Kunoichi

Kunoichi (くノ一) is ninja slang for woman.

The term is thought to derive from the names of characters that resemble the three strokes in the Japanese kanji character for woman (女, onna); said in the order they are written: ku (く ) - no (ノ ) - ichi (一). However, this may be a modern fake etymology, as the ninja of the time wrote it as 九の一 (one of nine) or 九一 (ninety-one/nine one); these transcriptions supposedly come from the fact that all humans have nine openings in common, but women have one more in addition; hence a woman is "one of nine" or "nine plus one". This however could be another fake etymology.

Nowadays, the term kunoichi is soley used in reference to female ninja; historically who were trained to deceive men and disguise themselves as geisha girls. However, modern novels, manga, film, and video games generally portray kunoichi to be fully trained in ninjutsu, much like their male counterparts.

List of kunoichi in popular culture:

• Asuka (飛鳥), in the film Red Shadow (赤影, akakage, 2001)
• Ayame, in the video game Tenchu
• Haruno Sakura, Hyuga Hinata, and among others in the anime Naruto
• Hibana (緋花), in the video game Nightshade (Kunoichi in Japan, 2004)
• Kagero (陽炎), in the anime film Ninja Scroll (獣兵衛忍風帖, jyubei ninpuchou, 1993)
• Kaede, in the video game Onimusha
• Kunoichi, in the video game Samurai Warriors
• Mahiro, in the anime Samurai Deeper Kyo
• Misao, in the anime Rurouni Kenshin
• Rin, in the video game Tenchu