We Are Ninja

Here's a group shot of a couple of ninjas, just for fun. The mysterious nature of the ninja has long captured popular imagination in Japan, and later the rest of the world. Ninjas figure prominently in folklore and legend, and as a result it is often difficult to separate historical fact from myth. Some legendary abilities include invisibility, walking on water, and control over natural elements. The ninja is also prevalent in popular culture, appearing in many forms of entertainment media.

The first major appearance of ninja in Western pop-culture was in the James Bond film "You Only Live Twice (1967)". Western fascination with the ninja bloomed in the 1980s, especially in the United States; several American ninja movies starring Sho Kosugi were released in the early 1980s, largely responsible for introducing ninja to American pop culture and contributing to worldwide ninja-mania on grand scale.

There was also the mega-hit media franchises such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the late 1980s to early 1990s and Naruto in the 2000s.

Hattori Hanzō (1542–1596) - A samurai serving under Tokugawa Ieyasu. His ancestry in Iga province, along with ninjutsu manuals published by his descendants have led some sources to define him as a ninja.

This is the Alfrex Sonny Chiba as ninja Hattori Hanzo 12-inch figure. A full review of this ULTIMATE 1:6 scale Ninja figure has been covered in an earlier post HERE.

And this is the Devil Ninja figure by TAO, the very FIRST ninja figure I got way back when. For more pictures of this figure including the classic devil mask, check out the post HERE

This Ignite Ninja figure was released in 2008 and became ninja number three. Every boxed figure set has its own unique weapons and when combined, becomes quite an arsenal for the ninja.

Last but not least, the latest camouflage ninja from Crazy Owners (covered in the previous posts HERE and HERE). While most ninjas are dressed in the shinobi shozoku or black keikogi preferred for blending into the shadows when operating in the dark, this limited edition offered a different look to the standard regular black Martial Ninja Crazy Owners also released.

And here's a contrasting look at a historical ninja and a modern ninja, Firefly - COBRA Saboteur

The G.I. Joe series of comic books featured ninja far more than the cartoon series, and many story arcs revolved around Scarlett, Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow, Jinx, Kamakura, Firefly and the Arashikage ninja clan, which consisted of an extended family of ninja characters (never featured in the toyline or cartoon).

More of the modern ninjas in the NEXT POST