I’m Rob Tuck, an academic at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, specializing in Japanese literature and history.1 I write about these two topics mostly through the figure of the ‘ninja.’
Most academics have steered well clear of the topic of the ninja, for various reasons, so there’s a real lack of high-quality information on the topic, especially in English. That’s where I come in.
This Substack will provide critical, evidence-based discussions of ninja history, of the ninja as literary figures, and analysis of what’s happening in Japan studies more generally. We’ll also be reviewing the major books on the topic available in English, translating some of the most famous ninja fiction, and providing translations/summaries of some of the best work on the topic in Japanese.
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partial translations and summaries of Japanese-language scholarship on the ninja. There is good stuff out there, and I’ll be bringing it to you.
translations of classic ‘ninja’ novels, such as the well-known Sarutobi Sasuke stories from the early 20th century.
the real deep-dive research - the stuff that takes work and turns up things we didn’t know before.
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Please note that I write here in a personal capacity; all views and opinions are my own, and not representative of or endorsed by ASU.
