When most people think of ninjas and their weapons they imagine katanas, throwing stars, and poison needles.
While The elusive ninjas did utilize all those weapons and more, one of the most powerful weapons in their arsenal is often the least discussed.
I am referring to the ninjas use of deliberate disinformation.
false information which is intended to mislead, especially propaganda issued by a government organization to a rival power or the media.”
A clever ninja could defeat many enemies without ever drawing a blade or dispensing any poison. All it could take is for a ninja to feed false information to the right person to stimulate their enemy into a trap or inefficient action.
An example of how dangerous is tactic could be is to imagine that an enemy warlord is considering going into battle.
He has 10,000 Samurai at his disposal. He and his advisors discuss that they are willing to go to war if their numbers are superior. They send a scout to determine the size of the enemy force. Now the ninja comes into play and either replaces the scout or feeds the scout information that is inaccurate, insinuating that the enemy troop consists of only 6,000 soldiers. When in fact, they actually have 12,000. This disinformation would embolden the warlord and his advisers to commit their 10,000 soldiers and attack, not knowing that they are expected and outnumbered.
The ninja that created the disinformation would then be responsible for defeating an army of 10,000 soldiers without ever having drawn a weapon himself.
The historical and political implications of such forces being defeated had a huge impact on the course of history in Japan.
Such is the power that ninjas wielded through disinformation.
This is just one example of how ninjas wielded the power of disinformation against their enemies. There are many examples throughout history of how this information was used to defeat large forces or topple a regime.
Ninjas also utilized the art of disinformation to maintain their own levels of secrecy in society. This tactic made it difficult for their enemies to learn much about the organization of ninjas, who the leaders were, or how they might find them.
The level of disinformation spread by ninjas is also one of the top reasons that modern historians today still have trouble piecing together accurate records of the true impact and then just had throughout history.
One might surmise that disinformation is part of the legacy left behind by the ninjas, as disinformation is heavily utilized by governments and military forces throughout the world today.