Introduction

Throughout the ages, ninja have been featured in numerous works of entertainment and have been in the spotlight. On the other hand, their reality is not well known.
In this exhibition, we define ninja who show off their splendor and flamboyance on the stage of fiction as "ninja in the entertainment world", and real ninja who worked in secret behind the scenes of history as “real ninja''. This exhibition examines both kinds of ninja.
Various names such as "shinobi" and "suppa" have been used for ninja depending on the era and region, but in this exhibition, "ninja" is generally used, for the sake of readability. (For more information, see Scroll 2, "Origin and Naming of Ninja").

I am Toad-chan, a buddy of the famous ninja Jiraiya! This is a place of training for those who want to learn more about ninja. If you read from Scroll 1 to the Secret Scroll, you will be able to learn about the difference between ninja in the entertainment world and real ninja, and about the details of secret ninjutsu textbooks.
Also, here's something special. This place of training hides some ninja trivia. If you click on the toads scattered all over this exhibit and collect the keywords, important words for ninja will emerge.
Follow me, everybody! Let's go!

These high-definition images are available in the National Diet Library Digital Collections. Those that are labelled NDL Digital Collections can be viewed via the Internet on any computer. Those labelled Restricted access can only be viewed on computer terminals at the NDL or an affiliated library, or via the Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Individuals. For more information, please refer to the webpages for the Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Libraries and Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Individuals.
A string in square brackets is a NDL Call Number.
The original Japanese-language article first appeared in April 2023 as part of Small Electronic Exhibitions Kaleidoscope of Books, No. 33. Please note that the descriptions herein are based on information that was current at that time.

Next
1st Scroll
Ninja in the Entertainment World