Research on the Ninjutsu Documents at the Library of Congress

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00951
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 03020:Japanese history-related
• Research Institution: Mie University
• Principal Investigator: Yamada Yuji 三重大学, 人文学部, 教授 (90314103)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 忍者 / 忍術 / 米国議会図書館 / 兵法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I conducted two surveys and photographs of military art books at the Thomas Jefferson Library of Congress in Washington, DC, USA, in August 2019 and August 2022. The survey was conducted by selecting books expected to be related to ninjutsu from the "Catalog of Japanese Rare Books in the Library of Congress" (Yagi Shoten, 2003), 17, "Martial Arts and Martial Arts B: Art of War," edited by the Library of Congress. These books were formerly owned by the Army General Staff Headquarters and the Military Academy, and were confiscated by GHQ after the defeat in World War II and transferred to the U.S., where they are now in the collection of the Library of Congress.
From these books, such as "Chibou Bassui," "Gunbai Yomoku-shu," and "Bukyo Zensho Seikai" (A Comprehensive Compendium of Ninjutsu), I discovered previously unknown methods of ninjutsu and ninja techniques.

Free Research Field

日本中世史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

旧陸軍関係所蔵で、現・米国議会図書館蔵書となっている兵法書の中に、忍術関係の史料が残されており、そこには忍びの姿や忍術に関する記述があることを確認できた。米国議会図書館蔵の兵法書については、目録によって書目は知られているものの、内容について調査されたことがないと思われるので、初めての調査だったと言える。そして、その中には日本に存在していない兵法書もあり、注目される。
そして、この調査は、これまで日本国内のみで調査されてきた兵法や忍術に関わる史料について、海外でも存在していることを予想させ、グローバルな視点からの今後の調査の必要性を提起するものである。