Not many know that there were two types of shinobi, namely, shinobi samurai and shinobinomono. Shinobi samurai were of samurai lineage, and they trained local people to work as shinobinomono. The elite shinobi samurai became secret agents and the police in the Shogunate, and eventually entered the diplomatic field during the Bakumatsu Period. Shibata Sadataro Takenaka was sent to Europe twice, in 1862 and 1865. One of his missions was to arrage for the French Army Officers to come to Japan to train the Shogunate soldiers in western warfare. Incidentally, one of the French captains, Jules Brunet became the model of the hero of the movie “The Last Samurai”.
