Fights!!

I have practiced with a hanbo, bo, shinai, bokken, shurukins (both the bo shurukins and the regular ones), and dull (As in so dull a butterknife cuts better) katanas.

Nice, I'd kill to learn a katana, even one that can't cut. One more question; what are the circumstances in which it's okay to fight? I know with most martial arts it's to fight back when you've been attacked. But, since Ninjutsu seems like more of a "survival" art, I was wondering if it's something like "if you get attacked, run. But if you're cornered you can fight back". Or something to that effect.

It's mostly like any other martial art. If you have to fight then fight but look for other solutions first. Of course when it was first created, the mountain farmers could do nothing but fight (or fade into the shadows until they could find away to counter-attack).

Okay Another thing; were the Ninja mortal enemies with the Samurai? Well, actually, my question is more along the lines of; did the Ninja ever attack the Samurai, or was it always the Samurai that attacked the Ninja?

I wouldn't say mortal enemies with EVERY samurai. It isn't like the Ninja attacked every samurai on sight, they just defended their land (as best they could) from the samurai. Also, since there were many different Warlords at the time and each had his own personal samurai, you can't generalize them all with a simple "samurai".

Of course. I'm familiar with Japanese history, about the different Samurai "clans". This also prompts another question; where there Ninja clans? If so, did they fight one another or were they all allies for the same common goal?

Have u guys seen Last Samurai? If its as accurate as its supposed to be it shows that samurai believe in honor in battle and the ninja use sneaky shit. If you havent seen the movie there was this one scene where a small group of ninjas sneaked into a samurai village and tried to assinate their leader. It prolly wasn't historically accurate then cuz you say ninjas really only defend their farms. But in the movie they were purposely used as assassins.

I wanted to see that movie, but my parents wouldn't let me T.T They might once it's out on dvd though ^^

No one believes that I'm taking karate. They all think tht I'm too nice and I would feel bad if I actually hurt someone.... which I probably would, but that's not the point. ^^ At least the next time one of my brothers tries to beat on me, they're going down, way down.... possibly ^^;

Ninjas operated indepently on a town to town basis. Nninjas in the same town might band together but as far as the entire nation of Japan, they rarely (If at all) shared a since of group unity or common cause.

Alright *corrects notes* I guess it's a common misconception then that Ninja worked in clans. Now yet another question, pertaining to what Drifter said; did the Ninja sneak up on the Samurai unexpectedly and tried to assassinate them sometimes? And also, were Ninja also assassins for hire? Or is this just another misconception?

As for the first question, I've said before when you're outnumbered you do anything you can to even the odds. A single Ninja can't just go charging into battle head on with a dozen samurai, even if he's trained specially to fight them. He could however, pick them off one by one. As for the second question, it's a little more difficult to answer. The majority of the ninja's were mountain farmers defending there land, and would only fight to defend what is theirs. Since each Ninja is his own person though, there may have been a few more unscrupulous Ninjas that were assassins but it is a misconception to say that all Ninjas were hired assassins when the majority were not. Another thing, the Ninjas did not go around dressed in black gi's hiding in the shadows to avoid capture. They dressed in normal clothing of the era. Often while traveling, they impersonated Buddhist monks or other important classes in society that samurai could not kill. The only occasional time they would wear a gi is in the night when they had to move through forests or assassinate someone and even then, the gi was certainly not black. The reason it was not black is because everything around the ninja was of earthy tones and refelected a small portion of light off of it, where as black absorbs all light and reflects none. So in esscence, you would be a very noticable blob of black moving through the night. More often, the gi was a dark brown or dark green, or an earthy tone that matched the surroundings that the Ninja was traveling in.

Yeah fight him weird thing is just yesterday some kids from another school came to our school and beat up so girl with shovels. Strange world ain't it.

thats realy strange

Wow, did they teach you all of this in your Ninjutsu lessons? As for the Gi thing, I read about that a while back. It makes sense that they would wear disguises, because in addition to what you were saying...say they were trying to assassinate/kill someone...if they got caught, it would be blatantly obvious as to their intentions.

well you cant really be surprised they wear disguises to match their surroundings, cuz after all the Army does the same thing with their uniforums matching the terrain.

Said By JaegoLooLoo

...say they were trying to assassinate/kill someone...if they got caught, it would be blatantly obvious as to their intentions.

That is another reason that they didn't wear the hoods and masks that they commonly portray them wearing in today's society (yet another misconception). Wearing a hood would degrade their ability to listen in the night and if you get caught, a mask usually won't help (because you'll be executed)

I have another question is this (http://www.entertheninja.com/ninja_weapons/index.shtml) correct? Also, the plural of 'ninja' is 'ninja', right?

As far as I can tell yes, the weapons on the site were all used by the Ninja (though some are rarely used today). As for the second question, the plural of Ninja is either Ninja or Ninjas, depending on where you are from and what context it is porvided in. I personally switch back and forth as I please...

As do I, though I tend to say "Ninja". My friends add the 's' at the end, but I don't say anything. It pisses me off more when they say "main-ga" instead of "mon-ga"...and then claim that I'm the one who's saying it wrong.

Its pronounced <I>mon-ga</I>? I don't really have any friends who are into manga or are native Japanese speakers so I wouldn't know how to correctly pronounce it.

yea same here...never heard of it called monga before...

Well, that is how it's pronounced. If you've said 'main-ga' in front of a person who rang you up at the book store...they probably laughed at you after you left.

I know I would have.

I call it 'monga'.

I used to get into fights a lot...from 5th grade up until 11th most of my money went into paying for all of my injuries, cracked knuckles, broken wrists and I even had to get a metal plate in my face...everyday it seemed, I was shoved to the ground, slammed into lockers without any oxygen to breath unless it was through the tiny cracks. Man, even the "dorks" picked on me. Calling me names and stuff. Eventually the "dorks" and "popular" kids became best friends and ganged up on me one day...ok, I'm seriously making that up...I have never broken a bone in my life and our lockers are too small to fit into...
The truth, the only time i had a fight, it was a cat fight at school in the 10th grade...the chick pulled my hair, i was like "THAT'S IT!" and slammed her face in the concrete...i thought it was worth it...but i got in so much trouble after that...

Man it was crazy during my lunch period today. This girl came up to another girl and the two were cursing wildly at each other. Then all of a sudden the girl punched her in the face and ripped her earing off. There was like blood everywhere and the girl was screaming. What was weird was that no one even tried to stop them, not even the teachers, they were just watching in awe until one girl was clearly the victor.

Wow, the security in your school sucks.

Said By Drifter

Man it was crazy during my lunch period today. This girl came up to another girl and the two were cursing wildly at each other. Then all of a sudden the girl punched her in the face and ripped her earing off. There was like blood everywhere and the girl was screaming. What was weird was that no one even tried to stop them, not even the teachers, they were just watching in awe until one girl was clearly the victor.

hey, you got a lunch and a show lol.

if the little pussy deserves it i say kick his ass!

lol thats another way of looking at it