During my research trip to Japan last summer, I spent some time at the Iga Ninja House & Museum in Iga-Ueno. Iga remains a small town, surrounded by mountains and reachable only after several changes of train (including a tiny, slow-moving local train that meanders through the mountains at a pace even I could outrun on a bicycle, but I digress). The ninja house is a reconstruction, but contains a number of unique architectural elements found in actual shinobi (the Japanese word for ninja) homes during the medieval era. Last week, I shared some photos of secret caches for hiding weapons, money,
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