Our first stop this cool, cloudy Thursday morning in Kanasawa was at the end of an alley which led to Myōyü-ji, aka Ninja-dera (Ninja Temple). It’s a Buddhist temple that isn’t associated with any ninja history, but has a deceptive structure which has earned its nickname. From the outside it looks like a two-story building, but actually it’s a four-story building that has 23 rooms and 29 staircases with hidden chambers, trap doors, tunnels, and escape pits all meant to fool the enemy.
We tried to get in to take a look, but there were only Japanese tours that didn’t allow translation. So no secrets revealed to the browsing Westerner. I flashed on how my first exposure to ninja behavior was when I saw Cato Fong, Blake Edward’s comic ninja character in the Pink Panther movies. As a manservant to Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau, Fong was trained to keep Clouseau on his toes by leaping out nowhere to attack him. It was a good bit and I got a good laugh and, admittedly, I probably wouldn’t have been the most reverent of visitors.
The tall guy at the end of the line found has yet to discover the Japanese restriction.
That really sounds cool. Just the kind of thing that I like. I would be tempted to take the tour just to see it although it would be frustrating not to understand the spiel.
We were tempted, but it was sold out yesterday. Reservations have to be made ahead of time…in Japanese.
PS loved the Pink panther movies.