Needles

Ninja always carried needles with them. This was because whilst they could be used to mend clothes, fine needles also served as deadly weapons if the ninja ran into trouble.

The martial arts of the ninja in which needles were used were called “fukibari-jutsu” and “fukumibari-jutsu”. The needles were triangular in cross-section, and were called “sanryoshin”.

In fukibari-jutsu (the technique of blowing needles), blowpipes were used to blow needles at enemies from a distance. In fukumihari-jutsu, needles were blown straight from the mouth at enemies at very close range. The ninja would aim at the enemy’s eyes when they moved in for combat, and when the enemy flinched the ninja would strike.

These techniques were apparently taught not only in ninjutsu but also in certain schools of jujutsu and kenjutsu (fencing) to the most advanced students. During the Edo period, the Anezaki school of dart blowing developed by Anezaki Shinanonokami was well known. Needle-blowing was thus a fully fledged martial art.

Fukibari-jutsu and fukumibari-jutsu were originally brought to Japan from China by the Kure Hattori and Aya Hattori clans. The Hattori clans are supposed to have brought with them weaving technology, and needles were used by the seamstresses for self-defense. One of the families descended from these clans, the Hattorito of Iga, was particularly skilled at this art.

The Hattorito could be found in Koga too (in Kosaicho in Shiga Prefecture), and there is a tradition that the Iga Hattori originated from there. Masters of the Ueshikyumon-ryu school of needle blowing are reputed to have had the frightening ability to mow down a row of opponents with a single needle.

Methods of curing sickness and disease with a single needle were also preserved. Needlework is tiring on the eyes and makes the shoulders ache, and these afflictions were cured by inserting a needle.

That is reputedly how the art of curing sicknesses with needles developed. From the perspective of the ninja, needles were tiny implements which served the three important roles of being suitable for mending clothes, self-defense and curing sickness.

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