Defending Yourself
Against the Enemy

敵防キと云習

Tekifusegi to Iu Narai

This next chapter is a brief but expansive look into the reality of being a ninja, a glimpse at the world that for so long was hidden from us. Again Natori shatters our view of the ninja by stating that a ninja should not sacrifice his life at any time if he can avoid it. It is completely naive of us to perpetuate the stereotypical idea of a ninja cavalierly throwing away his life. Like the knights of medieval Europe, a ninja would have been a very expensive commodity to retain. The cost in training a full-fledged shinobi soldier must have been vast indeed and to simply dispose of them would have been foolhardy. Here we see the true nature of the shinobi and the value for his life.

What we do have in this section is confirmation of the stereotype that the ninja was not only dishonorable, but also encouraged to be so. Unlike the samurai, who, like the medieval knight, has a code of honor, the ninja was spared such restrictions. Natori teaches his students that it is not only acceptable for a shinobi to behave dishonorably, but that it is almost unavoidable.

An even more stereotypical trait of the ninja is displayed here, which is the ability to use covert activities to steal into a samurai home and steal his pair of swords to render him less lethal, or to destroy the enemy’s arsenal to “take the teeth out of the bear,” so to speak.

The last colorful glimpse you’ll get is one that tends to be ignored or diminished: homosexuality in the warrior culture. Like the famed warriors of Sparta, homosexuality helped to create bonds of love between soldiers. The same is also apparent in shudo “the love of the young” in the samurai class and their acceptance of homosexuality as a part of their culture. It is very interesting to see what Natori says about using sex to get what you want, and while this might hint at the subject of homosexuality, it could also be a reference to supplying prostitution, but we simply do not know.

What a shinobi is meant to do is fulfill their mission without losing their life. Those ninja who can succeed on a mission are, in the end, described as good shinobi, even if they sometimes get behind schedule or hesitate.

If the target gets angry with you about something, it is best if you lay the blame on another person and walk away as soon as possible to diffuse the situation. Common sense tells you that it is a form of dishonorable behavior to pin the blame for what you have done on someone else, a shinobi shouldn’t feel that way and should not regard it as disgraceful at all.

One of the jobs of a shinobi is to get at the enemy’s long and short swords, taking them away before a confrontation. Also, you can hamper the enemy by taking other measures, such as damaging or removing the blades or breaking the spearheads, this is also an option for a ninja. All such things are the arts of the shinobi.

You can ply someone with booze, sex, pleasure, or gambling for the purpose of taking him in and getting your way. As you will be included in those pleasures, you must keep control of your mind and be sure not to lose yourself or your self-control.