Diet to train resilience, help hide and eliminate the body odor of Ninja

The facts about Ninja are as mysterious as their execution. These mysterious assassins, also known as Shinobi, have lived and operated a mysterious life and seemingly everything about them is hidden by history.

Although the information about them is very limited and there are many versions, the Ninja experts have the same opinion: Ninja are secret guerrilla fighters, said to have lived in Mie province - the area. mountainous areas between 1487 and 1603.

During the dark years of history, Japan was engulfed in military conflicts, the Shinobi were considered deadly assassins using secret techniques and superhuman chasing skills.

However, even Stephen Turnbull - an expert in the history of Japanese religion, who published extensively on Ninja culture and history found it difficult to prove that point, but he always believed that Ninja really exists in the cultural history of Japan.

In fact, all traditions or folk tales were born based on real stories and Stephen Turnbull noted all the links from the historical and development traditions to find the secret. Hide about the Shinobi.

Iga Province, which is said to be the source of the Ninjas, is the perfect hilly area to hide and practice guerrilla skills.

Several decades later, when the ninjas are said to have returned, historians begin to write a lot about them, who they are, what they did, and how they ate.

Many storytellers (storytellers) describe how the Ninjas eat and drink, they avoid smelly foods (to stealthily track their foes better), a strict diet helps them maintain agility, or even They even use food to send secret messages.

Just like that, a vivid picture of the Ninja and their diet gradually appeared.

A 19th-century woodblocks show a Ninja like we often perceive them today.

Modern depictions of ninjas often assume that they wear pajamas, running around in the dark. However, there are many others who claim that they come from peasants, half farmers, half Samurai, they eat and drink simply like rural people.

Many ninjas are believed to have descended from lower social classes, Turn Turnbull wrote in an earlier book. Their mode of operation and secret techniques were in stark contrast to the ideals of the noble Samurai, who always acted in the dark, could hide for days, invade enemy territory or spy. or assassin.

According to researcher Makato Hisamatsu, from Mie University's Ninja Research Center, if Ninja eats like farmers, they can only eat two meals a day, their food is mainly millet, rice bran, miso, vegetables and wild plants.

It is also possible that their daily diet also adds grasshoppers, snakes and frogs, he shared with Japanese magazine Aera.

This is a more balanced diet than it is today, though insects, reptiles and amphibians rarely appear in today's Ninja-inspired healthy eating methods.

But texts dating back to the late 17th and 18th centuries show some differences between their diet and those of simple farmers.They are said to have avoided particularly hot foods , since those foods would make the body smell and the enemy would detect them when hidden, Hisamatsu added.

Garlic, leeks and all kinds of onions are not included in the menu, even red meat is not used by most people living in medieval Japan to follow Buddhism or Shintoism. , so most people are vegetarian.

In fact, there is a scientific basis for this problem, recent research programs have demonstrated a change in the body odor of vegetarian men, while those who eat garlic, Spicy vegetables will have a heavier body odor than ordinary people.

Ninja will have a very simple diet but still have to be full of nutrition.(Illustration).

Hisamatsu adds, the Ninja pay attention to their waist because it is a key condition for them to remain agile. According to some records, within the Shinobi world there was an implicit rule for all Ninja - they should not weigh more than 60kg, the standard weight of a bag of rice.

In fact, this means that the Ninja will have a very simple diet but still have to be nutritious enough for them to be light enough to hide easily.

Bansenshukai a Japanese book that contains a collection of knowledge from the Ninja clans in the Iga and Koga regions, it is considered one of the most famous ancient texts about the Ninja, although it dates back to 1676, very long after the golden age of the ninjas.

The book is a repository of documents drawn from Chinese military philosophy, and it is almost like a book containing Ninjutsu knowledge, and the process of training legendary Ninja.

In addition, this book also teaches how to make "hunger pills" - anti-hunger foods used on long trips or when food becomes scarce.

Hunger pills is a food that combines Japanese yam, cinnamon, glutinous rice and lotus, or it is also a powder from pine bark, ginseng and white rice, then molded the members and steamed them.

Hunger pills will keep them from starving, even if these Shinobi don't eat anything else for a few days.

Modern calculations show that each hunger pills have about 300 calories, but not enough for a meal, but maybe they also provide enough nutrition for the Ninja can maintain activity.

The Iga-ryu Ninja Museum also describes another type of food that helps the ninja not get dehydrated, they are made with crushed umeboshi powder, mushrooms, rye and crystallized sugar, which is a combination of food from Foods rich in electrolytes are often used to treat hangover.

These pellets are also important for long distance scouts. Whether or not Ninja really ate the way the text describes it is still a mystery.

As early as the 1670s, people had rumored that Ninja was like a deadly gas, they were lighter than air, able to penetrate into impenetrable areas, the supernatural ability to hide. detect them even when they sniff.

• Is Ninja really really god like in movies?
• Decipher the mysterious "ten thousand obsessed" tactics of the Ninja