Ninjutsu and spiritual practice

When you hear "ninja," you probably picture black clothing and silent figures on castle roofs. That's the image films, manga and anime have painted, and there's a bit of truth in it. What's less well known is that the world of the ninja also had a spiritual side, closely tied to esoteric Buddhism, Shugendō, Shintō and shamanic Daoism. That side is what this article is about.

The word ninja 忍者, in older sources usually shinobi 忍び, is fascinating in itself. The character 忍 is made up of a blade 刃 above a heart 心. It means "to endure" or "to conceal oneself." Put simply, a ninja is someone who holds out even with a blade resting on the heart, so to speak.

Kuji Kiri and the ninja 九字切り

The best-known spiritual element associated with the ninja is Kuji Kiri 九字切り, "cutting the nine characters." It involves nine hand signs, nine mantras and nine cuts through the air. You see them constantly in manga and anime, but very few people know where they come from.

Kuji Kiri doesn't come from Ninjutsu. The first sources on the nine characters come from China. They reached Japan in several waves over centuries through exchange with China and were developed there, over further centuries, into a system of their own that blends Daoism, Japanese folk magic and the esoteric Buddhism of Shingon. The yamabushi, the mountain ascetics of Shugendō, played a big part in this. The ninja were in close contact with the yamabushi, and that's how Kuji Kiri became part of their tradition too.

Each of the nine characters is associated with a quality, such as strengthening body and mind, directing energy or the intuition to sense danger early. That sounds a bit like superpowers. What's meant, though, is the development of perception and inner strength that you find in many spiritual traditions. For the ninja it was mainly about protection and about gathering mind and focus, well before things ever got serious.

Shugendō, the way of the mountain ascetics 修験道

Shugendō 修験道 means something like "the way of gaining spiritual power through austerities." It's the tradition of the yamabushi, literally "those who lie down in the mountains." Strictly speaking, Shugendō is a blend of esoteric Buddhism, Shintō, Daoist magic and the old veneration of mountains. The yamabushi fast, practice under waterfalls, walk the mountains for days on end and perform fire rituals. For them the mountain itself is a kind of temple.

The regions of Iga and Kōga, home to the best-known ninja families, lie in hilly country where yamabushi were active as well. So it's easy to see how the two worlds touched. Exactly how close the contact was is hard to say today, since the ninja, by the nature of their work, didn't write much down about their practice. I think it's very likely that much of what was attributed to the ninja in the way of special abilities goes back to this meditative practice.

My path in Ninjutsu 道

I started martial arts as a teenager in Bremen. At 13 I went to a newly opened Japanese school in my neighborhood and asked about a karate master, and it turned into a trade: karate for German. That's also how I came to Japanese. For me, martial arts have always been a path to peace and never a matter of beating people up.

In Ninjutsu I stand in the Taguchi line. I'm the successor of Grandmaster Taguchi Sensei in Ōsaka. That connection is why I know Ninjutsu not just from books but from my own practice. You'll find more on the website of my dōjō, Tengu Akasha Dōjō.

On the other side there's research. I studied East Asian art history and Japanese studies in Heidelberg and did about three years of research at Kyoto University, often in temples. My doctoral dissertation is titled Die Siddham in der japanischen Kunst – Rituale der Heilung (Siddham in Japanese Art – Rituals of Healing). It deals with the Siddham script in Japanese esoteric Buddhism, which is exactly the world the mantras and rituals associated with the ninja come from. I've been on the spiritual path for more than 30 years, more than 25 of them professionally. Since my time in Kyoto I've kept going back to Japan for longer stays.

What connects Ninjutsu and Shingon Reiki 繋がり

Hand signs, mantras, protective rituals and the ability to focus the mind show up both around Ninjutsu and in Shingon Buddhism. My own take is that this isn't because one descends from the other, but because both draw on the same sources: esoteric Buddhism, Shugendō, Shintō and shamanic Daoism.

In Shingon Reiki these strands come together. The foundation is the three mysteries (Japanese: sanmitsu 三密), body, speech and mind, or in other words hand sign, mantra and inner image. These are the same tools you know from Kuji Kiri. The setting is different, though, because Shingon Reiki is about your own spiritual development and not about combat.

Many people first come across hand signs and Japanese spirituality through pop culture. If you had the feeling there was something real behind them, you weren't wrong.

Ninjutsu today 現在

The days of espionage and night raids on castles are over, thankfully. What remains is martial arts as a path, and part of that is the ability to stay calm and clear when things get hectic around you. These days you need that less on the battlefield than in ordinary life.

In Shingon Reiki, Kuji Kiri is a master path of its own with nine levels. It starts with a foundation of meditation, purification and protection, and something new is added level by level. How the hand signs and mantras are practiced belongs in the initiations, the live events and the community. You'll find more on the structure in the article on the Kuji Kiri Master Path. What first fascinated you about the ninja?