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Common disguises of ninja included but were not limited to monks, yamabushi, waiter and waitress, traveling salesman, artist, and rōnin. Disguises were selected on the basis of their unobtrusiveness in a given environment. When disguised as a traveling salesman, a popular choice of product was herbal medicine. This let ninja have weapons like a dagger or a sickle for the self defense without revealing that they were ninja. Because they were well disguised, some have even suggested Matsuo Bashō, a traveling poet, was actually a ninja employed by the shōgun to keep a watch over daimyō, and that haiku he published were really secret codes telling other ninja some unknown secrets. This is a view dismissed by almost all historians.
Contrary to popular beliefs, nunchaku were never used by the ninja, or indeed any mainland Japanese traditional martial art. Karate, judo, kendo, and most other martial arts were never practiced as well, as they were mostly formalized in late Edo period to Meiji period. Ninja practiced a variant of jujutsu and kenjutsu that could be summed up as ninjutsu.
Weapons
Ninja used several special weapons against their enemies
The shuriken (throwing stars)
Handclaws (shuko, tekagi)
Kunai was also a popular weapon as they could be hidden easily
The makibishi is a type of caltrop made of iron spikes.
It could be thrown on the ground to injure the chaser's feet or laid down on an enemy's escape path so that the targets could be cut down or shot down with bows and arrows while they looked for another escape route, but it could also be covered with deadly poison so the victim would die slowly. Ninja weapons could also be used cleverly as tools such as using the cord of their sword scabbard to construct a hammock between tree branches.
Ninja also employed a variety of weapons and tricks using gunpowder. Smoke bombs and firecrackers were widely used to aid an escape. They used timed fuses that would burn down on the target after they left. Ōzutsu (cannons) they constructed could be used to fire fiery sparks as well as projectiles at a target. Even land mines were constructed that used a mechanical fuse or a lighted oil soaked string. These techniques were used to make fireworks in peacetime of Edo. Secrets of making desirable mixes of gunpowder were strictly guarded secrets in many ninja clans.
Contrary to the marketing of sword manufacturers, there was no such thing as a ninjatō or a sword that only ninja used. Typically "ninjatō" is confused with the ancient chokutō. Using a sword with inferior strength, blade geometry, and cutting ability would not have been useful to a ninja's purpose. Even more baffling would be a ninja carrying a sword that could have automatically identified him as a spy. To be less conspicuous, ninja carried daishō since many were of the samurai class. For deception, some ninja would carry a wakizashi in a katana saya to allow faster drawing of the sword and cause the opponent to miscalculate.
On assassination missions ninja were more likely to use cheaper weapons. There was always the possibility that weapons would need to be disposed of if something went wrong, so expensive swords were naturally poor choices. Ninja techniques extended to the use of ordinary objects as lethal weapons. A ninja assassin was much more likely to pose as a tradesman and kill his target with a hammer than to dress in camouflage and use a sword.
Tools
Many of ninja's tools were everyday tools that would not be conspicuous even when confiscated. It was through clever use that ninja gained advantages. One known tool used by ninja is irogome, lit. "colored rice". Irogome was uncooked rice seeds colored in five or six different colors, red, black, white, yellow, blue, and sometimes brown. They would be placed on the ground or handed to a ninja from a ninja. Each combination carried certain meanings like "all clear" or "an enemy check point is ahead".
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