Dōjinshi Yaoi

From Metapedia

Dōjinshi Yaoi is the most commonly used name of a skilled ninja prominent in various eastern legends. Throughout his adventures he adopts many pseudonyms in his adventures, such as "Kodachi", "Kara Jou", "Chirijiraden" and "Sasuke San" among others, with "Dōjinshi Yaoi" being the most common and the one used to refer to the character in general, he does this in order to conceal his identity when asked to do a job (temporarily, as he usually reveals himself by leaving a special, unique mark somewhere after he finishes the job).

[edit] Adventures

Yaoi's antics include performing an act of fire-breathing (much like modern day circus actors) in order to convince a primitive tribe that he is one of their gods, using hooks in order to swing from between tall structures in order to travel around castles and large villages, implanting tons of fireworks in the basement of a small castle in order to demolish it, leading an elephant stampede in order to crush a military encampment, etc.

It is estimated that if Yaoi was paid the same as other assassins for each task, he would be as wealthy as the nobility in the region, however, it is never stated in the stories if he spend money or even if he was ever paid, leading some to speculate he worked only because he enjoyed it.

Its not clear in what era the character lived, but certain stories make it clear that the ninja gave his services for a period of at least 40 years, leading some to speculate the character is not a single individual but rather many, this is also reinforced by the fact that "yaoi" can be interpreted as "many men" and "dōjinshi" literally means "same person".

[edit] History

It is debated among scholars whether the legendary Dōjinshi Yaoi was inspired by real individuals and events, if his adventures are complete fiction, or even if the legends are entirely factual (though support for this is small). It is generally accepted that the stories became widespread in the middle of the 18th century. Since 1940, however, the legend has lost notability and is no longer one of the pinnacles of Japanese folklore.