You’ve seen the modern, pajama-clad ninjas featured on everything from movie screens to coffee mugs… Real ninja activity reached its apex during the 16th century (the reason I chose that setting for my Shinobi Mystery series), and the two most powerful ninja clans had strongholds in the mountainous regions of Iga and Koga, which lie within the Kansai region, close to Kyoto, Nara, and the other traditional capitals of Japan. I traveled to Iga on my recent research trip to Japan, and rode the “ninja train” to Iga village. There, I visited the Iga Ninja Museum and Ninja House, where a variety
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Know Your Ninjas: Shinobi Spies of Medieval Japan
Ninjas are a popular part of 21st century culture. We see them in films and on television, in Internet memes, and even on chocolates and coffee mugs – …but how much do you know about who ninjas really were? In medieval Japan, ninja assassins represented a very real, and dangerous, threat. Ninjas – also called shinobi (“ninja” is based on a Chinese pronunciation of the characters, whereas “shinobi” is the more accurate Japanese term) – were highly trained spies and assassins. The word “ninja” translates “shadowed person” – and like most spies, real ninjas knew how to use the shadows to their
Read moreThe Seven Disguises Used by Real Ninjas
Hollywood likes to portray the ninja in black pajamas, scaling a roof to assassinate a samurai. In reality, ninjas, also called shinobi, were more like spies. Assassinations played a role (as did those famous dark pajamas) but ninja training focused as much on espionage as it did on killing, and then–as now–a large part of successful spying depended on disguises. During the 17th century the head of a famous ninja clan wrote a manual called the Shoniniki, which described techniques and methods used by medieval ninjas. At the time, the Shoniniki was considered a “secret” manuscript, used and protected by shinobi clans. Now, it
Read moreShuriken: the Shinobi Star
If I asked you to name a ninja weapon, the most common answers would be a sword and a shuriken, which many people call a “throwing star.” In reality, “shuriken” translates “behind-the-hand knife” or “hand-hidden blade,” meaning a knife or blade which a person can easily conceal in the hand. And despite all the untrue myths about ninjas, they really did use shuriken–though not always in the way that you might think. Most Westerners think of the shuriken as a star-shaped throwing weapon with dangerous, sometimes poisoned, tips (hence the popular name “throwing star”). However, shuriken weren’t always thrown … and they weren’t always
Read moreKnow Your Ninjas – Shinobi Spies of Medieval Japan
Ninjas are a popular part of 21st century culture. We see them in films and on television, in Internet memes, and even on chocolates and coffee mugs – but how much do you know about who ninjas really were? In medieval Japan, ninja assassins represented a very real, and dangerous, threat. Ninjas – also called shinobi (“ninja” is based on a Chinese pronunciation of the characters, whereas “shinobi” is the more accurate Japanese term) – were highly trained spies and assassins. The word “ninja” translates “shadowed person” – and like most spies, real ninjas knew how to use the shadows to their advantage.
Read moreCelebrating a Shiny New BLADE
This morning, I received the cover art for the second Shinobi Mystery: BLADE OF THE SAMURAI. This afternoon, my cover art was stolen by ninjas. (They did it last year, too, and I suspect this might be a pattern forming.) If you want to see it, I’ll need your help to get it back. I’ve called in some friends to help me track down the shards the ninjas left behind, along with bits of the jacket copy describing the new Shinobi Mystery, which will release from Minotaur Books in July of 2014. The first clue might leave you a little
Read moreFact from Fiction: Shinobi vs Ninja
At signings, I’m often asked why I refer to my ninja detective, Hattori Hiro (or Hiro Hattori to those who put surnames last), as a “shinobi” instead of a “ninja.” The answer is simple: the two are one and the same. Many Japanese words are written using Kanji, or characters, originally borrowed from Chinese. In Japanese, the word many English speakers pronounce as “ninja” looks like this: The Chinese pronunciation of those characters is “nin sha” – from which the English language derives the word “ninja.” That pronunciation is used in Japan, but more often, the Japanese pronounce those characters
Read moreNinja Detectives: Fact from Fiction
When writing historical mystery novels, an author needs to straddle the line between fact and fiction. When the novel involves a ninja detective, that line can grow very thin indeed. By the 16th century, shinobi (ninja) clans held significant power in Japan. Assassins were feared and respected even by powerful samurai warlords, and the myth of the ninja already included “abilities” like the power to turn to smoke by force of will. In truth, shinobi were as human as anyone else–though highly trained in stealth and covert tactics as well as weapons skills. For those who want to know more,
Read moreEngineering an Alternate Reality…With Ninjas!
Please join me at Tammy Salyer–Alternative Reality Engineer, where I’m explaining why it took me half a million words to learn how to make a “one-shot kill,” and why I believe any author can succeed, provided he or she has the fortitude to keep on putting one word after the other. For those who don’t already know her, Tammy is the author of the SPECTRAS ARISE trilogy, a fantastic military science fiction series featuring former space marine turned smuggler Aly Erickson. I’ve read, and loved, both CONTRACT OF DEFIANCE and the sequel, CONTRACT OF BETRAYAL, and am eagerly awaiting the
Read moreAmazon Needs to Get Out of My Head.
On one of my flights home from Atlanta, I had a conversation about the speed and the convenience of Amazon’s delivery system. At one point I made a joke about “unmarked Amazon vans sitting outside houses, stocked with the items Amazon’s guessed you want to buy, so you’ve no sooner pressed the purchase button than the doorbell rings.” IT WAS A JOKE, PEOPLE. Until this morning, when I discover that Amazon really is experimenting with same-day delivery systems. Amazon’s reading my brain waves again. And frankly, that’s not a good thing. I just hope they’re sharing the signal with Starbucks
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