The Ninjato (忍者刀 ninjatō), also known as ninjaken (忍者剣) or shinobigatana (忍刀), is the most common name
for the sword that the ninja of feudal Japan are portrayed to have carried in movies, on television, and in numerous books written by modern ninjutsu practitioners including Masaaki Hatsumi and Stephen K. Hayes. Replicas of this weapon are also prominently on display in both the Koka Ninja Village Museum in Kōka, Shiga and the Iga-ryū Ninja Museum in Iga, Mie.
Historically, there is no physical evidence for the existence of this "katana like sword legendarily used by ninja", though it is believed that they are based on the design of the wakizashi or chokutō type swords.Dr. Stephen Turnbull, a historian specializing in the military history of Japan indicates of historical ninja: "The most important ninja weapon was his sword. This was the standard Japanese fighting sword or katana...for convenience the ninja would choose a blade that was shorter and straighter than usual".
History[]
Because of the lack of any physical evidence or antique swords from the Sengoku period to the Edo period (16th to 19th century) matching the description of the ninjatō, the history of the weapon can only be reliably chronicled from the 20th century onwards.
- 1964
- The Iga-ryū Ninja Museum in Japan, which houses replicas of the sword, is established. That same year, the swords appeared in Shinobi no Mono Kirigakure Saizō (忍びの者 霧隠才蔵) andShinobi no Mono Zoku Kirigakure Saizō (忍びの者 続・霧隠才蔵), the 4th and 5th entries in the Japanese jidaigeki movie series Shinobi no Mono, released in theaters in Japan.
- 1973
- Ads selling newly manufactured and imported ninja swords appear in the American magazine Black Belt.
- 1981
- Books containing references to the sword written by Masaaki Hatsumi, the founder of the Bujinkan, and Stephen K. Hayes, an American who studied under Hatsumi in 1975, are published.
- 1983
- The first Hollywood film to feature the ninjatō, Revenge of the Ninja, is released in theaters.
- 1984
- The first American television production to feature these swords, The Master, is broadcast on NBC.
