Who were the Chinese “Ninja”? – Part 3
This is the last part in our mini series on where we question “who were the Chinese Ninja?”. In this video we tie the history and the legend together. Make sure you watch to the end!
Category Archives: Operatives
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Who were the Chinese Ninja – Part 2
This is the second part in our series on “Who were the “Chinese Ninja”. In this episode we explore the Ye Bu Shou 夜不收 – an elite night operations unit of the Ming military.
Who were the Chinese “Ninja”?
In this video, Les talks about the general historical background to the origin and purpose of the Ye Ban To 夜半偷 – the Midnight Thief.
Dié 諜 – “spy/reconnaissance scout”
The first really important Chinese character we need to investigate in the ancient Chinese arts of stealth is dié 諜. It is composed with the radical for “words” or “speech” and a right hand component for the foliage of a […]
The Ye Bu Shou 夜不收 mentioned in Ji Jiao Xin Shu 紀效新書
The Ji Xiao Xin Shu is a military manual by the great Ming dynasty general Qi Jiguang 戚繼光. Its primary significance is in advocating for a combined arms approach to warfare using five types of infantry and two types of […]
A Tribute to the Ye Bu Shou 夜不收 on the Great Wall
The inscription in the above picture was chiselled into the stone on the Great Wall in Liaoning province, China. The Ye Bu Shou were so respected for their brave, selfless sacrifice that someone felt it necessary to leave it in […]
Yin Fa 隱法 to Ninpo 忍法 to Ninjutsu 忍術
The following is our hypothesis on the etymology of the Chinese characters used in describing the Far Eastern arts of stealth across history and territory. The original, North Eastern Chinese Art of stealth was known as Yin Fa 隱法. From […]
The Ye Bu Shou 夜不收 Mentioned in the Wu Bei Zhi 武備志
The Wu Bei Zhi 武備志 is one of the most significant of Chinese Military Treatises. In this voluminous work of the Ming period, we find the elite night forces of the Ye Bu Shou 夜不收 mentioned a total of eight […]
Inside the Household – Techniques of the Midnight Thief
The following quote continues on from the section on “Running Roofs” skill recorded by Bai Yansheng; 4/ Probing: To familiarize oneself with the layout of the house and to avoid bumping into furniture, the tip of the sword is used […]
“Running Roofs” Techniques of the Midnight Thief
The “running roofs”, classic techniques of the Midnight Thief, were recorded in extraordinary detail as follows; 1/ Treading on the roof tops: A rule of thumb is to tip-toe along the Yin Yang tiles, that is, treading with the front […]
Clothing and Equipment of the Midnight Thief
We encountered several verbal descriptions of stealth operatives along our research journey. They were usually anecdotes from the last generation to see these enigmatic figures in the dark corners or on the rooftops, just as the Chinese movies depict. The […]
About the Ye Bu Shou 夜不收
Although relatively unheard of due to the nature of their duty, Jian Er Shou 尖兒手, lit. ‘Sharp hands’ and Ye Bu Shou 夜不收, lit. ‘Unreceived by night’ or ‘Unsheltered by night’ [we prefer “unrestrained by night” as a translation by […]
The Penetrators
In search of the Chinese Military use of stealth we came across the word “Penetrator/s”, used to describe agents that specifically employed stealthy methods to gain access to fortifications and compounds for intelligence gathering, arson, assassination and so on. The […]
The First Record of Stealth Used in Chinese Strategic Warfare
History does us a great favour by recording the activities of the first mentioned stealth operative in strategic warfare. The time is the Spring and Autumn period in China approximately 771BC to 476 BC. At that moment the market thief […]
Sun Tzu – The Use of Spies in Strategic Warfare
Sunzi (Sun Tzu) 孫子 is well known today for his treatise on military strategy – The Art of War 孫子兵法. This work is often the first to be referenced when it comes to the use of Chinese spies and spy […]
