h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

First let me say what a brilliant article! I was under the impression that ninja were masterless samurai forced to flee because of dishonouring their lord or failing to protect him, an embarrasment that requires the samurai to commit seppuka (suicide by gutting oneself with an l-shaped slash to the abdomen). I thought that the ninja lacked the courage to commit seppuka, and so ran to the woods and become a sort of assassin for hire where particularly covert operations were required due to the political repurcussions that a more direct and honourable attack would bring, thus removing a troublesome enemy without fear of direct retribution. I have been searching for info on the ninja for years and have never found anything more informative than your article ......cheers!

You are part right on the samurai not wanting to commit seppuku. They did run away and started their own form of fighting, but most came from the philosophy and the teaching of En No Gyoja, a hermatic mountian priest. The rest came from samurai or from the thoughts of Sun Tzu's the art of war and the theory of NIN (perseverance).

BTW, swppuku was a cross ahaped cut.

Insert knife, twist, cut down, back up, right cut, left cut then up. Two samurai stood behind. If the person commiting seppuku was taking to long to die and did not deserve the honour of a long death (your lasting honour was decided on how long it took you to die), the head was cut at the neck leaving a flap of skin to keep it attached to the body. This was to not let the women faint as a rolling head is not a nice thing to see on a wooden floor.

But, if the second samurai thought the first swordsman acted improper, then his head was cut. The second samurai had the last word on anything during the ceramony.

Nuff said