"The Fire Art and Fire Arms by Ninja" (summary)
Lecturer:ARAKI Toshiyoshi
One of the three greatest books of secrets on Ninjutsu, or the art of Ninja, titled (Mansen Shukai) describes that, "it is generally believed that the fire tools are the source of essential ways in Ninjutsu."
There are various purposes to fire tools, including attacking enemies with explosives made of gunpowder, threatening them with the sound and smoke, using bonfire and torches to illuminate or to execute arson attacks, and signaling and communicating with light and smoke. Among 233 kinds of recorded fire tools, 111 of them are listed under tools of destruction. Examples of them include the equivalent of today's hand grenade called Horoku Kasen, a smoke grenade known as Torinoko (literally, baby bird), landmines called Uzumebi (literally, buried fire), flamethrower Toribi, as well as the fire arrows for the arson attacks against the enemy base. Moreover, 106 of other tools such as the torch that never goes out in the rain or wind are listed, indicating the importance of the lighting tools for ninja, which light up the darkness of the night. Also, there were descriptions on thirteen different types of smoke signals and three types of medicine including narcotics. These fire tools uses over 200 types of raw materials that are commonly found in the daily environment, including approximately forty types of minerals, 135 types of vegetation, and twenty-six types of animal-origin substances (e.g., excrements).
Thus, ninja devised various gimmicks for their fire tools, especially for their lighting tools, and their effort in creating them exhibits the similar passion the Japanese people today show towards craftsmanship. Moreover, being the professional in gathering information, ninja must have been a group of excellent technocrats who were familiar with the latest technology and knowledge at the time.