Martial Artist and Scholar Stephen K. Hayes (you can find him on Wikipedia) has put forth a theory about the "traditional garb" that I shall paraphrase from memory.
Basically, the garb we see "Ninja" wearing today is the garb of stage-hands and prop-handlers in Japanese Theater. With a black background, they could work without standing out, and in typical Japanese courtesy fashion, they were simply ignored. They represented the forces of nature, the unseen things.
Then, somebody decided to include Ninja in their plays. Imagine the effect on the audience when a "prop" suddenly leaped out onto center stage, cut down a main character, and then disappeared behind the curtain! It was totally unexpected, and seemed "magical", which of course was the effect they wanted.
Historical ninja, he said, would just dress in "street clothes"--or whatever else was appropriate to their apparent social station. Somebody wearing all black with a mask would have stood out then just as much as now--and ninja don't like to stand out.
It's plausible, at least--more so than many other theories I have read.
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Basically, the garb we see "Ninja" wearing today is the garb of stage-hands and prop-handlers in Japanese Theater. With a black background, they could work without standing out, and in typical Japanese courtesy fashion, they were simply ignored. They represented the forces of nature, the unseen things.
Then, somebody decided to include Ninja in their plays. Imagine the effect on the audience when a "prop" suddenly leaped out onto center stage, cut down a main character, and then disappeared behind the curtain! It was totally unexpected, and seemed "magical", which of course was the effect they wanted.
Historical ninja, he said, would just dress in "street clothes"--or whatever else was appropriate to their apparent social station. Somebody wearing all black with a mask would have stood out then just as much as now--and ninja don't like to stand out.
It's plausible, at least--more so than many other theories I have read.