>>11776034
>I assume it comes from some earlier media or even a religious or meditation practice.
They're called kuji-kiri or something. And they probably stem from Buddhist mudras since hand signs are an important part of meditation in Buddhism. Ninjas were said to practice esoteric Buddhism which is how they were able to do all of their abilities like appearing in multiple places at once or turning invisible, stuff you also see enlightened people do in Tibetan Buddhism.
There's definitely some Chinese qigong in ninjas too, inhuman athleticism and blasting chi like the rasengan or the spirit gun in Yuyu Hakusho, all that stuff comes from China way down the line and it's why you also see it in Hong Kong wuxia films too. A lot of the stuff we consider "dumb anime bullshit" like shouting your moves and it having some pompous names also stems from martial arts and wuxia stuff. Or samurai legends which is why you see "dumb anime bullshit" in old Kuruosawa films.
Jiraiya and even Goemon both get connected to ninjas in Japanese culture for centuries, even though I don't think they were ever meant to be ones. That stuff would get into kabuki, and by the early 20th century was formalized, and by the 50's and 60's you had a big boom in ninja stuff in Japan.
Also I was in the that thread too, the guy connecting Sakura and Karen to Ace wo Nerae

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