Ninja Code of Conduct

The ninja also known as Shinobi had a set of rules which defined the way they operated and helped maintain their high stature and position in the feudal Japanese system. The code of conduct was important in helping the warriors keep their cool and not endanger the mission unnecessarily. The most important thing was for the Shinobi to be instrumental in achieving glory for their village or country. Everything else came after that.

Some of the rules are:

1.       A shinobi must put their mission first. Nothing else could be prioritized than the mission. Family and personal gratification came second to the glory of successful mission.

2.       Never shed tears. The ninja ideal was to achieve the emotionless and show of any emotion was considered a major weakness.

3.       Commander’s instructions were to be followed to the latter. For every successful mission, there must be a leader to keep everyone else in check. Once a leader issued instructions, it wasn’t in the best interests of the ninja to defy them.

4.       Seeing hidden meanings with hidden meanings is a must for the ninja. Have you ever watched the inception? It can give you a glimpse of how a ninja was supposed to think and pay attention so they don’t miss any clues. One has to remember that ninja operations involved high levels of secrecy and thus a sort of code language had to be developed. Any ninja worth his skills wouldn’t miss a clue that leads to another clue.

5.       Ninjas must prepare before they have to. Just like the scouts, a ninja had to be always prepared. Attacks can happen anytime and being ready for the worst can help save your skin.

6.       Warriors must never show a weakness. Just like the second rule where warriors never shed tears, any show of weakness was frowned upon. Ninjas were to work on making themselves emotionless as it made them more effective warriors.

Find more rules here.

While these rules were important to any student who wanted to become accomplished in nunjitsu, they were not infallible. Ninjas were still human and expelling all their emotions might be the Shinobi ideal, possible but not achievable to many.

These warriors were also to know that these rules could bend to fit the occasion. For example a female ninja could use her emotions to manipulate men and fool them to their own destruction.

The last rule that made you a true ninja was this: never giving up!