I was already down with owning Eric Nash‘s Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater, a great look at the all-but-extinct art of panel-art based itinerant pop-theater. Imagine an actor gathering dozens of kids around a portable wooden box … Continued
More Russian stuff! I picked up this set of 2″ tall plastic shinobi a few years ago, they’re from one of several Russian manufacturers of property-derivative (but not property-based) toy soldiers. These sit somewhere between the lead miniature gaming realm … Continued
Another nice holiday idea on eBay right now:
Continuing gift-giving recs for December. Panosh made the M.U.S.C.L.E.-esque tiny ninja figurine line N.I.N.J.A. Mites in 1986, and they have since garnered a small but INSANE fan base who pay a ton for the l’il bastards. This 30-piece set is … Continued
A mere $720 can buy you this INCREDIBLE tin-litho wind-up figure on eBay right now. I think the only thing cooler than this mechanical rope climber is the artwork on the box! The seller Japan Premium Shop brokers some superb … Continued
In the 80’s, embroidered ninja patches were common in the pages martial arts supply catalogs, but who knew many are still available. Each of these can be ordered online from myriad sources, and your local dojo supplier or karate school … Continued
This 4″ pewter shinobi statuette is pretty neat. I tend to like anything with a kama… You can find these all over eBay and online shops like this.
…on my short list of X-Ma$ desireables is this Manyu Senbou 1/7 scale PVC figure. Anyone out there feeling generous? Those are some ludicrous breasts, but otherwise I love this kunoichi statuette. It has that mix of modern and ancient … Continued
Thought a good follow-up to my anti-Ninja Assassin / pro-Shinobi-no-Mono rant last week would be a look at some rather strange S-n-M related merch – colorized menko cards. Released contemporary with the 60’s series, these ‘cigarette cards’ used stills from … Continued
NINJA ASSASSIN… It goes wrong in the very title. “Assassin.” Can we get past this notion of the ninja cult of hired assassins? Some historians question if there ever was a documented assassination in Japan reliably credited to a shinobi … Continued