about an hour or so by train from Osaka. I took the Shinkansen from Fukuoka to

Osaka this morning I got to Wakayama sometime this afternoon the details are

a little blurry. It is hot today! It is so hot, it's about 30 degrees. It's September

but it feels like summer. It's a really really hot beautiful gorgeous day today

we are here to continue our video series where we learn about the ninja culture

here in Japan and, just when you thought that I had already seen everything there

is to explore in Japan new things just keep coming up so here we are in

Wakayama today, we're going to learn about the ninja culture here in Wakayama

and see what kind of activities are available here. If you're coming to Japan

and you want to know everything there is about Japanese Ninja this series is for you!

Wakayama castle sits on a hill in the center of Wakayama city surrounded

by a thick green forest. On a sunny day like this one, the walk is absolutely

gorgeous, but be prepared to do a little hiking from the bottom gates. The path is

winding, rewarding you with fleeting glimpses of the castle until you finally

make your way to the hilltop clearing.

In terms of accessibility, it can be hard for anyone with mobility issues to enjoy

historical landmarks in Japan, especially ones that have been preserved for

hundreds of years without any modern updates. But whether you're in a

wheelchair or you need help with your baby stroller the Ninja at Wakayama castle

offer to help visitors up and down the castle steps! A reservation is

recommended for the service but it's free to anyone who needs it.

Alright, so normally people able-bodied people like me are not eligible for this

type of service but today they want to show me how they do it and I'm actually

very interested in seeing how it's done and I think for the sake of the video

I'd love to try it so I'm gonna get in the wheelchair and we're going to have

the ninja carry me using a wheelchair model similar to a rickshaw.

The Ninja use a combination of coordinated pushing and pulling techniques to carry

visitors over the rocky stone steps and up to the castles main entrance. I asked

them if they were getting tired and with their big smiles they assured me that I

wasn't any trouble for them at all. Thank you so much for your help today!

When the resident ninja are not helping visitors up and down the stairs

they're waiting at the top of the hill by the castle to assist anyone who needs

help.

Some ninjas have like really really special powers, I think in the summer

this is like one of the best powers I've ever seen. I don't care about your

backflip just mist me with your mist water! If you visit the castle definitely

check out the view from the castle observatory. The 360-degree panoramic

viewing deck combined with the central hilltop location gives you a clear view

of everything that's happening in Wakayama city.

so now we are here at Eunji temple in Wakayama and here at the temple here has

a historic connection a very special historic connection to the Ninja that existed here

in Wakayama and we're about to find out exactly what that is if you look at the

sign right here, it says home of the ninja Eunji Temple.

It was inside this tomb that they discovered what they believe to be belongings of

Natori Sanjuro including Ninja Scrolls and teachings that can confirm both the

existence and the practice of ninjutsu in Japanese history. This is big! So here

at Eunji temple is actually where they made the discovery of ninja Scrolls

ancient ninja Scrolls within the grave that detailed how to train the perfect

ninja how to form the perfect soldiers for battle for sneaking into other

places and surviving the wars, and up until now there hasn't been a lot

of hard evidence surrounding the ninja. There's a lot of secrecy involved in

ninja history but this is one of the discoveries that really solidified the

existence of ninja it kind of proved that not only did they exist but they

helped influence the way that Japanese developed their spy tactics over time

extending in the current day. The shoninki has since been translated into

many different languages and with the help of Antony Cummins, a world-renowned

ninja historian, its interpretations have been published under many English titles as well.

In Buddhism when someone dies their name is etched on a tablet so that

their family can pray to a physical object that encompasses

the spirit of the deceased at Eunji temple they have recovered such a tablet for

Natori Sanjuro and his wife proving that he did indeed exist. To be honest I

don't know a lot about Buddhism but I did hear that Zen meditation is great

practice and since ninja were known for their

incredible abilities to stay still in silence I thought it might as well give

it a try...

Here at Eunji temple they not only hold ancient relics that pertain to the ninja

culture in Japan, but they also hold meetings where they dissect the

information in these ancient scrolls and these how-to manuals for people who are

interested in learning more about ninja.

At these reading sessions called Shoninki No Kai, "the shoninki reading"

group attendees can go through the lessons and interpretations of the Shoninki

and discuss the meetings together these study sections have been going on

for four to five years now. Finally, before leaving the temple, I picked up my

first ever Goshuin-Cho. A Goshuin-cho is a special book used for

collecting signatures and stamps from shrines and temples across Japan many

major temples and shrine priests will personally stamp your Goshuin-Cho

stamp book as a way to seal the bond between you and the gods at each place

that you visit whether you're a resident or you're just traveling through Japan

these actually make a pretty cool souvenir. Does it look like me? yeah yeah

especially the "hige" right yeah. There's three different types of brushes, and

there's different paints, and then the ways he uses the brushes to create the

different lines it's just it's so professional and smooth and fluid. That

was a lot of fun to watch, and I actually want to get more of these.

Every time I think I've learned everything there is to know about ninja

I end up visiting somewhere new and learning another side of the story

last year I was convinced they were fictional characters that were simply

embellished for folklore but the more I dig the more I realized that there's

actually information hiding in plain sight typical I guess anyway. Thanks

again for joining me on this journey if you want to see other locations we've

visited over the past two years feel free to browse the ninja playlist if you

want something completely different click the box with the most recent video

upload!