Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 258
Ninjas
Hello Everyone
Bill, Bob and Henry were playing at being ninjas in Henry’s new playroom this week.
They like to think of themselves as cartoon heroes.
But did you know that ninjas actually existed?
They were real people.
Let me tell you about them…
They were highly-trained ancient, Japanese warriors.
They sometimes lived their lives separately from other people in special villages that were their home.
These men were actually more properly called ‘Shinobi’.
Their skills were so fantastic that people thought that maybe they had magical powers. These skills are called ninjutsu. Ninjutsu is a kind of guerrilla warfare.
That means using skills of stealth and attack by surprise rather than fighting in an army on a battle field.
Japanese traditional folklore says that these ancient fighters were descended from a demon that was half man and half crow.
Nobody really knows when this group of men first came into being. lt seems likely that they developed as a force to oppose the samurai warriors who fought for the upper classes in early feudal Japan over one thousand years ago.
Chinese monks began arriving in Japan about a thousand years ago. They brought with them knowledge of new medicines and fighting philosophies originating in lndia and Tibet and taught them to the ninja clans.
The ninjas were often farmers from the ordinary classes rather than nobility.
Women also became ninjas and were particularly good at becoming spies and assassins.
The samurai were warriors who wore armour with bright colours to show their clan identity. Their way of fighting was stylized and open. lt was called ‘bushido’.
The ninjas used poisons and spying and trickery and stealth.
They wore navy blue when they operated during a dark night so that they were difficult to see.
They learnt martial arts like karate; they developed a special tool to enable them to climb up to their targets. This was an iron hand-crampon.
They knew well how to use spears and daggers. They knew how to fight with long poles called staffs.
They could cleverly infiltrate castles and other fortifications.
They learnt how to use fire, water, disguise and concealment to overcome their enemies. They could disguise themselves as musicians, for example, and blow poison-tipped darts out of the end of their flutes.
All of these tactics added to their mystical reputation.
What might have seemed shameful ways of behaving to the samurai were fair game for the ninjas, and when their skills were needed by anyone who wanted to hire, them they could make lots of money.
After many years of internal wars in Japan, peace and stability eventually came to the country in the 1600s.
The story of the ninjas was over – but the skills and legends lived on.
Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!
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Thank you!
And see you again next Fun Friday!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bob: What do you get if you cross a parrot with a soldier?
Bill: l don’t know. What do you get if you cross a parrot with a soldier?
Bob: A parrot trooper!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
A Japanese castle
A samurai warrior
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
Ninjas are often an interesting subject for film producers.
In order to make a film a very large number of skilled people have to work together.
Do you know what all these people do?
- Producer
- Director
- Screenwriter
- Art director
- Clapperboy
- Gaffer
- Sound mixer
- Stuntman/woman
And if your doll travels around a lot to do her job, she will find this shoulder bag very useful.
NEWSDESK MINIMAKE
A 12” DOLL’S SHOULDER BAG
- Cut 2 pieces of canvas 21 holes by 11 holes
- Cover with tent stitches
- Decorate with a pattern of your choosing
- Sew along the top of one side, then down the side edge sewing the 2 panels together, continue along the bottom and up the other side, then sew along the top of the other panel
- Add a shoulder strap of yarn
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PLEASE CONTACT:
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Quick Quiz
Here is another column word puzzle for you to do.
Draw a column of boxes – it should be three boxes across and fourteen boxes down.
Answer the questions and put one letter in each box.
Read down the first column to find a Ninja word.
- to pull thread through fabric
- a vessel for carrying water
- a sharp tap on a hard surface
- found inside an apple that you can use to grow a new tree
- a primary colour
- squirted out by an octopus
- a pig’s house
- what you do with food
- a woodsman’s tool
- a metal
- where you get water from
- a high mountain
- a taxi
- family
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A GROOVY GLASSES CASE
This sunglasses case is made from yarn that has metallic thread wound around it so it looks very funky!
Using different colours will give your case a very different look.
If you have more than one pair of glasses you could make different cases so that you know which pair will be inside.
Check the case will be big enough to fit your glasses before you finish knitting and sewing it up!
If your glasses measure more than 15cm across and 20cm around, then you will need to add extra stitches and/or rows to your knitting.
Neaten the ends of the yarn off as you change colour so that you don’t have loops left inside the case for the glasses to get caught on when you push them inside.
If you like, you can knit the case with just one colour and it will still look interesting.
GROOVY GLASSES CASE (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and purple yarn cast on 40 stitches
Knit 8 rows of garter stitch
Change to white yarn
Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch
Change to purple yarn
Knit 8 rows or garter stitch
Change to white yarn
Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch
Change to purple yarn
Knit 8 rows or garter stitch
Change to white yarn
Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch
Change to purple yarn
Knit 10 rows or garter stitch
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
Using over-sew stitching sew the bottom and side seam with right sides together then turn the case the right way out
Crochet 70 chains into a length of yarn and thread this around the top of the case
Tie the ends of the cord together and neaten ends of yarn
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
Answers to the News Desk Quiz
- Producer – chooses the script, finds the money to make the film and chooses the director and other people who will work on the film
- Director – guides the actors and chooses the camera angles
- Screenwriter – writes the words that the actors will say and describes the action that will take place
- Art director – designs the sets, chooses the locations and gives instructions to the wardrobe people and make up artists
- Clapperboy – uses a numbered capper board to identify each take at the beginning of each clip of film recorded
- Gaffer – is in charge of the lighting on set and has an assistant called ‘best boy’
- Sound mixer – is responsible for the microphone operators who are recording the sound
- Stuntman/woman – performs instead of the actors when the character needs to do something dangerous
Clapper board
Quick Quiz Answers
- SEW
- URN
- RAP
- PlP
- RED
- lNK
- STY
- EAT
- AXE
- TlN
- TAP
- ALP
- CAB
- KlN
SURPRlSE ATTACK
For an Embroidery Stitches Chart
Check out Blog Post 3
