Kunoichi: Female Ninjas

Kunoichi is a modern term used to refer to women who served as Ninjas in medieval Japan.  The term most likely is phonetic – as the Kanji character for woman 女 is composed of three strokes which also occur in the Japanese phonetic alphabet く(Ku), ノ (No), and, 一 ( Ichi ).

Roles and Disguises

Ninjas are famous for their stealth – sneaking into places in the dead of night, striking with a quick flash of steel, then fading back into the shadows.  And while female ninjas did receive similar combat training to their male counterparts, their roles used stealth in a much different way.  Kunoichi served as spies, using their unassuming nature as women to infiltrate targets, passing on information to their allies or getting close enough to pull off a quick assignation.  These roles required months or years, with some even requiring a lifetime.  The women were often required to use intimate means to keep and hold a target’s trust over long periods of time.

Possibly the most famous Kunoichi was Chiyome.  A widow of the nephew of a powerful Daiymo (Lord)  Shingen, she was asked by Shingen to gather girls and train them in espionage.  The girls were collected young and were often orphans.  They were trained to be mediums.  Japan, a religious country at the time, allowed great freedom of movement to religious practitioners, and they were often trusted implicitly because of their “connections” to the divine.  This allowed the women to gather information without being suspected.  Chiyome reportedly trained over 200 women to be these traveling spies.

Tools of the Kunoichi

The Kunoichi had two very popular tools that served them well.  The first was Neko-te.  These were like tiger claws that could be slipped onto a finger similar to a thimble.  The sharp tip could be dipped in poison in order to make a scratch lethal.  Because of their small size, they were easy to hide in clothes.  Another popular weapon was a bladed fan.  Japan gets very hot in the summer, so women were expected to carry fans around to keep cool.  Having a fan with hidden blades was an easy way to carry a weapon around with one at all times, hidden in plain sight.  Finally, they would sometimes use a metal box with a false bottom to have their things carried between cities.  This false bottom could hold a person, allowing them to sneak  a male ninja into a guarded compound when required.

Conclusion

Kunoichi had roles just as important as male ninjas, though they served in a very different way.  Many a Samurai fell victim to these master infiltrators, whether through direct assignation or through their divulgence of their secrets.

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source https://www.bladespro.co.uk/blogs/news/kunoichi-female-ninjas

Honjo Masamune – The Best Katana Ever Made

The Greatest Swordsmiths

Masamune and Muramasa are credited as being the two best Japanese swordsmiths who ever lived.  Their blades were so good that they were often described as having mystical properties.  While the swordsmiths lived over 500 years ago, some of their swords survive today.

Masamune and Muramasa were described as having very different temperaments, and the swords they created were said to be imbued with traits embodied in the swordsmiths who forged them.  One legend perfectly describes this.  In the story, Masamune and Muramasa are taking part in a sword competition to determine which of them is the best.  The swords are suspended over a river.  Muramasa’s sword cuts everything that touches it, while Masamune’s blade cuts only the leaves, leaving the fish unharmed.  Muramasa quickly claims victory.  However, a traveling monk who is judging the competition declares Masamune’s blade superior, for while Muramasa’s blade did not distinguish between friend or foe and bloodthirstily cut everything it could, Masamune’s blade spared that which was good, and cut only what it must.  

The Greatest Blade

The greatest sword Masamune ever forged was called the Honjo Masamune, after a 16^th century general Honjo Shigenaga and Masamune himself.  In 1561, Honjo fought a duel against an enemy general who wielded said sword.  When Honjo won by striking the enemy’s helmet so hard it split in twain, he claimed the sword as his own.  Many decades later, he sold the sword to the ruling Toyotomi clan, who lost it to the new Shogun (military dictator) when he took power.  The sword then passed from Shogun to Shogun until the Tokugawa Shogunate eventually fell.  Even after losing power, the family managed to keep the sword.

At least, until the end of WWII, when Japan lost the war and the Allies came looking for booty.  The Allies demanded all the nobility in Japan hand over their familiar swords.  As you can imagine, the nobles were livid at this demand.  However, Tokugawa Lemasa, who possessed the sword at that time, decided to set an example and gave up his family’s collection.  The sword immediately disappeared from history, and its whereabouts are still unknown.  However, all hope is not lost.  Someone recently (2013) brought a sword to the Kyoto National Museum, and it was later to be determined to be one of Masamune’s make (The Shimazu Masamune), rediscovered after disappearing from historical records for over 150 years.  Thus, the Honjo Masamune might still be out there, hidden in some unsuspecting family’s trinkets or owned by a knowledgeable but secretive private collector.

Fun Fact

Powerful swords in video games are often named after Masamune and Muramasa. 

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source https://www.bladespro.co.uk/blogs/news/honjo-masamune-best-katana-ever-made

Tsukahara Bokuden - the Wandering Swordsman

Tsukahara Bokuden was a famed duelist who lived in the 15^th – 16^th centuries.  Living almost 80 years before Miyamoto Musashi, he is considered one of the most forward-thinking Samurai of all time.  This is his story.

Early Life

Bokuden was born Asako, to a priest of the Yoshikawa family who served the local Kashima clan.  Early in life, he was adopted by the Tsukahara’s, an extended branch of the Kashima clan, due to the early death of his adopted father’s biological son.  Thus, his name became Tsukaraha Shin’emon Takamoto. 

Bokuden learned Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto, one of the oldest Japanese martial arts.  Having mastered the style at the still-young age of 17, he desired to continue his studies, so he traveled throughout Japan, learning from the finest living swordsman of his day.  From a rich family, he did not do this alone, but with a large retinue.

Student Traveler

During this journey, he took part in nearly 20 duels and 40 engagements.  He managed to kill 21 warriors of note.  Around the age of 20, he meant a famed swordsman Ochiai Torazaemon.  Bokuden challenged Ochiai to a duel, which Ochiai accepted dismissively.

Ochiai was twice Bokuden’s age, so he did not consider Bokuden a threat.  Much to his surprise, Bokuden quickly defeated him.  While duels could be to the death, Bokuden chose to let Ochiai live.  Ochiai, humiliated by the defeat, dishonorably laid an ambush for the young Samurai.  When Ochiai attacked, Bokuden had only a moment to react.  Drawing his Wakizashi in an instant, Bokuden fatally wounded Ochiai, who spent his dying moment questioning why Bokuden didn’t draw his Katana.  Bokuden replied that the shorter sword better suited the small distance he had to work with.

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Bokuden would often return home to visit his adopted family, and on one such occasion his father saw fit to cement Bokuden’s place as future clan leader by having Bokuden marry his daughter, Bokuden’s adopted sister.

Bokuden didn’t fight only swordsman.  In one duel, he fought a vicious man Kajiwara Natago, who used the Naginata (a sword on a stick). Kajiwara was famous for causing great pain with his strikes, leaving his opponent to die in horrible agony.  Bokuden simply cut off the sword blade from the rest of the weapon, leaving his opponent defenseless.  Bokuden then easily dispatched Kajiwara.

2 New Fighting Styles

Having gained so much experience, Bokuden eventually developed his own sword-fighting style.  Claiming to have received it from the deity his biological father served, he named it the Kashima Shinto-Ryu (Single cut style).  After his many years of traveling, he went back and served in his daimyo’s (Lord’s) army until retirement age, about age 37.  Then, he opened his own sword school.  One of the students he taught would become a future Shogun (military dictator) of Japan.

As Bokuden aged, he began to turn his thoughts away from how to kill an opponent to how to avoid fighting one in the first place.  This was partially because he was tired of all the young uptight swordsman constantly challenging him because of his renown.  In one instance, he referred to this new fighting style as his “no-sword style”.

There is one famous instance that exemplifies this line of thought, and we would be remiss if we did not include it here.  One day, on a boat, a young, boisterous, and arrogant swordsman claiming to the best challenged all the passengers. The now-aged Bokuden was unimpressed, immediately drawing the attention of the challenger.  Bokuden agreed to a duel, claiming that he would defeat the youngster unarmed.  However, the duel should be held on a remote island so as not to disturb anyone.  The challenger agreed, and when they arrived at the island jumped off the boat and drew his blade.  Bokuden merely grabbed the boat’s paddle and pushed off, leaving the Samurai stranded.  As he paddled away Bokuden shouted “Here is my no-sword school!”

Death

Bokuden lived to the ripe old age of 83. Dying in 1571, he had killed over 212 people in total.  In all his duels, he had never been wounded, and in all his battles, he was wounded only 6 times, by only arrows.

Fun Fact

As stories often do, Bokuden’s skills have grown with the telling, and so many stories have been told about him that it is hard to separate fact from fiction.  One story that we know is false, however, is Bokuden’s supposed duel with other famed master Miyamoto Musashi (Bokuden died 13 years before Musashi was born).  In the story, during a dinner, Miyamoto challenged Bokuden to a duel.  Bokuden accepted, but when Miyamoto drew his blade and attacked, Bokuden calmly blocked the stroke with the lid of the pot he was eating from!

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source https://www.bladespro.co.uk/blogs/news/tsukahara-bokuden-wandering-swordsman