TOKYO – The authorities of Japan’s Aichi prefecture have selected seven ninja warriors, from 235 contenders from 40 countries, to carry out martial arts demonstrations and boost tourism in the region.
Following auditions earlier this week, six Japanese – five men and a woman – and an American have been selected as the new ninjas who will use their skills to entertain tourists in Aichi (central Japan), local authorities said Friday.
The ninjas will receive $1,604 per month and will demonstrate their martial art skills at the historic Nagoya castle or at the Nagoya airport.
The job advertisement last month had grabbed attention in the international media, ensuring 85 percent of the applicants were foreigners, including 38 from the United States, 29 from Russia, 12 from Italy, six from Latin America, and some from Africa.
Around 24 of the 235 candidates were selected for the audition that was held in the city of Tokoname, and 29-year-old Chris O’Neill was the only one to be selected from among the foreign contenders.
The “ninjitsu,” or the art of ninja, originated in the 7th century among groups of popular resistance in the Iga Mountains in western Japan, and reached its peak in the 17th century when they were secretly hired by rulers of that time to destabilize enemy forces.
Today the ancient ninja techniques, and particularly their strict discipline, are preserved and taught in a few Japanese martial arts academies.
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