Bansen Shukai

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

So, having posted some recipes from the Bansen Shukai ( 万川集海 ) , I was wondering what the heck it was. It turns out to be a ninjutsu manual written in the mid-17th century.

Here is an english translation:
www.ninpo.org/historicalrecords/bansenshukai.html

And a japanese version:
www.iganinja.jp/japanese/mansen/f-mansen.html

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

What cowboys have been to U.S. entertainment, the Ninja--the stealers in--are in contemporary Japan. But a Ninja is less like a cowboy than a dirty-dealing Superman. Originally a medieval cult of unconventional warrior-spies, as presented in the vogue now sweeping Japan from toddlers to grandparents they have the power to turn themselves into stones or toads, are as invisibly ubiquitous as gremlins, and can do things like jumping ten-foot walls and walking on water.
www.cia.gov/csi/kent_csi/docs/v09i2a06p_0001.htm

What's kind of strange is that this is published by the CIA. The original article was written in the spring of 1965 largely based on information in the Bansen Shukai

[Saionji Shonagon]

That reminds me, every year, the children who come to Cynagua Coronet trick or treat around camp on Saturday before evening court. There was a ninja in one group, maybe six or seven years old, (swinging a pair of plastick nunchaku, I might add). I handed out candy to all the other kids, turned around, did a head count. "Darien, weren't there six of you?" Then I deliberately missed his treat bag, dropping the candy onto the chair beside him. "He must be a really GOOD ninja, 'cause I can't seem to find him!" I said.

S.