忍び (Shinobi) is a term often associated with ninjas of ancient Japan.

忍び really means stealing (into), a spy, a sneaking thief, stealth, or a surreptitious visit to a house of ill repute. However, 忍び is sometimes used to refer to an outcast ninja.

This term was somehow given a better report when various video games, TV series, and even a movie came out with this Shinobi title.

忍び are sometimes Romanized as two words: Shin obi or Shin-obi.

Note: The first character can be written as or .

闇打狐狸明打狼 is a Chinese proverb that translates as: Hunt foxes stealthily, [and] hunt wolves openly [just as they do].

Figuratively, this means:
Different opponents require different appropriate strategies.

This is a suggestion that you should know your enemy and know that each enemy is different, therefore requires a specialized approach (attack).

See Also:  Art of War Military

忍術 is the “art of the ninja” in Japanese. Most Japanese people associate ninjas with romance and reverence for Japan's ancient past. But most will accept that the ninja is an idea or way of life whose time has passed. However, this has not stopped floods of movies about ninjas and dojos offering Ninjutsu training from keeping the idea of the ninja alive in modern times.

My modern Japanese dictionary defines this as “assassination, stealth, and combat techniques” or “fighting art of the ninja.”

Note that when writing this as Kanji, Japanese tend to write the first character in the form shown to the right. Because this is specifically a Japanese title, we only suggest a Japanese calligrapher for this selection - and you will get the form shown to the right if you do that (please ignore the fact that some of the images you see during the following pages in the options process will be the Chinese/alternate form).