YKS 2019 · Soru 80

(I) The ninja emerged in Japan in the mid-15th century as a class of specially trained warriors. (II) The ninja have typically been seen as the antithesis of the honourable samurai, but the relationship is in fact much more complicated. (III) They spent their entire lives improving the skills, disciplines and abilities they needed to become masters of ninjutsu. (IV) Training began at a very early age and like samurai, they began almost as soon as they could walk, learning how to fight with a vast array of weapons, from katanas, a long single-edged samurai sword, to throwing stars. (V) They were extremely fit and capable of impressive physical feats such as running for a long period of time, scaling castle walls, leaping great distances and fighting multiple opponents without weapons.