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Sugoroku “boards”
29 Oct 2017

Sugoroku “boards”

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 3 - Toys and Merch, 5 - Art and Advertising | 0

Hot damn are paper “Sugoroku” game board sheets just the coolest! The 300 year old board game akin to Chutes and Ladders (“Snakes and Ladders” for you Europeans), is aimed at adults and children alike, is a New Year’s tradition in … Continued

Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Ninja Hattori-Kun, Sugoroku games
Check out this massive ninja dump!
25 Aug 2017

Check out this massive ninja dump!

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

Working two concurrent jobs plus helping friends with a wedding has slain my ninja-time like never before, friends. Apologies for the lack of updates. In times like these, I find it best to change clear the backlog folders of various … Continued

How M-FORCE’s underwhelming ninja CLAWED their way into action figure history
21 Jul 2017

How M-FORCE’s underwhelming ninja CLAWED their way into action figure history

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

Circa 1985/86 GI Joe was starting to go full-bore on the rebranding of Snake-Eyes as a ninja, Eagle Force had Savitar, even Masters of the Universe had a ninja, and the 6″ figures for the Rambo: The Force of Freedom … Continued

M-Force, Marchon
50 years of the 00-Shadow
12 Jun 2017

50 years of the 00-Shadow

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV, 3 - Toys and Merch | 2

The Samurai, starting in 1964, may have been Japan’s first shinobi export to the English-speaking world, but that phenom was contained strictly to Australia. So for the rest of us, the first ninja we saw on any screen were flanking … Continued

James Bond, Masaaki Hatsumi, Tetsuro Tanba, You Only Live Twice
Katsuya Terada illustrations
21 May 2017

Katsuya Terada illustrations

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 2 - Books and Manga, 5 - Art and Advertising | 0

Picked up a used copy of a 2004 Japanese-language ninjutsu book called Shinobi: All Things About Ninja – Hattori Hanzo, Momochi Tanba, Fujibayashi and More, which was sealed and I couldn’t inspect before committing to. As I don’t read kanji … Continued

Katsuya Terada
New from Kosugi and Firstenberg
7 May 2017

New from Kosugi and Firstenberg

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV, 2 - Books and Manga, 6 - History and Martial Arts | 0

Sho Kosugi returns to home video with a series of training DVDs via Masters Magazine! An expansion on his 1980’s VHS release Master Class, The Art of Hollywood Ninja Action Film Making is a five part ‘course’ on ninja-centric choreography and … Continued

Cannon Films, Sam Fistenberg, Sho Kosugi
Hey SHADOW HUNTERS, lighten up a bit, will ya…
8 Apr 2017

Hey SHADOW HUNTERS, lighten up a bit, will ya…

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

If you were a young devourer of manga and anime in the 1980s, creator Takao Saito will always be the man who gave us Golgo 13. However in the mid-2000s the good folk at Animeigo released two early 70s live action … Continued

Kage Gari, Shadow Hunters, Takao Saito
8 ninja vendors I accidentally found on Etsy
8 Mar 2017

8 ninja vendors I accidentally found on Etsy

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 4 - Collectibles, 6 - History and Martial Arts | 0

I had never even been on Etsy before last Christmas, when a friend who practically lives on there turned me on to some jewelry crafters for Christmas gifts. So while there, I did a quick “ninja” and “shinobi” search and what … Continued

Kosugi and Van Cleef in Japan
20 Feb 2017

Kosugi and Van Cleef in Japan

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV, 5 - Art and Advertising | 0

One of the great head-scratchers of the 80s American ninja boom was the NBC TV series The Master, created by Michael Sloan but driven by the one-man craze-catalyst that was Sho Kosugi. On one hand its very existence spoke to the … Continued

Lee Van Cleef, Sho Kosugi, The Master
Wait… WHO rented Cannon their house?
31 Jan 2017

Wait… WHO rented Cannon their house?

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV, 5 - Art and Advertising | 0

If you weren’t able to make the Revenge of the Ninja CD signing event in Januar,y the score and exclusive event print are now available via mail order, all signed by ROTN director Sam Firstenberg, stunt coordinator and silver-masked ninja … Continued

REVENGE OF THE NINJA, Sam Firstenberg, Sho Kosugi, Steve Lambert

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Welcome to VINTAGE NINJA — dedicated to old ninja movies from Japan’s 60s boom to the 80s American exploitation craze and beyond, with a ton of 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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