Before the war, their general name was "Ninjutsu-tsukai (master of ninjutsu)", but after the war, they were generally called "Ninja", "Shinobi no mono", "Shinobi" through the works of Tomoyoshi MURAYAMA, Sanpei SHIRATO and Ryotaro SHIBA.
戦前は「忍術使い」といった呼称が一般的だったが、戦後は村山知義、白土三平、司馬遼太郎らの作品を通して、「忍者」「忍びの者」「忍び」という呼称が一般化した。