Double-Mouthed Woman
One of the creepier creatures out of Japanese mythology, mostly because she looks so innocent. You’d never know, upon meeting a double-mouthed woman, that there is anything out of the ordinary about her. Oh, you might notice that she never (not ever) puts her long hair up or even in a ponytail…but you wouldn’t know that this is because there is a second mouth hidden on the back of her neck.
Most double-mouthed women are fairly benign. The worst they do is sneak down to the kitchen at night and eat all the food in the house. The one in Deadly Flowers, though, is a little more alarming. Don’t fall asleep in her house, no matter how nice she seems.
Read MoreThings Ninjas Didn’t Do (That You Think They Did)
#2) Be male.
Deadly Flowers
Were there really female ninja? People ask me this when I mention Deadly Flowers.
The thing is, we don’t actually know that much about what ninjas really did. They were secretive. That was the whole point. A ninja who got written into the history books probably wasn’t a very good ninja. So we go on myth and legend a lot. And legend has it that there were at least some women who worked as ninjas.
It’s said that a woman in feudal Japan, named Chiyome (or Chiyojo), lost her husband in battle. There weren’t that many options for a widow in that time period. She could marry again, or she could become a nun. Chiyome went in another direction. She opened up a school for ninjas. For girl ninjas.
Chiyome is said to have take in girls and trained them to travel around Japan as spies, gathering information for her husband’s overload, Takeda Shingen. They were called “walking maidens,” her students, for their itinerant ways. Another name for female ninjas was “deadly flowers.”
Can we prove it? No. But then we can’t prove anything much about ninjas.
Could it have happened? Why not? It was a time of civil war in Japan. Things were unsettled and desperate. A warlord like Takeda would have been glad for any advantage he could get over his rivals. For women to act as ninjas would have gone against tradition, it wouldn’t have been something to be discussed in polite society, and the women who did it would have been taking on great risk and hardship. But, yes, it could have happened.
Read MoreCentipedes. Not Cute.
I always thought centipedes were on the cute end of the buggy spectrum. Okay, not butterflies, not ladybugs, but kind of sweet, with all those little wiggly legs.
That was before I met Japanese centipedes.
They are not just terrifying; they are poisonous. No wonder they feature widely in the folklore. There’s one giant centipede from Japanese mythology who ate baby dragons for lunch. And of course there’s the one I put in Deadly Flowers, who tries to eat my heroine.
Read MoreLitPick Interview
“Where do you get your ideas?” “Who’s your favorite character?” “What advice would you give aspiring writers?” LitPick has an interview with me up on their webpage today!
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Sarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly