Meditate under an icy waterfall, walk on water ninja style, and take the ninja train in Mie, Japan
- White-robed and wearing rubber boots, visitors to a centre in Mie, Japan, clamber to a space under a waterfall to meditate, and learn to blow darts from a gun
- Nearby Iga takes its ninja history less seriously, warrior mannequins crouching in luggage racks of ninja-painted trains and greeting arrivals at its station
Falls spill crystal-clear water into the fish-filled rivers and streams that run through the steep, verdant mountains of Japan’s Mie prefecture.
In Nabari city, natural tranquillity defines the Akame 48 Waterfalls’ riverside trail, where the air is fresh and leaf-scented – but masks a violent history.
During the Sengoku period (1477-1553), Japan was a land of battling warlords, many of whom hired ninjas as spies and assassins.
Where the Akame 48 nature centre now stands, Nabari-born Momochi Sandayu once taught the Iga style of ninjutsu, including the arts of fighting, camouflage, stealth and espionage.
Of all their talents, though, ninjas relied most on self-discipline. One valuable training technique was to meditate under chilly or, in winter, icy cascades, the bottom of the 30-metre-high Dainichi waterfall – one of Akame’s 48 – being a favoured spot.
On a tour conducted by the nature centre, I discover what that was like.