Photo/Illutration Rin, a member of the Hattori Hanzo and the Ninjas squad who has written a paper on ninja in Tottori province (Provided by herself)

NAGOYA--Instead of hurling "shuriken" stars or vanishing into thin air, ninja missions in Tottori province in the Edo Period (1603-1867) entailed collecting information, preventing fires and providing security.

These are the findings of a paper written by a modern-day "ninja" who is researching their lesser-known activities.  

She is a member of the Nagoya-based Hattori Hanzo and the Ninjas, a squad formed to promote tourism in Aichi Prefecture, and goes by the name of Rin.

After graduating from Keio University, Rin joined the squad in May 2017 to utilize her reflexes.

As she entertained tourists with ninja acrobatics, she started thinking about studying the history of the feudal-age undercover agents.

In April 2019, Rin was enrolled at Mie University's graduate school, which offers Japan's only course specializing in ninja and their arts.

She spent two years writing the paper based on "Tottori Hansei Shiryo" (Documents on Tottori province's administration), which has been passed down for generations by the ruling Ikeda family of the province (present-day Tottori Prefecture), and other materials.

According to her paper, ninja were primarily known as "oshinobi" in Tottori province.

Their most important task was collecting information.

They were dispatched to Sagami province, or present-day Kanagawa Prefecture, when U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry's fleet of "Black Ships" visited Japan in 1853.

The ninja were also sent to places in Tottori province when peasant uprisings occurred.

After their missions were complete, the lord directly offered them his words of appreciation as a reward.

Although the ninja's status was not high, Rin thinks that an honorary value was placed on them.

They were also engaged in fire prevention.

A diary of official duties written in 1660 by a "karo" top-ranking samurai official said that those who find the arsonist will be rewarded and that extra caution must be paid when the winds blow.

As part of their security activities, ninja served on night watches basically in pairs at Tottori Castle.

It was a common practice for them to escort the lord when he embarked on a round trip between Edo, or modern-day Tokyo, and Tottori.

While Iga and Koka ninja clans are famous, there were also Tottori-based ninja whose origins traced back to Iga province (present-day Mie Prefecture).

Some of them changed their surname to Iga.

"It can be confirmed that ninja in the early modern period placed substantial value on the lineage of Iga," Rin writes.

She continues that while ninja in Tottori province were not economically privileged, it was a role that placed importance on discipline and required a certain level of aptitude.

"It appears that they had established a unique position in Tottori province," she concludes.

"Because there are many historical materials that I haven't read yet, I want to continue my research and find out the relationships between the lord and ninja and explore other topics," she told The Asahi Shimbun.

Yuji Yamada, 58, a professor at the department of humanities of Mie University specializing in the history of ancient and medieval Japanese belief systems who is also a leading authority on ninja studies, praised Rin's work.

He said it was a great achievement for Rin to have gone through many documents to shed light on ninja in Tottori province, who had previously remained unknown.

"I want her to further advance her research on their association with ninja in other provinces, the characteristics of the ruling system by the Ikeda family and other subjects," Yamada said.

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