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Following the downfall of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868, the government-sponsored ninja schools were closed down, but several ninja masters continued to practice and teach privately over the next several decades. By the mid-1900s there were only a few descendants of these families who remembered the old skills, and attempted to carry on some of their traditions as peaceful martial arts. The history and traditions of the ninja are commemorated in a Ninja Museum in Iga-Ueno in present-day Mie Prefecture.

THE REBIRTH OF THE NINJA

Soon after the end of World War II, Japanese moviemakers began to tap the rich body of historical fact and fiction relating to the ninja, creating a new awareness and appreciation among the current generation of Japanese for the skills and feats of these feudal secret agents.

Hundreds of thousands of Westerners who spent time in Japan were also spellbound by the movie and TV versions of the remarkable ninja, with their semi-magical powers and derring-do that would put even the most capable Western agent, including James Bond, to shame.