Q 01/05

Nokizaru, an old regional nickname for a ninja, literally pictures which animal on the roof?

A) A monkey

B) A cat

C) A crow

D) A spider

Answer · why

A) A monkey

A monkey: nokizaru means 'macaque on the roof', and other old names included kusa, 'grass', and monomi, 'one who sees', while the word ninja itself wa...

Q 02/05

What does the character shinobi (忍) literally mean?

A) To steal away; to hide

B) To strike from above

C) To serve without honor

D) To walk on water

Answer · why

A) To steal away; to hide

By extension it also means "to forbear", which is how the word came to stand for stealth and invisibility.

Q 03/05

Ninja sometimes travelled disguised as komuso, wandering flute-playing monks who hid their faces under what?

A) A basket hat

B) A fox mask

C) A paper fan

D) A hooded cloak

Answer · why

A) A basket hat

A basket hat covered the whole head, and because komuso held a rare exemption from the shogunate's travel limits, they were rumoured to report back to...

Q 04/05

Which 1967 James Bond film sends 007 to train with ninja in Japan?

A) You Only Live Twice

B) From Russia with Love

C) Diamonds Are Forever

D) On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Answer · why

A) You Only Live Twice

You Only Live Twice has Bond train with the Japanese secret service's ninja before they storm a volcano base, though the film shows them more as comma...

Q 05/05

Which warlord invaded Iga in 1581 and wiped out its organised ninja clans?

A) Takeda Shingen

B) Oda Nobunaga

C) Uesugi Kenshin

D) Date Masamune

Answer · why

B) Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga led a huge army into Iga in 1581 and burned the province, ending its self-rule and scattering the surviving ninja into the service of lor...