I bet the title puzzled you!I was thinking to post this-one a long time ago... I know you guys have never heared about it and though it is not directly related to ninjutsu,it is quite interesting! My country,Serbia was under occupiation by Ottoman Turkish empire for some five centuries.During that time my people suffered a tremendous terror and violence in the worst possible way.However there were those who decided to fight back! :woo: These were the Hajduks (I wrote Serbian plural in the title on purpose ) or maybe I should spell it as "Haydooks" so you guys could get pronunciation the right way... These were the men who killed Turkish warriors who came to rob their houses,rape their women and kidnap their children.The last one was the worst!They did it in order to make them Yaneechars (non-Turkish boys who were kidnapped and taken to Turkey to be brainwashed and trained to become elite warriors on the Turkish side who were not even aware,when they were brought back to wage wars in Serbia that they were killing their own family members and cousins.Parents used to cut off a right index-finger to their little sons or teach them to act stupid and crazy to make them incompetent for Yaneechars. Haydooks ran away to forests and mountains frightened by a possible retaliation.They soon organized and trained themselves to become a fierce guerrila-warriors who became famous for their almost unhuman feats.They trained an ancient Serbian martial art called "Svebor" (which can be freely translated as "all martial arts") which was utilized by Serbian medieval nights.It comprises hand-to-hand fighting (mostly grappling),swordsmanship,spearsmanship,swimming,knife-fighting,horsemanship, marksmanship... They are glorified in Serbian epic poetry.It usually describes them as heroes that steal from Turks what they have robbed and give it back to their people. They are many records of their fantastic feats...Supposedly they could jump over a two metres high log and shot matchlock-handguns with an amazing precision.Another record tells about a Haydook called "Little Radoitsa" who was captured and severely tortured by Turks to give his friends over.They stuck twenty iron nails undereach of his nails,both-on feet and hands (You get it,right?!...).Not only that he didn't break the code of silence but he managed to knock a few of them over and jump into the water fleeing his captors while swimming away with his hands and feet firmly tied and bloody and sore!... The most famous of Haydooks' characteristics in combat is that they used to rushing against live sabres with their bare hands (Does it ring a bell?!). They were said to "being able to arrive,flee and exist in a terrible place". Though they are still glorified as great heroes and warriors through historic and poetic records you can still hear a word "'Aydook" here and there throughout some rural regions of Serbia with a bad referal to someone meaning "thief"...Though it is not widly accepted it reminds me of a bad reputation of Ninjas which remained in Japan even today imposed by their own countryman. You may not agree with me but I feel a strange resemblance!...
That was a great entry. I had no idea these guys existed. Very interesting, thanks for sharing that information with us.
Thanks for that entry. It was truly interesting. And you're right, there does seem to be a similarity....
