" III " - Ninja Knowledge

Ninja knowledge * I * Study of Sleep

Since ninja often carried out missions in the middle of the night, they had to be well informed about sleeping habits.

The Bansenshukai deatiled the different states of sleep in each season, methods for determining the depth of a sleep by the age, character, and physique of a person, and how to distinguish a deep sleep from sham sleep by the quality of snoring.

To analyze a person's snoring, ninja used a kikizutsu, a special device for listening. This was used behind walls, from the floor above a ceiling, or below the floorboards of a house. It is said that ninja sometimes inserted thekikizutsu through a window.

Ninja tried to perceive wether a person was sleeping well by such methods. When it was not possible to determine if a person was asleep or not, a powdered ash was blown over the face of the sleeping person with a blowgun. If the person were in a deep sleep the ash would not affect him.

A feigned sleep could be detected if the ninja became still and listened to the snoring. An unnatural high accent, the separation of breathing between snores, the swallowing of saliva, and snores mixed with sighing all indicate a feign sleep. It is also doubtful if a person is asleep if his joints make sounds when he tosses and turns.

Ninja knowledge * II * Orienteering - Sattenjutsu

Ninja often worked outdoors, and so were intimately familiar with the movements of the moon and constellations. This useful outdoor knowledge was called sattenjutsu.

1.Telling time

In an age with no clocks, ninja confirmed the time by the positions of the sun or the Big Dipper. Ninja could also tell time by the pupils in the eye of a cat, because their size changed with brightness.

2. Knowing the weather

Ninja forecast the weather by observing clouds, mountains, the moon, and the color of the sky, When setting fire to an enemy castle, a day with strong wind is good. Such knowledge could be very valuable, for example, a rainy day would be good for infiltration since the rain would help cover up any sound.

3. Telling directions

Ninja were able to judge directions from the Polestar and the Big Dipper. On a dark night when they lost their way, ninja could find the direction by using magnetic needles, which already excisted in Japan at the time.

Ninja knowledge * III * Information Processing

In olden times, information was transmitted directly from person to person. Nninja used various methods of transmission that only their contacts would understand, Information flowed quickly and secretly.

Cipher text

Shinobi-iroha were characters that contained a cipher and could only be read following special rules. Jindamoji were characters that had been used in Japan before the importation of Chinese characters.

Signs

Ishioki was leaving a stone in a certain location as a signal to meet a contact.Goshikimai was a mehod of passing information to a contact by using a certain number and combination of dryed rice grains - red, blue, yellow, purple, and black. Yuinawa was a knotted rope that was hung under the eaves as a signal. The shape of the knots indicated messages, such as "go ahead" or "I will go to the west".

Secret jargon

Ninja who infiltrated enemy territory used secret jargon with contacts so that their true colors would not be discovered.

Passwords

Ninja employed many kinds of passwords. Simple passwords could be "moon and sun", "valley and water", "sea and salt", "fire and smoke", and "mountain and forest". Passwords could also be literary, such as "flower and Yoshino", "snow and Fuji", and "smoke and Asama". Passwords were changed daily.

Another kind of password was called warifu. It consisted of a wooden board upon which pictures and characters were written. The board was split into two pieces.

Noroshi (Signal fire)

The dry droppings of Japanese wolves were mixed with gunpowder to make thick smoke what was used to impart information from mountain to mountain. When droppings were mixed with the gunpowder, smoke would become easier to manipulate and thus avoid sending hard-to-read signals. Flags were also used as a method for signaling during the Edo period.

Secret letters

It was often necessary for a person to show documents and have their belongings searched at checkpoints in enemy territory, so many methods were invented for these situations. A letter was rolled into a paper string, which then could be carried by tucking it into straw sandals, a braided hat, or sewing it into the collar of the kimono.

Insho hitoku-no-ho was a method of writing characters on a thin strip of Japanese paper after it had been rolled around a stick. The paper was then taken off the stick, rendering it unreadable unless the party it had been passed to had a stick of the same size. The message could then be easily read once the other party wrapped it around the second stick.

When a stricter check was expected, scars made from cuts on a shaved head with a dagger could serve as a secret message. After the characters had been carved on a clean-shaved head, the hair was allowed to grow back. When the ninja reached his destination, his hair was cut, thus revealed the message.

Fubo-no-jutsu

The safest and surest way to carry top-secret information was to memorize it all and transmit the message directly. Ninja developed many ways to use the art of the associatice memory, in which ine remembered something by associating them with body parts or foods.

To never forget something of utmost importance the ninja relied on the secret art fubo-no-jutsu. In this art, information was cut directly on to the body, leaving scar tissue that could be later read. It was painful and required a string will, but ninja lived in times when death was only a moment away.