Did they actually exist? I hear many sources stating that there were indeed Spies and Assassins in Feudal Japan but they did not wear those Black uniforms that popular culture likes to portray them with and that they did not use Katanas and Shurikens as weapons and for the most part, were just Mercenaries.
But yet, there are Official Ninja schools in Japan that claim to have historical lineages to Past Ninja clans that pretty much have you dress up and act like the Stereotypical Hollywood Ninja. There are even Ninja Museums that display old Ninja uniforms and weapons despite having several Historical sources saying that Ninjas back then were nothing like how Popular culture depicts them.
Brandon Jenkins
Ninjas were spies and assassins. They dressed the way you'd expect spies and assassins to dress: Very inconspicuously
John Morales
I've heard that they were usually women since they were lighter and sneakier, I've heard they were vegetarian to make sure they didn't pass gas and give their location. I've also heard they were more likely dressed up as rice farmers and monks that wore baskets on their heads than in the black gi.
Lincoln Diaz
Its probably somewhere in between. For most things they would just dress like normal peasants to be inconspicuous, but other times they would have to be completely stealthy. Like trying to get close to a guarded fort where anyone would look out of place.
Joseph Walker
The popular depiction of a Ninja comes from Kabuki theater. The stagehands would wear black to move set pieces around as the actors performed, so audiences were trained to ignore them. To add shock value, in plays involving ninjas the playwrights would have one of the stagehands jump out in the black suit and kill a noble. Since the audience didn't pay attention to stagehands, this was particularly striking.
Ninjas probably infiltrated castles by pretending to be peasants. It'd be like if Pablo the gardener cut you open while you were going for a walk one day.
Nolan Campbell
Not sure if I've ever heard of female Ninjas being more used. From what Source does that come from?
Owen Powell
The black getup was used during operations that required them to remain completely unseen at night. They would black out everything, including painting any metal to prevent moonlight glimmers.
When Hattori Hanzo rescued the Tokugawa daughters from Kaminogo castle, or when whatshisface (name slips me) tried to assassinate Oda Nobunaga with poison on a string, they were dressed in this fashion.
James Barnes
>redpill me Please go.
Owen Perry
The term isn't exclusively /pol/ related.
Elijah Sullivan
it's still retarded
Evan James
>women
Unlikely just due to cultural norms
>vegetarian
Also unlikely. Doesn't a more vegetable based diet increase the amount of flatulance?
Caleb Wright
Wait, vegetarians don't fart?
Jason Jones
Ninja means 'sneaky'.
Samuel Torres
Or to hide the people who played ninjas in Japanese theatre, they wore black so they'd appear as stage-hands, not characters, and then take off their masks to reveal themselves.
Nicholas Moore
>But yet, there are Official Ninja schools in Japan that claim to have historical lineages to Past Ninja clans that pretty much have you dress up and act like the Stereotypical Hollywood Ninja.
None of those have any valid claims are ties to history. The website Bullshido has a lot talking about this. Pretty much none of them can be traced very far back; for example, Bunjikan, the most popular Ninjustsu school was founded in 1970. There was never a historical combat art known as ninjutsu. Every modern school just teaches watered down jujutsu and larping.
Ninjas did exist (it's easy to say they didn't, because of the discrepancies with pop culture, but factually inaccurate), but not in a way that most people would recognize. They were just spies, which meant that they dressed like normal people and did spy shit. They avoided fighting, and the only thing that would have been remotely known as "ninjustsu" would have been things like disguising yourself and eavesdropping.
Aiden Murphy
They're highly romanticized.
Noah Green
>female ninjas
interesting...
>vegetarian >don't even fart
this is no fun at all
Jose Gray
They were just the Shogun's political assassins during a specific era. They're not really a big deal.
John Williams
That's because you're still Blue pilled.
Blake Hill
You're a fucking retard. Ninjutsu is a very common term used in modernity to describe their counter-parts in antiquity.
Koga Ryu and Iga Ryu were the two school of the time, they were real, there is evidence of them. Pic related is the Koga Ryu regime.
>Iga ninja were trained in disguise, escape, concealment, explosives, medicines, poisons, unarmed combat, and a multitude of weaponry. They used scaling hooks for climbing and supposedly employed special water-walking shoes called Mizugumo (displayed at the Iga-ryu Ninja Museum).
That's part from the iga ryu regime, essentially the same as they were in competition with each other.
This is not validating anything in hollywood, simply stating there is historical evidence of the clans known as Koga and Iga which have been heavily romanticized in Hollywood.
Aiden Rodriguez
After some researching I found this guy
>Hattori Hanzō (服部 半蔵?, ~1542[1] – November 4, 1596), also known as Hattori Masanari (服部 正成?), was a famous ninja of the Sengoku era, credited with saving the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu and then helping him to become the ruler of united Japan.
> His most valuable contribution came in 1582 following Oda Nobunaga's death, when he led the future shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu to safety in Mikawa Province across Iga territory with the help of remnants of the local Iga ninja clans[5][7][8] as well as their one-time rivals in Koga.[9][10] According to some sources, Hanzō also helped in rescuing the captured family of Ieyasu.
Sounds like a bad-ass
Jackson Baker
I heard they actually wore dark purple because true black cloth would stand out in darkness while purples wouldn't.
Dylan Reyes
You've never heard of Hattori Hanzo? Jesus. He is the only reason why Ninja's are so romanticized, but yea, that was a pretty badass scenario.
Bentley Bailey
It was Dark Blue last time I checked.
Adrian Flores
If they don't make an Assassin's Creed game with Hattori Hanzo I'm going to lose my shit.
Alexander Lewis
Ninja did exist and just as you say, they did not wear black clothes. But they were specially trained soldiers the way samurai would never do. Such as poison and explosives. And yes, they used Shuriken, Kunai, hook rope etc. Shuriken means "a knife hidden inside hands". They hide it in their sleeves and use it for surprise attack. In many cases, their shapes are straight spikes because it's easier to hide in sleeves. Ninja stars were not their main weapon but they did use it to distract their opponent when they run. It's highly romanticized in both Japanese and western fiction but not totally a fairly tale.
Colton Scott
How does that contradict anything I said? Yes, ninja existed, and they were spies. The learned spy skills. What they learned has nothing to do with the modern martial art known as ninjutsu, and there's nothing linking any schools that teach that art with historical validated spy clans. Prove that that there's a link and I'll admit I'm wrong, but the few scholars that have looked into it will say basically the same things I am.
Ninjas were spies, not magic badasses that practiced a special martial art which looked weird like bad jujutsu done in a kabuki theater costume.
Elijah Cooper
No it was navy blue
Nathan Robinson
I have no idea, I didn't A japanese friend, so no source. Its not like I can confirm any of it so, your imagination is as good as my guess from uncitable sources.
