This article is the second instalment of a series aimed to develop the ninja-ness of the blockchain.
There are several key skills required to bring out the ninja in everyone. The first in the series worked on Laches, the process of swinging from bar to bar. Swift moment across any environment is important – laches are useful for both escaping and evading enemy attacks but and also coming fourth by 20 seconds in Ninja Warrior competitions
Equally as important is setting up a safe haven free from attack.
For starters… black is too dark for shadows, it stands out too much and reflects any available light… a dirty dark grey is much better for remaining unseen in the shadows… but, more importantly, they were simply farmers trying to make a living… These farmers were forced into violent altercations with the samurai. The samurai were the Warlord/Emperor’s personal army, were extremely well trained, heavily armoured and would attack the farmers if wished by their employer. The farmers often had to fight back, since having your family killed and farms razed is ultimately bad for the bottom line, but they could never win a direct confrontation with the samurai, so they had attack from the shadows.
The black outfits synonymous with ninjas today actually came from Japanese theatre. The stagehands would wear all black when moving around props, etc… and so plays with ninjas in them would dress the actors in the same outfits as the stagehands to represent their invisibleness.
In ancient Japan, ninjas wore farmer, merchant, peasant clothes.... they were only ever hobbyist ninjas. It was an extracurricular activity; tilling the soil by day, striking from the shadows at night.
Swords were extremely hard to come by, so a lot of the ninjutsu weapons were easy to make or items farmers had access to.
To protect yourself from your local warlord, and his heavily armoured henchmen...
Find a site that affords good views to see any oncoming attacks.
Scout the site to determine where attacks may come from.
Draw out a bird’s eye view of the threats you saw and the direction they will attack from. Forward planning is essential for your safety.
Plan your fortification and dig out foundations, go as deep as you can.
Place fortifying stakes in the ground, the nunchucku can be used to send the stakes deep into the earth.
Attach the first level of defence. Perfect for guarding against wolves.
Throw shuriken straight and true to attach the first level of defence to the foundational stakes.
Attach the second level of defence. This will defeat the armies of men… this design has no openings and therefore no weak spots. Armies will have no target for battering rams or cannons.
Attach a third level of defence to dissuade dragons from attacking. Use the one-inch punch to strike the shuriken nails into your fortification.
Guard against underground attacks with a mighty defensive shield.
This defence fortification will now guard against damage to you and your families and your community…
Fill your fortification with the nurturing soil of the land… Warlords don’t know how to create anything, they only take from the people… this is why they can never defeat a smart, well thought out structure.
Fill the fortification with siege-breaking, life-giving nurturing vegetables. There is literally no enemy army big enough to outlast Japanese Cucumber.
Wind invisible fishing lines around the tall stakes to ensnare the Samurai’s attack kites and/or confuse wandering deer.
Your defensive fortification is now complete!
While vigilance must be maintained, you are you family are now impervious to a dishonest local warlord… he’ll eventually have to move to another area as his entire massacre-based income dries up… and he’ll be priced out as hipsters start to move into the area. You can now lead a peaceful existence of tending your crops, smashing out haikus and striking from the shadows on Thursday nights aka hobby time aka Ninja Nite.
If you have any questions about the ancient art of ninjutsu, please feel free to ask, I'd most likely be a black belt in Ninja Nowledge if that was a thing.
All images and graphics (except the ones I sourced, which were the worst ones) were taken or created by myself - sometimes using Canva sometimes using Photoshop, sometimes using a camera. Literally no source material or references of any kind were used in developing, fact-checking or sourcing material for this comprehensive guide.
Minimal dragons were harmed in the making of this article, several armies of man were destroyed in testing and quality-assurance checks though, half the post-payout will go to the families of the fallen.
