Are Ninjas a myth, do they really exist?

Question

Did they or do they really exist?.

Answer 1

they did exist

Answer 2

Not so much any more. But they were around during the 15 century and on.

Answer 3

to add onto what was said already, the ninja of feudal japan were real, they were soldiers who were developed into guerrela fighting arts. The weapons that were used were already around them, which is why they are not truly called weapons but tools. Th sword was the heart and soul of the ninja warrior, even though present day cutlery shops say that they have ninja swords for sale is partly true. what i mean is that yes ninja swords were straight and samurai swords were curved, there is a misconception on why this was. The ninja would use the curved blades and actually used them more than straight blades. the reason, curved blades cut more effeciantly than straight blades. The straight blades were the result of when teh ninja were unable to locate any curved blades, the blacksmiths of teh nija were only able to create straight blades for them, since they were mostly farmers who used straight blades, the curved bladses were made by the shoguns smiths, and any other warlord smith, these were the guys who had the money and knowledge of making the curved blades.

Also with the black suits, or shinobi suits, they were not entirely black, if you would like to understand why, think of someone wearing a straight black suit, covered from head to toe, then jumping into a shadow, what do u see, a form of total blackness which is darker than the shadow where they are hidden.most of the suits were a variaety of dark colors, the favorite was like a dark blue or even maroon, which blended better into the nite.

A couple of other weapons/tools that they were used and hollywood overpowered thier effectiveness were the shurikan, or shaken.

Shurikan or what many call now throwing stars were actually used to confuse the enemy. I mean, the ninja played on the fact that many of the feudal japanese believed in the supernatural, Tengu to be exact. Tengu were nasty little demons that could turn invisable at will and cause great harm to you whenever they needed to, sound familar.

The shurikan were thrown at the enemy from a hidden spot so that when hey enemy were hit by the shurikan, it would spin off into the grass or dirt or where ever and the enemy would believe that he was just attaked by a tengu demon. since he didnt see the attacker. The shaken are pretty much what we call throwing knives or darts, used the same way that shurikan were used except that these were actually used for killing the enemy instead of scaring them.

I have alot of knowledge with the fuedal japanese ninja and the modern day form, so if ya have any questions, hit me up, i will be here from time to time.

Answer 4

A subject after my own juggular.

If we think of them in strictly historical terms, Ninjas came about as a result of social, political and religious conditions unique to Japan. Because of the code of Bushido, Samurai were restricted from performing in ways that would bring dishonour or shame upon them in battle or everyday life. The samurai were the social elite, and thus the code they held themselves too was a reflection of their social status.

Sneaking up on an enemy and cutting him down while asleep, for example, would have been considered a cowardly act, and thus could not be performed by samurai. However, if one were trained in the arts of war and one were of a low caste, or even entirely beyond class, no better than a dog, then such a person could engage in activities without fear of dishonour, and their only concern would be in effectiveness of technique, not whether or not it upheld to the code of Bushido.

Thus, from the rigid social and political class system, coupled with the violent instability of government at the time, the art of Ninjitsu was born. While it has some inevitable common ground with Bushido (can't fight an enemy effectively if you don't know how they fight and think) its main focus was in training its members to be unconventional. Disguise, deception, espionage, everything we now associate with spies and members of the Special Forces were really first instituted successfully (proven training, repeated success) by ninjas.

Where the myths of the ninjas came into being was due to a number of different factors: scientific, psychological and technological sophistication compared to the level of education in the population in general, rigorous training from an early age (you'd be able to do alot of 'impossible' things if you'd been trained how to do them since you could walk) and a lack of information. While it wouldn't be impossible to hide oneself from a party of people equipped with thermal scans and night-vision, the lack of such technology enables one to 'disappear' alot easier than one might actually think. And the use of the all-black suit, especially at night, certainly helps one become more like a shadow, making it difficult for the enemy to make an accurate count of how many 'spies' are actually inside (one ninja moving rapidly and quietly can easily make it appear as if they are in more places at one time than they should be, increasing the psychological value of their abilities over their enemy.)

Of course, with any organization that relies heavily on secrecy, and for a good reason, the blanks in the page that are given can be easily fit in with any number of wild accusations and theories. And since a ninja would want their enemy to think they are such invincible ghost warriors, they wouldn't deny the rumours but encourage them. That's all good and well if you are looking at their actions in a timely, this is good for now kind of historical approach, but 500 years removed in the future, when a vehicle like Hollywood comes along and discovers how fascinating they are, all the 'myths' and exaggerations get pushed into Herculean proportions, so much that few ninjas of any period would have a hard time living up to a small fraction of those ides, much less them being applicable to the wider variety of ninja in general.

Ninjitsu, as it is practiced today, is about as historically and socially accurate and reflective of its time as a business person of today would be to a business person of the 1780's. The explosion of martial arts training, in general, means that alot of ninjitsu training can be found in other disciplines as well. A punch is a punch, in many ways, and just because a ninja doesn't stay in a horse stance to do their punches doesn't mean that they don't know what it is or what it may be used for. The biggest change in ninjitsu might be the emphasis on hand-to-hand combat now, in some disciplines, rather than the symbiosis of hand-to-hand and modern weapons training that the historical ninjas concentrated on. Its important to remember that the ninja sword, although straight and slightly shorter than the traditional daito, was still a reflection of the sword as being the 'soul' of the samurai, and thus a major part of the culture at the time. Someone flashing a sword, even a straight one, would have been as common then as someone briefly pulling out a revolver or 9mm today in order to kill someone. The fact that most ninjitsu schools do not teach gun handling, range or situational shooting, although they do emphasize gun disarming, indicates how historically irrelevant most have become (although training with a bow does have similarities, in timing, breathing and relaxation of the mind before release, that can be easily modified to the gun and still be successful.)

In actuality, the role of the Special Forces has overtaken the role of the Ninja in modern times, although at a much more simplistic level, so you could easily say that the Navy Seals or  

Answer 5

Ninjas are straight up a lie, they never existed, period!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Japan did not even exist until 1922 when the Meiji Emperor from Edo united the Japanese Islands under the great shogun Tokugawa. How could ninjas be around if Japan wasn't even an island until 1905 when an earthquake/tsunami separated it from Korea?

Answer 6

yes its just some1 that is good at martial arts  

Answer 7

Yes they did.

Ninja turtles however, did not.

Answer 8

In medieval Japan Samurai's where the warriors who imposed threats to a lord's stronghold. Each Lord had his own team of Samurais, to take care of the samurai problem the Lords would employ Chinese warriors (masters of stealth and not being seen) to kill the samurais. After time the lords employed the chinese warriors to train young samurais in their arts. Many young samurais rushed to become ninjas- it was a great honor to be chosen and the glory of killing another lord's samurai was great they would be rewarded with land and money, and more honor. For many years after when guns where introduced, the roll of Samurai and Ninja where carried on as a way of proving oneself and bringing honor to your family. Today in Japan these old traditions are carried out to by the sons and daughters of politicians and important upper class society to show the country and community that their intentions are honorable and pure.

Answer 9

Ninjas were assassins. Samurai were soldiers.

Answer 10

Ninjas, Have reached mythological status,and yes they are very real... Now they no longer exist in the mass numbers that  they once had.... And now the majority of them now work for some Japanese Governmental agency......But in their hay day the were they were the most feared group of assassins in the known world.... And 100% of them were farmers... and there was always and little old lady that lived alone and they went to her to make a deal..... And they would work for whom ever could afford their price and they never took sides... And they never failed to complete their mission no matter what it entailed.............

Answer 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4Kxa4qAF...

ninja = medieval japanese assassin

Answer 12

Yeah. There are ninjas, but not like cartoons make them out to be. They're just really skilled in martial arts and the like.  

Answer 13

Ninja were simply hired mercenaries. They worked for whoever paid the highest price, loyalty was often non existent.

You have to remember that in those days a Samurai fought and lived by a very strict honour code ( much of which is still in existence, Japan is an exceptionally humble place) A ninja simply ignored this code and went all out for money and land etc.

Warlords often had private armies which could be determined as Ninja due to their lack of loyalty and non compliance with the samurai code.

A modern equivalent would be a marine or SAS trooper training traditionally "unfriendly" troops or working on behalf of an unfriendly nation purely out of spite or for large sums of money.

Answer 14

YES THEY DO BUT NINJA IS JUST AN NAME FOR HIGHLY TRAINED ASSASIN AND THE ETIRE THEY WEAR IS FOR STEALTH AND AGILITY ALONG WITH WEAPONS CONVENIANT AND ARE CLOSE TO HAND.