“Magic and Fire”, two skills of Iga-ryu Ninjutsu

#Iga-#ryu Ninjutsu was skilled in magic. Though Iga was comparatively close to the capital, it hosted many exiles on account of its being situated in a basin surrounded by mountains. Among those exiles, there was a clan descendant from #Mononobe #Uji, as well as peoples who had crossed over, who were skilled in magic and illusions.

(Here, the definition of magic includes such things as #hypnosis and #conjuring.)

A representative magic is the art of “#Kuji Goshinbo” (nine characters #self-#protection). Have you seen a ninja making these hand signs in an old ninja movie?

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Mainly, there is the method of making a sign with both hands, with the right index and middle fingers raised to signify a sword, while reciting the nine characters.

The Kuji Goshinbo was used along with the “#Inmei #Goshinbo” and “#Juji #no #Hijutsu”

- Inmei Goshinbo - Five types of signs were made, including “Josango” and “Renge’in”, while reciting magic spells.

- Juji no Hijutsu - Write ten characters, including “heaven”, “dragon”, and “tiger” on the palm of the hand, and drink and squeeze.

Both of these encouraged mental uniformity, and gave an intense self-suggestion of “being okay”.

One other skill that Iga ninja excelled in was the use of fire. In movies and comic books, have you seen a ninja who has run into trouble explode a smoke bomb and disappear (escape) with the smoke? This sort of skill was actually the one most well-used by the Iga ninja.

Besides #smoke #bombs, ninja also employed flaming arrows, #signal #fires, threw #flaming #arrows, and even used guns. In a time where there were no missiles, there was surely great fear and damage caused by attacking with fire.

This appears to have also developed as a result of having the materials to build explosives nearby, and because people with skills in explosives were in abundance. The art of mixing explosives was a secret among secrets in the #tradition of #ninjutsu.