Lecture No.5: "Ninjutsu and Youjutsu"
"Ninjutsu and Youjutsu" (summary)
Lecturer: Katsuya Yoshimaru
Ninjutsu can be categorized into two different types: one was actually used by "Shinobi" as a historically existing person, the other was magically used by "Ninja" as a fictitious character. Based on historical records and descriptions in Ninjutsu-sho, we can come to the conclusion that the ninjutsu for "Shinobi" was techniques for their duties; techniques for their normal duties to penetrate and to spy in enemy territories, and techniques for emergencies to penetrate into enemy territories for spying and additionally for arson and assassination.
At the time when the novels "Tobikatou", "Kana-zoushi" and "Ukiyo-zoushi" were written, the ninjutsu in literature was techniques, for sneaking into places to steal valuable things. In the novels Kimura Hitachino-kami or Goemon Ishikawa used their techniques in these ways.
Youjutsu, on the other hand, was something rather unrealistic. It was described as a fantastic technique in the world of modern literature or entertainments, for example, the technique to be invisible, techniques for flying, shadow cloning, channeling and transforming oneself into a toad or a rat etc.
In short, we can say that Ninjutsu can fall into the category of youjutsu, but the reverse. But,as time passed from Taisho period to Showa, ninjutsu became a byword of youjutsu. Meaning that Youjutsu-tsukai (masters of youjutsu), such as characters like Jiraiya, Danjyo Nikki and Tokubei Tenjiku, also became recognized as Ninjutsu-tsukai (masters of ninjutsu).
The following reasons serve as background for this indication;
The grounds concerning the origin of ninjutsu became unclear and people thought that it's like Sennin magic (hermit) or Bateren (Jesuits). There were some similarities, such as, making symbolic gestures with their fingers or writing their hidden techniques into a roll book to protect their secret and also working as Shinobi using Youjutsu.
Moreover, ninjutsu is related to Shugendo (Japanese mountain asceticism-shamanism) and had some supernatural aspects which were derived from this Shugendo. This aspect could also give people a similar and magical image as Youjutsu.
