Things Ninjas Didn’t Do (That You Think They Did)
Infiltration–not an admirable activity in feudal Japan
#3) Be cool.
It’s hard to believe–I mean, what’s cooler than a ninja?– but ninjas were not respected during their time. They were, basically, the scum of the earth, about as low as actors or beggars or people who handled corpses for burial or cremation–all of whom had a hard time of it in feudal Japan.
How could somebody with the skills of a ninja be looked down upon? Well, the warrior ideal in Japan at the time was the samurai, riding boldly into battle, challenging a foe to single combat, preferring death to dishonor, etc., etc. It would have been entirely beneath a samurai’s dignity to sneak about in disguise, to knife someone in the back, to lie, to spy, or to steal. Which is why samurai and warlords hired ninjas to do these thing for them.
It would also have been shocking for a samurai to accept payment for fighting, or to serve more than one master. Both of these were things that ninjas frequently did.
So ninjas were despised in their day. But also very useful.
Read MoreNue
Note the thick black fog surrounding the nue.
A nue is…what is a nue? It’s very hard to be sure.
A deadly creature from Japanese folklore, the nue is said to be a combination of monkey, tiger, and snake. It’s hard to know how anybody can be sure about that, however, since the nue is always surrounded by a dense black fog that sickens anyone it touches. Even hearing the nue’s eerie, wailing call can bring on confusion and illness. Entire cities have been stricken by the approach of one of these monsters. They are very difficult to fight, and your best bet is to avoid one at all costs.
Read MoreDouble-Mouthed Woman
One of the creepier creatures out of Japanese mythology, mostly because she looks so innocent. You’d never know, upon meeting a double-mouthed woman, that there is anything out of the ordinary about her. Oh, you might notice that she never (not ever) puts her long hair up or even in a ponytail…but you wouldn’t know that this is because there is a second mouth hidden on the back of her neck.
Most double-mouthed women are fairly benign. The worst they do is sneak down to the kitchen at night and eat all the food in the house. The one in Deadly Flowers, though, is a little more alarming. Don’t fall asleep in her house, no matter how nice she seems.
Read MoreCentipedes. Not Cute.
I always thought centipedes were on the cute end of the buggy spectrum. Okay, not butterflies, not ladybugs, but kind of sweet, with all those little wiggly legs.
That was before I met Japanese centipedes.
They are not just terrifying; they are poisonous. No wonder they feature widely in the folklore. There’s one giant centipede from Japanese mythology who ate baby dragons for lunch. And of course there’s the one I put in Deadly Flowers, who tries to eat my heroine.
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
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