6. The Myth of the Ninjas as Super Assassins
In pop culture, the word “ninja” conjures up images of masked warriors, all in black, who scaled walls and carried out assassinations all over feudal Japan. People often picture ninjas as covert killers who used exotic blades, throwing stars, and smoke bombs to kill their targets, all while locked in a feud with the more honorable samurai. That is plain myth. In reality, such super cool ninjas never existed. The ones who did exist did not fit modern popular perceptions of what ninjas are supposed to have acted and looked like.
Ninjas did not wear black outfits as part of a uniform getup. At least no more so than average Japanese people of the period wore black clothes. What we consider ninjas were simply scouts, spies, and mercenaries, hired by various armies in feudal Japan. To carry out their tasks, they blended into the local population. They did not use throwing stars, but did use thrown poisoned darts known as bo shurikens. They did not have a blood feud with samurai. Indeed, quite a few ninjas were actually samurai.
