In Search of the Niinja by Antony Cummins Page A

However, the main point to try to establish is the social position of a shinobi within an army and within the command structure of armed regimes. The following document is a record of the men left behind by the warlord Kato Kiyomasa to defend his castle of Kumamoto whilst he took part in the Keicho invasion of Korea (1597–98).
    The list consists of names and positions, such as Mori Kanzaemon who took charge of 100 archers and Tadera Hisadayu who took command of eleven mounted warriors. Listed amongst them and equal at least in being mentioned is a man named Tusda Hyobu, a shinobi-gashira or ninja captain who has command of ten people, presumably ten ninjas. This example can be seen in the last four ideograms on the left hand side of the image; they read as ‘ Shinobi-gashira [including] ten men’. In other records, the listing of three shinobi-gashira who commanded two or three shinobi each can be seen, showing that the shinobi groups were under the command of a ninja captain.

    The term ‘ shinobi-gashira [including] ten men’ can be seen in the bottom left of this image.
    This truly scotches the myth of the samurai versus ninja and defines the ninja as actual samurai, who were well established within the ranks of standard armies.

Enemy Ninja
    Ideogram:
    Onyomi reading: Tekinin
    Kunyomi reading: Teki no shinobi
    The simple concept of a ninja who serves a lord that is in opposition to ‘your’ lord and thus is considered the enemy.

Ninja Poems
    Ideogram:
    Onyomi reading: Ninka
    Kunyomi reading: Shinobi uta
    These are in the form of Japanese Tanka poetry and are centred on themes that relate to ninja activity with the aim of disseminating knowledge to future generations.

Ninja Gunpowder
    Ideogram:
    Onyomi reading: None
    Kunyomi reading: Shinobi yakigusuri
    A form of gunpowder used by the ninja in some of their tools.

Ninja Torch
    Ideogram:
    Onyomi reading: None
    Kunyomi reading: Shinobi taimatsu
    A torch specifically used by the ninja or used for shinobi activity.

    All of the above were found in relation to ninja activity within their grammatical placement and thus are known to refer to ninja. Having now established that more often than not the ideogram for ‘ nin ’ is used without reference to ninja and that each example has to be checked for its own context, we will move on to show the various slight variations in the form of the ideogram itself.

Variations on the Ideogram
    The ideogram is of course of Chinese origin and means ‘perseverance’ or to ‘steal in’, and was established long before the shinobi of Japan came to be. Japanese text can be divided into block and cursive style, the former being a clear image and the latter being generally a form of connected or ‘sloppy’ writing. Examples found in Japanese literature:

    The standard ideogram for ‘ nin ’.

    The ideogram ‘ nin ’ from the Shinobi Hiden (1560), transcribed in 1733.

    The ideogram for ‘ nin ’ from the Shoninki of 1681, transcribed in the mid 1700s.

    The ideogram for ‘ nin ’ from the Otsubohon school of horse riding, Edo Period.

    The ideogram for ‘ nin ’ from the Kusunoki Masashige Ikkan no Sho manual of the Edo Period, accompanied by the phonetic spelling of ‘ shinobi ’.
    The following two examples come from the Edo period, however, both are in reference to the name of Oshi Castle and have no connection to the ninja, they simply spell out a name, which is a fine example of how the ideogram for shinobi is found with zero connection to the ninja and an example of how the pronunciation can be totally different. They are examples of Sosho , or cursive style writing and are difficult for most readers of Japanese.
         
    A point of interest – the diagonal dash normally inserted through the upper left part of the ‘blade’ ideogramwas originally extended and as can be seen in all of the historical examples, this dash cuts through both sides of the radical in early manuals but is drawn back and only