TODAY – FRIDAY, AUGUST 26 (6:30pm): EL DORADO HILLS (SACRAMENTO) CALIFORNIA If you’re in the Sacramento area, I hope you’ll join me tonight (Friday, August 26) at 6:30pm at Face in a Book in El Dorado Hills (4359 Town Center Boulevard: more information here!) for a reading and signing of my newest Hiro Hattori mystery, The Ninja’s Daughter! I’m bringing some special Japanese treats to share, and a katana for a special weapons demonstration. I hope to see you there! TOMORROW – SATURDAY, AUGUST 27 (12pm): SEATTLE, WASHINGTON On Saturday at 12pm, I’ll be at Seattle Mystery Bookshop (117 Cherry Street, Seattle-more information here!) for a
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Ninja Architecture, Part 2: Secret Exits
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,
Read moreHidden Architecture in the Ninja’s Home (Part 1)
Ninjas (in Japanese, shinobi) were more than assassins. They were also the spies and undercover agents of medieval Japan. When working for others, ninjas were masters of infiltration, stealth, and disguise, but shinobi didn’t employ these techniques only in the service of others. Stealth and concealment were a way of life in shinobi villages, and made their way into the design of ninja homes as well. During my trip to the Iga Ninja Museum last June, I had the opportunity to tour a replica ninja house, and to see a demonstration of its unique architectural features. Today, I’m sharing a little about the technique of concealed
Read moreHow Did Real Ninjas Train?
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
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
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 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,
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