The Astute Reader will doubtless recall that right after the tragedies of September 11, 2001, there was a series of terror attacks which the Federal Bureau of Investigation code-named AMERITHRAX.
A party or parties unknown released weaponized dust of Anthrax spores through the US Mails addressed to political figures.
The whole "weaponized dust" thing is about as old as time. Even chimpanzees, when fighting, will throw dirt at each other in an attempt to blind the adversary.
Human beings are a trifle more sophisticated than chimps; after all, we have not merely chemistry, but pharmacology.
Genuine assassins would almost never stoop to biological warfare.
Yet it's widely believed that the famous Ninja of feudal Japan often used a variety of tube shaped weapons to launch projectile streams of noxious substances which are known to have included acids and pyrotechnic chemicals, and are believed to have included various poisons ranging from shellfish toxins to powdered concentrates of poisonous mushrooms and toadstools. Ninja -- and assassins from other cultures as well -- were believed to use a variety of drugs both as weapons, and as performance enhancers.
Indeed, the verb phrase "to ninja-dust" has entered American slang usage with the meaning of "to unobstrusively sneak away".
And there actually is such a thing, though the proper name is metsubeshi or "eye closers", and you could see some video of the technique all over YouTube.
An example of someone getting overly sophisticated may be seen below:
Further, one can see interesting dialog all over the internet, once you know the right words to use.
Enter Macbeth.
Macbeth: How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!
What is't you do?
All: A deed without a name.
And now we have a name for the deed, and as even in the day of Macbeth was known to the witches, "names are power".
Once we start searching, we can find lots of things. Halfway down the page of Modern Metsubishi Concepts we get past the prologue and into the meat:
"If he (or she) was discovered or faced with possible capture, more often than not the agent was probably outnumbered by the enemy. In order to ‘equalize’ the odds, the Ninja had to develop a method that would provide him with time, even if it was only a fleeting moment, so that he could bring into play other Ninjutsu techniques that would ensure his safety...
The technique of metsubushi (sight removers) involves a very wide range of eye blinders, not just powder-like substances thrown at attackers: dirt, mud, gravel, sand, pebbles, stones, ashes, ground pepper, nettle hairs, oil, water, poison liquids, smoke and explosives are just some of the many ingredients that may be used. Equally wide-ranging and diverse are the containers which these sight removers were carried in...
...One particularly interesting and ornate container is called the sokutoku. Often worn around the neck like a decorative pendant, it would not arouse undue suspicion; but in an instant it could be a most effective means of subduing an enemy with a single breath. The hollowed out device is usually filled with ground pepper then plugged with a pencil-thin stopper attached to a thin line. When attacked the Ninja merely brought the sokutoku to his mouth, removed the plug and blew hard into the mouthpiece.
Of course, this is discussing Ninja, who as professional assassins and as a secret society weren't exactly notable for exhibiting the same sort of widely-accepted honor as you might see from the samurai.
And in any case, much time has gone by since the days of ninja, samurai, and the Tokugawa Shogunate.
English, in some ways, is a very imprecise language.
For example, the New World Spanish language has three quite distinct words with distinct definitions, which in the English language are covered all within one word.
A Curandera is a folk-healer, usually a shaman or a devotee of one of the old Native religions, or at least someone who recalls many of the practices that pre-existed the arrival of European medicine.
The flip side of a Curandera is the Bruja. A Bruja (or Brujo if male) knows about the same thing as the Curandera (or Curandero), but their intentions generally aren't thought to be to heal, but rather to harm.
And then there are the Maleficos, though usually they are not a noun but an adjective. The meaning is "malefic, malignant, evil, or harmful". For example, "brujo malefico" or, in English, "a Wicked Witch".
Much of a certain genre of English literature, legend, and even modern mythos spends a great deal of time trying to make distinctions which aren't easily carried in one word.
For example:
P: I tell you, that person is a witch.
S: You're certain of this?
P: As I am certain of night and day.
S: Well then, are they a Good Witch, or a Bad Witch?
P: Rather ask, if they shall be competent at their Craft, are they a Good Witch, or a Wicked one. A Bad witch is of no consequence, no more than a bad midwife or a middling Quack.
Yet one need not be a competent Witch, Wicked or otherwise, to confound and amaze.
In the Sixteenth Century, a runner came to the City of Mexico, and declared that strange beings had landed at Veracruz and were marching inland, slaying all who came before them.
They were described as beings with yellow hair, and silver skin, who rode fierce giant dogs. Furthermore, they were immune to the weapons of war and could point a large silver rod, and with the sound of thunder, a warrior would fall.
The messenger was promptly strangled as either a liar or insane, in either case undependable. No preparations were made for defense.
Shortly thereafter, the City of Mexico witnessed the arrival of Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro and the Conquistadores, who along with their introduction of smallpox, utterly crushed the Aztec empire and ultimately caused the death of some 99-percent of all Native Americans within a century of their arrival.
Nobody who had heard of the fate of the first messenger bothered to report on the advance of the Conquistadores, so they fell upon the defenders of the City of Mexico with no warning other than that of their initial contact.
From this, history learns "do not kill the messenger, no matter how strange their tale".
Ninjas, "Maleficos", spies circulating to blind or distract casual witnesses from their other activities by using a very old trick, or gangsters doing the same? Or is it Amerithrax all over again?
All I know is that now and then we get these eruptions of "metsubishi" hereabouts, and when I see it I have to mention it.
Prior to today, I hadn't the proper word to describe it, I usually just call it "Dust Wars".
But what it is, really, is "Ninja Dust".
And it's something every last Good Witch ought to oppose.
0 comments:
Post a Comment