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80s martial arts supply ads

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
13 Jun 2012

80s Ninja Hoods

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 6 - History and Martial Arts | 3

Is it just me, or did the two piece hood common to North American merchandisers completely suck? A mainstay of retailers like Asian World of Martial Arts, the common American ninja head gear was made of a heavy duty outer … Continued

80s martial arts supply ads, vintage magazines
8 Jan 2012

Shinobi-fied merch

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 4 - Collectibles, 5 - Art and Advertising, 6 - History and Martial Arts | 0

With the 80s craze came a lot of repurposed merchandise – stuff that for the previous decade’s boom had been sold as kung-fu gear now emblazoned with ninja logos. The above looks to have been a Chinese-esque design probably inspired … Continued

80s martial arts supply ads, vintage magazines
30 Sep 2011

80s t-shirt ads

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 4 - Collectibles, 5 - Art and Advertising | 0

It was the 1980s, and there wasn’t a cheesy enough piece of Japanese graphics or ninja-related bad illustration we wouldn’t wear on a black t-shirt. And let’s just take a look at the logic of this: It’s a tough read … Continued

80s martial arts supply ads, vintage magazines
23 Jul 2011

Fighting Arts Unlimited ad

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

Man, how 80s would that satin jacket have been? And I wonder what “scribe-spike-etc.” were. This is a pretty dumb ad – lots of vague category and price ranges on unspecified items, but with an order form attached. In the … Continued

80s martial arts supply ads, vintage magazines
25 May 2011

I wouldn’t keep a knife that close to my junk…

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

Despite the profusion of mail order ads and supply shops, the 1980s was actually a somewhat oppressed decade when it came to martial arts collectibles. And when you look at an ad like this, it’s kind of easy to see … Continued

80s martial arts supply ads, vintage magazines
2 May 2011

Clip art source found

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 5 - Art and Advertising, 6 - History and Martial Arts | 2

In the days before scanners, throwing “clip art” into a print advertisement took some work. You had to find a cool image to start with, then “threshold” it via a stat camera and toxic chemical-laden rapid processor. And what you were … Continued

80s martial arts supply ads, vintage magazines, Warring Clans
16 Apr 2011

Yep, let’s just throw the term KOGA around…

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 5 - Art and Advertising, 6 - History and Martial Arts | 4

Merchandisers love VARIETY of offerings and EXCLUSIVITY of products at the same time. But above all else, they love a healthy PROFIT MARGIN. To those ends, you see ads like this one from the mid 80s a lot. Take the … Continued

80s martial arts supply ads, ninja suits, vintage magazines
28 Feb 2011

Origins of the 80’s “Ninja-To”

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 5 - Art and Advertising, 6 - History and Martial Arts | 3

UPDATED! We had some great response to this post last month, and since then another major find, so I’ve chosen to update and refine it a bit, and repost it as the start of a series of features on the … Continued

80s martial arts supply ads, Ninja-To, vintage magazines
2 Feb 2011

The Budo Zodiac

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 5 - Art and Advertising | 2

As today is my birthday… Found this print ad ran in a 1981 issue of Black Belt magazine, a neato blend of Chinese zodiac and Japanese martial arts. The artist did his or her homework, too! 1969 — that makes … Continued

80s martial arts supply ads, vintage magazines

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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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