Ninja (忍者, Ninja) was a Japanese idol group managed by Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates from 1990 to 1997. They were well known for their acrobatic stage performances and remaking Hibari Misora's songs during their debut years.[1]
History
Before their debut in 1985, they were active under stage name Shounen Ninja (少年忍者), who were active as back-dancers to the Shonentai in their television stage performances and in their musical series Playzone.[1][2] In early 1988, two years before major debut, they made their first stage performances along with Otokogumi and Shonentai together as "Gosanke (少年御三家)" on Nippon Budokan.
In August 1990, they made music major debut with the single "Omatsuri Ninja" released under Nippon Columbia label.[3][4] It is partial remake of the Hibari Misora's single Matsuri Manbo released back in 1952.[3] Although the single debut at number three during its first week of release, by the end of year it has received an awards from the category "Best New Artist" on the 32nd Japan Record Awards,[5] on the 21st Japan Music Awards and on the 19th FNS Music Festival. On the same year, they made their first television appearance on the national end-year program Kōhaku Uta Gassen.[6] In 1991, with the release of the fourth single "Himiko", they started to release original songs as a group. In 1993, Shiga and Furukawa left group and released together as 6-member their final single "Harapeko". In 1994, they've releases single Do Your Best under alias stage name Yonjuushi (四銃士). In 1995, they've released cover single Money Magic, originally performed by Godiego, initialing became their first cover single for the first time in since 1991. In 1996, they've released final single "Tatoe Kimi ga Usotsuitemo", which did not chart on the Oricon Weekly Charts. With the released of the final studio album Hi La Ri, they've completely disappeared from the music scene, without public statement about hiatus or band disband.
In 2023, Shiga has confessed to the public for the first time for being the victim of the Johnny Kitagawa sexual abuse scandal.[7][8] He is active as a member of the Johnny's Association for Sexual Assault Issues.[9]
Former members
Ninja
Susumu Yanagisawa (柳沢 超, Yanagisawa Susumu, born March 7, 1967): leader
Yasunobu Shiga (志賀 泰伸, Shiga Yasunobu, born August 3, 1968)
left the group in 1994
Naoto Endo (遠藤 直人, Endou Naoto, born April 20, 1969)
Shinya Masaki (正木 慎也, Masaki Shinya, born May 29, 1969)
Nobuhide Takagi (高木 延秀, Takagi Nobuhide, born March 11, 1970)
Eiji Furukawa (古川 栄司, Furukawa Eiji, born July 11, 1971)
left the group in 1994
Shounen Ninja
Nobutoshi Nakamura (中村 亘利, Nakamura Nobutoshi, born February 9, 1970)
was part of the Shounen Ninja, however due to his actives with the group Cha-Cha, he left the Ninja before group change name and major debut.
