How to be a Ninja - Weapon Guide
- Imagining History
- Jun 9
- 3 min read
Ninjas are the absolute best, aren’t they? Thanks to the Shinobi of Feudal Japan, we now have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and Ninja Air Fryers (other Air Fryer Brands are available) to enjoy in the modern world. But who was the absolute best Ninja of them all? The top Ninja in all of Japanese history? Well, that would be a fella by the name of Hattori Hanzo.
Born in Japan in 1557 AD, during the Sengoku Era, Hattori Hanzo experienced his first battle at the tender age of 15. That’s right, whilst most of us were sat on bins drinking cans of Relentless and trying to look cool, Hanzo was clambering over the battlements of Uto Castle during a night-time raid.
So, what did it take to be a Shinobi like Hattori Hanzo? If you wanted to be a Ninja, how would you go about it?
We’ll be answering all these questions – and probably questioning some answers - in our ‘How to be a Ninja’ series, a two-part guide that will tell you everything you need to know about being a Japanese Ninja.
How to be a Ninja – Part 1 - Weapons! And there are three weapons every Ninja would need:
How to be a Ninja? Get yourself a Kusarigama
A Kusarigama is a simple wooden handle with a sharp curved black on the end, like sickle. The bottom of the handle is attached to weighted chain, allowing the Ninja to hold the sickle to attack whilst whirring the chain above their head like a helicopter trying to take off. The Kusarigama is a flexible weapon, ideal for any discerning Ninja, as you can block attacks with the chain, wrap them up with it, or use the weapon like a whip and strike from afar.
Most Ninjas would spend their time in disguise, so no-one knew they were a Ninja. Which pretty much meant that Ninjas dressed to look like simple Japanese peasants, to look like a farmer. The Kusarigama was a brilliant addition to this disguise, as it could separated to become a humble sickle and chain. Two perfectly reasonable items for a farmer to be carrying. No guards could possibly figure out that the harmless looking farmer carrying a sickle and chain is actually a Ninja wielding a Kusarigama!
How to be a Ninja? Don’t Forget Your Jutte
In Feudal Japan, only Samurai – trained warriors serving a lord - were allowed to carry a weapon. The exception was the Jutte, which were little two-pronged daggers. Jutte were meant to be farming tools, used to dig up unruly weeds, so anyone and everyone was permitted to take them out and about. Thing is, digging up weeds or not, the Jutte was still deadly if stuck in a person’s delicate bits. As such, an ideal weapon for a Ninja.
How to be a Ninja? Pack a Tanegashima
A Tanegashima is a rifle. Now, maybe you're thinking that a Ninja would only use silent weapons, like a bow and arrow; not a rifle that makes a loud bang when you fire it, right? Not necessarily. Whilst a bow and arrow would be handy, it wasn't nearly as effective as a Tanegashima, which could be fired from a much greater distance.
And a Ninja would definitely prefer to try and kill someone from a long distance, that way they can’t be killed back. Ninjas were at the cutting edge of weapon development, experimenting with explosives and gunpowder. They were like the James Bond of Feudal Japan, and a Tanegashima, using gunpowder to blast out an iron ball at crazy fast speeds, that could easily cut through even the toughest Samurai armour, was the best weapon money could buy.
