Shinobi or ninja? How does it translate and what does this word mean. 忍び暗号術 Shinobi angojutsu

Kanji ( 汉字 - kanji, "Chinese characters") - hieroglyphic writing, an integral part of Japanese writing.

Japanese characters were adopted by the Japanese in China in the 5th and 6th centuries. Hieroglyphs developed by the Japanese themselves (国字 - kokuji) were added to the borrowed signs. In addition to hieroglyphs, two components of the alphabet are also used for writing in Japan: hiragana and katakana, Arabic numerals and the Latin alphabet Romaji.

Story

The Japanese term kanji (汉字) translates as "Signs (of the dynasty) of Han". It is not known exactly how the Chinese characters got to Japan, but today the generally accepted version is that the first Chinese texts were brought at the beginning of the 5th century. These texts were written in Chinese, and in order for the Japanese to be able to read them using diacritics while respecting the rules of Japanese grammar, the kanbun system was developed - kanbun or kambun (汉文) - originally meant "Classical Chinese composition".

The Japanese language at that time did not have a written form. To record the original Japanese words, the writing system Man "yōshū (万叶集) was created, the first literary monument of which was the ancient poetic anthology Manyoshu. The words in it were written in Chinese characters in sound, and not in content.

Man "yōshū ( 万叶集) Russian Man'yoshu, written in cursive hieroglyphic, became hiragana, a writing system for women who had little access to higher education. Most of the literary monuments of the Heian era with female authorship were written in hiragana. At the same time, Katakana arose: students from monasteries simplified Manyoshu to a single significant element. These writing systems, katakana and hiragana, originated from Chinese characters and subsequently evolved into syllabic alphabets, which together are called Kana (仮名) or syllabic Japanese alphabet.

Hieroglyphs in modern Japanese are used for the most part to write the stems of words in nouns, adjectives and verbs, on the other hand, hiragana is used to write inflections and endings of verbs and adjectives, particles and words in which it is difficult to remember the hieroglyphs. Katakana is used to write onomatopias and gairago (loanwords).

The use of katakana for writing borrowed words is relatively recent. By the end of World War II, such words were written in hieroglyphs by meaning (烟草 or 莨 tabaco - "tobacco", literally "grass, smokes") or by phonetic sound (天妇罗 or 天麸罗 tempura - fried food of Portuguese origin). The last way to write hieroglyphs is called ateji.

Japanese innovation

At first, Chinese and Japanese characters were practically no different from each other: the latter were traditionally used to write Japanese text. However, at present there is a big difference between Chinese Hanzi and Japanese kanji: some characters were created by the Japanese themselves, and some have received a different meaning. In addition, after the Second World War, many Japanese characters in writing were simplified.

Kokuji ( 国字 )

Kokuji ( 国字 - "national hieroglyphs") - hieroglyphs of Japanese origin. Kokuji is sometimes referred to as Washa kanji (和制汉字 - "Chinese characters created in Japan"). Altogether there are several hundred kokuji. Most of them are rarely used, but some have become important additions to written Japanese. Among them:

峠 (とうげ) toge (mountain pass)

榊 (さかき) sakaki (sakaki tree from the Camellia family)

畑 (はたけ) hatake (dry field)

辻 (つじ) tsuji (crossroads)

働 (どう/はたらく) do, Hatar(ku) (physical work)

Most of these "national characters" have only Japanese readings, but some were borrowed by the Chinese themselves and acquired onne (Chinese) readings as well.

Kokkun ( 国训 )

In addition to kokuji, there are characters that have a different meaning in Japanese than in Chinese. Such hieroglyphs are called kokkun (国训 - "[signs] of national reading"). Among them:

冲 (おき) oki (open sea; Chinese rinse)

森 (もり) sea (forest; Chinese majestic, lush)

椿(つばき) tsubaki (Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica) Chinese Ailanthus)

Old and new characters (旧字体, 新字体 )

The same character can sometimes be written in different styles: old (旧字体, kyujitai - "old characters"; in the old style 旧字体) and new (新字体, shinjitai - "new characters"). Below are several examples of writing the same character in two styles:

国 (old) 国 (new) kuni, koku (country, region)

号 (old) 号 (new) go (number, name, name)

变 (old) 変 (new) hen, ka(wara) (change, vary)

Old-style Japanese characters were used until the end of World War II and, for the most part, are the same as traditional Chinese characters. In 1946, the Japanese government legislated the simplified new style characters in the list "Toyo kanji jitai hyo" (当用汉字字体表 ).

Some of the new signs matched the simplified Chinese characters used today in the PRC. As a result of the PRC writing reform, a number of new characters were borrowed from the cursive forms (略字, ryakuji) that were used in handwritten texts. However, in a certain context, the use of the old (correct) forms of some hieroglyphs (正字, Seiji) was also allowed. There are also even more simplified versions of writing hieroglyphs, however, the scope of their use is limited to private correspondence.

Theoretically, any Chinese character can be used in Japanese text, but in practice, a lot of Chinese characters are not used in Japanese. Daikanwa jiten (大汉和辞典 ) - one of the largest dictionaries of hieroglyphs - contains about 50 thousand characters, but most of them are rarely found in Japanese texts.

Reading hieroglyphs

Depending on how the hieroglyph got into the Japanese language, it can be used to write one or different words, and even more often morphemes. From the reader's point of view, this means that the hieroglyphs have one or more readings. The choice of reading a hieroglyph depends on the context, content and communication with other characters, and sometimes on the position in the sentence. The reading is divided into two: "Chinese-Japanese" (音読み) and "Japanese" (訓読み).

Onyomi

Onyomi ( 音読み - phonetic reading) - Sino-Japanese reading or Japanese interpretation of the Chinese pronunciation of a character. Some signs have several onyomi because they were borrowed from China several times, at different times and from different areas. Kokuji, or characters that the Japanese themselves invented, usually do not have onyomi, although there are exceptions. For example, in the character 働 "work" is kunyomi (hataraku), but there is also onyomi, but in the character 腺 "gland" (mammary, thyroid, etc.) is only onyomi.

Kunyomi

Kunyomi ( 訓読み ) is a Japanese reading, which is based on the pronunciation of native Japanese words (大和言葉 , yamato kotoba - “Yamato words”), to which Chinese characters were chosen for meaning. In other words, kunyomi is the translation of the Chinese character in Japanese. In several hieroglyphs, there may be several kunyomi at once, or there may not be at all.

Choice of options

Words for similar concepts such as "east" (东), "north" (北) and "northeast" (东北) can have completely different pronunciations: higashi and kita are kunyomi readings and are used for the first two characters, while while "northeast" would be read in onyomi - Tohoku. Choosing the correct reading for a character is one of the most difficult aspects of learning Japanese.

As a rule, when reading combinations of hieroglyphs, onyomi are selected. Such messages are called Japanese jukugo 熟语. For example, 学校 (Gakkō, "school"), 情报 (Joho, "information"), and 新干线 (Shinkansen) are read in this pattern.

The hieroglyph, which is located separately from other hieroglyphic signs and surrounded by Kana, is usually read in kunyomi. This applies to nouns as well as conjugated verbs and adjectives. For example, 月 (tsuki, month), 新しい (atarashii, "new"), 情け (nasak, "pity"), 赤い (akai, red), 見る (measuring, "look") - in all these cases, kunyomi is used.

These two basic pattern rules have many exceptions, and kunyomi can also form compound words, although they are less common than the onyomi message. Examples include 手纸 (tagami, "letter"), 日伞 (Higashi, "solar umbrella"), or the famous phrase 神风 (kamikaze, "divine wind"). Such messages may also be accompanied by okurigana. For example, 歌い手 (hidden, "singer") or 折り紙 (origami). However, some of these combinations can be written without it - for example, 折纸 (origami).

In addition, some hieroglyphs that stand separately in the text can also be read for onyomi: 爱 (ai "love"), 禅 (zen), 点 (ten "mark"). Most of these hieroglyphs simply do not have kunyomi, which eliminates the possibility of error.

In general, the situation with the reading of onyomi is quite complicated, since many signs have several such readings. For comparison - 先生 (sensei, "teacher") and 一生 (issho, "all life").

In Japanese, there are homographs that can be read differently depending on the meaning, as in Russian "castle" and "castle". For example, the combination 上手 can be read in three ways: Uwat ("upper part, superiority") or kami ("upper part, upper course"), jozu ("skillful"). Additionally, the combination 上手い can be read as Umai ("skillful").

Some well-known place names, including Tokyo (东京) and Japan (日本, nihon or sometimes nippon) are read in onyomi, although most Japanese place names are read in kunyomi (for example, 大阪 Osaka, 青森 Aomori, 広島 Hiroshima). Surnames and given names are also usually read in kunyomi. For example, 山田 is Yamada, 田中 is Tanaka, 铃木 is Suzuki. However, sometimes there are names that mix kunyomi, onyomi and nanori. You can read them only with a certain experience (for example, 大海 - Daikai (on-kun), 夏美 - Natsumi (kun-on)).

Phonetic cues

To avoid inaccuracies, along with hieroglyphs, texts sometimes contain phonetic clues in the form of hiragana, which are typed in a small “agate” size above the hieroglyphs (the so-called furigana) or in one line with them (the so-called kumimoji). This is often done in texts for children learning Japanese and in manga. furigana is sometimes used in newspapers for rare or unusual readings, and for characters not included in the list of basic characters.

Number of characters

The total number of existing hieroglyphs is difficult to determine. The Daikanwa jiten Japanese dictionary contains about 50,000 characters, while more complete modern Chinese dictionaries contain more than 80,000 characters. Most of these characters are not used in modern Japan or modern China. In order to understand most Japanese texts, it is enough to know about 3 thousand hieroglyphs.

Spelling reforms

After World War II, starting in early 1946, the Japanese government began to develop spelling reforms. Some characters received simplified spellings called "shinjitai" (新字体). The number of characters used was reduced, and the lists of hieroglyphs required for study at school were approved. Shape variations and rare marks have been officially declared undesirable for use. The main goal of the reforms was to unify the school curriculum for the study of hieroglyphs and reduce the number of hieroglyphic signs that were used in literature and the media. These reforms were advisory in nature. Many hieroglyphs not included in the lists are still known and often used.

Kyoku kanji (教育汉字)

Kyoku kanji (教育汉字, "educational characters") - the list consists of 1006 characters that Japanese children learn in elementary school (6 years of study). This list was first established in early 1946 and contained a total of 881 characters. In 1981, it was increased to the current number. This list is divided by year of study. Its full name is "Gakunenbetsu kanji" (学年别汉字配当表, "Table of characters by year of study")

Joyo kanji

Jyoyo kanji (常用汉字, "constant use characters") - the list consists of 1945 characters, which includes "Kyok kanji" for elementary school and 939 characters for middle school (3 years of study). Characters that are not included in this list are usually accompanied by a furigana. The list was updated in early 1981, replacing the old 1850 character "Toyo kanji" (当用汉字), which was introduced in early 1946.

Jimmyo kanji (人名用汉字)

Jimmeyo kanji (人名用汉字, "characters for human names") - the list consists of 2928 characters, 1945 characters that completely copy the list of "jioyo kanji", and 983 characters are used to record names and toponyms. In Japan, most parents try to give their children rare names that include very rare characters. To facilitate the work of registration and other services that do not have the necessary technical means for typing rare characters, in 1981 a list of “jimmeyo kanji” was approved, according to which newborns could only be given names with list characters, or hirigana or katakana characters. This list is regularly updated with new characters, and the widespread introduction of computers with Unicode support has led the Japanese government to prepare to add 500 to 1000 new characters to this list in the near future.

Gaiji ( 外字 )

Gaiji ( 外字, "external characters") are characters that are not represented in existing Japanese encodings. These include variant or obsolete forms of hieroglyphs that are needed for reference books and references, as well as non-hieroglyphic characters.

Gaiji can be either user or system based. In both cases, there are problems with data exchange, this is because the code tables used for gaiji are computer and operating system dependent.

Nominally, the use of gaiji is prohibited by JIS X 0208-1997 and JIS X 0213-2000, as they occupy code slots reserved for gaiji. However, gaiji continue to be used, for example in the "i-mode" system, where they are used for pictorial signs. Unicode allows gaiji to be encoded in a private area.

Character classification

The Buddhist thinker Xu Shen (许慎), in his work "The Interpretation of Texts and Analysis of Signs" (说文解字), divided Chinese characters into "six spellings" (六书, Jap. Rikusho), that is, six categories. This traditional classification is still used, but it hardly correlates with modern lexicography - the boundaries of the categories are rather blurred and one hieroglyph can belong to several of them at once. The first four categories relate to the structural structure of the character, and the remaining two categories to its use.

Pictogram script "seki moji" (象形文字)

The hieroglyphs "seki moji" (象形文字) represent a schematic representation of the depicted object. For example, 木 is a tree or 日 is a sun, etc. The original drawings differ significantly from modern forms, so it is quite difficult to unravel these hieroglyphs and their meaning in appearance. The situation is much simpler with characters in printed type, they sometimes retain the shape of the original drawing. Characters of this kind are called pictographic or seki - 象形, the Japanese word for Egyptian pictographic writing. There are quite a few signs of this kind among modern hieroglyphs.

Ideographic script "Shizu moji" (指事文字)

"Shizu moji" (指事文字, "pointers") is a type of ideographic or symbolic script. Characters in this category tend to be simple in form and reflect abstract notions of direction or number. For example, 上 means "above" or "top", while 下 means "under" or "bottom". Among modern hieroglyphs, such signs are rare.

Ideographic script "kayi moji" (会意文字 )

The hieroglyphs "kayi moji" are called "folded ideograms". As a rule, signs are a combination of a number of pictograms that reflect a common meaning. For example, kokuji 峠 (toge, "mountain pass") consists of the characters 山 (mountain), 上 (up), and 下 (down). Another example is the sign 休 (meat« rest") consists of a modified character 人 (man) and 木 (tree). This category is also not numerous.

Phonetic-semantic writing "moji cases" (形声文字 )

The hieroglyphs "moji cases" are called "phonetic-semantic" or "phonetic-ideographic" characters. This is the largest category among modern hieroglyphs (up to 90% of their total number). Usually they consist of two components, one of which is responsible for the pronunciation of the character, and the other for the content or semantics. The pronunciation comes from ascending Chinese characters. Often this trace is noticeable in the modern Japanese reading of onyomi. It is worth noting that the semantic component and its content may have changed over a century since its introduction into Japanese or Chinese. Accordingly, mistakes often occur when instead of a phonetic-semantic combination in a hieroglyph, they try to see only a folded ideogram. However, the vidkada - the semantics of the hieroglyph in general - is an even greater mistake.

Derivative letter "tent moji" (転注文字)

This group includes "derivative" or "mutually explaining" hieroglyphs. This category is the most difficult of all, because it does not have a clear definition. This includes signs whose content and application have been expanded. For example, the character 楽 means "music" or "pleasure". In Chinese, depending on the meaning, it is pronounced differently. This was also reflected in the Japanese language, where this sign has different onyomi - hook "music" and cancer« pleasure".

Borrowed letter "kashaku moji" (仮借文字)

This category of "kashaku moji" is called "phonetically borrowed characters". For example, the character 来 in ancient Chinese was an icon for wheat. Its pronunciation was a homophone of the word "arrival", so the hieroglyph began to be used to write this word, without adding a new meaningful element. However, some researchers note that phonetic borrowings occurred as a result of following ideologemes. So the same sign 来 evolved from "wheat" to "arrival", through the meaning of "harvest ripening" or "harvest coming".

Auxiliary signs

The repeat character (々 ) in Japanese text means the repetition of the previous character. So, instead of writing two characters in a row (for example, 时时 tokidoki, "sometimes" or 色色 iroiro, "different"), the second character is replaced with a repeat sign and voiced in the same way as a full-fledged character (时々, 色々 ). The repeat sign can be used in proper names and place names, such as the Japanese surname Sasaki (佐々木 ). The repeat sign is a simplified spelling of the character 同.

Another auxiliary character often used for writing is the ヶ sign (a shortened katakana "ke"). It is pronounced as "ka" when used to indicate quantity (for example, in 六ヶ月 rok ka getsu, "six months") or as "ga" in place names, such as in Kanegasaki (金ヶ崎). This character is a simplified version of the character 箇.

Dictionaries

To find the desired character in the dictionary, you need to know its key and the number of risks. A Chinese character can be broken down into its simplest components, called keys (more rarely, "radicals"). If there are many keys in the character, one main one is taken (it is determined according to special rules), after which the desired character is searched for in the key section by the number of risks. For example, the character mother (妈) should be looked for in the section of the key (女), which is written with three dashes, among the characters, consisting of 13 dashes.

Modern Japanese uses 214 classical clefs. In electronic dictionaries, it is possible to search not only by the main key, but by all possible components of the hieroglyph, the number of dashes or reading.

Character Tests in Japan

The main character test in Japan is the Kanji kent test ( 日本汉字能力検定试験 , Nihon kanji noryoku kent shiken). It tests the ability to read, translate and write hieroglyphs. The test is conducted by the Japanese government and is used to test knowledge in schools and universities in Japan. Contains 10 main levels. The most difficult of them tests knowledge of 6000 characters.

For foreigners, there is a simplified Nihongi noryoku shiken test (日本语能力试験, JLPT). It contains 4 levels, the most difficult of which tests knowledge of 1926 hieroglyphs.

A. Dolin and G. Popov talk about the ninja. Ninja literally means "scout". The root of the word nin (or, in another reading, shinobu) is "sneak". There is another shade of meaning - "endure, endure." Hence the name of the most complex, most mysterious of all martial arts. Ninjutsu is the art of espionage that the intelligence services of the 20th century could only dream of. Having undergone superhuman physical and mental training, perfectly mastering all the techniques of kempo without weapons and with weapons, the ninja easily overcame fortress walls and ditches, could stay under water for hours, knew how to walk along walls and ceilings, confuse the chase, fight with insane courage , and if you need to be silent under torture and die with dignity. Spies and saboteurs who sell their labor to the highest bidder, the ninja were subject to an unwritten code of honor and often went to their deaths in the name of an idea. Declared by people of the lowest class (hinin), pariahs standing outside the law, they inspired involuntary respect for the samurai. Many clan leaders challenged the favor of experienced ninja, many tried to instill in their warriors the experience of ninjutsu. And yet, military espionage for centuries remained the lot of the elite, a tribal trade of a narrow circle of irreplaceable specialists, a clan "craft".

Ninjutsu, which is certainly associated with the esoteric practice of a number of Chinese wushu schools, is fraught with many mysteries not only for historians, but also for doctors, biologists, chemists, physicists, and engineers. What we know is only the tip of the iceberg, the base of which goes into the dark depths of mysticism, into the cosmic abyss of parapsychology.

Only recently have individual works appeared that shed light on the secrets of ninjutsu. First of all, these are the books by D. Draeger "Ninjutsu - the art of being invisible", by D. Draeger and R. Smith "Asian martial arts" and by E. Adams "Ninjas, invisible killers". They are all based primarily on the research of Hatsumi Masaaki, a living heir to the medieval ninja.

Tradition traces the lineage of ninjutsu to the beginning of our era, but the real signs of the existence of mysterious mountain communities in Central Japan can be traced no earlier than the 7th century.

The first information about organized military espionage under the leadership of Michinoue no Mikoto dates back to the reign of Empress Suiko (593-628). During these years, Prince Shotoku Taishi waged war against the powerful feudal lord Moriya for the province of Omi. By the way, the prince was a very enlightened statesman and an ardent propagandist of Buddhism. Legend has it that Bodhidharma himself, having finished his business in China, appeared in 622 under the guise of a beggar in Japan, talked with Setoku Taishi and even exchanged poetry with him. In the course of hostilities, the prince sent a scout, Otomo no Saijin, to the location of the enemy troops. The spy returned with valuable information, for which he was awarded the honorary title of Shinobi (that is, Spy). This is where the Shinobi (or nin) jutsu came from.

In all likelihood, the process of separating the ninja into a separate social stratum, into a closed caste, went in parallel with the formation of the samurai class and almost in the same way. However, if the samurai squads were initially formed on the northeastern borders from otkhodniks and runaway commoners, then some fugitives preferred to hide close to their native places. The increased power of the samurai subsequently allowed him to take an independent position in the public life of Japan and even come to power, while the scattered groups of ninja never represented and could not represent any significant military and political power. A number of Japanese historians define the ninja as agricultural warriors (jizamurai). Indeed, at the initial stage of development, they had much in common with the samurai. But already in the era of Heinan (VIII - XII centuries), which was marked by the rule of the palace aristocracy, proud bushi considered hired scouts to be a dangerous declassed element. From time to time, local feudal lords and government troops staged real raids on ninjas, devastating their camps and villages, killing old people and children.

Ninja strongholds were scattered throughout the country, but the wooded surroundings of Kyoto, the mountainous regions of Iga and Koga became the natural center of ninjutsu. Beginning with the Kamakura era (1192-1333), ninja camps were often replenished by ronin, serving samurai who lost their overlord in bloody internecine strife. Over time, however, access to the mountain communities was almost cut off, as the commonwealths of free mercenaries gradually developed into secret clan organizations, held together by ties of blood kinship and an oath of allegiance. Each of these organizations became a unique school of martial arts and cultivated the original tradition of ninjutsu, being called, like the samurai schools of bujutsu, ryu. By the 17th century There were about seventy ninja clans. Of the twenty-five most influential, Iga-ryu and Kogar-ryu stood out in terms of scale. Each clan had its own tradition of martial arts passed down from generation to generation.

Being excluded from the state system of feudal relations, the ninja developed their own hierarchical class structure that met the needs of such organizations. At the head of the community was the military clerical elite (zenin). Sometimes zenin controlled the activities of two or even three adjacent ryu. The leadership was carried out through the middle link - chunin, whose duties included the transmission of orders, training and mobilization of ordinary lower-level performers (genin).

History has preserved the names of some zenin of the late Middle Ages: Hattori Hanzo, Momoti Sandayu, Fujibayashi Nagato. The position of the top and middle managers varied depending on the community. So, in the Koga clan, real power was concentrated in the hands of fifty families of chunin, each of which had under its command from thirty to forty families of genin. In the Iga clan, on the contrary, all the reins of government were concentrated in the hands of three zenin families.

The key to the well-being of the community was, of course, secrecy, so ordinary scouts who performed the most difficult and thankless work received a minimum of information about the top of the hierarchical pyramid. Often they did not even know the names of their zenin, which served as the best guarantee of secrecy. If the ninja had to act in several groups, communication between them was carried out through intermediaries, and no information about the composition of neighboring groups was reported.

The work of establishing turnouts, building shelters, recruiting informants, as well as tactical leadership of all operations were in charge of the tyunin. They also came into contact with employers - agents of large feudal lords. Nevertheless, the agreement was between the zenin and the daimyō himself. The remuneration received for services was also transferred to the head of the clan, who distributed the money at his discretion.

The art of espionage was first of all famous for the genin, mostly obscure executors of the most difficult assignments, overcoming dangers and pain, risking their lives at every step for a meager pay or simply "for the love of art." In the event of a capture, the chunin could still hope for salvation by promising a ransom or selling some of the important documents for life, but the fate of an ordinary ninja was decided - he breathed his last in terrible agony. Samurai, true to the laws of knightly honor, did not torture prisoners of war of noble birth. Rarely did they humiliate themselves to the point of torturing a commoner, on whom one could only try the sharpness of the blade.

Another thing is ninjas, pariahs among people, cunning and vicious beasts, always striking on the sly, forest werewolves who own diabolical hand-to-hand combat techniques and the magical art of reincarnation. If one of these "ghosts" fell into the hands of the guards alive, which happened extremely rarely, he was interrogated with prejudice, showing sadistic sophistication. Unfortunate ninjas were skinned, sprinkling salt on their wounds, fried over low heat, cut off one by one fingers and toes, and then the limbs themselves, subjected to "ant torture", tied to a hollow metal pillar, inside which fire was burning.

Such torture was popular. A person was tied to a "stretch" on the floor. A small tank was fixed above it with a rope thrown over it. A kettle with boiling tar was hung from one end of the rope, the other end was given to the victim in the teeth, after which they began to prick her with a sword. During convulsions, hot tar spilled over the body.

Those who remained silent to the end were doomed to a long and painful death. For example, following Chinese images, the victim was turned into a "man-pig" - they cut off their arms and legs (stopping bleeding), gouged out their eyes, pierced eardrums, pulled out their tongue and "released" in this form. In another version, the prisoner, tightly tied to a wooden frame-strut, was hung on the principle of a swing in a sitting position over a pointed bamboo sprout, which soon reached a critical height. To speed up the process, the rope was poured with water so that it sagged.

Those with whom there were special scores were boiled in water or oil over low heat, intermittently, so that the execution sometimes lasted more than a day.

As a rule, unfortunate spies, knowing what awaits them, preferred to commit suicide without waiting for torture.

Ninjutsu etiquette demanded to mutilate one's face beyond recognition and generally destroy all signs that could contribute to the identification of ryu. If circumstances prevented this (for example, a ninja fell into a hanging trap-loop or was stunned) and if the torment became unbearable, the last resort was to bite off his tongue, which caused painful shock and violent bleeding with a fatal outcome.

Nevertheless, although ninjas were taught from childhood not to value life, none of them, of course, was in a hurry to go to another world and be reborn, at best, as a flower or a butterfly. For their part, they did everything possible to avoid a similar fate. Realizing that all risky ventures depend not so much on the courage as on the qualifications of the participants, the zenin did their best to educate the younger generation and train personnel. The fruits of their efforts were expressed in the mass production of supermen scouts, each of which embodied the most bizarre fantasies of modern writers of detective stories.

Ninja training began from infancy. The parents had no choice, because the child's career was dictated by belonging to the outcast caste, and success in life, that is, promotion to the ranks of the Chunin, depended solely on the personal qualities of the fighter.

Physical training began from the cradle. In the house, a wicker cradle with a baby was usually hung in the corner. From time to time, the parents rocked the cradle more than was necessary for motion sickness, so that it hit the sides against the walls. At first, the child was frightened of the concussion and cried, but gradually got used to it and instinctively shrunk into a ball when pushed. A few months later, the exercise became more difficult: the child was taken out of the cradle and hung in a free state "on the reins." Now, when hitting a wall, he had to not only group, but also push off with a pen or leg. Similar game exercises were also performed in the reverse order, when a soft but rather heavy ball was rolled at the child. Obeying the instinct of self-preservation, the kid raised his hands to defend himself, "put a block." Over time, he began to find a taste for such a game and confidently cracked down on the "opponent".

For the development of the vestibular apparatus and muscles, the infant was periodically spun in different planes, or, taking hold of the legs and lowering his head down, they were forced to "stand up" on the palms of an adult with a flurry.

In a number of ryu, a young ninja at the age of six months began to swim and mastered the technique of swimming before walking. This developed the lungs and gave excellent coordination of movements. Having got used to the water, the child could stay on the surface for hours, dive to great depths, hold his breath for two or three minutes or more.

For children from two years of age, games were introduced for the speed of reaction: in the "dad-scratch" or "magpie-thief" - requiring an instant withdrawal of an arm or leg.

Approximately from the age of three, a special strengthening massage and breath control began. The latter was given decisive importance in all further training, reminiscent of the Chinese system of qi-gong.

As in Chinese kenpo schools, all ninja training was carried out within the framework of the Heaven-Man-Earth trinity and was based on the principle of the interaction of the five elements.

As soon as the child gained stability on the ground and on the water, that is, he could walk, run, jump and swim well, the classes were transferred to the "Sky". At first, a log of medium thickness was strengthened horizontally above the very surface of the earth. On it, the child learned a few simple gymnastic exercises. Gradually, the log rose higher and higher above the ground, at the same time decreasing in diameter, and the set of exercises became much more complicated: it included elements such as splits, jumps, flips, back and forth somersaults. Then the log was replaced by a thin pole, and over time - a stretched or sagging rope. After such training, the ninja did not have to cross the abyss or the castle moat, throwing a rope with a hook to the opposite side.

Techniques were also practiced for climbing trees with a bare trunk (with and without a rope loop around the trunk), jumping from branch to branch or from branch to liana. Particular attention was paid to high jumps and high jumps. When jumping from a height, there was a slow, careful increase in complexity, taking into account the age characteristics of the organism. There were also various ways to absorb the impact of a fall with the help of legs, arms and the whole body (in a coup). Jumps from a height of 8-12 m required special "softening" somersaults.

The features of the relief were also taken into account: for example, it was possible to jump onto sand or peat from a greater height, and onto stone ground from a lower one. A favorable factor for "high-altitude" jumps were trees with a dense crown, which could spring and make it possible to grab onto a branch. Diving was a separate discipline.

Ninja high jumps, about which there are many legends, were based mainly on the regulation of breathing and the ability to mobilize ki (the body). However, in childhood, only the technique of movements was mastered. There were many ways to jump high, but the preference was always given to the jump "roll", hands forward, with or without somersaults, from acceleration or from a place. In such jumps, which served to overcome small obstacles - fences, wagons, pack animals, and sometimes chains of pursuers, it was important, upon landing, to immediately go into a combat stance. High jumps were usually practiced on the simplest "simulator" - instead of a plank, the child had to jump over a bush of thorn bushes, but real weapons were also used in the "exams", which, in case of failure, could seriously injure. Equally painstakingly worked out pole vaulting, which allowed in the blink of an eye to jump over walls several meters high. Long jumps through deep ditches and "wolf pits" were supposed to cultivate the ability not to be afraid of depth and the skill of landing not only on the feet, but also on the hands with pull-ups.

A special section was made up of "multi-stage" jumps. As a preparatory exercise, they should have mastered running along a vertical wall. With a slight acceleration, a person ran diagonally upward for several steps, trying to maintain balance as much as possible due to the large angle to the surface of the earth. With proper skill, the ninja could thus run up a three-meter rock and stop on the ridge, or, sharply pushing from the support, jump down and unexpectedly attack the enemy. In Chinese quan-shu, this technique is called "tiger jumping on a cliff." Another option for a multi-stage jump was jumping onto a low (up to 2 m) object, which served as a springboard for the next, final jump to a total height of up to 5 m. This technique, combined with the use of miniature portable spring jumps, often created the illusion of "flying through the air" .

The development of strength and endurance was the basis of all ninja training. Here, one of the most popular exercises for children was "hanging" from a tree branch. Clinging with his hands (without the help of his legs) to a thick branch, the child had to hang for several minutes at a high altitude, and then climb the branch on his own and go down the trunk. Gradually, the time of "visa" was brought up to an hour. An adult ninja could thus hang on the outer wall of the castle under the very nose of the sentries, in order to seize the opportunity to get into the room. Naturally, numerous push-ups, weight lifting, walking on hands were practiced.

One of the mysteries of ninjutsu is walking on the ceiling. Immediately make a reservation that not a single ninja could walk on an ordinary smooth ceiling. The secret was that the ceilings of the Japanese rooms are decorated with open relief beams and rafters, passing at a short distance from each other. Resting his arms and legs against parallel beams or clinging with the help of "cats" to one beam, hanging with his back to the floor, the ninja could cross the entire room. In the same manner, but with jumps, he could climb up, resting against the walls of houses in a narrow street or in the corridor of the castle.

One of the curious aspects of ninja training was running different distances. Marathon running was the norm for any child aged 10-12: he covered several tens of kilometers in a day almost without stopping. This kind of skill was required not only to get away from the chase, but also to convey important messages. At very large distances, the principle of the relay was applied. In the sprint, an ordinary straw hat served as an indicator of "sufficient" speed. At the start, it was necessary to press the hat to the chest, and if it remained there pressed by the flow of oncoming air until the very finish, the offset was considered passed. Obstacle racing could take a wide variety of forms. Barriers, traps and traps were set up on the track, ropes were pulled through the grass, and "wolf pits" were dug out. The young ninja had to, without interrupting the movement, notice the traces of the presence of a person on the move and go around the obstacle or jump over it.

In order to move around the territory of the enemy, it was not enough to be able to run well - you had to learn how to walk. Depending on the circumstances, the ninja could use one of the following walking methods: "crouching step" - soft, silent rolling from heel to toe; "gliding step" - the usual way to move in kenpo with arched foot movements; "drowned step" - moving in a straight line, the toe is pressed close to the heel; "jump step" - powerful kicks, reminiscent of the "triple jump" technique; "one-sided step" - jumping on one leg; "large step" is a normal step; "small step" - movement according to the principle of "athletic walking"; "hole inset" - walking on toes or on heels; "walking sideways", "normal walk" - moving with "side step" or back to prevent the chase from determining the direction of movement; "walking apart" - zigzag movements.

During group operations in areas where traces were clearly visible, the ninja most often moved in single file, trail after trail, hiding the number of people in the detachment. The main requirements for walking in any way were speed, economy of strength and breath control. An important addition to the art of walking was moving on high, light stilts made of bamboo - takueum, which, if necessary, could be made in a few minutes.

Inhabitants of hard-to-reach mountainous areas, ninjas were born climbers. From childhood, a child learned to climb rocks and scree, descend into crevices, cross rapids and bottomless abysses. All these skills were later to help the scout to climb the impregnable walls of castles and penetrate into the inner chambers of the monasteries. The art of rock climbing (sakanabori or toheki jutsu) was one of the most difficult subjects in the ninja training program. Although there were some auxiliary tools to facilitate climbing, it was believed that a real master should climb a sheer wall without resorting to anything more than his own hands and feet. The secret was the ability to concentrate the power and vitality of ki in the fingertips. Thus, the slightest protrusion or tubercle on the surface of the wall became a reliable foothold. Having felt at least two or three ledges, the ninja could confidently continue his way up. Mentally at this time, he rushed "into the depths" of the wall, as if sticking his body to a stone massif. The walls of castles, built of huge hewn blocks, could be considered impregnable due to their height and steepness, but for a trained scout to overcome such an obstacle with many cracks and crevices was not difficult.

In the Middle Ages, human life often depended on a horse. Recall Richard III, who generously promised "kingdom for a horse" on the battlefield. The horse was a faithful combat companion of the samurai and more than once helped out a scout in trouble. Although the conditions of the terrain in the ninja camps rarely allowed horses to be kept and they moved mainly on foot, samurai horsemanship (ba-jutsu) was also included in the course of training. Ninja vaulting, in addition to the usual dressage, steeplechase and shooting from the saddle, included some acrobatic stunts. The young ninja mastered the technique of riding under the belly of a horse or hanging on one side, so that the arrows of the enemy were not afraid of him. He had to be able to jump on a racing horse, fall from the saddle at full gallop, hang from the stirrups and drag along the ground, pretending to be killed. One of the most difficult numbers was jumping from horse to horse. Even more difficult was the jump on the horse from the ground, in which it was necessary to kick the rider out of the saddle and take his place. True, the ninja did not know how to do something, for example, to stand in the saddle, but this is due only to the lack of tradition. In any case, any ninja in the art of horse riding was far superior to the average samurai.

From about the age of four or five, boys and girls in the ninja camp began to be taught to fight without weapons and with weapons - according to the system of one of the ju-ju-tsu schools, but with the obligatory inclusion of acrobatic elements, which gave the fighter clear advantages in the fight. In addition, children were subjected to cruel and very painful procedures in order to achieve free dismemberment of the joints. As a result of many years of exercises, the articular bag expanded and the ninja could, at his own discretion, "take out" his arm from his shoulder, "unfasten" his leg, turn his foot or hand over. These strange properties were invaluable in those cases when the spy had to crawl through narrow openings or free himself from fetters imposed by some ingenious way. Once in the hands of the pursuers and letting himself be tied, the ninja usually strained all his muscles in order to then loosen the rope by general relaxation, "pulled out" his hands so that the loops slipped from his shoulders. What happened next was a matter of technique. In the same manner, a ninja could free himself from a painful hold or lock. In fencing, the dismemberment of the joint made it possible to lengthen the arm by several centimeters upon impact.

Some schools also sought to reduce sensitivity to pain. To do this, from an early age, the body was treated with a special "painful" massage, which included tapping and strong blows, tweaks, claps, and later - "rolling" the body, arms and legs with a faceted stick. Over time, a thin but strong muscle corset was formed, and pain sensations were significantly dulled. The natural accompaniment of the whole complex of physical education was the general hardening of the body. Children were not only taught to walk almost naked in any weather, but they were also forced to sit for hours in the icy stream of a mountain river, spend the night in the snow, spend the day in the scorching sun, go without food and water for a long time, and get food in the forest.

The sharpness of feelings was brought to the limit, because life depended on a correct and quick reaction. Vision was supposed to help the ninja not only find out the secrets of the enemy, but also safely avoid the trap, since reconnaissance operations were usually carried out at night, there was an urgent need to navigate in the dark. To develop night vision, the child was periodically placed for several days and even weeks in a cave, where daylight barely penetrated from the outside, and forced to move farther and farther from the light source. Sometimes candles and torches were used. Gradually, the intensity of the light was reduced to a minimum, and the child acquired the ability to see in total darkness. As a result of regular repetition of such training, this ability did not disappear, but, on the contrary, was fixed.

Visual memory was developed by special exercises for mindfulness. For example, a set of ten items, covered with a scarf, was laid out on a stone. For a few seconds, the handkerchief rose, and the young ninja had to list all the objects he saw without hesitation. Gradually, the number of items increased to several dozen, their composition varied, and the demonstration time was reduced. After several years of such training, a scout could reconstruct from memory a complex tactical map in all its details and reproduce literally a dozen pages of text read once. The trained eye of a ninja accurately determined and "photographed" the terrain, the location of the corridors of the castle, the slightest change in disguise or the behavior of sentries.

Hearing was brought to such a degree of sophistication that the ninja not only distinguished the voice of all the birds and guessed the partner’s signal in the bird choir, but also “understood the language” of insects and reptiles. So, the silent chorus of frogs in the swamp spoke of the approach of the enemy. The loud buzzing of mosquitoes from the ceiling of the room indicated an ambush in the attic. Putting your ear to the ground, you could hear the stomping of the cavalry at a great distance. By the sound of a stone thrown from the wall, it was possible to determine the depth of the ditch and the level of the water with an accuracy of up to a meter. By the breathing of those sleeping behind the screen it was possible to accurately calculate their number, gender and age, by the sound of a weapon to determine its type, by the whistle of an arrow - the distance to the archer. And not only this…

Adapting to actions in the dark, the ninja learned to see like a cat, but at the same time sought to compensate for their sight through hearing, smell and touch. In addition, training designed for prolonged blindness was designed to develop and did excellently develop psychic abilities.

Many years of exercise gave the ninja's ear the sensitivity of a dog, but his behavior in the dark was associated with a whole range of auditory, olfactory and tactile sensations. A ninja could blindly judge the proximity of a fire by the degree of warmth, and the proximity of a person by sound and smell. Shallow changes in the ventilation stream allowed him to distinguish a through passage from a dead end and a large room from a closet. With a long blackout of vision, a person's ability to navigate both in space and in time rapidly progressed. The ninja, who, of course, did not have hours working indoors, was deprived of the opportunity to read the time by the stars, however, based on his feelings, he determined what time it was to the nearest minute. The most talented students, after several years of classes, acted with a blindfold as freely as without it. Cultivating in themselves the ability to suggest, they sometimes established "telepathic contact" with an invisible enemy sitting in ambush, and delivered a preemptive strike right on target. In Japanese houses with an abundance of sliding partitions made of wax paper and screens, where the eyes could not always tell the whereabouts of the enemy, all other senses came to the rescue. The notorious "sixth sense", or "extreme mind" (gokui), which the theorists of bu-jutsu so loved to talk about, was in fact a derivative of the five, or rather, three - hearing, touch and smell. With their help, it was possible to avoid the trap in time and even repel an attack from the rear without turning around.

The reader who doubts the authenticity of such exotic talents can be referred, for example, to Denis Diderot's Letter on the Blind for the Edification of the Sighted, where even more fantastic properties of the human figure are based. In particular, Diderot cites such an instructive case, accompanying it with a true generalization: “A blind man reacts so civilly to noise and voice that I have no doubt: exercise in this can make the blind very dexterous and dangerous. I will tell you about this one episode with a blind , which will convince you that if he had learned to use the appropriate weapon, it would be rather imprudent to expose his chest to his pistol shot or expect to be hit by a stone. Annoyed at him because of some unpleasant remarks, the blind man grabbed the first object that came to hand, threw it at his brother, hit him in the forehead, and he fell.

That there was no accident here and that a sighted person can cultivate such a skill in himself, hunters who shoot "by sound" will confirm. The sense of smell also told the ninja about the presence of people or animals, and in addition, it helped to understand the location of the chambers of the castle. Living room, bedroom, kitchen, not to mention the outhouse, differed sharply in smell. In addition, the sense of smell, and equally the taste, was indispensable for some of the pharmaceutical and chemical operations that the ninja sometimes resorted to.

The physical training of the ninja continued until the onset of maturity, which was marked by the rite of initiation into members of the genus. Initiation was usually held, as in samurai families, at the age of fifteen, but sometimes even earlier. Only after becoming full members of the community, the boys and girls moved from the standard psychophysical training to the knowledge of the secret mysteries of the spirit contained in the teachings of the yamabushi monks, in Zen and in sophisticated yoga techniques.

Where did yamabushi come from, what do they have to do with hired spies and assassins? Yamabushi is the most mysterious of the Buddhist sects that have ever existed in Japan, more reminiscent of a monastic order. This word is written with a hieroglyph identical to the Taoist concept of "holy", "perfectly wise" (xian), which indicates a close connection of the sect with the doctrines of xian-daoism about self-improvement and life extension. However, the sound of the word yamabushi means "sleeping in the mountains", which in itself indicates the direction of their teaching. The sect took shape in the 9th-10th centuries, taking shape as a monastic order. It is believed that the yamabushi invented a special kind of yoga, deepening the mystical aspects of the esoteric Buddhist sects of Shingon and Tendai. They summarized their discoveries in a work inaccessible to the gaze of mere mortals. The name of the mentioned work "Shugen-do" ("The Way of Acquiring Power") and all its provisions had to be transmitted orally - from the teacher to the proselyte. As a rule, the ninja who lived in the neighborhood became the faithful students of the yamabushi.

Having devoted their lives to austerity and tireless zeal in the wilderness of forests, the yamabushi only occasionally descended from the rocky peaks to bow to the shrines of the central temple of the order - Daigoji in Kyoto. Most yamabushi, like the Taoist hermits of China and Korea or the ascetics of other sects of Tantric Buddhism, mastering the secrets of yoga, specialized in one narrow area: for example, they improved the “hand technique”, holding the breath under water or owning a dagger. One can imagine that several decades of hard work and a sinless life according to the canon of "Shugen-do" gave good results. It is no coincidence that most schools of martial arts and almost all ninjutsu traditions associated their origin with the legendary yamabushi. From them, the leaders of the ninja communities learned mantras and mudras that were supposed to help the brave scouts in their undertakings.

Of course, not all ninja received the key to the mystery of Genesis from the hands of the yamabushi, not all were able to apply their knowledge with equal success. Nevertheless, it is obvious that many keepers of the ninjutsu traditions, as well as mentors of martial arts in a number of samurai clan schools, drew energy and inspiration from the inexhaustible source of tantric magic. From tantric books on medicine and alchemy, skills were borrowed to compose fast-acting and slow-acting poisons, healing balms and nutrient mixtures, like unique concentrates in the form of pills that can satisfy hunger and thirst for several days.

Along with mudras (there were nine main mudras related to important energy centers) and mantras, ninjas also used less exotic, but more reliable methods of acupressure to heal injuries and overcome all kinds of physical and mental disorders.

So, it followed: to overcome the feeling of fear, at the same time for five minutes, rhythmically press the index fingers of both hands on the points of "Divine Calm", located on the outer side of the calf closer to the knee; to overcome fatigue - for some time actively press in the rhythm of the pulse with the tip of the thumb of one hand on a point located on the "cushion" between the first and second phalanxes of the little finger of the other hand; to dull the feeling of thirst - for several minutes, rhythmically bite the tip of the tongue; to relieve a headache after a contusion - massage the point located between the thumb and forefinger of both hands alternately, etc. Recommendations were available literally for all occasions, which often allowed scouts to do without the help of a doctor. In combination with self-hypnosis, acupressure was a powerful stimulant of vital activity in extreme conditions.

Many samurai, not to mention ordinary townspeople and peasants, seriously believed that ninjas were known with evil spirits, for which, of course, there were enough reasons. Let's take at least an amazing ability to suddenly "disappear" from the field of view, as if dissolving in the air ... But upon closer examination, we will not find anything supernatural in the exploits of a ninja. On the contrary, we will face an indomitable thirst for knowledge of human nature, multiplied by daily zeal and based on a powerful tradition.

The "higher education" of a ninja was not limited to all-around sports and even the magic of tantric rites. The scout had to be able to do more than sneak, eavesdrop, peep and kill. In order to process and analyze the information obtained, it was necessary to freely read the most complex texts written in intricate hiegrolytic cursive in the old manner, and sometimes in Chinese, to understand the issues of fortification, cartography, strategy and tactics.

For camouflage during reconnaissance operations, especially those requiring long-term information gathering ("resident work"), the ninja carefully learned seven classic roles:

- Wandering actor. The role required knowledge of folk songs and dances of the area, as well as acrobatic numbers, reprises of wandering comedians.

- Wandering monk collecting alms (komuso). The role required knowledge of many common prayers and requirements, as well as the monastic charter and various subtleties of conversion.

– Mountain hermit; this role for the ninja was the least difficult, because in the cities yamabushi were usually regarded as holy fools.

- Buddhist priest. Here, approximately the same knowledge was required as in the case of a beggar monk, but, of course, with great attention to the ritual and realities of "one's" temple.

- Illusionist and juggler. For this role, a general "circus" training was necessary.

Especially important was the mastery of illusionistic numbers with dressing up, finding and extracting objects, hiding large objects under clothing and with "disappearing" to previously prepared positions. Every self-respecting ninja had to become a professional magician.

- An ordinary peasant or city dweller. The role required certain knowledge of agriculture or crafts.

- Merchant. The role assumed familiarity with market conditions and the ability to understand the quality of goods.

During the Muromachi era, when the victorious Takeda Shingen led one military campaign after another in different parts of the country, he instilled in many ninja clans relatively new long-range signaling skills for them. To transmit urgent information over a distance, signal fires with different quality of smoke, flags, drums, gongs and shell-pipes began to be used. For example, if a ninja hung a red flag from the wall of an enemy castle, this meant that the besieging army should use incendiary shells, if blue - resort to water means, that is, try to flood the fortifications.

Despite the fact that all ninja clans gave a universal espionage and sabotage education, the main thing for a qualified scout was to perfectly master the crown technique of his school. So, Gyokku-ryu from generation to generation passed on the secrets of defeating pain points with the help of fingers (yubi-jutsu), Kotto-ryu specialized in pain grips, fractures and dislocations (koppo), and also practiced the art of hypnosis (saimin-jutsu). In physical training according to the system of this school, the influence of Indian yoga was especially noticeable. Kyushin-ryu was famous for its masters of the spear, sword and dart. Shinshu-ryu ninja, nicknamed "transparent waves", and their counterparts from Joshu-ryu - "stormy waves", from Rikuzen-ryu - "black windings", from Koshu-ryu - "wild monkeys" had their secrets.

No, even the most experienced ninja, versed in the secrets of hypnosis and black magic, never went on a mission without a "gentleman's set" of weapons and technical equipment. Ninja were, if not inventors, then at least active consumers and modernizers of all kinds of edged weapons (primarily reduced and hidden types), as well as subversive mechanisms and military engineering devices.

Weapons exercises began for the ninja, as in samurai families, from early childhood and went in parallel with general physical training. By the age of fifteen, boys and girls had to master, at least in general terms, up to twenty commonly used weapons. Two or three types, for example, a dagger and a sickle or a club and a knife, were considered "profiling". They were solemnly handed over to the initiator at the ceremony of initiation into members of the clan. The ancient law of kempo operated here, according to which any weapon, if masterfully wielded, can become a reliable defense against an enemy armed to the teeth, including, of course, bare hands.

The ninja's arsenal included three categories of weapons: hand-to-hand combat, projectiles, and chemicals, including explosive mixtures.

In addition to the sword, spear, halberd and pole, the first category included many little-known items, and their choice was always determined by three qualities - lightness, portability and functionality.

Ninja, unlike samurai, as a rule, used one large sword (ninja-to), which was worn on a sling behind their backs. This sword, like many other attributes of ninja equipment, was a universal combined weapon, reminiscent of an ingenious "penknife". Outwardly, the scabbard and handle were decorated very simply and painted in a protective color. Sometimes a sword, devoid of a guard, was disguised as an ordinary staff. The scabbard was much longer than the blade and had a hole at the end, which made it possible to use them as a breathing tube if necessary to hide under water or as a tube for throwing small poisoned arrows. In addition, secret dispatches, laces with code knots and other useful little things were put into the scabbard. By attaching the sword to a beam or bough on a rawhide strap, it could be used as a trapezoid and as a "perch" for a long prison term. In the presence of a guard, the sword became a convenient step, which could then be pulled up by the strap.

The favorite weapon of the ninja was the combined sickle (kusarigama). A long thin chain with a sinker (weight) at the end was attached to the handle of an ordinary sickle, which in the Japanese-Chinese version is a miniature scythe with a solid forged blade. There were two versions of the sickle: a peasant one with a short arcuate blade and a military one with an elongated sword-shaped blade. The handle was made of hardwood with a metal ring for the chain. The canonization of kusarigama-jutsu is attributed to the famous master of martial arts, the Buddhist monk Jion (XV century), the founder of the Issin-ryu school. Subsequently, kusarigama entered the program of several dozen ryu and was popular among the samurai.

The range of a chain with a sinker could reach several meters, which gave great advantages to the owner of the kusarigama. A successfully thrown chain could completely wrap the enemy, paralyzing his actions, or entangle the hand with a sword, preventing an attack. In addition, the weight could stun the enemy or inflict severe injury on him. After "casting" the chain, the sickle was launched. The most difficult (section in kusarigama-jutsu was chain throwing - maki. Professionalism was achieved only after several years of practice.

For the ninja, a sickle with a long chain also played the role of an alpenstock when climbing, a swing bridge and a lift. However, the most curious in the whole complex of melee weapons was a specific ninja tool called keketsu-shoge. This ingenious device looked like a dagger with two blades, one of which was straight and double-edged, and the other was bent like a beak. A very long, thin and light rope made of horse or woman's hair with a loop or a metal circle at the end was attached to the handle. The keketsu-shoge found a wide variety of uses in ninja operations and served as an important tool in cases where large-sized weapons were not suitable. It could be used as a dagger, and the curved blade helped to catch the enemy's sword in a fork and pull it out by turning around the axis. It could be used both as a throwing knife and as a grappling hook for "dismounting" riders. When rotating at a distance of one and a half to two meters, the keketsu-shoge successfully competed with a spear and a halberd. Throwing a hook on the wall, it was easy to climb up the rope and just as easy to go down without disturbing the silence with a jump. The same rope could bind, lasso or strangle the enemy. When crossing stormy mountain rivers and abysses, the rope was attached to a tree, and the hook was thrown to the opposite bank. The metal ring could be used either as a fastening, put on a strong bough, or as a means for quickly crossing goods and people by sliding in a suspended state.

An indispensable companion of the ninja was a coil of ordinary horsehair rope with a small sinker at the end (musubi-nawa), designed both for "entangling" the enemy from a distance, and for intricate traps.

Female ninjas, who often penetrated the retinue of sovereign daimyo under the guise of a seductive aristocrat, had their own, quite original weapons. Their magnificent hairstyles were decorated with elegant hairpins in the form of miniature stilettos up to 20 cm long - kansashi. With such a hairpin it was possible to pierce the throat of the ruler sleeping on the bed of love in the blink of an eye. Hairpins could also be useful as throwing knives.

The pole (bo) and club (jo) in the hands of the ninja worked wonders. Any stick that turned up under the arm became a deadly weapon. Each school of ninjutsu cherished its own unique fighting techniques. The art of fencing with a club and a dagger at the same time was also very popular. With the dexterity of jugglers, the ninja also wielded a short stick - tandze (yawara), sometimes in pairs, an excellent weapon for parrying the sword and delivering poke blows to the nerve centers of the enemy.

The ninja not only used the bo staff for self-defense, but also made important improvements to its simple design. First of all, a model of a hollow staff was developed with a blade built into it or a thin long chain weighted with a sinker (shinobizue). A smaller version of such a staff in the form of a harmless bamboo stick was called the "spy shell" (shinobikai). There was also a model of an extendable bamboo pole with a tip in the form of a small chopper called "bear's paw" (kumade). Such a pole could serve as a weapon, but more often it was used as a hook - for climbing to a height and for pulling up objects. With it, one could also jump over a wall four or five meters high. Being moved apart, the pole reached exactly this level. Sections in the expanded state were rigidly fixed, and in the folded state they formed a half-meter tube, which was easily hidden under clothing.

As a weapon, a device was often used, designed to facilitate climbing the sheer walls of castles - manual "cats". Shuko was a lightweight model of an iron knight's glove with a belt fastening and fingers in the form of claws, bent down. Sometimes an additional row of spikes was attached across the palm. With such a glove, one could safely meet the blow of the sword and counterattack with the other hand. A more primitive version of the same tool was "cat's paws" (nekode) - "claws" worn separately on the fingers.

One of the most important aspects of the ninja's activity was to defeat the enemy at a distance, so much attention was paid to the art of shooting and throwing small objects. Most often, scouts took with them on a mission a small, "half" bow (hankyu) no more than forty to fifty centimeters long. The arrows were of the appropriate size, which were often rubbed with poison. Although the arrow did not fly far, its destructive power was quite sufficient to kill the victim, shooting from the window into the room or from the fortress wall at the sentry on the tower.

About the same distance flew poisoned needles fired from a blowpipe like an Indonesian sumpitan (fukibari-jutsu). A miniature tube with a set of needles was very convenient to carry in the inside pocket.

Fleeing from the chase, the ninja sometimes threw at his pursuers, and more often scattered iron spikes (tetsubishi), an analogue of the Russian and European "garlic", along the road. The wounds from such a spike were very painful and put a person out of action for a long time.

A more effective offensive and defensive weapon was shuriken - a thin steel plate in the form of a gear, cross or swastika with pointed edges. A variety of shuriken were flat, round or faceted steel arrows sharpened on both sides. Shuriken were usually worn in a clip of ten pieces (nine is a sacred number) in a special leather case in the bosom. There were various ways of throwing a shuriken depending on the position of the body and the distance to the target, but most often flat "stars" were thrown like cards from a deck, with minimal effort, with a brush movement. An accurate hit of the shuriken ensured a lethal outcome. The purely psychological impact of these ominous metal plates in the form of magical symbols, which, in addition, sometimes whistled in flight, was also great.

We add that the ninja also skillfully managed with ordinary stones, sending them into the eye or temple of the enemy.

With the advent of firearms, ninjas began to use primitive home-made pistols, which fired grapeshot from a distance of fifteen to twenty meters. Another type of "firearm" was a kind of squeaker made of wood and papier-mâché, which also fired buckshot, but designed more to intimidate the enemy.

Disguised as a wandering monk, peasant, priest or circus performer, the ninja wore a wide-brimmed conical hat made of rice straw (amigasa) in the daytime - a very comfortable headdress that completely covered the face. However, in addition to camouflage, the hat could serve another purpose.

A massive arc-shaped blade, attached from the inside "under the visor", turned it into a giant shuriken. Launched by a skillful hand, the hat easily cut a young tree and separated the head of a person from the body, like a guillotine.

Ninja, who from time immemorial have been known among the people as masters of alchemy, showed great ingenuity in the preparation of poisonous substances and explosive mixtures. So, a miniature hand grenade (nage-teppo) could, if necessary, detain the pursuers. In addition, magnesium mixed with gunpowder gave the brightest flash. Taking advantage of the temporary "blindness" of those around him, the scout instantly "dived" under his feet and found himself on a tree or behind the nearest wattle fence. Nage-teppo were one of the most effective aids in the legendary "disappearances" of the ninja, which caused superstitious horror among the samurai.

The prototype of the nage-teppo was a Chinese gunpowder projectile (te-pao) with a shell of two iron hemispheres folded together. The first mention of te-pao dates back to the 12th century. During the invasion of the Japanese islands at the end of the XIII century. they were already actively used by the Mongols. Most likely, the secrets of making grenades and mines were brought to Japan from the continent by the captives of two unsuccessful campaigns of Khubilai and Buddhist pilgrims. There is also detailed information about the chemical composition of such grenades. For example, the following components were used to obtain a projectile with poisonous smoke: sulfur, saltpeter, aconite, creton fruit, henbane, tungut oil, xiao yu oil, charcoal, black tar, arsenic, yellow wax, bamboo and sesame fibers. The shell was sometimes made from an empty egg or from clay. A short wick was inserted inside.

Strong powdered poisonous chemicals were widely used in ninja practice. Some of them in the form of a crumbling lump could be thrown into the eyes of the enemy or sprayed from a blowpipe, which led to partial or complete loss of vision. Others were intended to affect the respiratory tract. With their help, it was possible to put the enemy to sleep or cause a coma. Scattered on the ground, these drugs knocked dogs off the trail.

Great damage in manpower was caused by "anti-personnel" mines - uzume-bi. They were usually located along the route of a possible retreat, carefully covered with branches or a layer of earth.

In mass operations, where a lively firefight was supposed, the ninja used a small, thick, very light and durable leather shield (neru-kawaita) to protect against bullets and arrows.

A ninja who went to collect information in the fortress had to take with him a set of locksmith tools, such as a crowbar with a fork at one end, a drill, a chisel, master keys or a knife, a chisel, etc.

Many portable devices were used to force water barriers: a folding straw raft, a shuttle, a rope stretched in advance under water. A curious device was an uki-gusa, a folding cylinder made of oiled paper on a fishbone frame with a tightly closed hole in one end. In calm weather, without being afraid of being seen, the ninja could use this strange design as a floating lantern, having previously inserted a candle inside. But with the hole closed, the "lantern" turned into a buoy, on which a person was quite comfortably located. Uki-gusa were also used for transporting and storing heavy loads on or under water.

Among the inventions of the ninja, ingenious in their simplicity, one cannot fail to mention the "water meter" (mizugumo) - small water-skiing rafts woven from a thick layer of straw or reeds. Such skis made it possible to glide on the smooth surface of the water without getting wet, which gave rise to stories among samurai and peasants about the supernatural ability of the ninja "to walk on the sea, like on dry land." Of course, mastering the mizugumo technique was more difficult than adapting to a surfboard, but ninjas have always had a weakness for acrobatic tricks. However, sometimes the illusion of walking on water arose due to pitfalls and shoals, the location of which was known only to the ninja.

To overcome open water spaces, especially castle ditches, the ninja carried a breathing tube (mizuzutsu). In order not to attract attention with a special bamboo stick, an ordinary smoking pipe with a long straight shank was often used as a mizuzutsu. With the help of a breathing tube, it was possible to swim, walk or sit (with a load) under water for a long time. The scabbard of a sword or simply a reed plucked in the water served as a replacement for the tube, and its tip protruded above the surface by only a few millimeters and was completely invisible from the outside.

It goes without saying that in order to carry so many weapons and technical equipment, the ninja had to have well-designed "overalls". The suit for night operations consisted of a kind of shirt, a jacket with a belt, pants like narrow harem pants, a hood, leg wraps and soft shoes. The jacket and pants were made of durable linen, securely stitched at the seams, and dyed black. The underside, also usable, was brown or dark blue, making it invisible at night. Both the jacket and the trousers abounded with all kinds of pockets, pockets, cases, loops and hooks for weapons and equipment. The hood with a hood served mainly to mask the face, but could also be useful as a water filter or a respirator in a smoky room. Split toe shoes were lined with canvas and sometimes leather or tarred canvas to give the right grip when climbing the wall. Thin metal plates were sometimes sewn into the sleeves of the jacket to repel sword blows; a thin dagger was attached above the forehead, under the hood. All clothes could be thrown off in a matter of seconds in order to slip out of the hands of the pursuers or fool them by making a dummy.

Prepared and equipped in this way, the scout was ready to perform any task, even an impossible one, and if a duty of honor required it, to sell his life dearly.

The theory and methods of military espionage were formulated at least a thousand years before Prince Shotoku Taishi used the services of a professional ninja intelligence officer for the first time in Japanese history. From that very time, as Chinese culture in the V-VI centuries. penetrated the Japanese islands, every self-respecting commander and statesman kept a treatise of the great ancient strategist Sun Tzu in a place of honor in his personal library. The Zenin, the leaders of the ninja clans, were also guided in all their operations by this instructive book, and in particular by the section entitled "The Use of Spies." Sun Tzu attached exceptional importance to spies, considering their work to be the key to the victory of an army in any campaign. We will cite here, with some abbreviations, the chapter mentioned, reflecting not only the structure and organization of the ninja spy network, but also their relationship with their employers - daimyo.

"-... Knowledge of the position of the enemy can only be obtained from people.

– Therefore, the use of spies is of five types: there are local spies, there are internal spies, there are reverse spies, there are spies of death, there are spies of life.

“All five classes of spies work, and one cannot know their ways. This is called the unfathomable mystery. They are a treasure for the sovereign.

- Local spies are recruited from local residents of the enemy country and used (these are simple informants, not ninjas in the proper sense of the word. - AD); internal spies are recruited from his officials and used by them (these are also informants who sell information and are not ninjas. - A.D.); reverse spies are recruited from and used by enemy spies. When I use something deceptive, I let my spies know about it, and they pass it on to the enemy. Such spies will be the spies of death. The spies of life are those who return with a report.

“…Subtlety!” Subtlety! There is nothing where spies cannot be used.

- If the spy report has not yet been sent, and this has already become known, then both the spy himself and those to whom he reported are put to death.

– In general, when you want to strike at the enemy’s army, attack his fortress, kill his people, be sure to first find out the names of the commander in his service, his assistants, the head of the guard, the soldiers of his guard. Instruct your spies to be sure to find out all this.

- If you find out that you have an enemy spy and is watching you, be sure to influence him with benefits; bring it in and place it with you. For you can acquire a reverse spy and use it...

- ... Only enlightened sovereigns and wise commanders are able to make people of high intelligence their spies, and in this way they will certainly accomplish great deeds. The use of spies is essential in war; this is the pillar on which the army operates."

Sun Tzu's ideas were repeatedly commented on and enriched with examples from the history of China and neighboring states, so the feudal rulers of Japan and the top of the ninja hierarchy relied not only on the laconic theses of the treatise, but also on lengthy volumes of specific guidelines and recommendations.

Without dwelling in detail on the strategic aspects of using espionage in internecine wars, we only note that the ninja rarely acted alone, at their own peril and risk. As a rule, all their actions were carried out as part of the activities of an extensive spy network, which included informants (informers, residents, liaisons, saboteurs, and, finally, cover forces).

From the point of view of the exotic, of course, ninja saboteurs are of the greatest interest. According to Sun Tzu's classification, they are "spies of life". They sometimes voluntarily or involuntarily became "spies of death", sacrificing themselves for the sake of killing a particularly important person or for the sake of capturing an impregnable fortification.

The tactics of ninja saboteurs came down to diverting the attention of the enemy in different areas by quickly moving to unexpected blows (for example, removing sentries) and causing panic in the ranks of the enemy with the help of major sabotage (arson of food warehouses, poisoning a fortress well, killing a military leader, etc.) .).

The hardest part of the ninja's risky missions was breaking into the castle. For this, any means were used. You could bribe a sentry, get hired, offer your services as a martial arts instructor or even a scout. One could try to play a wandering monk, an actor, a magician, pretend to be sick, imperceptibly get mixed up in the ranks of enemy soldiers. However, all these tricks suffered from one drawback: the enemy counterintelligence was vigilantly watching the newcomer, and the very first attempt to get to secret documents or into the prince's chambers could be the last. Brave scouts, skilled in the intricacies of their craft, sometimes resorted to a deadly, but win-win (if successful) trick: they let themselves be grabbed with the expectation of escaping. History has preserved many examples of such desperate adventures.

The Tokugawa authorities ordered an experienced ninja named Tonbe to hunt down and kill his fellow crafter, Kaei Juzo, who was hired in the service of the conspiring princes. Recognizing the alleged victim as an old friend and classmate, Dongbe disregarded his professional honor and did not kill him. After conferring, they developed a plan that was supposed to satisfy both warring parties. Tonbe took Juzo to the shogun's residence and reported that the enemy had been taken alive. The shogun immediately ordered the execution of the villain, but Juzo asked for permission to commit suicide. The shogun and his retinue, intrigued by the spectacle ahead. They settled comfortably in the hall, and the unfortunate Juzo was given a short, dull knife. Since the ninja could not observe the hara-kiri ritual in all its subtleties, Juzo did not undress and limited himself to plunging a knife into the stomach to the very hilt. The clothes were thickly soaked with blood, the dying man, twitching several times, stretched out on the floor. The corpse was thrown into the castle moat, and the shogun and his associates arranged a banquet on the occasion of the successful completion of the operation. That same night, the castle was set on fire from different sides. The insidious Juzo, instead of hara-kiri, ripped open the belly of a strangled rat, previously tucked into his belt. After sitting in the moat until dark, he took advantage of the absent-mindedness of the sentries and made his way into the castle, which he managed to study during the day, set it on fire and disappeared with impunity.

Of course, such tricks required remarkable strength of composure and dexterity. As soon as someone noticed the forgery, the impudent ninja would be subjected to sophisticated torture, and in conclusion, his head would be sawed off with a blunt bamboo saw.

Most often, the penetration into the castle was carried out in a "natural" way, that is, in complete secrecy and under the cover of night. Ninja arranged a kind of competition, storming the walls of the most impregnable castles in the darkness. Here, for example, was how the stronghold of Suwa Daimyo was captured.

Suwa Castle stood on a hill and was surrounded by a deep moat. A single watch tower dominated the massive fortress walls, from which an overview of all the fortifications and the courtyard was opened. At night, the walls were illuminated, and it was impossible to approach them. Then the cunning ninja Kato Tanzo from the Koga clan developed a plan to capture the watchtower itself. At night, with the help of "cats", he climbed up the sheer wall under the platform of the tower, hanging over the moat - the only place that fell out of sight of the sentries. Clinging to the beam with one hand, Kato pulled out a drill with the other hand and drilled two holes in the wooden floor of the platform. Pop-up bolts were silently inserted into them, and ropes were attached to the bolts. The assistants waiting below, at a signal from Kato, went upstairs and settled on the "swing" right under the feet of the guards. Further, everything was a matter of a few minutes. Having determined the direction of movement of sentries by steps, the ninjas crossed the parapet of the tower in one fell swoop and silently finished off the guards. The castle was theirs. The arson of the barracks and the gunpowder store decided the outcome of the event.

In all their actions, the ninja had to remain as invisible and inaudible to the enemy as possible, so the classic methods of disguise under any circumstances were developed in ninjutsu, the so-called five camouflage methods (go-ton-no jutsu):

1. The use of the Tree, that is, vegetation, mokuton.

– Camouflage in the grass (kusa-gakure). Tall - taller than human growth - grass and undersized shrubs, which abound in the plains of Japan, have always served as an ideal cover for maneuvers. Even in broad daylight, one could walk in such grass unnoticed. In addition, with prolonged observation, the ninja himself could "turn" into a lush green bush or into a swamp tussock crowned with brown moss.

- Disguise in the way of a badger - tanuki-gakure.

Here it was supposed to use trees in different qualities. For example, it was possible to reliably hide from prying eyes in the hollow of an old tree, invisible from below. It was possible to hide in a spreading crown or climb a tree and, while the pursuers close the circle of encirclement, use vines or pre-tensioned ropes to move to a safe place.

2. Use of Fire - ka-ton.

- Distracting arson - hi-tsuke. This reliable tool was used very often to inflict damage on the enemy and at the same time distract him from the path that the ninja was about to follow.

- Hand grenades or flash bombs - hidama. They resorted to them, if necessary, to get rid of the overtaking guards; sometimes they were tossed or placed in a fire or in a brazier. The lethal force of these infernal machines was not great, but the shock effect was very great.

- Signal firecrackers - rayka-lady - were usually scattered around the camp or around the point of sabotage and were activated using a system of cords, which an enemy infiltrator or sentry inevitably clung to.

- Poisonous and tear gases for cover - dokuen-gakure - gave a good result both in retreat and, if necessary, to silently kill or paralyze several people in a closed room.

- "Devil's Flame" - onibi-gakure - was a simple illusionistic trick with blowing fire. A ninja displaying an onibi wearing an ugly devil mask would often stampede pursuers.

3. Use of the Earth and objects connected with the earth (walls, stones, statues, etc.) - ji-ton.

- Camouflage according to the "triton method" - imori-gakure - consisted in the ability to "stick" to a wall, rock or earthen heap, completely merging with the surface.

- The "Scarecrow Method" - kakashi-gakure - assumed the ability to imitate in the dark or twilight the contours of familiar landscape objects: a garden scarecrow, a statue, a stone lantern in a park, etc.

- According to the "quail method" - uzura-gakure - it was necessary, huddled into a ball, to cling to the ground, depicting a bump or stone.

4. The use of Metal, that is, metal products to distract attention, is a kin-tom.

- Creation of false noises in some far corner of the castle with the help of unwound string - kama-gakure (from the word kama - metal household utensils). Hearing the rattling of iron, the guards rushed to the sound, leaving open the passage to the inner chambers.

- Throwing copper coins - do-gakure - often helped to get rid of the chase on a crowded street. Throwing one after another large coppers, running away from his pursuers created a stir among onlookers and beggars who caught coins, and at the same time could knock out the eye of the most zealous pursuer.

5. Use of Water-sui-ton.

We already know that a trained ninja felt like a fish in water in a different element. The most popular camouflage methods were:

- "the way of the turtle" (kame-gakure), which makes it possible to stay under water for a long time with a breathing tube;

- "seaweed cover" - ugikusa-gakure, which allowed, for example, to swim down the river unnoticed.

If the scout was taken by surprise and he was forced to rush into the water without any preliminary preparation, a hood or any piece of matter came to the rescue. A large bubble of air could be filled into it to hold out for five to seven minutes at the bottom, while the pursuers combed the surroundings.

Thus, the "Five methods of camouflage" were built on the principle of correlation with the five elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. It was believed that a ninja, having mastered all five methods to perfection, having learned to combine them in various situations, comprehended the idea of Being, expressed in the relationship and metamorphoses of the primary elements, and he was guaranteed success in any enterprise. However, as the Japanese proverb says, "and the monkey falls from the tree." None of the scouts who went on a mission was immune from failure, because in the face of the enemy they often met an even more experienced, more insidious ninja. An example of this is the sad story of Sasuke, nicknamed Sarutobi (Jumping Monkey).

From childhood, Sarutobi trained according to the most brutal program, especially in the area of \u200b\u200b"use of vegetation" (mokuton) - climbing trees at breakneck speed, running along branches, swinging and jumping over vines like a real monkey. He learned, or perhaps invented himself, the simian style of kempo, which is extremely agile and powerful. Getting used to the "image", he lived for a long time in the trees and ate the food of monkeys, but at the same time he did not forget to master the secret traditions of yamabushi. In the end, Sarutobi turned into an indispensable scout, performing the most dangerous missions with brilliance. One day, a rebellious daimyō, plotting a coup d'état, sent a Jumping Monkey to the shogun's palace for reconnaissance. Having safely overheard the plans of the enemy commanders, Sarutobi prepared to retire. Unnoticed, he got out of the room and climbed onto the wall of the fortress, but, jumping down, HAS GOED into a bear trap. Seeing that he could not free himself, the ninja courageously cut off his leg to the ankle with a sword, bandaged the wound and tried to continue on his way, but the chase was already close. Then, weakening from loss of blood, Sarutobi shouted out a curse to his enemies for the last time and cut his own throat.

Concerned about the absence of their best agent, the conspirators sent another ninja after him. He, having entered the residence of the shogun, saw the guards in combat readiness, and a little later a figure dressed in black flashed before him in the darkness. The stranger crept up on the two sentries on the wall and soon stabbed them to death with a dagger. The satisfied scout returned unhindered to the rebel headquarters and reported that Sarutobi was sowing panic among the enemy troops. But at the same time, the castle was surrounded by government troops and stormed ... Hattori Hanzo, the head of the ninja forces in the shogun's army, managed to lead the rebels, playing the role of the deceased Sarutobi.

Even more instructive is the story of the assassination of the powerful daimyo Uesugi Kenshin, who contested the right to supreme power in the country from Oda Nobunaga and Takeda Shingen. The entire intelligence service of Uesugi was concentrated in the hands of Kasumi Danjo - it was with him that the four secret assassins sent by Oda had to face. The intruders managed to trap Kasumi and his three guards in a dark corridor. Ukifune Kenpati, a master of fukibari jutsu, injected them with a charge of poisoned needles from his pipe - all four were killed on the spot. With the same weapon, Ukifune went to the prince’s bedroom and was already bringing the pipe to his lips when someone’s powerful hands grabbed him and turned his head with a precisely calculated jerk ... As it turned out, Kasumi only pretended to be killed, managing to dodge the deadly needles. But in vain the reassured Kenshin consoled himself with the thought that he had gotten rid of his worst enemy. In vain, prudent Kasumi set traps in the dark passages of the castle. On the same night, a relative of the unlucky poison needle thrower, Ukyiune Jinnai, who was a dwarf, a little over three shaku (about one meter) tall, but quite physically developed, penetrated the enemy fortress and settled in an ambush. For many years he prepared for the execution of various delicate missions, sitting for a long time in a cauldron of liquid clay. Having made his way to the castle, Jinnai settled comfortably in the prince's lavatory (cesspool) with a spear and a breathing tube. When in the morning the prince appeared to satisfy natural needs and squatted down over a round hole in the floor, Jinnai, emerging from his hiding place, pierced the sovereign daimyo with a spear to the very throat. The guards who ran to the noise did not find anyone, for Dzinnai, having done his job, sank to the bottom. After some time, having got out of the castle and thoroughly washed, he was already describing his adventures to the pleased Oda Nobunaga.

Ninja tactics were not limited to arson, murder, explosions and poisoning. Often, to capture especially important fortifications, "bacteriological weapons" were used - animals sick with rabies or infected with epidemic bacteria (dogs, cats, monkeys, etc.), sometimes trained. This method of sabotage was called "spy decoy". The following historical anecdote gives some idea of it.

One day, Hajika Jubei, a spy in the service of Prince Takeda Shingen, decided to get rid of his sworn enemy Sandaifu Momoti. Having made his way into the house of Sundaifu and making sure that he was fast asleep, the bloodthirsty Khadzika released several dozen angry hungry weasels from the bag. But then the “awakened” Sandaifu, who had obviously already been informed of the impending assassination attempt, threw a handful of rat droppings at his opponent. Weasels, rushing to the smell of rats, bit the overly resourceful killer to death.

In addition to purely terrorist actions, ninja saboteurs were also used as a military landing during operations on land and at sea. During the storming of fortresses, when the bulk of the troops went on the attack, the ninja was often tasked with breaking through and opening the gates or diverting the forces of the besieged. Various mechanisms have been put in place for this. For example, under the cover of night, a huge jagora wheel, assembled from light wooden poles with small planks in the form of steps around the perimeter, moved close to the castle wall. One by one, the ninja jumped very quickly from the top of the spinning "ferris wheel" straight onto the wall. The same type of wheel, but with reinforced booths, was intended for permanent shelling of the enemy on the walls and in the courtyard of the castle. The catapult, the toteki-sha, also worked on the principle of the wheel. The ninja ram was manipulated under the cover of an oxhide shield on a sturdy portable frame. In field operations, the ninja sometimes "landed" along the gentle slope of the hill in self-propelled carts with wooden cabins - dairin-sha. Huge wheels gave the carts stability and did not allow them to roll over when descending. From the loopholes in the walls of the booths, it was possible to fire at the enemy. A large number of such "armored vehicles" were usually launched ahead of the infantry in order to confuse the enemy's camp and knock the initiative out of his hands.

Sometimes landing behind enemy lines was thrown from the air with the help of giant kites - tacos. Since such operations took place at night, the whole design was called the "night snake" (yami-dako). The ninja, suspended on slings, could conduct long-term observation of the enemy camp, fire at it from the air or throw it with hand grenades, but, most importantly, from such a snake it was possible, if you were lucky, to land directly on the roof of the castle. The same kite, tied in a secluded place, served as an emergency means of salvation. Quite often, whole squadrons of kites with a stuffed animal or with a human figure painted on the bottom were launched into the sky in order to divert the attention of the enemy from the direction of the main attack.

An even more intricate invention was the "eagle people" (hito-washi), who carried out a massive invasion of the enemy's territory. From bamboo, paper and ropes, a primitive likeness of a hang glider with a suspension was constructed. The ninja himself lay down on the frame with his chest, putting his hands into the mounts under the wings. The launcher consisted of several bamboo stakes or trunks cut to a certain height, pulled back with a rope. It was enough to let go of the fixed end of the rope, and the glider, thrown out by a powerful spring, rushed down the hill towards the enemy positions. Of course, in the daytime, "people-eagles" became easy prey for enemy archer guards, so the flights were carried out, as in the case of kites, under the cover of darkness. At sea, the actions of the ninja often escalated into ordinary piracy. In periods of peace, when the rebellious feudal lords did not need their services, scattered groups of "sea" ninjas plowed the Inland Sea on their small, nimble boats, attacking coastal villages, robbing merchant barges and government ships. These sea robbers - (funa-kainin, or fuma-kainin, as they were called in honor of the famous pirate Fuma Kotaro, were almost elusive. "Dragon boats" of pirates with a hermetically sealed deck, if necessary, could dive under water, taking on board ballast. On in depth they were set in motion by a pedal device.When these "submarines" approached the enemy fleet, swimmers with long breathing tubes got out of the hatch in the bottom, whose task was to drill and saw through holes in the enemy ships.Ballast was loaded and dumped through the same hatch when surfacing The breathing tube for the entire crew passed through the raised bow of the boat with the monster's head, but this hole could also be closed - then the crew was content with the available air supply.Often the "dragon boats" floated with the help of ballast, submerged in water, but with their head raised high above the surface a monster that spewed fire and smoke.It was rare for a sailor to look at this sea monster without a shudder. Ko cunning ninja under the leadership of Hattori Hanzo in the name of the law found a means of combating pirates. Having built high-speed ships with huge pointed wheels on the sides, they overtook and cut into pieces the slow, clumsy "dragon boats", and the surviving robbers were caught and executed.

The exploits of the ninja did not accidentally give food for countless traditions and legends; they are also sung by modern Japanese cinema. Their skills, honed by years of hard work, training and fierce battles, probably reached fantastic heights and seemed supernatural even to worldly-wise samurai. The glory of Shimotsuge Kizaru, the great jumper, Hachisuka Tenzo, who knew how to dig with the speed and dexterity of a mole, Yamada Yaemon, the master of lightning-fast disguises, Saji Gorobei, the conqueror of stormy rapids, thundered throughout the country.

With the cessation of civil strife and the management of the samurai class after the "Meiji Restoration" in 1868, the traditions of ninjutsu seemed to be finally interrupted. The ninja mountain camps were mostly liquidated under the Tokugawa. The descendants of brave scouts and ruthless killers moved to the cities, engaged in peaceful trades. Some of the ninja's arsenal was adopted by military agents and detective police, some moved into the field of jujutsu and combat karate. The unique complex of physical, mental, technical and philosophical-religious training, which was the medieval art of espionage, has been revived only today on a commercial basis in the school of Hatsumi Masaaki.

The thirty-fourth patriarch of the Togakure ninja school, a master of the highest class in eight types of bu-do, Hatsumi Masaaki was born in 1931 in the town of Noda, Chiba Prefecture. During his school years, he was actively involved in karate, judo, boxing and other military-applied sports, although he did not achieve particularly outstanding success in any of them at that stage. Hatsumi's fate was decided by an unexpected meeting. In 1958, he met Takamatsu Hisaji, the last, thirty-third secret keeper of the Tokakure school. The elder agreed to accept the capable young man as a student, and for fifteen years Hatsumi traveled once a week from Tokyo to the ancient city of Nara, where the master lived. For a week, he mastered a complex program given at home. After the death of Takamatsu, becoming the official heir to the traditions of the school, Hatsumi, following the example of most kenpo mentors, decided to declassify his art. He opened a paid ninja school - at first only for compatriots, and then for foreigners.

In various regions and prefectures of Japan, ninja were known under completely different names. The most typical expressions for spies in those days were " kancho no mono (mawashi-mono)" and " saguri no mono", formed from verbs " mawasu" - "spin around" and " saguru" - "sniff out, follow". The very same words " ninja" and " shinobi", which are just different ways of reading the same concept, were used only in a couple of provinces.

Naming ninja in different regions of feudal Japan:

Nara/Kyoto: seppa or suppa, ukami, dakko, shinobi or shinobu
Aorimi: hayamchimono, shinobi or shinobu
Myagi: Kurohabaki
Kanagawa: kusa, kamari, monomi, rappa, toppa
Tokyo/Edo: ommitsu, oniwaban
Yamanashi: mitsumono, seppa or suppa, bitches, denuki
Aichi: kyodan
Fukui: shinobi or shinobu
Nigata: nokizura, kyodo, kyodan, kikimono-yaku, kanshi or kansha
Shiga/Koga Key words: senkunin, senku-no-mono, Koga-no-mono, Koga-shu, ongyo-no-mono
Mie/Iga: Iga no mono, Iga Shu, shinobi no mono
Okayama: Fuma Kainin
Yamashiro and Yamato: suppa, dakko, ukami or ukagami
Kai: suppa, mitsu-no-mono
Echigo and Ecchu: nokizaru, kanshi, kikimono-yaku
Mutsu/Miyagi: kuro-habaki
Mutsu/Aomori: nayamichi-no-mono, shinobi
Sagami: kusa, monomi, rappa
Echizen and Wakasa: shinobi

Word " ninja"in the form to which we are accustomed, it became popular relatively recently - at the beginning of the twentieth century. Until that moment, reading was mainly used" shinobi" or " shinobi-no-mono" - "one who steals". And if with concepts or syllabic elements " jutsu" - "technique, method of application" and " -ja" - "one who uses (something)"there are almost no problems in translation, then with the element " nin"It's more difficult.

The easiest way to kanji (hieroglyph) " nin" can be understood in the meaning " tolerate", "endure", "test". The next layer of semantic meaning is already much closer to the activities of shinobi: " crouching", "secret" or " invisible".

But if you break the kanji " nin" into two parts, then we get another combination of two ideograms: hieroglyph " syn" or " kokoro"meaning" spirit" or " heart" (in its spiritual, not physiological sense), located under the hieroglyph " yaiba"meaning" blade"(like the blade of a sword or saber). The film involuntarily comes to mind" Heart under the blade", dedicated to the Romeo-Juliet conflict among shinobi.

Nin = Kokoro + Yaiba

Some prefer to go even further, and smash the hieroglyph " yaiba"two more parts -" Ha" ("the sting") and " then" ("sword"), together forming the expression " sword sting", weakly docking with just " blade". As a result, we have an unprecedented abundance of translations and variations in which everyone tries to most accurately guess the full meaning of kanji " nin".

Within the meaning of, " ninja" and " ninjutsu", of course, it is most adequate to translate all the same as" one who steals" and " art of invisibility". But this does not prevent us from defining adepts, as written in " shoninki", how " those who put their heart under the edge of the sword", implying both the completely non-illusory risk of a shinobi's life on assignments, and symbolically - eternal life under the hanging sword of Damocles.

But " nin" also " the will that holds back the sting of the sword", which turns ninjutsu into " endurance path", where endurance by its nature manifests itself on the physical, mental and moral planes. This means the ability to endure pain and humiliation (taking the form of a crippled beggar, for example); knowing how to spend hours in stillness and invisibility; the ability to endure suffering, hiding the pain of wounds in the depths of his heart and hiding it from others, for the sole purpose of fulfilling his mission.

More " ninjutsu"can also be understood as" the art of uniting the mind with the blade". The mind, controlling the body, which is an instrument for performing the task, acts with amazing clarity and infallibility, using any methods. This brings ninjutsu closer to many well-known Japanese martial arts that study the path (" Before") an absolute search for the unity of spirit and body.

Finally, in a nod to the esoteric aspects of the phenomenon, ninjutsu can eventually be translated as " the art of the hidden mind", "secrets of the heart" or " secret, secret knowledge".

It is known that flourishing ninjutsu in Japan falls on the period Sengoku Jidai戦国時代 (so-called " Warring States period» - 1467-1573 ). It is in this troubled time that skill shinobi was, more than ever, in demand and vital to almost all the warring parties of feudal Japan, torn apart by wars. Main activity ninja– unsurpassed masters of disguise, camouflage, silent movement, etc. - during this period of the history of the country of the Rising Sun, intelligence and espionage began (諜法 choho or 間諜術 kanchojutsu). Services ninja highly valued, and the poor daimyō could not afford more than a dozen agents; at the same time in the service of wealthy feudal lords, such as, for example, Takeda Shingen, consisted of more than seven hundred ninja, the core of which were several dozen top-level specialists, including a whole network of female spies - kunoichi.

There is an opinion that during Sengoku Jidai the famous “pyramidal” structure arose among hitherto disparate families ninja. Creation of organizations professionally engaged in intelligence, espionage, etc. was dictated by the realities of wartime - so they were no longer just trying to survive, but also to actively influence the events taking place in their country. In addition, a network of scammers, informers, spies, traitors and simply unwittingly witnessing anything and striving to sell their knowledge at a higher price covered the whole country; a total secret war began, in which the ability to not only be able to collect but also to encrypt the necessary information, making it unreadable or completely incomprehensible to outsiders, as well as as fully and detailed as possible, and, most importantly, in time bring the collected data to the attention of their management.

For the compilation of a brief report, consisting of two or three phrases or even words, one method was required, and for compiling detailed reports, others; we needed codes that did not look like messages at all and passwords for the meetings of two agents who did not know each other or deliberately concealed their faces in order to avoid further identification and failure of the mission ... In addition, it was important to quickly deliver information to the destination, as it is known that in certain cases it happens that "delay is like death."

All these methods and ways have been classified under the general name 暗号術 angojutsu- "the art of [composing and reading] secret messages." What do we know about it today? Enough. We know that in order to solve all these problems ninja developed many systems of codes, ciphers, passwords and methods of transmitting information, some of which were irretrievably lost, but some of them have historical records and even guides for their use - such as, for example, are described in the third volume of the famous "encyclopedia" ninjutsu万川集海 « Bansenshukai».

Contrary to popular belief about phenomenal visual memory ninja, ordinary agents were recommended not only to memorize the information received, but also to carefully record it on paper, for which in the instructions on ninjutsu recommended to always carry a pencil (lead or crayon - sekihitsu石筆) or a compact metal pencil case with a brush and inkwell ( yatate矢立), referring them to the first things for an infiltrator operating behind enemy lines, as, for example, is done in 正忍記 " shoninki" (cm. shinobi rokugu). However, if such “notes” are found, written in a language understandable to all, ninja waiting for a slow and painful death under torture, which, for obvious reasons, they wanted to avoid in any way possible. Therefore, messages written in ordinary hieroglyphs, with the threat of failure, were recommended to be destroyed without a trace: it is best to burn them, or simply eat them. A little later, even a method appeared to swallow a secret message in order to deliver it to its destination in this form. Recordings were previously wrapped in thicker paper and covered with specially treated wax, and swallowed in this form (the size of such a bag should have been no larger than a plum berry). Soke Hatsumi Masaaki somehow demonstrated this method (梅干しの法 umeboshi no ho (dried plum method)) to a journalist, swallowing a grape at the beginning of the conversation, and then regurgitating it at the end of the conversation, safe and sound. If the "delivery" time was longer, ninja did not try to burp the “plum”, but waited until the report came out naturally ...

But this method, apparently, was not always effective, since it was often necessary to leave a message for another agent (agents), and not deliver it personally - while there was no time to equip a special cache, or there was no opportunity to approach it. This is how the codes came about. ninja, not looking something with which you can record and convey information, but with which you could leave a short message even in a conspicuous place.

The easiest way to write a note so that it cannot be read by an outsider is the " invisible writing with conventional signs in two layers» (« kakushisho futaefu no ho»隠書二重符之法). It is a method known to everyone today to write with impromptu invisible "ink", such as lemon juice or egg white, between the lines of a regular letter or on the pages of a book, which could be safely carried with you or transferred with a person who did not suspect anything about what it was. he carries. It was possible to read such a message by first warming it over a candle flame or moistening it with saliva (depending on the “ink” recipe).

A more ingenious, but still quite simple method is 印書秘匿の法 insho hitoku no ho, or " way to write secret signs". It consisted of the following: ninja he took a short stick of a certain diameter and wound a narrow strip of paper around it, on which he wrote from top to bottom as if he had a whole, without gaps, sheet in front of him. After that, the tape was unwound and the text became unreadable. From the outside, it looked like ninja tore off a narrow strip from some large scroll for some of his needs. Crumpled and thrown in a secluded place, such a report looked absolutely natural. It was possible to read this message only with a stick of the same diameter and knowing the method of winding paper tape. The narrower the tape was, the more difficult it was to read what was written. Ninjas tried to write in such a way that the hieroglyphs fell not on whole parts of the paper tape, but on its joints - in this case, almost all the signs were cut in half and it became impossible to determine the upper and lower parts, which made the written unreadable.

Method insho hitokubutho

To compile more secret reports, ninja used two main types of writing, known today as " shinobi iroha» 忍び伊呂波, or "alphabet ninja". They are based on the standard sounds of the Japanese alphabet k ana, however, but written in a completely different way.

The first set of "secret signs" is nothing more than the ancient Japanese alphabet, used even before the advent of the alphabet cana and already thoroughly forgotten by the time of the Warring States. This is the alphabet that was written ninja from the novel by B. Akunin " Diamond Chariot". As one of the characters in the book aptly noted, in some ways these signs are similar to “footprints left by a snake in the sand” ...

In fact, this system of written characters is an ideal code, because if a person does not have a key to decipher, then it is not possible to read what is written, because. this alphabet has no external resemblance to the existing Japanese letter.

Ancient alphabet used ninja to make secret reports. Standard alphabet signs are written next to katakana, as well as their pronunciation in Russian.

For example, this is what my name looks like (written from left to right) in this letter:

A message written in such signs could be safely left in a conspicuous place by scratching it on a fence board or drawing it on the ground ...

Other code ninja, actually known as shinobi-iroha (ninja alphabet), or Iga-iroha (Iga alphabet), is a combination of characters 木 « tree», 火 « the fire», 土 « land», 金 « metal», 水 « water», 人 « Human», 身 « body”, written on the left and signs denoting colors: 色 « color"("multi-colored"), 青 « blue», 黄 « yellow», 赤 « Red», 白 « White», 黒 « black" and 紫 « purple”, written on the right so that the result is composite hieroglyphs.

The beauty of this code is that the hieroglyphs obtained as a result of the combination of the above characters, does not exist neither in Chinese nor in Japanese writing. And if they did exist, then very ridiculous combinations, such as " non-ferrous metal - purple man - yellow fire - multi-colored tree" (this is how the word " ningtai” - “patience”) did not clarify anything to the one who reads them, except for a person familiar with the encoding method. In addition, the combinations of the left and right signs could, in principle, easily change if it was suspected that the code had become known to the enemy.

So shinobi iroha presented in " Bansenshukai» (« Seti”, Volume 3): “colors”

located at the top, and not on the left, as in our top table.

Less well known is the so-called "seven-character alphabet" (七字の假名 shichiji no kana) used in kenshin-ryu. It contains characters of the Japanese alphabet katakana or hiragana(of which, as readers know, there are 48) are arranged so that when read horizontally they give one phrase, and when read vertically - a completely different one.

So, reading vertically the first line on the left we get the phrase " mikata with tsuyoki” (“we are very strong”), and the first upper horizontal line is the expression “ teki wa horo furu"("the enemy will be defeated"). You can also read all the other phrases. Therefore, to send a short message, it was enough to write, for example, "三平", which literally means "third horizontal" or "third horizontal". The encoding of more complex or out of scope short expressions was somewhat different. The method is very similar to the move notation system known to us from chess - to write one necessary character of the alphabet, the first character was taken from the corresponding horizontal line and the first character from the vertical line. These two characters, when crossing lines, indicated the true character used. For example, we need to write an order to retreat. The encoded message will look like this: つろかわみて " tsurokawamite”, which will not make any sense when read. However, after decoding, we get the word こたい ( kotai- "retreat") ...

A more complex method of such coding was the method of replacing not an alphabet sign, but one hieroglyph with another, according to a pre-compiled table that the resident and his employer had.

So, for example, the code 言葉通スル貝ノ灼事 has come down to us kohobatsu sorukai no shakugoto(which can roughly be translated as "words that fit like two halves of a shell, used miraculously") presented in " Bansenshukai". Using this code, ninja replaced hieroglyphs or their combinations with others, according to the table presented, and thus encrypted the message. In addition, such combinations of hieroglyphs could be used as a password and a response to it (see below).

Table of the above code from " Bansenshukai

The two methods that we will talk about next, although they are, in a sense, analogues shinobi iroha, in their tasks much closer to insho hitoku no ho, since it is impossible to compose large messages with their help - only one word or phrase, no more. But outwardly, they are not at all a “letter” in the literal sense of the word (although the messages compiled with their help were understandable to the initiates). The main advantage of these methods of composing secret messages again is that they could be left completely freely, without fear that someone would read them. These methods include: 五色米の法 gosikimai no ho(lit. "five-color rice method") and yunawa no ho遺縄の法 (lit. "the method of thrown (or left) rope").

Gosikimai- rice of five colors: purple, blue, yellow, red and black in special wooden cases of the corresponding color.

五色米の法 Gosikimai no ho(in another reading goshokukome no ho), or "five-color rice" is a method of encoding messages, which is also based on the Japanese alphabet. But its sounds are not represented by written characters, but by color combinations of one, two or three grains of rice of five colors: purple (violet), blue, yellow, red and black.

The alphabet, "recorded" with the help of five colored grains of rice ( gosikimai).

(pictured is a table from the museum ninja G. Iga-Ueno)

It is clear that to make a detailed report using gosikimai no one would. However, for example, such a message could be left in a previously agreed place (the paint protected the rice from being eaten by birds), where there was no access to moisture from possible rain. In addition, rice could always be eaten by oneself ... In addition, colored rice could be used to accurately count enemy troops (where the corresponding color determines a certain number - 1,10,100,1000,10000 or the number of units of one type or another: cavalry, archers, spearmen, arquebusiers, etc.) or distances according to a similar principle.

This is how the word "hajime!" ("Begin!"),

ciphered goshikimai ("written" from left to right).

遺縄の法 Yuinawa no ho, as follows from the name of the method, uses a rope to transmit a secret message, allegedly lost and half-untied, left or thrown away ... But for the one to whom the information was intended, the meaning of the message was easily read, since a semblance of ancient signs was created from the rope on the ground or regular alphabet cana, naturally slightly modified, or the symbolic language of knots and loops was used. Of course, before the nodular letter of the Indians tipi method yuinawa does not hold out, but this was not necessary. His task - to convey a short message - he solved perfectly.

Examples of messages "written" using the method yunawa no ho.

very close to yuinawa is also the method 枝折之伝 edaori no den is a way to "transmit [a message using] a broken branch". Ninja could tell something to his accomplices by breaking, bending or tearing off a branch in a certain place in a certain way, as well as putting a bunch of grass or a flower on it ...

Having dealt a little with the composition of secret messages, let's turn to the other side of the question of the collected information - the need to deliver it to its destination in a timely and complete manner.

If in one district or region there were several ninja, they could gather in a predetermined place (a forest cave, an abandoned hut or idol, etc.), sharing information or passing it on to the courier who came for it. Such a meeting was called literally 市 " iti- "bazaar". It is also possible that in these "bazaars" information was transmitted from ordinary spies to the resident, who already compiled a detailed report on the state of affairs at the moment.

All those who came to such an “event” were required to know the password and the response to it - otherwise the intruder was killed on the spot, often using the so-called. "choose standing, choose sitting" method　(立選る tachisuguru – 坐選る zasuguru) . Passwords ninja, which have come down to our time, are usually pairs of antonyms or poetic allegories using certain poems. If an enemy scout tried to penetrate unnoticed into the environment of a certain group ninja, he was obliged to take into account all these subtleties.

Here are examples of passwords and reviews ninja that have come down to us from ancient densho:

Passwords and reviews ninja associated with natural phenomena:

山　―　森	pit - mori	mountains - forests
日　―　月	hee-tsuki	Sun moon
花　―　実	hana - mi	Flowers - fruits
海　―　塩	mind - sho	sea - salt
谷　―　水	tani - mizu	valleys - water
火　―　煙	hi - kemuri	fire - smoke
山　―　川	yama - kava	mountain - river

Passwords and reviews ninja, "borrowed" from poems tank:

雪　―　富士	yuki - fuji	snow - Mount Fuji
花　―　吉野	hana - yoshino	flowers – Yoshino (a region famous for its flowers)
煙　―　浅間	kemuri - asama	smoke - Mount Asama
萩　―　宮城野	hagi - miyashirono	lespedeza - Miyashirono (an area known for beautiful flowering bushes)

Instead of a verbal password ninja they also often used the Japanese medieval analogue of the “two halves of a coin” - the so-called. 割符 (split, or double, talisman): when a wooden amulet was arbitrarily broken into two halves and folded together when two unfamiliar agents met. The absence or incorrect configuration of the presented half entailed the inevitable exposure and death of an overly careless counterintelligence officer. Also when meeting ninja used certain secret signs or symbols ( aizu合図), - for example, certain gestures known only to the initiates, certain objects - a flower, a piece of cloth of a certain color, etc. By the way, with the help of a certain symbol, painted on the wall or laid out on the ground with the help of stones or branches, it was also possible to convey a short but capacious message. This method is called aizusho (“writing with signs”).

Finally, let's say a few words about 伝達術 dentatsujutsu- "the art of transmitting information", since it can also be rightfully attributed to the methods of encrypted transmission of information. Japanese historians attribute the authorship of the idea of this method to the well-known ninja Tomita Gozaemon head of the intelligence service Takeda Shingen. Like it or not, it is not known for sure, however, the fact that he used the peaks of the mountains of the province Kai(patrimony Takeda) for the rapid transmission of signals through a chain of posts using fire (at night) and smoke (during the day) - the so-called. 燧術 noroshijutsu (« the art of signal lights”) is a historical fact. It is thanks to timely notification that the mobile cavalry Takeda terrified an unprepared enemy with her sudden appearance. In fairness, it must be said that the authorship of this method never belonged exclusively to ninja. A similar warning system using fire and smoke was used in China for a thousand years before the period Sengoku jidai in Japan - so it's not "know-how" ninja Tomita or its immediate owner - Takeda Shingen, but an obvious borrowing from Chinese military treatises.

To obtain thick smoke rising directly into the sky, wolf or mouse droppings were used (during the day), and to obtain a persistent bright fire, it was recommended to use pine resin and dry reeds (at night).

After the widespread use of gunpowder, ninja started using firework flares (花火術 Hanabijutsu- "the art of fiery flowers" or, simply, "the art of launching fireworks"). During the day, one type of rocket was used (昼燧 Hirunoroshi), at night - another (夜燧 yonoroshi). A silk fabric was added to the "day" rocket, which, when the rocket rose into the sky, scattered in all directions and was clearly visible in the daytime sky; the night rocket was made in such a way that a long luminous tail stretched behind it, like that of a comet, and it was perfectly visible at night. Depending on the information that needed to be transmitted, one, two or three rockets were used in a row.

After some time ninja other clans also began to actively use visual and sound methods of transmitting information at a distance, using for this not only fire or lanterns, but also flags of different colors, mirrors, drumming or the sound of a gong, as well as the low roar of empty shells of large mollusks, traditionally used yamabushi like wind pipes khoragai). For the last tool, a special code was developed, called 四十八文字 yonjuhachi-monji(lit. "48 characters"), where a certain sound corresponded to a certain character of the alphabet cana.

Sink-pipe khoragai, originally used by followers shugendo,

was adapted by the ninja to deliver coded sound reports

The ability not only to collect, but also to encrypt, as well as to transfer the collected information to the intended purpose, made it possible to respond very quickly and promptly to a constantly changing situation, which made the services ninja truly indispensable in the conditions of war-torn medieval Japan.

The option of using the sign alphabet of gestures, using two flags, is very reminiscent of the European marine signaling, however, as well as the use of lanterns with a damper: did the Japanese ninjas borrow these methods from the gaijins - Portuguese sailors? Who knows…

For many centuries, Japan was drowning in warriors and civil strife, resulting in a military shogunate, and the Japanese art of war, after Europeans visited it, became known to the whole world. Of course, wartime influenced almost all spheres of Japanese life, and in speech and writing it was impossible to do without special vocabulary. Today we decided to analyze for you a few "militant" hieroglyphs.

Japanese hieroglyphs tattoo. Hieroglyph "warrior"

士 shi (not to be confused with 土 - "earth", where the upper horizontal line is shorter than the lower one). This simple hieroglyph, consisting of only three lines, is, at the same time, very important. It is part of such words as 武士 (bushi) - bushi warrior, 武士道 (bushido:) - bushi warrior way.

In this kanji, the upper horizontal stroke is drawn first, then the vertical one, and the lower horizontal one completes the character. It can also be translated as "noble man" and acquires such a meaning in the words 博士 (hakase) - professor, doctor of science; 学士 (gakushi) - graduate; 名士 (meishi) is a celebrity. And the third meaning is not a meaning at all, but a suffix denoting a person -

同士 (do:shi) - comrade; 力士 (rikishi) - sumo wrestler; 弁護士 (bengoshi) - lawyer; 飛行士(hiko:shi) - pilot.

Japanese hieroglyphs tattoo. Hieroglyph "samurai"

侍 samurai. The very concept of "samurai" comes from the word "serve" and indeed, samurai, in addition to protecting their master, also performed the role of his servants. Samurai are sometimes referred to as 武士, but bushi is a broader concept.

The character for "samurai" consists of three elements: a simplified element for "man" 人　hito, "earth" 土tsuchi, and "protect" 守るmamoru. In fact, it turns out that a samurai is "a person who protects the earth."

Japanese hieroglyphs tattoo. Hieroglyph "strength"

力 chikara. (not to be confused with 刀 - katana, Japanese sword) This character, although simple and consists of only two strokes, is part of many important words in Japanese and means strength both literally and figuratively. The on reading of this kanji is ryoku, riki.

The meaning of "strength" in the literal sense:

体力 (tairyoku) - physical strength

圧力 (atsuryoku) - pressure

人力車 (jinrikishya) - rickshaw

力士 (rikishi) sumo wrestler

強力 (kyou:ryoku) strength, power

The meaning of the kanji "strength" in the meaning of "ability":

能力 (no: ryoku) - ability, skill

There is also the meaning of "effort, effort":

協力 (kyou:ryoku) - cooperation

努力 (doryoku) - effort, effort

Japanese hieroglyphs tattoo. Hieroglyph "dragon"

It would seem that what makes the kanji "dragon" in our list of "martial" characters? Everything is explained very simply - the dragon symbolizes strength and masculinity. One reading ryu:. This character has no additional meanings.