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Rated: E · Book · Educational · #2105953

One hundred facts that are interesting but ultimately useless.

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#907100 added March 18, 2017 at 6:33pm
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Stage Ninja
Stage Ninja
- history / theatre -

​​Historical ninja never or seldom wore black. More often they dressed in unremarkable street clothes, which would have been far more practical and unobtrusive. Even at night, black clothing would be too visible; dark blue would have been far less conspicuous in low-light conditions.

One theory for the popular depiction of ninja in all-black garb derives from "kabuki", a type of traditional Japanese performance art. Kabuki plays often utilized stagehands to manipulate props or move scenery during a performance; these stagehands, called "kuroko", typically dressed in black clothing to blend in with the background.

As the audience learned to disregard the kuroko altogether, some productions used this as a plot twist. Suddenly, in the middle of a show, one of the "invisible" stagehands would leap forward and reveal themselves to be a hidden ninja assassin, providing an unexpected shock for the audience.


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