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This post BLOWS!
16 Dec 2015

This post BLOWS!

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 6 - History and Martial Arts | 0

From our friends at Vintage Nunchaku comes a feature on a critical piece of survival equipment that helped us get through the 1980s — The Jivaro Blowgun. The Jivaro Blowgun: This was serious “ninja stuff.” First of all you had to … Continued

Jivaro Blowgun, VINTAGE NUNCHAKU
VN REVISITED: A look at ZANPEI KUMOTORI manga
4 Dec 2015

VN REVISITED: A look at ZANPEI KUMOTORI manga

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 2 - Books and Manga | 0

Lots of new readers lately, and I always love delving into the archives, exposing folks to some of the great stuff we posted back in the early years, so here’s an EXPANDED revisit of an article originally from November of 2009: … Continued

Takao Saito, Zanpei Kumotori
THANKFUL…
24 Nov 2015

THANKFUL…

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV, 7 - Ninja Miscelany | 0

Assessing life as one does at Thanksgiving, here’s a pile of random ninja-related stuff I’m thankful for: That I’ve been able to turn so many people on to CASTLE OF OWLS via this site. Mexican lobby cards of Hong Kong … Continued

PRAY FOR DEATH coming to Blu!
8 Nov 2015

PRAY FOR DEATH coming to Blu!

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV | 0

Restoration label Arrow Films continues to put out Criterion-level releases of films that are decidedly not in the Criterion oeuvre — Spaghetti Westerns, Japanese delinquent gang flicks, gory Giallo and slasher fare, and yes — now they’re going FULL 80s NINJA! … Continued

Pray for Death, Sho Kosugi
REMCO “Secret of the Ninja” box art
6 Nov 2015

REMCO “Secret of the Ninja” box art

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 3 - Toys and Merch | 0

One of my favorite long-gone toy manufacturers was Remco, who in 1984 gave us one of the craze’s most well-rounded figure lines — Secret of the Ninja. Remco of the 60’s was an aggressive licensor with all sorts of A-list … Continued

Remco, Secret of the Ninja
The best VN Halloween/monster features in one easy list!
25 Oct 2015

The best VN Halloween/monster features in one easy list!

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV | 0

One wouldn’t normally think of a site like this for creepy and monster-y Halloween content, but man over the years we have BROUGHT IT! Here’s a one-stop-shopping list of Vintage Ninja‘s finest “Monsters and Masks” features: The Demon of Mt. … Continued

Monster vs. Ninja Month, Monsters and Masks 2009, Monsters and Masks 2010, Monsters and Masks 2011
The oldest days of the Shuriken trade
18 Oct 2015

The oldest days of the Shuriken trade

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 6 - History and Martial Arts | 0

We’re delighted to present the first of hopefully many editorial exchanges with the superb VINTAGE NUNCHAKU community — found on Facebook here. This ‘other VN’ is the best fountain of info anywhere on old mail order advertising from the kung-fu craze … Continued

80s martial arts supply ads, shuriken, vintage magazines, VINTAGE NUNCHAKU
The utter dilemma of GYMKATA
3 Oct 2015

The utter dilemma of GYMKATA

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV | 0

If you’re like me, and let’s face it, most of you reading this site are, then you own WAY too many martial arts movies — from old clamshell VHS you rescued from liquidating video stores, to increasingly collectible DVDs from … Continued

GYMKATA, Tadashi Yamashita
Carded wrongness of NONE CHUCK
13 Sep 2015

Carded wrongness of NONE CHUCK

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 3 - Toys and Merch | 0

One of our first toy posts back in 2009 was of an artifact from my own craze-era collection, and a reader just sent me pics of one still on its card, so here’s an update for those of you who … Continued

"None Chuck", Mel Appel Enterprises, Weird Ball Collectums
Reading in progress…
31 Aug 2015

Reading in progress…

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV, 2 - Books and Manga | 0

Yeah… THAT Ninja novel, and yeah… THAT John Carpenter! Coming later this year, big feature about this craze-kindling novel, the differences between it and the scripts, its time in big studio ‘development hell’ and what could have been (warts and … Continued

Eric Van Lustbader, John Carpenter, THE NINJA novel

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Welcome to VINTAGE NINJA — dedicated to old ninja media from Japan’s 60s boom to the 80s American exploitation craze, and beyond — with a ton of ninja movies, vintage toys, comics, and sharp pointy stuff thrown in for good measure.

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50+ Japanese ninja movies reviewed

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