Family Having a Blast Being Ninjas for the Day at Iga City

Today’s destination was Iga City, also known as the city of Ninjas.
When I was asked if we would be willing to wear a ninja costume in this daytrip to Iga, I did not hesitate, or consult my husband and son, I said “Yes, of course!” right away. But then, I couldn’t help but wonder, “How does it feel to walk around the city dressed as ninja?”.

My name is Isis Akemi Muto, from Sao Paulo, Brazil. I’ve been living in Mie Prefecture, Japan, for the past 22 years. Recently, my family and I started doing some day-trips around Mie.

We headed to Ueno Castle. Ueno Castle is also known as White Phoenix Castle which is completely understandable since it’s as beautiful as a phoenix.
Although we didn’t go inside the castle, we walked around it, and even from outside, the castle looked majestic!

We made a quick stop for a picture with the castle behind us.What a truly amazing experience, taking pictures in front of a real castle, dressed as a ninja!

Ueno Castle has one of the tallest stone walls in Japan, an impressive 30 meters high! As I was admiring the view from the stone walls, Mr. Yasuda told me that the mountains around were borders to 3 prefectures, Nara, Kyoto and Shiga.

And, of course, we posed for pictures on the stone walls of Ueno Castle, where we could admire this breathtaking view, in a ninja pose.

We continue our tour and went to Iga-ryu Ninja Museum. One interesting fact about the concept of a ninja, I had an image of a ninja completely different from the one that Japanese people have. Talking to Mr. Yasuda, most Japanese people admire the ninja’s great skills, meanwhile, due to my poor knowledge about their history, I thought of them being assassins. I knew about their skills, I just didn’t know how great they were until I went to the museum.

At the museum, we learned about their history as well as the skills required to become a ninja. The skills they have are not just knowledge but also strength, patience, and so on. Now, no need to say that the image I had about ninjas changed. Everything had explanations in English,so I was able to learn a lot about ninja.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t spend much time at the museum as we were about to watch the Ninja Show!

And here we saw a ninja show. It was very powerful.The performers used real weapons but in a staged combat. They demonstrated how each weapon was used. And it blew my mind that a simple daily tool such as an umbrella or a broom could turn into a deadly weapon.

One weapon that I like, I held it a couple of times when I was little since my uncle had one, but I have never tried to maneuver is the nunchucks, and the way the actress performed was incredible. It sure takes a lot of practice to be able to do what she did.

All the performers did an amazing job, and I was glad I could talk to them a little and to take a picture with them to register this great memory.

And at the last spot of the Ninja Museum, just like a real ninja, we tried not to be seeing and infiltrated a foreigner tour group, but I guess it didn’t work because as soon as we joined them, I saw some people taking pictures of us. This last spot was the ninja house, and as we all expected, it’s not just any house, it’s a house full of tricks.

As we listened to the explanation from the female ninja staff about the many tricks the house has, I couldn’t help think that this house would be perfect in Brazil. The reality in Brazil is completely different from the one we have here in Japan. A house there requires high wall or fences, sometimes even bars on the windows, so having the ninja house’s hidden compartments to hide money and important documents, as well as rotating walls to disappear in a slip of a second, would be perfect.

And when we thought we were about the leave the house, our guide took us to an underground room where we found all the ninjas weapons and outfits and lifestyles they used to disguise themselves from their enemies. This tour kept blowing my mind.
Our family was very happy to not only wear the costumes, but also to learn about the awesomeness, coolness, and lifestyle of the ninja.

Iga-ryu Ninja Museum
HP:https://www.iganinja.jp/?page_id=837

TEL:0595-23-0311

Mail: ninpaku@ict.ne.jp

Iga is like a dreamland for foreigners who want to know about Japanese ninja, castles, and braid culture. It is very good for tourists to be able to walk around various facilities.
In the following article, we will introduce the streets of Iga and places to stop by where you can go around in your ninja costume.

Iga-Ueno Tourist Association
HP:https://www.iga-travel.jp/
TEL:0595-26-7788
Mail: iga-ueno@ict.ne.jp

Tourist attractions covered by this article