Читать книгу The Ninja and Their Secret Fighting Art онлайн

23 страница из 32

The few ninja families that remained in the mountain wilderness outside the old capital of Kyoto shrouded themselves in total secrecy, staying completely concealed from the Tokugawa shoguns in their new capital, Edo (today’s Tokyo) . Meanwhile, the ninja under contract to the shoguns decayed into ineffectuality. The Shimabara rebellion of 1637-38, in which Christian peasants living near Nagasaki revolted against religious and economic oppression, provided an opportunity for the shogun’s ninja to go back into action. A group of ten former Iga ninja, the oldest of whom was 63, was resurrected from decades of retirement and sent to the site of the battle to gather intelligence. The aged ninja were able to steal food supplies for the government troops, but since none of them were linguists, they were unable to imitate the Kyushu dialect necessary for slipping into the rebels’ fortress and obtaining information. The mission was not considered successful, although the government troops did quell the rebellion.