What is a ninja?

Ninja, like SUSI and geisha, has become an international language. Whether authentic Japanese or foreigners learning ninja skills, their images of ninjas are usually: dressed in black, able to fly over walls, leap over cities, call the shots, change stars and fight, and use all kinds of grotesque hidden weapons. Although this image is not accurate, it is also very close.

Ninja's job is mainly to carry out secret tactics, sabotage, assassination, collect enemy frontline information, disrupt enemy reserve bases, and other espionage activities. Because you have to be anonymous before you die and live a dark life for life; You can't leave a few phrases in case you get caught in the future. So, when should the origin of Japanese ninja be traced back? No one dares to assert. However, in the secret book of Ninjutsu, it is recorded that Shoto Kutaishi (from the end of the 5th century to the beginning of the 6th century) had a ninja named Da Companion.

At present, although there are numerous schools of Ninjutsu in various parts of Japan, they will return to Iga (northwest of Mie Prefecture) and Kaga (south of Shiga Prefecture). I think many people may get the impression from cartoons and novels that the Iga Ninja Corps and the Kaga Ninja Corps are sworn enemies. Actually, it's not. Their ancestors are the same family, and most of them are related by blood. However, if their employers (monarchs) are hostile to each other, they will have to fight with each other and even become brothers.

On the other hand, in order to facilitate the inheritance of Ninjutsu from generation to generation, they also had to intermarry frequently, which can be said to be a close relationship. If you think about it a little, you will know that once you grow up in this place, no matter whether you are a man or a woman, can you still marry and have children for family secrets? Moreover, there are usually female ninjas behind male ninjas. This kind of work is a matter of course unless I have been exposed to it since I was a child. Otherwise, one day my husband suddenly left without saying goodbye. Ordinary women who can stand not to be angry?

In the ninja world, there are four basic commandments: don't abuse Ninja (just for business), give up all self-esteem (it's important to run for your life), keep your mouth shut (even if you lose your life), and never reveal your identity (this is the most basic Ninja). There are three periods when ninjas are active: 1 1 Yuan Ping period from the end of the century to the end of 12 century, Southern and Northern Dynasties period from 13 century, and Warring States period from the middle of 14 century to the end of 15 century. The Warring States period can also be said to be an era when ninjas "let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend".

Ninjas are divided into "upper forbearance", "middle forbearance" and "lower forbearance". "forbearance", also known as "think tank forbearance", specializes in the overall plan of strategic operations. "Zhong Ren" is the commander in actual combat. Of course, patience must be outstanding. "Lower forbearance", also called "physical forbearance", is equivalent to modern special forces, ninjas who actually fight in the forefront. There is an obvious hierarchical relationship between them. Lower forbearance obeys middle forbearance, and middle forbearance obeys upper forbearance.

The following is a brief description of ninja equipment:

clothes

Ninjas usually sneak into enemy towers and mansions on new moons or cloudy nights. If they wear black, the outline will be more prominent. So the basic clothing color is dark blue. At night, when the moon and stars are scarce, they will change into gray or brown clothes. Sometimes it's gray outside and brown inside. In case of enemy pursuit, you can reverse your costume on the way and use the color illusion to escape. In addition, dark blue can prevent the invasion of poisonous snakes, mosquitoes and other insects, and it is a cloth dyed with iron-containing natural dyes. Jeans and ninja clothes invented by American pioneers have the same purpose.

As for underwear, of course, it is the traditional Japanese crotch cloth (a slender white cloth). But the ninja's beam method is different from that of ordinary people, and its length is longer. They wrapped the crotch cloth from the neck to the crotch and finally to the waist. In this way, the crotch cloth can be pulled out from the back of the neck at any time as a bandage or rope for first aid. There are many pockets in the coat to put some gunpowder, sewing needles and first-aid drugs (including sleeping pills and poison) that can't get wet; There are some daily necessities in the belt. Gloves and leggings usually hide some hidden weapons.

weapon

In order to deceive the border guards' interrogation, ninjas usually dress up as farmers when traveling. Therefore, the so-called Ninja hidden weapons is often transformed from farm tools, daily necessities and gardener props. Most of these weapons are invented and cast by themselves, and only they know their usage, so they are no different from ordinary daily necessities in the eyes of others. This is also one of the main reasons for the loss of ninja weapons.

Modern people know seven kinds of ninja weapons from various ninja cheats: syuriken, makibisi, Ninja, hukiya, sikomidue, tekkoukagi and mizugumo. Shuriken is a kind of darts, the tip of which is coated with poison. "Sprinkle Spirit" is a diamond weapon left behind when escaping. Anything that is uneven and can sting your feet, such as natural stones, dried fruits, iron, etc. , you can use instead. "Endure the knife", with a rope about three meters long, can be used as a stepping tool when crossing the city wall, and then recovered by the rope; When in danger, the scabbard can be used as a snorkel in potential water. "Blowing an arrow" is a poisonous needle, usually hidden in a flute; Sometimes you need to dress up as an artist during the journey, so ninjas must learn to blow arrows and practice flute skills. As the name implies, "Enduring Staff" is a kind of walking stick, which hides weapons such as chains, spears and swords. There are all kinds of "nail hooks", some on the nails and some on the back of the hand, depending on what kind of kung fu the participants are good at. "Water Spider", a prop used when crossing a river, can usually be folded and hidden in a bag.

Ninja food

Ninja can never "gain weight". Because he must hide on the ceiling, under the floor, or even hang on a tree or post in the house to support his weight with one hand, he must be careful not to exceed 60 kilograms. In terms of a man's arm strength, the upper limit weight of fighting with the enemy with one hand is 60 kg (try it yourself). "Ninja food" is mainly grain, with low calorie, low fat and high protein. The staple food is generally brown rice, wheat and sweet potato, the side dishes are miso made of tofu and soybeans, and others are plums, vegetables, sesame seeds and quail eggs. Foods that enhance body odor, such as leeks, meat, onions, garlic, ginger, and hobby cigarettes, are all prohibited. Moreover, ninjas often take a bath and wash clothes in order to get rid of body odor. In addition, pine nuts, torreya nuts and other plant fruits are also one of the staple foods of ninjas.

"Carrying grain" is also very important. Once you receive the task order, whether camping in the wild or lurking on the ceiling of the enemy mansion, you must have "carrying food" to maintain your physical strength. Dried taro can be strung into a necklace and hung around the neck; Steamed rice can be preserved after drying. Both can be brewed with boiling water and become fast food to satisfy hunger. In addition, ergot, plum and rock sugar are mixed into pills to become "thirst-quenching pills"; Carrot, buckwheat flour, wheat flour, sweet potato, licorice, coix seed and glutinous rice flour are all ground into powder and soaked in wine for three years. After the wine volatilizes, knead it into the size of a peach pit. You only need to eat three pills a day, so don't worry about consuming physical strength. There is another kind called "frost wyrm Pill", which is made of carrots, wheat flour, glutinous rice flour, honey and wine, boiled with slow fire, then kneaded into small balls and dried in the sun. You can take 30 tablets a day to get the necessary vitamins. "frost wyrm Pill" should be used by wartime soldiers when guarding the city, right? In short, this is also one of the main "ninja foods".

Field survival method

Ninja has rich knowledge of herbal medicine, and can distinguish poison from good medicine and improvise. I know the habits of wild animals like the back of my hand. Many ninja skills are learned from the habits of wild animals. Astronomical meteorology is one of the essential basic endurance skills. For example, observe whether there are water droplets on the spider web at night, and if there are, it will be sunny the next day; There is a halo around the moon, or when the moonlight is brighter than usual, the next day is rainy; It began to rain in the middle of the night, at eight o'clock in the morning, and at night, which may last for several days. When you get lost in the deep mountains, bake the needle of the sewing needle with fire, or put wax on the needle and put it into the water immediately. The pointer points to the north. The sewing needle on the ninja can not only be used to tell the direction, but also be used as an acupuncture prop when injured or tired. What if the kettle is out of water? Find an ant hole or a mole hole. Where there are ants and crickets, there must be water nearby.

Ninjutsu

First of all, of course, you have to improvise into various identities The basic "nanabake" of a ninja is: becoming a monk, being an empty monk, crouching on the mountain, abandoning the teacher, being upright, being a businessman, and being Saruga Kush. "Xiuke" is an ordinary bald monk. "komusou", wearing a cylindrical bamboo hat on his head to cover his whole face; Dressed in cassock; There is a bowl hanging around the neck; Xiao blew while begging. A monk practicing in Shan Ye. "houkasi" is equivalent to a modern street performer, performing magic, stunts and monkey tricks. "tunenokata" incarnates as a local farmer or soldier, provided that he can speak fluent local dialect. A "businessman" is a businessman who sells medicines and sugar. Jianghu artist "sarugakusi". Others include "disguise", "transformation" and "voice change".

When delivering confidential documents, the best way is to memorize them. However, sometimes it is sewn inside the clothes; Sometimes documents are twisted into a rope and woven with straw hats. What's more, a slender piece of paper is wrapped around a cylinder, which records the contents of the document. If you untie the paper, the content will become unclear words. After receiving the document, the recipient winds the note on a cylinder with the same thickness and restores its original shape. Personally, I think the coolest way is to carve words on the scalp! In this way, you must shave your hair first, then tattoo it, and then shave it when it grows and returns to the Lord safely. However, this method must be painful. But ninjas can mix medicines anyway, so there should be some modern anesthetics. Another way is to use the "Word of God". This is a kind of large-scale ancient Chinese characters before China Chinese characters spread to Japan, which is equivalent to Oracle Bone Inscriptions in China. During the Warring States period, few people could read the holy book, so it became a "secret code" between ninjas.

There are all kinds of other strange endurance techniques, such as "Wen", "Wu", "Yi" and "Le", and the list goes on.

After Tokugawa Ieyasu established the shogunate in Edo (Tokyo), some Iga Ninja became the guards and spies of the shogunate, while the rest Iga Ninja and Kaga Ninja were assigned to famous territories all over the country. During the Meiji Restoration, Ninjutsu was gradually lost, and these descendants of Ninjutsu changed jobs and became policemen, doctors, drugstore owners, fireworks artists and so on. Having said that, the world of ninja is still very attractive, which makes modern Japanese, even foreigners, curious and want to explore: what medicine is sold in this gourd? !