Editing Ninja (section)

===Edo period===
After the Shimabara Rebellion, there were almost no major wars or battles until the ''[[bakumatsu]]'' era. To earn a living, ninja had to be employed by the governments of their ''[[Han system|Han]]'' (domain), or change their profession. Many lords still hired ninja, not for battle but as bodyguards or spies. Their duties included spying on other domains, guarding the daimyō, and fire patrol.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yamada|2019|pp=176–177}}</ref> A few domains like [[Tsu Domain|Tsu]], [[Hirosaki Domain|Hirosaki]] and [[Saga Domain|Saga]] continued to employ their own ninja into the ''bakumatsu'' era, although their precise numbers are unknown.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yamada|2019|pp=188–189}}</ref><ref name=Benkei/>

Many former ninja were employed as security guards by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]], though the role of espionage was transferred to newly created organizations like the ''onmitsu'' and the ''[[oniwaban]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yamada|2019|pp=174–175}}</ref> Others used their ''ninjutsu'' knowledge to become doctors, medicine sellers, merchants, martial artists, and fireworks manufacturers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yamada|2019|pp=178–179}}</ref> Some unemployed ninja were reduced to banditry, such as [[Fūma Kotarō]] and [[Ishikawa Goemon]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Yamada|2019|p=180}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
| colspan="2" | '''Ninja employed in each domain, Edo period'''<ref>{{Harvnb|Yamada|2019|p=176}}</ref>
|-
! ''[[Han system|Han]]'' (domain)
! Number of ninja
|-
|[[Kishū Domain]]
|200+
|-
|[[Kishiwada Domain]]
|50
|-
|[[Kawagoe Domain]]
|50
|-
|[[Matsue Domain]]
|30
|-
|[[Hirosaki Domain]]
|20
|-
|[[Fukui Domain]]
|12
|-
|[[Hikone Domain]]
|10
|-
|[[Okayama Domain]]
|10
|-
|[[Akō Domain]]
|5
|}

====Ninja stereotypes in theatre====
{{multiple image
| total_width=350
| image1 = 005-1134.jpg
| alt1 =
| caption1 = In ''Sakura doki onna gyoretsu'', this [[Onnagata|{{Transliteration|ja|onnagata}}]] is attended by three {{Transliteration|ja|kuroko}}.
| image2 = Ninja-and-Prince-Genji-Ukiyoe-Utagawa-Kunisada.png
| alt2 =
| caption2 = In ''[[Nise Murasaki Inaka Genji]]'', Ashikaga Mitsuuji is approached unknowingly by a ninja.
| footer = Two prints depicting [[kabuki]] plays. In Japanese theatre, ninja are often dressed as [[Kuroko|{{Transliteration|ja|kuroko}}]], stagehands in black suits, to make their attacks seem more surprising. This practice gave rise to their stereotypical black outfits.<ref name=Kamm />}}
Many ubiquitous stereotypes about ninja were developed within Edo theatre. These include their black clothing, which was supposed to imitate the outfits worn by [[Kuroko|{{Transliteration|ja|kuroko}}]], stagehands meant to be ignored by the audience; and their use of [[Shuriken|{{Transliteration|ja|shuriken}}]], which was meant to contrast with the use of swords by onstage samurai. In [[kabuki]] theatre, ninja were "dishonorable and often sorcerous counterparts" to samurai, and possessed "almost, if not outright, magical means of camouflage."<ref name=Kamm>{{cite journal|author-last=Kamm|author-first=Björn-Ole|title=Reenacting Japan's Past That Never Was: The Ninja in Tourism and Larp|journal=Reenactment Case Studies: Global Perspectives on Experiential History|pages=146–170|date=2022|access-date=7 March 2023|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iMKZEAAAQBAJ&dq=info:hYmMz5CJDXsJ:scholar.google.com/&pg=PT174|doi=10.4324/9780429445668-10}}</ref>