Glove with claws weapon. Gorbylev Alexey Mikhailovich "claws of the invisible"

01.10.2019 | Technique

Dear reader! In your hands is the book "Claws of the Invisible". It is a continuation of the conversation about ninja and ninjutsu, started by the author in the book "The Way of the Invisible: true story ninjutsu (Minsk, Harvest, 1997).

Weapons (buki) and equipment (ninki) of the ninja are one of the most important elements of the culture of night warriors. It was these adaptations that made it possible to perform many deeds that seemed supernatural and miraculous to uninitiated contemporaries. This is how traditions and legends were born, from which in mass consciousness a fantastic image of a scout was taking shape, capable of becoming invisible, walking on water, flying through the sky, turning into wild animals, passing through walls ...

It is not surprising that the description of weapons and equipment traditionally occupies one of the main places in most books on ninjutsu. Researchers unanimously agree that ninja designers were ahead of their time in many ways. Indeed, in the arsenal of the warriors of the night there are many types of weapons and equipment that can amaze the imagination. These are rocket launchers (Yes, yes! The author has not lost his mind and does not invent anything!), And multi-barreled guns, and collapsible boats, and much, much more. Of great interest to the general public are the "ghost houses" - the so-called "spy estates" of the ninja-yashiki, which for centuries served as dwellings for the "warriors of the night".

However, despite the huge interest of a large audience, in the Western world there is still practically no serious work on the weapons and equipment of the ninja, in which it would be described according to actually preserved samples, or according to the characteristics of these items in ancient sources that have survived to this day. . As a result, real historical data are replaced by their own fiction, calculated on the complete ignorance of the reader.

In the books of pseudo-connoisseurs of ninjutsu, descriptions of such types of weapons as sai, tonfa and nuntyaku are found every now and then (see, for example, Gvozdev S.A., Krivonosov I.V. Ninja: secrets of the demons of the night. Minsk, " modern word", 1997), which, in fact, were never used by the Japanese "invisibles". The dimensions of the weapons are given, which have nothing to do with reality. For example, one author writes that the length of the blade of the "short" "spy sword" reached 70 cm! Every now and then there are completely ridiculous interpretations of the functions of this or that equipment. So, a certain "Sensei Jay" (and after him V.N. Popenko) indicates, for example, that se-kihitsu is a piece of stone with which ninjas scratched out reports on stones and trees. In the meantime, one only has to look in a Japanese dictionary to find out that "sekhitsu" is the most common pencil lead.

Some authors attribute to the medieval “invisibles” the use of such means that simply could not be at their disposal due to specific historical reasons. For example, the Americans Al Weiss and Tom Philbin, in their book on the Night Warriors, say that “a deadly poison can be found in the leaves of ordinary tomatoes ... Eat them and you will have heart problems, and eventually cardiac arrest will come. We can safely say that many enemies of the ninja went to the next world after eating tomato leaves. They could simply be mixed into a salad, and if the victim did not know about their deadly potential, they looked completely harmless, and the person ate them whole before realizing the danger to his life. It is likely that tomato leaves can have such a devastating effect on the work of the heart - the author himself did not verify this fact. However, America is the birthplace of tomatoes. Until the 20th century, they were not grown in the country of the Rising Sun. How, then, could the ninjas make their deadly salads out of tomatoes? By the way, vegetable salads with herbs are generally absent in traditional Japanese cuisine.

Against the background of general ignorance, which is demonstrated by both "specialists" and ordinary amateurs, sometimes completely fantastic "nin-jutsu" or "nin-jitsu" textbooks are born, written not on the basis of old treatises of the ninja themselves or instructions received from a living carrier traditions, but by compiling textbooks published in the USSR on military intelligence, sapper business, camouflage. These are the famous "masterpieces" of V.N. Popenko, causing Homeric laughter from everyone who is at least a little familiar with the Japanese tradition of military art, but at the same time enjoying considerable success among those readers who are poor in intellect.

There are three groups of sources of information that the author used while working on this book.

First, these are instructions written by the ninja themselves. The main part of the information the author borrowed from the three most important texts of this kind. These are Ninpiden (Secret Instructions on Ninjutsu, 1560), Bansenshukai (Ten Thousand Rivers Gather into the Sea, 1676) and Shoninki (Scripture on True Ninjutsu, 1681). In addition to them, the author used a number of other ancient texts.

The second group of sources are the works of contemporary Japanese historians. Among them, first of all, two excellent books should be noted. This is Hissho no heiho. Nin-jutsuno kenkyu" ("All-conquering military art. Ninjutsu research. Tokyo, 1972) Nava Yumio and Ninpo. Sono hiden to jitsurei "(" Ninpo. His secrets and practical examples", Tokyo, 1995) Okuse Heyshichiro,

The third source of information was the author's own observations made during a visit to the ninjutsu museums in the cities of Iga Ueno and Konan, the museums of the Negorodera monastery, the castle of the Tokugawa shoguns in Kyoto Nijojo and a number of others in historical places, one way or another connected with the history of ninjutsu. jutsu.

The use of these authentic and reliable sources has greatly expanded the field of study. For the first time in Western literature, accurate descriptions of dozens of types of mines, bombs, incendiary arrows, rockets, thieves' tools, recipes for high-calorie and thirst-quenching pills, poisons, medicines, ninja houses are given.

The illustrations for the book were also selected from reliable sources, with preference given to drawings from old instructions on nin-jutsu and other bu-jutsu. Many of the drawings were taken from Sasama Yoshihisa's authoritative work Nihon Budo Jiten (Japanese Budo Encyclopedia, Tokyo, 1982). Some of the illustrations are based on photographs taken by the author during visits to historical ninjutsu sites. It is also necessary to emphasize the specific qualifications of artists familiar with military history Japan and martial arts are by no means hearsay and have put all their experience and knowledge in order to make the illustrations as accurate as possible.

I hope that this book will be a gift for true fans of ninjutsu and all those who are interested in the military history and martial arts of Japan and the East.

In conclusion, the author would like to express his deep gratitude and gratitude to all those who helped with deed and advice in the work on this book: Sergey Semenchuk, teacher of the Katori Shinto-ryu school, candidate of historical sciences

Konstantin Asmolov, foreign colleagues: Professor Stephen Turnbull, Don Raleigh, Jeffrey Muller, as well as employees of the Ninja-Yashiki Museum in Iga Ueno and the Koga-Ryu Ninja-Yashiki Museum in Konan for the opportunity to take photographs of various devices, ninja gadgets and weapons. I would like to express a separate word of sincere gratitude to the wonderful artists Alexei Astafiev and Andrei Ivanov for their titanic, truly selfless selfless work.

Alexey Gorbylev

Moscow, August 1998

Chapter 1

While working on this book, I looked through several dozens of Western and Russian-language works on ninjutsu, but I could not find at least some detailed description ninja camouflage suit (shinobi-shozoku). And the “shinobi-shozoku” sold in the West have nothing to do with medieval Japanese scouts.

In this article I will describe how to make the simplest bagnak. Yes, it is not perfect and, perhaps, cannot be a weapon, only an ornament, a way to show off your small forging skill to friends or in order to amuse yourself with the process of making a product and getting a result. Bagnak can be brittle due to the use of soldering and quickly blunt due to the use of insufficient carbon iron, but it is fairly easy to make.

Bagnak (Bagh Nakh), - Indian edged weapons - artificial claws worn on the hands. The word Bagh Nakh in Hindi means "tiger's claws". Bagnak consists of several spikes connected by a plate with rings along the edges. Dressed on the hand, such claws remain invisible to the enemy. On the outer part of the fist, only two rings are visible, on the index finger and little finger. There are variants of a bagnak with ties at the ends or with holes for the central fingers of the hand. The number of claws varies from three to five, and the metal plate to which they are attached sometimes protrudes from one or both sides of the fist, turning into points.

Materials:
1. Nails
2. Steel wire 2mm
Tools:
1. Hammer and anvil
2. Burner/stove/large heat source
3. Soldering iron and all related

Manufacturing:
Step 1: base
Let's start with making the base, for this we take wire, pliers and a hammer. We bend two rings from the wire under the index finger and little finger.

And now a small, but rather important nuance: for plausibility, the rings should be parallel to each other on the hand. To do this, you need to bend the wire a little, as in the photo:

You also need to make sure that you feel comfortable and not hurt, so that the mobility of your fingers is preserved and at the same time the product does not fly off your hand. To do this, check with spread fingers.

Another important note: do not bend the rings to the end, you need to leave gaps, they will serve for a stronger fastening of our "blades" or the gaps will serve to change the size, for example, under the arm of another owner.
Step 2: Blades
And now the most fun work begins: we heat the nails and flatten them with a hammer from the sharp end! It can also be done without heating, but I really didn’t like the result, and I had to make a lot more effort.

We flatten from the side of the nail heads and bite off half of the hat with wire cutters. This is necessary for greater structural reliability.

Again we heat the flat ends and bend them as in the photo, this can be done right on the fire with the help of two pliers.

Then we heat and bend the nails from the end of the caps in the opposite direction. You should get the following detail:

It is necessary to bend the nails with the remnants of the hats inward and not bend them too much so that they can be put on the base and then clamped. Or put on the base using the left gaps.
Step 3: Assembly
We dress our blades on the base and clamp them. I decided to put more emphasis on the strength of the structure and therefore put the extreme nails in the gaps.

And now, perhaps the most pleasant: soldering. It is necessary to solder with acid. Solder starting from the extreme blades and give Special attention the first blade, it should stand parallel to the fingers and so that the fingers support it, rest against it.

Then we solder the second one, it should also stand up straight. The third and fourth blade is soldered along the already standing extreme ones.

After soldering, we wash the soldering points with soda.

Step 4: final details
Our improvised blades are not very straight, we correct them with the help of pliers. It is necessary to make sure that they are all parallel and all touch the surface.

In chapter Other Arts to the question of what are the names of the combat claws on the hand, asked by the author Dmitry Tsygankov the best answer is. For example, such gloves in Japan are called “ninja claws” in the form of a glove with claws and spikes. Shuko - the so-called weapon from the arsenal secret weapons ninja, which was spikes or claws attached both to the hands (shuko) and to the legs (ashiko). The purpose of this weapon was very diverse - from capturing the blade of the enemy's weapon with a "bare" hand to running up the almost sheer walls of the fortress with the help of "claws"attached to the sole of the foot. The historical predecessors of "shuko" are the Indian "bagnak" and the Polynesian "Samoan glove". Wrist claws (shuko, or tekagi) - worn on the inside or outside of the palm. They were wooden plates with curved metal spikes. Claws (tekkokagi), reminiscent of bear claws, were made of metal and worn on the hand. There were two types of claws: one was worn on the palm, and the other on the back of the hand. In both cases, the claws were attached to a bracelet made from a very thick metal strip.

Lujiaodao - paired brass knuckles-knives in the form of two crossed crescents (less often - just rings with a pointed edge, which many consider to be a separate type of fist weapon). According to legend, Dong Haichuan, a tax collector and part-time creator of the baguazhang kung fu school, relied on this weapon as a weapon during his long travels. The best way protection. Students are allowed to lujiaodao only after many years of training - in the hands of an inept fighter, a weapon can cause a lot of harm to its owner.

Tiger Claw Bagh Nakh

Let's talk about combat claws. The first on our list is a guest from India, who is popularly nicknamed "tiger's claw". Despite the ominous appearance, this is a weapon for the near hand-to-hand combat mainly used for ceremonial purposes. It was common in the Mysore region of India in the 1700s, where it became an attribute of the adherents of the cult of the tiger goddess. Such brass knuckles consisted of 4-5 pointed, curved shoulder blades imitating a tiger's paw and fixed on a transverse crossbar. In combat, the weapon could rip through skin and muscle, leaving long, bleeding cuts, but it was not well suited for inflicting lethal damage.

Tekko

The Iron Fist from Okinawa was traditionally made of wood and metal. On the crescent protecting the fingers, three blunt pins were usually attached, with which they tried to hit the ribs, collarbones, joints and other vulnerable points.

Tekko-kagi is his close relative, but with a more professional bent. This shinobi weapon is widely used in popular culture Let's remember at least the main antagonist of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, Shredder. Long (10-30 cm) steel claws really make a strong impression: first of all, this is a weapon of intimidation, designed for the effect of surprise. However, its combat characteristics are also quite good: metal strips, pointed at the ends and located in such a way as to effectively protect the wearer's hand, are quite difficult to inflict lethal wounds. But to disfigure an attacker and make him bleed from deep cuts is easy!

Shuko

Shuko is another type of fighting claw ("tekagi" or "hand hook") used by shinobi. Unlike other species, here the sharp spikes are on the inside of the palm, while the hand is protected from them by tightly rolled steel strips and leather straps.

The main purpose of shuko, however, is not combat - they were primarily used in order to cling more strongly to the surface while climbing trees and walls. Even after years of training, a person cannot hang from branches and trunks for too long, and hooks solved this problem to some extent during ambushes and reconnaissance missions.

Combat use shuko is now passed down in the school of hand-to-hand combat "togakure-ryu". Basically, they are used in the same way as the rest of the claws - for sudden attacks, when the fighter tries to slash the opponent's face and neck. Due to the shape of the hooks, wounds inflicted by shuko take a long time to heal and leave ugly scars for life.

Khevsur rings

As a dessert - satiteni, Khevsur battle rings, which were worn on the thumb. They were mainly used during shuguli - a duel between Khevsurian men, where the main goal was not to kill or injure, but to prove to the enemy martial arts. Such weapons are not exclusive and are widely used throughout the Caucasus. The purpose of the ring is determined by its impact edge. In total, there are three main varieties: satsemi (for pushing blows), mchreli (for cutting blows) and mnatsravi (for scratching and stabbing blows).

Sometimes the Khevsurs used an auxiliary ring "sachike", which was either welded to the main one or put on separately. From the inside, raw wax was usually applied or a pad of cloth was wound to protect the finger from injury.

Claws of the Invisibles [Genuine weapons and equipment of the ninja] Gorbylev Alexey Mikhailovich

Hidden ninja weapon

Acting on the territory of the enemy, the ninja should not for a second forget that everyone around is enemies, that one must always be ready to fight back. However, the "invisible" does not always have the opportunity to use standard weapons. In this case, the "warriors of the night" have in store a lot of ingenious options. hidden weapon, which you can always have with you without arousing the suspicions of the enemy.

KAKUTE - "HORN HAND"

IN different sources the name of this weapon is written in different hieroglyphs. It is called “kakute”, which, depending on the hieroglyphs used, can be translated as “horned hand” or “hit with a horn”, then “tsunode” - “horned hand”, then “kakushu” - “ gem with a horn", then "kakushi" - "secret [weapon]" or "takono tsume" - "falcon claw". But in all cases, the same secret weapon is meant: a ring with several spikes, worn on the finger (Fig. 94).

To prevent the spikes from breaking when slashing the enemy's body, they were made tetrahedral and rather thick. Samples with two, three, four and even six spikes are known. The width of the ring itself varies from 2 to 3 bu. They tried to make the ring as thin as possible, since an overly thick ring spreads the fingers to the sides, which weakens the grip when squeezing the enemy hand. The material for the manufacture of kakute, as a rule, was iron, or yellow copper. Kakute were either hollowed out from a solid plate or rolled from a strip of metal. In this case, the ends of the strip could simply touch (or overlap). The seam was welded or sealed with wax. Kakute were made for a specific person so that they could rotate relatively freely on the finger. The spikes were either cut out or fastened by welding.

Kakute is an extremely small and inconspicuous weapon. This determined his great appeal to the ninja. Usually, the kakute battle ring was worn in such a way that the spikes were facing towards the palm. If one ring was used, it was put on the middle finger, if two - on the middle and index. Sometimes the "night demons" used three rings at once. Then kakute was also worn on the thumb.

In combat, kakute are used mainly for grappling, tightly clamping the enemy's wrist or ankle in their hand. At the same time, the spikes dig deep into the body of the enemy, fetter his movements and cause severe pain. They can also grab the jaw from below or the cheek. The capture of the throat leads to a rupture of the carotid arteries and the death of the enemy. And what about a kakute slap in the face, tearing the cheek so that you can look into your mouth from an unusual angle, and blood whistles in all directions! The faint of heart, please do not watch. Traditions have survived to this day, claiming that the master of wrestling, who mastered the “hand-sword” (tegatana, or shyuto) blow with the edge of his palm, was able to cut off the head of a dog or a person. Of course, cutting off a head with a bare hand, no matter how strong and fast the blow is, is unrealistic. But if this hand is holding some kind of secret weapon like the same kakute, it is not so difficult to do so. Among other things, wounds caused by the tearing effect of kakute practically do not heal.

The small size of the kakute battle ring makes it very easy to carry. Kakute can be worn in a belt, at the bottom of a kimono sleeve, in a wallet, in a jug, in a bun, or directly on the finger with the spikes turned inward. Interestingly, in the latter case, the spikes do not cause the slightest inconvenience. The fact is that short spikes cannot pierce the skin and stick into the meat, and relatively long spikes can be placed in such a way that they will not interfere at all.

During the Tokugawa period, the idea of kakute found its development in the form of "quick locks" hayatejo (Fig. 95).

TEKKEN - "IRON FIST"

A large place in the arsenal of the "warriors of the night" is occupied by various brass knuckles (Fig. 96).

Brass knuckles are, in a sense, the perfect weapon for a spy. Due to its small size, it is easy to hide it under clothes or in a road knot, and such a thing as a congo stick can be passed off as a massage device, which no one will think that they can easily break a temple or crush a bone.

Tekken is perhaps the most impressive type of brass knuckles (Fig. 97).

It was an iron strip with spikes on the outside and with a hole for threading fingers. With such brass knuckles, you can inflict direct and oblique blows, block enemy weapons. Tekken brass knuckles were made in a variety of ways. They were forged, welded from brass iron, cut from an iron plate, riveted, cast, etc. Usually they were made to fit a specific person, of such a size that he could easily put his fingers through the hole. Known examples of tekken are 10–12 mm thick.

The process of making tekken was very simple. In an iron plate cut in the shape of a crescent, a hole was also hollowed out with a chisel in the shape of a crescent, into which four fingers were threaded.

In addition to brass knuckles in the shape of a crescent, there are also samples in the form of a thin sickle, an ax handle, an open fan, or with three or four powerful sharp teeth.

In a fight, a ninja could use one tekken or wield two cleavers at once. When carrying brass knuckles, it is easy to hide in the armpits. In addition to its direct killing purpose, tekken was also used instead of a flint for carving fire.

CONGO

Special mention should be made of the short Yawara (Kongo) palm stick, which was made so long that its ends protruded from the fist by a couple of centimeters on each side. Initially, the Kongo stick was used in Buddhist rituals and was made from sandalwood. For the ninja, it was attractive, first of all, for its portability. Also, you can easily use it instead various items everyday life: a fan, a flute, a smoking pipe and even chopsticks, which are ubiquitous throughout the Far East.

There are a good dozen variants of yawara grips in battle. By holding the wand across the palm of his hand in his fist, the ninja could use various shock, pain and leverage movements. Pressing one end from above with the thumb, the congo was trivially used to break through the base of the victim's skull with a blow from behind. The diagonal grip ensured the accuracy of hitting the vulnerable point. Sometimes the wand was clamped into a fork between the little finger and ring fingers, or between the index and thumbs. Such a grip was well suited for painful effects on the bone when gripping the hand. A grip is also known, when the stick and thumb form, as it were, a claw, which is used to pinch the muscles, squeeze the larynx or carotid artery.

In general, yawara is an excellent weapon that allows you to unexpectedly hit the throat, neck, eyes, heart. A trained fighter is able to pierce the soft parts of the enemy’s body with it no worse than with a knife, especially if the stick on the shock side is cut obliquely or slightly sharpened into a cone. Most often, Yawars were used as a pair of weapons, one in each hand.

TENOUCHI

Tenouchi can be called a type of kongō. Its feature is a rope loop in the middle of the stick, into which the middle finger of the hand is threaded (Fig. 98).

They use tenouchi almost the same way as yawaru, but unlike the latter, it can also be hit with the flat, as if slapping the enemy. In this case, the main target is the bridge of the nose. A blow that breaks it causes profuse bleeding and shock of pain, but does not lead to death. Therefore, ninja often used tenouchi when captured, and subsequently these weapons were adopted by the Tokugawa police.

SUNTETSU

Suntetsu is almost the same tenouchi wand, but made of steel. An iron ring is attached to the iron spoke of a suntetsu on a metal axis, allowing the spoke to rotate freely. The ends of the needles have become somewhat thinner, thanks to which they can pierce any bone and even the leather armor of an ordinary infantryman (Fig. 99).

DOKKO

Dokko (Fig. 100) is a ritual symbolic object of esoteric Buddhism.

They symbolize the diamond lightning-vajra, the all-conquering power of knowledge overcoming ignorance. In Hinduism, the vajra is considered the favorite weapon of the god Indra. According to Buddhist tradition, he cuts the enemies of the Buddha Fa in half with it. Japanese ninjas also managed to appreciate this "all-conquering weapon" and actively used it, wielding under the guise of Buddhist monks, to send "sinners" to the next world who interfere with the "triumph of the Law." In general, the technique of using dokko coincides with the technique of using kongō (Fig. 101–102).

MATAHASAMI

This is another type of small weapon used as brass knuckles. In shape, it resembles a slingshot familiar to everyone since childhood (Fig. 103).

With such a "slingshot", made of thick steel of the highest quality, they caught the enemy's sword, trying to pull it out of their hands or break it, poked it in the eyes, etc. (Fig. 104).

TETSUBISHI, IGADAMA, DOKUBARI, HISHI

To cover their retreat, the "warriors of the night" generously scattered on the ground behind them peculiar " anti-personnel mines"- metal thorns, similar to the "garlic" used in Rus'. When stepping on the “garlic” in shoes, and even more so barefoot, a person received very serious wounds, which, moreover, if the “thorns” were treated with poison, could be fatal, and was deprived of the opportunity to continue the pursuit. We add that in the dark, miniature "garlic mines" scattered on the ground are completely invisible.

Several variants of such a "garlic" are known, but they all have one thing in common: no matter how you throw them, one spike will still stick up. The most common sample was tetsubishi - "iron water chestnuts" (Fig. 105).

Tetsubishi got its name from the fruit of the water chestnut hishi, which had a similar pyramidal shape.

Tetsubishi were made quite simply, which determined their popularity among the ninja. Two main methods are known. In the first case, an iron plate in the form of an elongated oval with pointed ends was cut along the edges and the resulting antennae, about one and a half centimeters long, were parted in different directions. In another version, a metal plate with one ready-made antennae was taken, and three more antennae were cut out of its wider part, which were then spread in different directions. In more complex versions of tetsubishi, the antennae were supplied with notches that did not allow the removal of the “thorn” from the leg (Fig. 106).

More "spiky" versions of tetsubishi were also used, according to appearance reminiscent of anti-tank barriers. They were called kuruma-bisi - "wheel-shaped hisi" (Fig. 107).

Dried hishi sami - for lack of a better one - was sometimes also used as "garlic". Hishi had one distinct advantage: since water chestnuts grow in abundance throughout Japan, they could be freely carried around without arousing suspicion. Apparently, it was hishi that became the first sample of "garlic" used by the ancient ninja, only later did tetsubishi and even more difficult to make igadama appear.

Igadama - "balls from Iga" (Fig. 108), were steel or iron balls equipped with a large number of thick pointed spikes. Since igadama are much heavier than tetsubishi, they can not only be scattered on the road, but also thrown in handfuls at the enemy as a smaller version of the "hail" of arare.

The same idea is embodied by dokubari - "poisonous needles" (Fig. 108). They were made from the fruits of plants, which were repeatedly pierced with poisoned steel needles and scattered on the path of the enemy.

In addition to covering the retreat, the ninja actively “mined” the approaches to their dwellings and the verandas surrounding the houses with all kinds of “garlic”.

HIDDEN BLADES

To this day, a number of various options hidden blades. Narrow blades hidden in wooden canes (shikomi-zue) are known. Tanto knives disguised as smoking pipes (kiseru shikomi), hidden in decorative hairpins, which were worn by Japanese court beauties (kogai shikomi) (Fig. 109), in the handles of hand-held paper lanterns (chochin shikomi).

Spearheads hidden in a paperweight (buntin shikomi) made of copper, or in the body of wooden training swords (bokuto shikomi). In some examples of bokuto shikomi, the tip of the spear is hidden in the hilt of a training sword. When an enemy tried to snatch a bokuto from a ninja belt - a generally reasonable gesture, since this heavy oak club can easily send a person to the next world - instead of the entire wooden sword, he suddenly had only a handle in his hand. And the ninja, holding his secret weapon below the hilt with his left hand, pierced his chest with one prick of the naked tip.

Kusarigama sickles are also known, in which the blade folded, and the chain was pulled inside the handle. With a sharp movement, it was possible to open the blade and fix it with a special latch, and by pressing the latch, the chain with the load could be released. In another version, instead of a chain, a tanto knife was inserted into the hollow handle of the sickle, thanks to which the ninja got the opportunity to fight with a knife and a sickle at the same time, holding them in both hands. In the cavity of the staff, it was also possible to hide the poisoned mesashi arrow pushed out by the spring - “gouging out the eyes” (Togakure-ryu), blinding powder, etc.

In this way, not only weapons were masked, but also various items necessary for reconnaissance work, for example, toomegane spyglasses. Nava Yumio describes one example of such a pipe disguised as short sword wakizashi.

Outwardly, this pipe looked like an ordinary rough sword with a hilt braided with a thin thread with woven hare-shaped menuki on both sides, and a simple oak scabbard. If you pull the handle, it becomes clear that the scabbard of this cunning wakizashi sword is double and can be pulled out like a telescopic tube. If you move the metal knob at the tip of the scabbard (koji-ri), a crystal glass is found under it. The same crystal is found in the head of the handle (tsuka-gashira). To do this, you also need to move aside the silver plate with the image of the moon attached to the tsuka gasira. The variable length of the "sheath" allows you to focus the image properly. Such a telescope gave a multiple increase, allowing you to observe the enemy from a great distance.

This hidden spyglass made a great impression on Yumio Navu and later he told about his discovery to the famous researcher of ninjutsu, the 14th patriarch of the Kogar-ryu school of ninjutsu Fujita Seiko. He was especially interested in why hare-shaped menuki were woven into the handle. Fujita explained that the hare is the symbolic marker of the toomegane spyglass. The fact is that the "hare" is one of the twelve signs of the zodiac ("twelve branches"). And if you start counting from it, then the sign "rat" - in Japanese "ne", will be the tenth - in Japanese "that", and the phrase "the tenth [zodiac sign] is a rat" will sound the same as the word "spy trumpet": "toome-ga ne". Here is such a pun turns out.

It must be said that such associative icons on Japanese weapons not uncommon. For example, the writer Jinde Tatsuro notes that images of a plum (bai) and a crane (kaku) are often found on hidden weapons. From Chinese folklore, the tale of Lin Hejing, who was a Taoist hermit sage and lived in the mountains, is known. In this fairy tale there is a line "he made the plum his wife, and the crane his child," which in Japanese can be read as "baisai kakushi." And "kakushi" in Japanese is "secret", "hidden".

In order to be able to read signs of this kind, the ninja had to have a brilliant knowledge of poetry and literature, to have a well-developed associative thinking. This allows you to take a fresh look at the "night warrior", who could not only sneak in the dark and kill with one throw of a shuriken, but was also a connoisseur of fine arts.

FURI-ZUE - "FLYING CANE"

The cane, or travel staff, furi-zue is also known as "tigiriki" (Fig. 110).

In fact, this is a flail with an elongated handle. Furi-zue was a stick about 1 meter 30 cm long with a chain with a weight hidden inside. This is an excellent combined weapon that can stab, inflict chopping blows. An unexpectedly flying weight, suspended on a chain, made it possible to take the enemy by surprise and strike him at a moment when he was not at all ready for this.

WAKIZASHI-TEPPO

One of the most original types of secret weapons was a pistol disguised as a wakizashi small sword - wakizashi-teppo (Fig. 111).

Why under wakizashi? The fact is that during the Sengoku-jidai period, even village elders, artisans and merchants were allowed to wear short swords. So the sword sticking out of the belt did not arouse much interest in anyone.

The wakizashi-teppo pistol, when sheathed, looks like the most ordinary short sword, but when it is pulled out, it is not the blade that is shown, but the barrel. The handle at the same time replaces the neck of the rifle butt. The few examples of such weapons that have survived to this day are single-shot smoothbore pistols loaded from the side of the muzzle.

In another version of the wakizashi-teppo, it does not need to be removed from the scabbard for shooting. It's just that the barrel is placed in a wooden case, made in the form of a standard sheath and covered with leather and varnish. For shooting, you need to move aside the iron knob of the kojiri, covering the muzzle hole. This is also a single-shot smoothbore pistol, loaded from the side of the muzzle. The guard of such a sword has a thin cut in which the trigger of the pistol is clamped.

The third version of the wakizashi-teppo is a matchlock pistol with a thin sword blade attached. The wick of this pistol is brought out of the scabbard through a small hole on the side of the kurigata - a process for which the sword cord is attached. When worn, the wick is passed through the kurigata.

YADATE-TEPPO - "THE GUN [DISMOULED] UNDER A BRUSH CASE"

The name of this weapon speaks for itself. Known examples of yadate-teppo are single-shot large-caliber smoothbore pistols, loaded from the side of the muzzle, made of gunmetal. At the same time, a writing brush can be put into the barrel of the pistol, as in a regular case, and a black jug at the base of the yadate serves as the neck of the butt. Such a contraption can be used both as a brush case and as a pistol.

KISERU-TEPPO - "THE GUN [DISMOULED] UNDER A SMOKING PIPE"

This is a hidden matchlock pistol disguised as a smoking pipe. The tube was made of iron. It was enough to close her windpipe with a screw to turn the tube into a single-shot pistol.

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Chapter 1. NINJA DISKOUNT AND ARMOR While working on this book, I looked through several dozen Western and Russian-language works on ninjutsu, but I could not find at least some detailed description of the ninja camouflage suit (shinobi-shozoku) anywhere. A