YOU CAN’T SEE ME, I’M A NINJA!

Ninjas or Shinobi were serious warriors in ancient Japan, with skills that were obtained through long years of serious, dificult training and discipline. They were reviled and loved by their peers. They are no more, though Ninjitsu is taught as a serious martial art around the world.

But, they have also become huge pop culture icons, especially in America, a place where shinobi never were. There are videos:




Ninja Parade



How to be Ninja



Mythbusters - Ask A Ninja!

There are pictures:

Ninja inspired crafts like this felt ninja:

This one is crocheted:






And there are hundreds of movies, video games:







Anime and Manga such as Rurouni Kenshin, Basilisk, Naruto, Ninja Scroll, Ninja Nonsense, and Puppet Princess that feature ninja or they are the main characters. There are shirts, pants costumes:





Everyone wants to be a ninja!!


There is even a debate in the anime internet community about who is better—Pirates or Ninja?







Silly though all of this maybe, I still think it is carried out with a modicum of respect for what these highly trained man and women were capable of.

I am a ninja.

DAILY LIFE OF NINJAS

The two most famous locations for shinobi were Iga and Koga regions of central Japan. The two provinces shared a common border and they prospered until Oda Nobunaga’s attack in 1581. But what about the daily grind for a shinobi you might ask? What was a typical day like—get up, sharpen your throwing stars, kiss the wife and kids, assassinate a few people and come home to a hot meal? Well, no not quite.

THE NINJA VILLAGE

The average shinobi village had a ridged hierarchical structure. At the top were the Jounin, who depending on their wealth could live like a minor daimyo or an upper-class village headman. Some of the most famous jounin were Hattori Hanzo, said to be one of the handsomest men of his day, Momochi Sandayu, and Fujibayshi Nagato no kami, who some suspect to be Sandayu.

Either way, these were the big guys, who sent other people out on assignments. The next rung on the shinobi social ladder were the chunin, who were the executive officers and leaders. They were also in charge of hiring mercenary shinobi for temporary duty assignments. On the final rung were the genin, not to be confused with gaijin. The first one is your work-a-day shinobi, and the other is a foreigner.

The houses that the shinobi lived in were small, typical Japanese style houses. The shinobi jounin’s house may have had special “ninja upgrades” to make it difficult to attack him in his home, such as “disappearing” staircases and secret room with double entrances. One leads to the stairs, the other to a horrible death on spikes embedded into the floor.

The children went through the rigorous training I mention in the last ninja post, but they also had to farm to feed the village, care for life stock and the other daily activities of a typical Japanese village.



NEXT: NINJAS IN POPULAR CULTURE or YOU CAN’T SEE ME, I’M A NINJA!

Shinobi 忍者

This is most peoples' idea of a ninja. A man dressed in black, scaling castle walls, silent as the night.

And they are partly right. This image is proably closer to what a real ninja looked like.

Many Ninja or Shinobi as they are properly called belonged to the lower classes and were despised by the samurai nobles for their low birth and secretive and underhanded methods.

ORIGINS

Many of the shinobi originated in the Iga and Koga areas of central Japan. Shinobi really got their start during the Sengoku Jidai—or Warring States Era. This was a time of great civil war in Japan and the spying skills that the shinobi brought to the various factions was often exploited. It should be noted that there were two kinds of shinobi—the experts who trained and passed their skill on to their descendants like those of Iga and Koga, and the ones who were little more than brigands or ordinary samurai who were hired for temporary secret operations.

The famous Iga and Koga shinobi were active between 1485-1581. They were hired by rival lords or daimyo for spying operations and assignations. Oda Nobunaga attacked them in 1581 and the survivors scattered into other provinces, including Mikawa where they found refuge with Nobunaga’s enemy, Ieyasu Tokugawa. Tokugawa became the shogun in 1603 and the Iga and Koga shinobi fell under the auspices of the new shogunate.

TRAINING

A boy of a noble samurai family will begin training early in his childhood to be a warrior. They learn to ride, swim, use a sword, spear, and bow. Before the closing of Japan in the early 1600’s, they learned to use a gun as well. A child born into a shinobi tribe, boy or girl also began martial arts training. Besides learning the same skills as a samurai child, they also learn to make explosives, blend poisons, and fieldcraft and survival techniques. They may also need to learn to read, write, and pull off a convincing disguise or alternate personality.

NEXT: THE DAILY LIFE OF A NINJA

Do you Feel Lucky?

People in every culture want to have good luck. Some people believe that they make their own luck, while other people believe that it doesn’t exist and still others think that a symbol will help you get it or keep it if you already have it.

The objects do not have to be anything major or even anything big. Most people think of a rabbits foot, or a horseshoe, or a 4-leaf clover, or a Maneki Neko 招き猫.

"A what?" you ask.

This is a maneki neko—a waving cat. If you have ever eaten in a Japanese or Chinese restaurant, you have probably seen this. The web site The Beckoning Cat, quotes The Cult of the Cat (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1963) by Patricia Dale-Green. She says:

“. . . the Beckoning Cat is associated with an ancient cat-shrine on the grounds of a temple known as Gotoku-ji near Tokyo.

This temple was originally a very poor one, no more than a thatched hut run by poverty-stricken and half-starved monks. The master-priest had a cat of which he was fond, and shared with it such little food as he had.

One day the cat squatted by the roadside and, when half a dozen Samurai appeared on splendid horses, it looked up at them and raised one of its paws to its ear, as if it were beckoning to them. The noble cavaliers pulled up and, as the cat continued to beckon, they followed it into the temple. Torrential rain forced them to stay for a while, so the priest gave them tea and expounded Buddhist doctrine.

After this one of the Samurai—Lord Li—regularly visited the old priest to receive religious instruction from him. Eventually Li endowed the temple with a large estate and it became the property of his family.

Visitors who pass under the temple's gateways, walk through its broad avenues of towering trees and enjoy the beautifully laid-out gardens, discover, near the cemetery of the Li family, the little shrine of the beckoning cat -- which, it is said, still draws pilgrims from all parts of Tokyo.

Because the Beckoning Cat had lured a wealthy patron to the poor temple, images of this cat soon became talismanic emblems and were particularly favored by shopkeepers. . .”

When you see it in store windows and in restaurants, it is supposed to attract customers into the shop, thus growing the owner’s business, and bringing them luck.

In the Western world, many unusual objects are considered good luck charms. On Good Luck Symbol, they mention several that I have never heard of.

During the Norman Conquest, the English carried dried acorns to protect themselves from the brutalities of the day. They were considered to be an emblem of luck, prosperity, youthfulness and power; it also represents spiritual growth.

This is called a caduceus, and most of us know it as a medical symbol. It was used as a good luck symbol in Egypt, India and ancient Greece, this emblem was said to ward off sickness, quarrels, and bring peace to any situation. The wings represent those on the feet of Mercury who was the messenger of all the Greek gods. The snakes represent the balance between good and evil.

Most Americans are familiar with the horseshoe as a good luck symbol. I was told that when the horseshoe is place over the door or elsewhere in the house, it must be in the upright “U” so that the luck doesn’t drain out. I was never told exactly how it was supposed to get in the horseshoe, but never mind.

***

Let’s jump back into the East for a moment, and talk about another interesting good luck symbol: a daruma.

A Daruma is supposed to represent the 5th century monk, named DARUMA - Father of Zen Buddhism – who obtained enlightenment after he sat for nine years against a wall. His arms and legs withered away, which is why the doll is round. Similar to a

weeble, when tipped, the daruma pops back up.

When you buy a daruma, there are no eyes on it.
You make your wish, and paint in the RIGHT EYE only.

Then you put it in your house and when your wish come true, hopefully within a year, then you paint in the LEFT EYE.

Then you take the finished daruma to your local temple at New Years, where it is burned, and you buy a new (and bigger) one.

Jade turtles, like this one, can be very cute. The ancient Chinese used to use turtle shells for fortune telling and since jade was considered a precious stone, jade turtles, in Chinese belief, came to symbolizes good luck, health and a long life.

This symbol is also Chinese, and it is called SHOU. The October 14, 2008 ed. of the ShanghaiDaily.com says “ . . .Shou, meaning longevity and prosperity, is a traditionally lucky Chinese character.

It can be found on inscriptions of ancient bronze objects, royal seals, paintings, books, coins, chinaware and epigraphs, according to the dictionary's editor-in-chief, Wang Rongtai. "The earliest forms of the character date back to the Shang Dynasty (17th century-11th century BC)," Wang said.

Shou is also widely used in modern decoration and art, including sculpture, calligraphy, seal cutting, miniature gardening and paper cutting.

The shou character can be presented in numerous shapes, each one with their own meaning. For example, a round shou suggests complete and perfect life and health. . .”

***
It is interesting to look at the things that various cultures attach meaning and symbolism to. They are usually innocuous, simple things that were common in everyday life and were simple passed down to us, though the meaning are being lost to time.

And remember to keep your keys handy. Three of them worn together open the doors to health, wealth and love.

Mummies

When most people think about Ancient Egypt, there are two things that usually pop into their heads-Tutankhamen's fantastic gold funerary mask, and mummies. Well, King Tut's mask has been written about ad nausea, so we won't go there.

What I think is interesting is that we as a culture devote much of our time in finding ways to die slower (we've put the immortality thing on the back burner until the technology improves), but yet, we are so fascinated with what other cultures do with their dead.

Perhaps it is because we try to get away from our dead-dress 'em up, box 'em up, and move 'em out as quickly as possible. For the Egyptians, death wasn't stopping. It was the road to a better plane of existence, where you farmed in perfect weather and plenty, and you could feast forever in the company of the gods.

Assuming of course, when your heart was weighed in the Hall of Justice before the 42 Natural Laws, against the Feather of Truth-that you passed. If not, your heart was consumed by Am-mit.

But I digress. We were talking of mummies.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines a mummy as 1 a: a body embalmed or treated for burial with preservatives in the manner of the ancient Egyptians b: a body unusually well preserved 2: one resembling a mummy.

Wow! That told me a lot!

Mummies of Ancient Egypt was more helpful. Under the section 'What are Mummies?,' we find out that "A mummy is the body of a person (or an animal) that has been preserved after death. Normally when we die, bacteria and other germs eat away at the soft tissues (such as skin and muscles) leaving only the bones behind. Since bacteria need water in order to grow, mummification usually happens if the body dries out quickly after death. The body may then be so well preserved that we can even tell how the dead person may have looked in life.

Mummies are made naturally or by embalming, which is any process that people use to help preserve a dead body. Mummies can be dried out by extreme cold, by the sun, by smoke, or using chemicals such as natron. Some bodies become mummies because there were favorable natural conditions when they died. Others were preserved and buried with great care."

Interesting. What else?

"The ancient Egyptians believed that mummifying a person's body after death was essential to ensure a safe passage to the afterlife."

So how do we make a mummy? For that, I turn to . . .

Sophie & Co - How To Make An Egyptian Mummy




And now, we know how to make a mummy. If you want a slightly more . . . grown-up perspective on mummies, I highly recommend The Virtual Mummy by Sarah U. Wisseman. (Pub. 2003 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, ISBN 0-252-02792-2) University of Illinois Press

It is a small book, only 84 pages, but it describes the virtual unwrapping of a mummy from the Fayum region of Egypt. The mummy is dated from 100 A.D. during the Roman Period of Ancient Egypt's history. The book is written to be readable for the common man, and it offers some interesting insights into the life of a young person who's name we will never know.