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 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 MoreSecret Ninja Tools
Deadly fingernail weapons, known as neko-te. (A more modern and fashionable version than a 16th century ninja would have had accessed to.)
If you’re a ninja, you might need to blind an enemy (at least temporarily), cross a swamp, or turn your hairpin into a deadly weapon. Check out this website to discover some of the tools you might have used! I haven’t encountered all of these in my research, but they sound at least plausible. And I might have to use the thing about the crickets in a book someday….
Read MoreTengu
Statue of a tengu from the late Edo period. Photo by WolfgangMichel.
With the launch of Deadly Flowers, my girl-ninja-Japanese-folklore-adventure-fantasy novel coming up (on sale in April, y’all!) and a sequel at 249 handwritten pages as of this morning (take that, writer’s block), all of the creatures and ghosts and monsters of Japanese folklore have been haunting my mind. So I thought I’d introduce you to a few of them. Today’s special guest: the tengu.
Half-crow, half human, tengu tend to inhabit dense forests and remote mountains. They’re fierce but not evil, mischievous but not cruel. If they decide that they like you (which doesn’t happen very often) they may be induced to teach you martial arts. Some of Japans’ greatest heroes got their skills this way. If they don’t like you…well, best to stay out of their way.
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Readers will treasure the blossoming friendship between opposites in this whimsically illustrated tale. Short chapters and plenty of action make for an accessible and appealing reading experience. . . . Touching and inspiring.”
—Kirkus Reviews