Ninja kids in Kyoto! Learning ninja skills at the dojo

How much ‘ninja’ is too much? Surely there is no limit! We had already had a great time exploring the ‘ninja’ temple in Kanazawa, but now it was time to understand more about the art of being a ninja, and get a taster of the skills needed to survive on the bad Japanese streets. We had started to learn about the fundamental differences between the ninja and the samurai while visiting the black crow castle in Matsumoto. Samurai were much more soldierly and up for a scrap, whereas ninja were spies who, while equally deadly, preferred to operate in the shadows and keep their powder dry if at all possible.

The first thing to do was get into the full black ninja outfit. The help of our teachers was very welcome as the wrapping of the garment around the body is slightly complicated. Once fully kitted out in head-to-toe black we were already starting to feel very ninja-ish.

The first half of our session focussed on the stealth skills and techniques used by ninja to get around in the shadows and communicate with their fellow spies. It was fascinating to learn a range of hand signals used to pass messages, how to carefully walk through a sea of scattered makibishi caltrop spikes defences, and the endless fun to be had appearing from secret doors and passageways.

By this time we were keen to get our hand on the various weaponry adorning the sideboards and walls of the dojo and our teachers didn’t disappoint. A selection of swords and daggers (practice ones!) cut the air as we were shown how to attack and defend if we happen to be discovered in future spying missions.

But the highlight, without any doubt, was the opportunity to throw very real, and very sharp, metal shuriken stars at the wall. Like playing darts in a pub, but with more jeopardy. Rafe took to this immediately and was worryingly proficient, hitting the centre of the boards with no problem at all at all ranges, before moving on to the blowpipe which he equally adept with.

How we did it

There are several ninja dojos in Japan offering taster sessions. We were in Kyoto, and visited the Ninja Dojo and Store. Befitting the ninja theme, the dojo is tucked away above a different store. Despite being one of the primary ninja dojos, it is a fairly small space which means that groups are kept small. Prices vary between group or private sessions, and we were lucky to book a group session but have the dojo all to ourselves. The store is in the other half of the same room with a selection of real and imitation weaponry and ninja outfits. We couldn’t have been happier with our experience and came away with a couple of real shuriken stars from the shop for the kids to use warding off invaders once we got home to the UK.