Gio Completes Ninja Training and Then Gets Creative

This weekend was an interesting one to say the least. Two friends and I drove out to the well hidden town of Koga, southeast of Kusatsu, in Shiga prefecture. We made this long and winding trip through the lush green hills of the Japanese countryside to do something that I have wanted to do since I was a child, become a ninja. For those of you who do not know what a ninja is, google it, or visit this website: www.realultimatepower.com But, the history of the ninja is much more entertaining and real than that website suggests. The story of the ninja of Japan usually comes down to the family feud between the Koga ninja family in Shiga prefecture and the Iga ninja family in Mie prefecture. These two families worked hard to be the best spies, assassins, scouts and recon weapons working for and protecting the feudal lords in Japan. There are countless representations of ninja throughout history and pop-culture, if you really do not know what a ninja is...you've probably already been killed by one, you just haven't noticed your own death.

In this deep forest there is a nearly impossible to get to authentic Japanese experience, ninja training. The first things I saw when I arrived was a noisy hot-dog shaped guard dog, bred from ancient Koga ninja dog genes, and wooden cutouts in the shape of multicolored ninjas. We began the manditory tour of the training ground. The first test was scaling a castle wall with nothing but one's own hands and feet. This was a challenge at first but after one connects one's soul to the tradition of this village, even the concrete and stone rampart could not keep me from achieving my destiny. The second test was the wall jump. It was quite easy after my soul searching. The third test was the "walking along the base of a wall without falling down 5 feet to your death." This test was more challenging than the previous two, yet I was able to focus my chi and succeed. Unfortunately, we lost one of our youngest comrades as the 5 year old girl fell from the wall with a thud. The fourth test was one of endurance. Us potential ninjas had to swing and walk sideways along a notched wooden wall. Each step and swing was exhausting and my hands still hurt from grabbing the wall. The fifth test was to challenge our ability to endure small spaces. We climbed down a ladder into an ancient escape hatch through the bottom of a well. The sixth test was one of grace and skill, unfortunately no one over 80 pounds could possibly succeed at the Water Spider test and my foresight saved me the pain of failure. One must work to one's own advantages and skills and gliding across a scummy pond on foam shoes is not in my skill set. The seventh test was more successful, but even though I succeeded, I swung deep into a muddy puddle. The zip-line rope was not set high enough and taught enough for a ninja of my defined... stature. As a result, I ended up sitting in mud. The eighth test was one to challenge the most important of ninja skills, killing. The shuriken, also known as the "ninja star", throwing trial was an excellent test in the fine art of assassination. Of my ten shuriken, I successfully hit two targets at 9 meters. The last test was probably the most important of all, the history lesson. We studied the typical ninja house equipped with shin breaking traps, one way doors, hidden doors, trap doors under stoves, a stone-weighted falling roof, hidden floors, pitfalls, and hidden stairs. We also learned of ninja efficiency in the art of recon and murder in the Hall of Ninja weapons. Some of the most interesting of which were collapsible boats and hand canons.

After the training was complete, those that survived received a scroll of undeniable authenticity stating that we have all been conducted into the Koga ninja family.

After our trip into the murderous past of ancient Japan, we felt like being a bit more creative. My friends and I took a drive to the most famous pottery area in all of the Kansai region of Japan. The "tanukimura" or Tanuki Village, so named for the village's adept skill at making tanuki (raccoon dog) statuary and because of the wild tanuki which roam the mountainside, was a fascinating chance to practice my pottery spinning skills. After numerous failures, I finally created 3 usable pieces; a large tea cup, a medium size rice bowl, and a large 500ml beer mug. We will see how well they look in a month or so when they are shipped to me.

That is all for now. Stay classy and watch your back...ninjas are everywhere.