The French Bookshop :: Histoire & Documents :: Japon :: Ninja : 1000 Years of the Shadow Warriors (John Man)

Today, ninjas are the stuff of myth and legend, frequently found in the fictions of comic books, films and computer games. But they were once real, the medieval equivalent of the SAS : spies, saboteurs and assassins. In their secrecy, stealth and determination to survive, they were the opposite of the overt, self-destructive samurai. Could they fly ? Make themselves invisible ? Of course not, but their skills gave them a magical aura. As a result, martial artists and storytellers have turned them into fantasy creatures, gracing the annals of popular culture from James Bond to Mutant Turtles.
In Ninja, John Man goes in search of the truth. In a journey to the heartland of the ninjas, he takes us from their origins over 1,000 years ago, through their heyday in Japan's civil wars to World War II and the real last of the ninjas, Hiroo Onoda, who held out in the Philippine jungle for thirty years.
From feudal Japan to twenty first century Hollywood, John Man's epic story reveals the reality behind one of the world's most enduring legends.

'This racy popular history of a difficult and often mythologised subject should appeal to the armchair warrior in us all.' (Literary Review)
'Man's wry humour and treks through Japan's mountains, valleys, temples and shrines adds a vivid and personable dimension to his questing spirit.' (Metro)

SKU SKU26807

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