Togakure Ryu Tenmon

Heaven's Gate (Tenmon)

Tenmon involves making skillful use of conditions in nature or natural disasters so that the shinobi could apply ninjutsu when appropriate. The main focus of Tenmon is Kanten Boki. Kanten refers to observing the heavens and boki indicates predicting the weather based on these observations. This was the ninja's version of meteorology. When carrying out certain types of shinobi activities such as arson, it was important to know the weather. These were the skills used by Togakure Ryu shinobi. While these skills may be useful, they are not always accurate according to the Shoninki, a ninja manual from Natori Ryu. This should be kept in mind when studying Tenmon.

Rain (Ame)

1. Rain at 12:00 pm (midnight), 8:00 am, or 4:00 pm means it will rain a long time.
2. Rain at 10:00 am or 6:00 am means that the rain will stop shortly and the weather will be fine.
3. Rain at 8:00 pm, 4:00 am, or 12:00 am (noon) means that the rain will fall fiercely but not last long.
4. Rain at 2:00 pm, 6:00 pm, or 10:00 pm indicates that the rain can last about half a day.
5. Lightning in four directions/ thunder everywhere indicates there will be strong winds and rain.
6. If there is no rain, the foundation stone should be moist.
7. A damp rock indicates there will be rain.
8. When smoke from a hearth rises straight up, the weather will be clear. But if it drifts lazily down, rain will fall
9. If a large number of fireflies and other insects are flying indoors during summer, it will rain.
10. If insects that normally live at the tops of trees move down, it will storm.
11. Water droplets on a spider web indicates that the day will be fine.
12. If the leaves of reeds, pampas grass, and common grass lay on their side, it will storm.
13. All the cows in a field laying down indicates that it may rain soon.
14. If carp are splashing around on the surface of the water, it will rain.

Wind (Kaze)

1. East wind indicates rain. But, if it is the beginning of the rainy season (Nyubai) or the hot season/ midsummer (Doyo), continuously falling rain will stop shortly.
2. Strong east wind during the day suggests the night will have clear skies.
3. Wind from the Northwest in the spring or summer always indicates that rain is coming.
4. West wind in autumn always indicates it will rain.
5. South wind in the winter indicates it will frost for three days.
6. Wind from the west or the north west indicates good weather.
7. Wind from the east and south bring rain.

Sun (Hi)

1. If the sky is red or blue at sunrise, it will be windy.
2. It will rain if there are scaled clouds when the sun sets.
3. It will rain if the sun appears to have a ring around it.

Clouds (Kumo)

1. Clouds shaped like fish-scales (Urokogumo) indicate rain.
2. Red clouds in the evening means clear skies the following day.
3. Bright colored clouds at sunset indicate that the next day will have good weather.
4. Clouds racing about chaotically indicates a typhoon.
5. Fast moving clouds and scattered clouds indicate strong wind is on its way.
6. Wind born clouds vanishing indicates the wind will die down.
7. If the clouds are not moving but it is still windy, the wind will stop shortly.
8. Red and white clouds indicate that there will be strong winds.
9. Some clouds are shaped like they have a head and a tail. The tail to the North East means that it will rain later. Tails to the South means that it will rain, but the rain will clear up and the rest of the day will be nice.

Fog (Kasumi)

1. Fog is normally a sign of coming good weather.
2. Night time fog indicates that the next day will be windy/ a typhoon will come.
3. If, after a rainfall, the weather becomes warm and there is no wind, fog will accumulate that night.
4. Rain from the sea, brought in by a warm south wind and followed by a cool breeze from the north, indicates fog will accumulate that night.
5. Fog falling in the morning means that the day will be nice.
6. If the fog is bright, the day will be nice.

Stars (Hoshi)

1. A falling star to the East means it will be windy later.
2. A falling star to the South means the skies will be clear.
3. A falling star to the West means it will rain soon.
4. When the stars flicker a lot at night, it means that there will be a lot of rain soon.

Moon (Tsuki)

1. If the moon is extremely white when it rises, it will rain.
2. If a star appears in the halo of the moon, it will rain.
3. When the moon appears to have a double-halo, it will be windy/ a taiphoon.
4. If the moon is extremely bright when it sets, there will be rain.
5. If the moon is extremely white when it sets, there will be a lot of rain.
6. If the moon appears to have a ring around it and there are a few stars out, it will rain.
7. If the moonlight is white when the moon sets, it will be windy.

Rainbows (Niji)

1. If a rainbow can be seen in the morning to the West, it will rain within three days.
2. If a rainbow can be seen in the evening to the East, there will be fair weather.

Mountains (Yama)

1. Mountains that are clearly visible indicate there will be warm winds.
2. If they are not visible, then there will be cold winds.
3. If one is close to the mountains on a windless day and they appear clear, then there will be rain later.
4. If the mountains are clearly visible and appear close on a rainy day, then it will rain for a long time.
5. If the mountains appear far away on a rainy day, then the rain will stop soon.

Birds (Tori)

1. Crows bathing in water always indicates rain.
2. If the call of a pigeon is answered, the weather will be fine. But, if there is no response from other birds, it will rain.
3. If a black kite sings in the morning, it will rain. But if it sings in the evening, the weather will be clear.
4. If a black kite flies upward in a circle, the weather will be fine.
5. If a black kite circles downward, it will rain.
6. If a shrike (Mozu Bird) calls, it will rain.
7. If sparrows or chickens are searching for food late in the day, it will rain.
8. If sparrows are searching for a sleeping place high up in dense foliage, it will rain.
9. If sparrows and chickens roost early barely foraging for food, it will be good weather.
10. If sparrows or a chickens do not eat in the morning and go straight back to roost, it will rain.
11. If high-flying larks are calling from lower down, it will storm.

 

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