Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The word "ninja" in kanji script. Ninja is the on'yomi (Early Middle Chinese–influenced) reading of the two kanji "忍者". In the native kun'yomi reading, it is pronounced shinobi, a shortened form of shinobi-no-mono (忍びの者).
By the mid-1960s, there were numerous popular ninja-themed media produced in Japan and it became popular for Japanese children to wear ninja costumes. [10] During this second boom, some of the Japanese ninja-themed media were exported to several international markets such as Australia and Italy, but did not reach North America. [8]
Ninjutsu (忍術), sometimes used interchangeably with the modern term ninpō (忍法), [1] is the martial art strategy and tactics of unconventional warfare, guerrilla warfare, insurgency tactics and espionage purportedly practised by the ninja.
Kunoichi (Japanese: くノ一, also くのいち or クノイチ) is a Japanese cant term for "woman" (女, onna). [1] [2] In popular culture, it is often used for female ninja or practitioner of ninjutsu (ninpo). The term was largely popularized by novelist Futaro Yamada in his novel Ninpō Hakkenden (忍法八犬伝) in 1964. [1]
Historically, there is no evidence for the existence of this "katana-like short sword legendarily used by ninja" before the 20th century. [12] Instead, the designs demonstrated by alleged replicas may be based on the design of wakizashi or chokutō swords or the swords associated with ashigaru—common infantrymen with no "ninja" aspects. [1]
The evolution of the martial arts has been described by historians in the context of countless historical battles. Building on the work of Laughlin (1956, 1961), Rudgley argues that Mongolian wrestling, as well as the martial arts of the Chinese, Japanese and Aleut peoples, all have "roots in the prehistoric era and to a common Mongoloid ancestral people who inhabited north-eastern Asia."
A shuriken (Japanese: 手裏剣, lit. ' hand-hidden blade ') is a Japanese concealed weapon used by samurai or ninja or in martial arts as a hidden dagger or metsubushi to distract or misdirect. [1] [2] Shuriken are also known as throwing stars, or ninja stars, although they were originally
In Japanese martial arts, "initiative" (先, sen) is "the decisive moment when a killing action is initiated." [20] There are two types of initiative in Japanese martial arts, early initiative (先の先, sen no sen), and late initiative (後の先, go no sen). Each type of initiative complements the other, and has different advantages and ...