieyasu are hunted down. 04:28.640 --> 04:32.080 Tokugawa was one of his closest allies – now he’s 04:32.080 --> 04:38.400 in enemy territory with only a few dozen men  – his bodyguards of Iga and Kōka samurai, 04:38.400 --> 04:43.280 led by the legendary Hattori Hanzo,  who has served Tokugawa for decades. 04:43.280 --> 04:49.680 Their loyalty has only grown since Tokugawa  gave shelter to those fleeing the Oda invasion. 04:49.680 --> 04:52.480 Now they can return the favour. 04:52.480 --> 04:56.960 Tokugawa needs to pass through Iga  – a dangerous place full of bandits 04:56.960 --> 05:02.640 and samurai hunters – but Hattori’s  warriors know the mountains well. 05:02.640 --> 05:07.360 Their strategy is relying on old  ties and bribes just as much as 05:07.360 --> 05:12.160 on bows and blades – or so the legend says. 05:12.160 --> 05:15.920 After a harrowing trek, Tokugawa reaches safety. 05:15.920 --> 05:20.640 By saving his life, Hattori’s warriors  have changed the course of history: 05:20.640 --> 05:24.560 they allow him to become Shogun two  decades later and shift the country 05:24.560 --> 05:29.760 from 200 years of ongoing warfare  into a peace that will last decades. 05:29.760 --> 05:34.800 Togugawa brings his bodyguards to the new  capital, Edo – while his ascension as the 05:34.800 --> 05:41.120 last of the Three Great Unifiers of Japan would  seem to ends the need for shinobi fighters. 05:41.120 --> 05:44.080 But not everyone is pleased  with the new shogunate, 05:44.080 --> 05:49.605 so loyal men with shinobi skills will still  be essential to keep the newly–won peace. 05:44.373 --> 05:50.143 All you have to do is pick your next  destination – and we’re headed back to Japan! 05:51.573 --> 05:53.234 Sniffing Out Conspiracy 05:54.293 --> 05:59.093 In 1651, the Tokugawa Shogunate  has ruled for three generations, 05:59.093 --> 06:01.733 prizing stability above all else. 06:01.733 --> 06:06.853 To prevent the spread of dangerous new ideas,  Japan has become strictly isolationist, 06:06.853 --> 06:10.853 banning Christian missionaries  and restricting foreign merchants. 06:10.853 --> 06:13.813 Violators are imprisoned and deported. 06:13.813 --> 06:19.253 To avoid the bloody pitched battles of the past,  official policy requires all lords to spend every 06:19.253 --> 06:26.213 other year in Edo, based on the principle – keep  your friends close, but your enemies closer. 06:26.213 --> 06:28.773 The job of watching the lords falls to the guards 06:28.773 --> 06:32.373 patrolling the grounds of  Edo Castle, like this guy. 06:32.373 --> 06:36.933 He’s not just a common soldier –  he’s a kind of castle detective. 06:36.933 --> 06:43.093 It’s the family trade – his grandfather served  under Hattori Hanzo, and followed him to Edo. 06:43.093 --> 06:45.813 Besides guarding the Shogun, his most important 06:45.813 --> 06:50.933 job is gathering intelligence by  blending in as a servant or priest. 06:50.933 --> 06:54.853 He knows that people whisper about  the detectives’ supernatural skills, 06:54.853 --> 06:59.093 and call them shinobi-no-mono, “person of stealth". 06:59.093 --> 07:02.773 The detectives see themselves  as maintaining peace and order, 07:02.773 --> 07:09.013 but to their enemies they are the feared secret  police of the Tokugawa surveillance state. 07:09.013 --> 07:14.453 When the third Shogun dies, he leaves a  vulnerable empire to his ten-year old son. 07:14.453 --> 07:18.213 Rumours soon reach the palace  that something is on the horizon, 07:18.213 --> 07:23.813 and a masterless samurai called Marubashi  Chūya is particularly suspicious. 07:23.813 --> 07:29.813 He runs a swordfighting school – a perfect  place for young samurai to conspire. 07:29.813 --> 07:35.573 A detective slips into Marubashi’s home disguised  as a servant, and – according to one version of   07:35.573 --> 07:40.613 what happened – finds Marubashi ill,  talking to people in a fever dream. 07:40.613 --> 07:48.373 The unnoticed detective listens with horror as  Murabashi describes a terrifying plot – to set   07:48.373 --> 07:53.573 Edo ablaze with gunpowder, killing  thousands in a deadly distraction. 07:53.573 --> 07:58.773 As the authorities fight the flames,  Murabashi will storm Edo Castle, 07:58.773 --> 08:05.013 murder the Shogun’s regents, and force the  boy to undo his father’s unpopular policies. 08:05.013 --> 08:09.333 The detective slips out of the  house, and returns with soldiers. 08:09.333 --> 08:11.893 The conspiracy is undone. 08:11.893 --> 08:17.013 As a result, whole families are crucified,  tortured to death for all to see. 08:17.013 --> 08:22.133 The detective does not relish these brutal  punishments, but sees them as necessary – 08:22.133 --> 08:26.613 only a firm hand can keep Japan  from slipping back into chaos. 08:26.613 --> 08:33.653 Returning to his room in Edo Castle, he opens  a well-read book – a history of Oda Nobunaga. 08:33.653 --> 08:38.373 The detective enjoys the section on Iga’s  plucky defiance – it’s more exciting 08:38.373 --> 08:42.213 than the day-to-day surveillance  that makes up his shinobi work. 08:42.213 --> 08:47.733 It’s in this peaceful period that the  legend of the shinobi begins to really form. 08:47.733 --> 08:50.773 Iga scholars craft the legend of Tokugawa’s escape 08:50.773 --> 08:54.933 through their homeland, and boast  of the skills of their samurai: 08:54.933 --> 08:57.733 “They have a supernatural power as spies, 08:57.733 --> 09:02.613 so no matter how secure a fortress  is, they can enter it secretly.” 09:02.613 --> 09:07.573 The kabuki theatres bring these stories to  life – characters who can turn invisible, 09:07.573 --> 09:11.093 or transform into toads, rats and slugs. 09:11.093 --> 09:15.573 Actors use gunpowder, throwing  knives and acrobatics. 09:15.573 --> 09:20.773 One trope becomes commonplace: characters  dress in black to signal invisibility, 09:20.773 --> 09:25.093 just like the stagehands in all-black  outfits who aren’t meant to be seen. 09:25.093 --> 09:30.533 The building blocks of the modern  ninja myth are coming together. 09:30.533 --> 09:35.333 While the legend of the Iga shinobi takes  shape, the connection of the castle detectives 09:35.333 --> 09:41.573 to Iga grows weaker as generations of new  shoguns bring their own men to protect them. 09:41.573 --> 09:45.733 But once the outside world comes  knocking and Japan has to react, 09:45.733 --> 09:48.413 shinobi skills will come in handy once more. 09:51.333 --> 09:53.125 The World Comes to Japan 09:53.813 --> 09:58.933 In 1854, two centuries after Marubashi  nearly burned Edo to the ground, 09:58.933 --> 10:03.893 the capital is under threat once  again – but this time not from within. 10:03.893 --> 10:09.733 Nine huge US gunboats are anchored in the port  of Yokohama, cannons pointed at nearby Edo. 10:09.733 --> 10:12.773 Japan has been off limits  to foreigners for centuries. 10:12.773 --> 10:19.493 But Commodore Perry of the US Navy demands  open trade and diplomatic relations… or else. 10:19.493 --> 10:24.453 For years, the British, Russian, and French  empires have been pressing for entry. 10:24.453 --> 10:29.733 The Americans are just the most recent,  and the most open with their threats. 10:29.733 --> 10:36.453 Japan’s neighbour, China, presents a terrifying  example of how badly this contact can go. 10:36.453 --> 10:39.813 Detective Sawamura Yasusuke watches the strangers 10:39.813 --> 10:43.733 in their odd clothes as he  tries to assess the danger. 10:43.733 --> 10:49.733 He’s not here to assassinate Perry – he’s not  like the shinobi he’s read about or seen on stage. 10:49.733 --> 10:53.493 He’s posing as a simple official  in the Japanese delegation. 10:53.493 --> 10:58.453 The Americans have no idea that Japan has  developed the most sophisticated intelligence 10:58.453 --> 11:05.333 gathering system in the world, or that they’ve  let a professional spy onto their flagship. 11:05.333 --> 11:09.733 But Sawamura’s talents, honed in the  feudal society of Tokugawa Japan, 11:09.733 --> 11:13.333 are of only limited use in this new modern world. 11:13.333 --> 11:16.133 A single spy can’t change the fates of empires, 11:16.133 --> 11:20.613 and you don’t need shinobi training  to see that the Shogun is outmatched. 11:20.613 --> 11:25.333 Japan’s doors slowly creak open to the world. 11:25.333 --> 11:30.373 The ancient military dictatorship was already  cracking under economic and political pressure, 11:30.373 --> 11:35.413 and many are outraged that the Shogun  has allowed Japan’s humiliation. 11:35.413 --> 11:39.333 The detectives were espionage  experts in isolationist Japan, 11:39.333 --> 11:41.733 but their usefulness is running out. 11:41.733 --> 11:44.773 With a weakened shogunate and angry feudal lords, 11:44.773 --> 11:49.173 Japan is closer to civil war  than it has been for 300 years. 11:49.173 --> 11:52.693 The new Emperor Meiji seizes  the opportunity to sweep away 11:52.693 --> 11:57.733 the Shogunate and its institutions – like  the castle detectives, replacing them with 11:57.733 --> 12:03.173 professional secret police, more suited  to the modern Japan he seeks to create. 12:03.173 --> 12:09.005 Three centuries after the province was razed,  the shinobi legacy of Iga finally dies. 12:11.573 --> 12:12.912 Enter the Ninja 12:13.733 --> 12:19.653 This may have been the end of the shinobi of  history, but it is the birth of the Ninja of myth. 12:19.653 --> 12:23.333 The Edo Period saw an explosion  of art and literature and in the 12:23.333 --> 12:26.773 20th century these stories gained new life. 12:26.773 --> 12:33.813 In 1936, martial artist Fujita Seiko claims  secret knowledge of ‘ninjutsu’ from Kōka, 12:33.813 --> 12:39.677 able to withstand poisons and torture,  impersonate animals, and move silently. 12:39.677 --> 12:44.133 His work reads like a parody, but  some people take it seriously. 12:44.133 --> 12:49.653 After World War 2, Japan needed to rebuild,  and that included its national confidence. 12:49.653 --> 12:54.933 Storytellers looked back into a  mythologised past, and they found ‘Shinobi’. 12:54.933 --> 13:00.053 Kabuki tales and woodblock prints  evolved into movies and manga. 13:00.053 --> 13:03.813 These stories weren’t about the  surveillance of the Tokugawa secret police, 13:03.813 --> 13:09.493 but shadow warriors who sneak into  castles and assassinate villains. 13:09.493 --> 13:14.293 Shinobi had begun as a tactic  and became an identity. 13:14.293 --> 13:20.053 It feels traditional, but what we know and  love about ninja is less than a century old. 13:20.053 --> 13:25.653 The straight ninja sword first appears in  a 1956 tourism advert, the throwing star is 13:25.653 --> 13:32.213 from a 1957 movie, and the ancient martial  art of ninjutsu is a post-war creation. 13:32.213 --> 13:36.053 Even the word ‘ninja’ came  out of the 20th century. 13:36.053 --> 13:40.213 Shinobi warfare wasn’t unique  to the samurai of Iga and Kōka, 13:40.213 --> 13:44.773 but their skills entered the storybooks  as their descendants entered the castle. 13:44.773 --> 13:50.053 As detectives they adapted to uncover  conspiracies and clamp down on dissent, 13:50.053 --> 13:52.853 but they couldn’t change with the times forever. 13:52.853 --> 13:58.693 When the Shogunate itself was swept away,  the shinobi went too – but they survive 13:58.693 --> 14:04.773 as shadows and stories long after the  world that created them has disappeared.