"Ninja: 1,000 Years of the Shadow Warrior," by John Man
Jeff Glor talks to John Man about, "Ninja: 1,000 Years of the Shadow Warrior."
Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?
John Man: My previous book was about the samurai -- actually the so-called last of the samurai, Saigo Takamori, who led a disastrous rebellion in 1877. The obvious next step was to explore the world of the ninja, who you might term the counter-samurai, because they were the opposite of the colourful, display-loving, death-seeking samurai. As spies and occasionally assassins, the ninja were covert, secretive and dedicated to surviving come what may.
JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?
JM: I thought before starting research that the martial arts traditions associated with the ninjas would provide a lot of good material. I was wrong. It's almost totally invented long after the true ninjas vanished when Japan was unified around 1600. To me, the real ninjutsu -- "the way of the ninjas" -- is much more interesting than any martial art. The ninjas emerged in a small area around today's towns of Iga-Ueno and KMka, where in the middle ages villages became fed up with Japan's warlords and set about forming themselves into self-defense communes. The ninjas were farmer-warriors. In some ways, the communes were incipient democracies. The final surprise was to discover that their homeland is a delightful backwater of hills, forests, rivers and rice-fields. Ninjas of course are all the rage, but the tourist industry, like the countryside, is charmingly under-developed.
JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?
JM: My father used to be a farmer. We had a D7 caterpillar tractor, the size and power of which made me gasp. The engine was so massive it needed a little engine to start it. In another life, I would have fulfilled my ambition as an eight-year-old and become a specialist in earth-moving machinery.
JG: What else are you reading right now?
JM: Besides the New York Review of Books, which always takes a while, I'm finishing "Is That a Fish in Your Ear?" by David Bellos. The reference is, of course, to the babel fish in "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which, if you stick it in your ear, translates any language in the universe into your own. Bellos's book is about the joys and tribulations of translation.
For more on "Ninja" visit the Harper Collins website
