If you’re like me and can’t wait for Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda‘s Ninja Attack!, there are some excepts up on the English-language Japanese e-magazine Metropolis. Kodansha International’s Ninja Attack! True Tales of Assassins, Samurai, and Outlaws is due in … Continued
I’ll be all over this book like a bad f’n smell! Check it out at Alt Japan. There are WAAAAYYY too few books in English that look at the various military specialists, legendary bandits and unsung shadow-heroes that are today … Continued
I can’t even deal with how amazing these hand-crafted custom weapons are from Japan’s Jutte Master! This weaponsmith is affiliated with the Musashi Clan ninja re-enactment/performance group in Japan. Their activities range from serious martial arts study to festival performances … Continued
Check out this impressively thorough archive of martial arts magazine covers and topics going back 50 years: Vintage Martial Arts Magazines When the titles and decades are laid out like this, you can really see the trends and transitions of … Continued
Amazing statue, courtesy of a report at Travel Pod, outside a tourist spot in Nara.
Via Austrailia’s Daily Telegraph, absolutely awesome candids from a 2008 Iga ninja festival: Read more about these touristy parades and festivals here and here.
VN’s attracted a lot of fans worldwide, and I get all sorts of compliments on the site from very happy readers. Despite all that love, none of you seem especially concerned that I do NOT own an antique armored Japanese … Continued
Detail scan of an 1817 Hokusai manga. (Referenced on the surprisingly fair and well-rounded wikipedia entry on ninja.) The original page feature an array of practicing martial artists:
It takes 100 ninja to properly celebrate the 100th post on Vintage Ninja! Since going live in June, enthusiastic response from readers and thousands of visits from every continent on the globe have given me a real sense of connecting … Continued
Via Robert Grunzanki – cover from the 1988 ninjutsu book Shononki, possibly the only female cover from the 80’s craze books. That mission gear is pink or purple, as she’s actually a tour guide / theme park character from the … Continued