When I was young, Ninja’s were IN…dozens of Hollywood movies were made and we all wanted to be (at least me) a real ninja some day. Very soon , I discovered that I would never had the skills to become a real ninja and decided to start a Japanese sword shop one day to supply the ninjas with good quality ninja swords.
Soon after I started the sword shop, I did found out that they did no longer exist…shit ! 
Anyway, it seems like they’re still very hot these day’s , even in Japan. In a little place about 450 kilometres from Tokyo there’s a small city named Iga which is known as a traditional home town of the Ninja.
From April 1th until May 6th there’s a Ninja festival over there which attracts almost 30.000 visitors each year ! At this yearly event you can watch Ninja-inspired dance performances, competitions, and opportunities to practice ninja skills. Sounds like the place to be !
During that period, you can find Ninjas all over the village (souvenir shops, restaurants, etc) and it seems like it’s a good thing for the local economy since they rake in 290 million yen (or 1,8 million Euro or 2.8 million USD) during that 5 weeks.
If anyone ever went there, let us know..we’re highly interested !
I would prefer to stand in the last row with nobody behind me
Women…..what else can I say…
I’m sure this Ninja has some special stuff in her bag..
The poor guy…
Source : Reuters
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Hello, I have been a ninja fan for years and I went to Iga Ueno during Summer 2005.
I visited Iga ninja’s museum by the way. It wasn’t during the ninja festival but you can find lot of funny stuffs about ninja. If you want some pics I made in that great place, Admin, just email me.
Email has been send
Dave
Hi, I am interested on your photoes, Hattori.
May I have it?
Thank you very much ^^
This is my email:
teru.shinju@yahoo.com
Ever since the dawn of cinema viewing, the image of Ninja somewhat became distorted. I grew up in a family where old tradition were still practiced back in Japan. As a child I learned Judo and little of Kendo to keep the Samurai spirit in our family to honor our ancestors who have died in a front line feudal wars. Based on my teachings of martial arts and cultural book studies, Ninja did and did not exist.
For the most part, Ninja were nothing but a thieves and/or assassin. It is nothing like what we see today. Ninja did not widely practiced with masters nor ninja master ever did exist. Instead most ninja were in fact an samurai outcast who have been exile from their homeland. This explains why there were no actual written Ninjistu manuals because most of their skills were mixed from their former masters from samurai teachings. So really, Ninjas were really like Gladiators in Rome trying to buy their fame/freedom/etc to do lords dirty work. I know someone will correct me and link me to some another homepage but this is how I was taught about Ninja.
hitoshi san
i understand that the idea and image of ninjas have been corrupted buy popular cinema but i also don’t believe that you have been well informed. I am an Asian history major and an experienced martial artist as well. I can sympathize with you for wanting to clear the air about the ninja but in history, things aren’t always as they seem.
As i understand it. the first teachings and concepts of Ninjas were brought to Japan from china shortly after the fall of the Tang Dynasty. “Ninjitsu” was developed with its own system of codes and ways of looking at honor. Even some samurai lords had learned and were reputed to be ninja.
There are or should i say were ninja masters and ancient ninja manuals but as with many of the Japanese martial traditions, they were passed on from master to student or father to son only and many have been simply lost to time. Only some sects of ninja families or ninja traditions were assassins. mostly ninja were gatherers of information. acting like any other servent within a lords house. some ninja were women and were even reputed to me more effective than men because they could use their feminine wiles to gain information and report it back another person. ninja were not low lives nore were they underhanded. they simply used tactics that were uncommon to the fighting class of that particular time. the samurai used one set of rules and the ninja used another. nether were wrong just different. both killed for a lord and both were paid to do so. yet only one is glorified to do so because it is on a massive scale with many opponents.
remember that history is written by men who have there own views of the past and have themselves been influenced by what they believe to be true. keep in mind that modern day “special forces and thier like use the same tactics and even versions of the same techniques as the ninja of ages passed yet do we see them as the scoundrels that some believe ninjas were? views of actions by others will change depending on the times of the present. please consider my humble opinion as an alternate version of a glorious past for both the samurai and the Ninja who both contributed to the rich history of a nation once considered the islands of the gods.
thank you