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Ninja student gets top marks for writing essay in invisible ink

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  • Ninja student gets top marks for writing essay in invisible ink

    A Japanese student of ninja history who handed in a blank paper was given top marks - after her professor realised the essay was written in invisible ink.

    Eimi Haga followed the ninja technique of "aburidashi", spending hours soaking and crushing soybeans to make the ink.

    The words appeared when her professor heated the paper over his gas stove.

    "It is something I learned through a book when I was little," Ms Haga told the BBC. "I just hoped that no-one would come up with the same idea."

    Ms Haga has been interested in ninjas - covert agents and assassins in medieval Japan - since watching an animated TV show as a child.

    After enrolling at Mie University in Japan, the first-year student took a class in ninja history, and was asked to write about a visit to the Ninja Museum of Igaryu.

    "When the professor said in class that he would give a high mark for creativity, I decided that I would make my essay stand out from others," she said.

    "I gave a thought for a while, and hit upon the idea of aburidashi."

    Ms Haga, 19, soaked soybeans overnight, then crushed them before squeezing them in a cloth.

    She then mixed the soybean extract with water - spending two hours to get the concentration right - before writing her essay with a fine brush on "washi" (thin Japanese paper).

    Once her words had dried, they became invisible. But, to ensure her professor didn't put the essay in the bin, she left a note in normal ink saying "heat the paper".

    The professor, Yuji Yamada, told the BBC he was "surprised" when he saw the essay.

    "I had seen such reports written in code, but never seen one done in aburidashi," he said.

    "To tell the truth, I had a little doubt that the words would come out clearly. But when I actually heated the paper over the gas stove in my house, the words appeared very clearly and I thought 'Well done!'

    "I didn't hesitate to give the report full marks - even though I didn't read it to the very end because I thought I should leave some part of the paper unheated, in case the media would somehow find this and take a picture."

    As for the essay itself, Ms Haga said it had more style than substance.

    "I was confident that the professor would at least recognise my efforts to make a creative essay," she said.

    "So I wasn't really worried about getting a bad score for my essay - though the content itself was nothing special."
    Eimi Haga handed in what looked like a blank sheet of paper - but left her professor a crucial clue.


    Blah

  • #2
    I would have liked this better if she hadn't written to heat the paper on the paper.
    It's almost as if all his overconfident, absolutist assertions were spoonfed to him by a trusted website or subreddit. Sheeple
    RIP Tony Bogey & Baron O

    Comment


    • #3
      "So I wasn't really worried about getting a bad score for my essay - though the content itself was nothing special."
      Sounds like advertising to me... Great presentation and hype, average product
      Keep on Civin'
      RIP rah, Tony Bogey & Baron O

      Comment


      • #4
        I think the point of the essay was in creativity, not in the tasks/requirements. But not many professors think about personal approach these days, I guess. Who knows, perhaps some day creative writing will be more important than other types of essays which, in most cases, simply show how you can rewrite. I'm curious about aburidashi too, a ninja technique that illustrates important aspects and the identity of the Japanese culture.
        Last edited by arthurnottheking; December 24, 2019, 03:19. Reason: creative writing

        Comment


        • #5
          "To tell the truth, I had a little doubt that the words would come out clearly. But when I actually heated the paper over the gas stove in my house, the words appeared very clearly and I thought 'Well done!'
          Dear professor,
          not so well done for you.
          There was a safer way to heat the paper than the gas stove, it's the iron.
          The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame. Oscar Wilde.

          Comment


          • #6
            ...wouldn't the iron have a change of smudging the work, though?
            No, I did not steal that from somebody on Something Awful.

            Comment


            • #7
              Hypothetically, the best way of heating the essay would have been an IR-Lamp or a blowdryer
              Tamsin (Lost Girl): "I am the Harbinger of Death. I arrive on winds of blessed air. Air that you no longer deserve."
              Tamsin (Lost Girl): "He has fallen in battle and I must take him to the Einherjar in Valhalla"

              Comment


              • #8
                When we did a similar thing in cub scouts when I was a kid we put the paper over a toaster. I believe we used milk as our “invisible ink” though.
                Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

                Comment


                • #9
                  I favor lemon juice. Cheap, no prep required besides juicing the lemon, and improves the flavor of any message you need to eat after reading.
                  No, I did not steal that from somebody on Something Awful.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    ...and then there's these guys:
                     
                    No, I did not steal that from somebody on Something Awful.

                    Comment

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