Let’s become a ninja at Iga!

Kansai, Tradition, Trivia 2016.05

Have you ever fancied becoming a ninja? Ninja is a mysterious figure. At Iga City in Mie Prefecture which produced a lot of ninja, you can experience the lifestyle and training of “Iga-ryu” ninja. Let’s go and try becoming a cool ninja!

Explore ninja’s “House”

There are various schools of ninja and “Iga-ryu” is one of the famous ones which is believed to have existed by around the 16th century. Iga is the name of the area and the current address, Iga City in Mie Prefecture, carries its name to date. “Ninja Museum of Igaryu” in Iga City has a “Ninja Yashiki” (Ninja House) where you can experience the secret life of ninja.

A Ninja Yashiki looks like an ordinary farmhouse from outside but inside it has many clever contraptions to defend oneself against enemies. The Ninja Yashiki at Ninja Museum of Igaryu is a real ninja’s house relocated from another place.

At Ninja Museum of Igaryu, a female ninja called “Kuno-ichi” shows various contraptions of ninja’s house by demonstrating how to vanish oneself in a blink of an eye through a secret revolving door and escape through hidden holes and hidden doors.

At “Ninja Experience Hall”, you can see a ninja infiltrating into a castle on the video screen. Over 400 tools and weapons ninja used to execute their stratagems are on display, some of which are available for visitors to try.

At Ninja Experience Ground, they will demonstrate how ninja actually used their tools and weapons. They run exciting ninja shows using famous ninja tools such as “Shriken”, “swords” and “kusarigama” (a sharp sickle attached to a chain). You can also learn “Shriken –uchi” (how to throw Shriken). (subject to fees).

Ninja holding a Shriken — Ninja explaining about Shriken at a ninja show

Visit the training site of ninja

“Ninjutsu” is techniques and skills ninja acquired through training. Ninja is believed to have had superhuman techniques through their training. At “Ninja Training Forest” at Nabari City in Mie Prefecture, you can experience the training ninja underwent to acquire Ninjutsu. “Akame Shiju-hachitaki”(Akame forty-eight Falls) which houses Ninja Training Forest is a ground Iga-ryu ninja trained themselves. “Shiju-hachitaki” is a collective term for a group of falls and it exists in various parts of Japan. The group of falls that is in the valley of Akame-cho, in Nabari City, Mie Prefecture is called Akame Shiju-hachitaki.

Child undergoing ninja training — Children can also take part in ninja training

With “ninja experience training” at Ninja Training Forest, you can experience full-fledged ninja training clothed in a ninja costume using ninja’s tools. The training include “climbing technique” where you climb a high wall (Nobori-jutsu), “water spider technique” where you walk on the water (Mizugumono-jutsu) and “invisibility technique” where you make yourself invisible before the enemies (Ongyo-jutsu).