299:. According to this document, the main function of the kunoichi was espionage, finding functions in enemy house services, to gather knowledge, gain trust or listen to conversations. This "technique to utilize a woman" was employed for infiltration purposes when it was difficult for a man to infiltrate. There is a technique in which a kunoichi uses a double-bottomed wooden chest to infiltrate a person into a building by telling the wife of the house that she is retrieving a wooden chest. Both of these techniques however are described as "techniques through the usage of a woman", and while Seiko Fujita considers these techniques to be evidence of female ninja, Yoshimaru and Yamada consider 'female ninja' not to have existed as such.
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Recent research by Mie
University historians Yūji Yamada, Katsuya Yoshimaru, and others indicates that there are no historical records of the existence of female ninja who conducted reconnaissance and subversive activities in the same manner as their male counterparts. According to Yoshimaru,
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series. During the Edo period, kunoichi was used as a cant term to refer to a woman and had no meaning for a female ninja. However, the term has very few examples of usage, most likely because the writing style at the time was not composed of the three strokes attributed to kunoichi.
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historians have concluded that there are no historical records of female ninja performing reconnaissance and subversive activities in the same manner as their male counterparts. However, the late 17th century ninja handbook
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Although kunoichi have appeared in numerous creative works, including novels, TV-dramas, movies, and
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404:. Katsuya Yoshimaru, Yūji Yamada, 吉丸雄哉, 山田雄司 (Shohan ed.). 2017. pp. 168–170, 184.
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kunoichi came to mean "female ninja" in the creative works largely due to the influence of
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The term is thought to derive from the names of characters that resemble the three
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in which a woman is used for infiltration and information-gathering, which
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Another early mention of kunoichi exists in the poem compilation
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compiles the knowledge of the ninja clans in the regions of
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229:The word "kunoichi" was not used frequently in the
306:by Waki Enshū from 1680, and was used to refer to
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454:. Kadokawa Gakugei Shuppan 角川学芸出版. 序章「忍者とは何か」.
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478:(忍術からスパイ戦へ). Higashi Shisha, 1942. pp 83.
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450:Yamada, Yuji (2016).
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285:of a woman)
488:Categories
366:References
326:Onna-musha
231:Edo period
428:cite book
420:982054805
139:Etymology
94:in 1964.
320:See also
283:ninjutsu
256:Ninpōchō
204:katakana
189:hiragana
127:ninjutsu
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32:Japanese
27:Kunoichi
354:Tsunade
217:" is a
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219:kanji
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89:忍法八犬伝
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434:link
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