View source for Ninjatō

{{Short description|Alleged ninja sword}}
{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}
{{Infobox weapon
| name               = {{Nihongo|Ninjatō |忍者刀}}
| image              = Ninto.png
| image_size         = 200
| caption            = A computer image sample depiction of the ninjatō
| origin             = Japan
| type               = Short [[sword]] (single-edge)
| used_by            = [[Ninjutsu]] practitioners (allegedly)
<!-- Type selection -->
| is_bladed          = yes
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<!-- General specifications -->
| spec_label         =
| weight             = ~{{convert|0.42|kg|lb}}<ref name="DK">{{cite book |title=Knives and Swords |last=Dorling Kindersley |author-link=Dorling Kindersley |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn= 9780756663308|page=281 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2YyzvbDjrEsC&pg=PA281 |access-date=December 22, 2011|date=2010-03-15 }}</ref>
| length             = ~{{convert|48|cm|in}}<ref name="DK"/>
| part_length        = Blade length {{convert|46|cm|in}} 46 cm {{convert|61|cm|in}}
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}}

The {{nihongo||忍者刀|'''ninjatō'''}} is alleged to be the preferred weapon of the [[ninja|''shinobi'']] of [[feudal Japan]]. It is portrayed by modern [[Modern Schools of Ninjutsu|ninjutsu]] practitioners (including [[Masaaki Hatsumi]]<ref name="MH">{{cite book |title=Ninjutsu: History and Tradition |last=Hatsumi |first=Masaaki |author-link=Masaaki Hatsumi |year=1981 |publisher=Unique Publications |isbn= 9780865680272|page=13,93,102–103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9gOqwzsX0uYC&q=straight+single |access-date=December 27, 2011}}</ref> and [[Stephen K. Hayes]]) as the weapon of the ninja and features prominently in [[popular culture]].<ref name="SKH">{{cite book |title=The Ninja and their Secret Fighting Art |last=Hayes |first=Stephen K. |author-link=Stephen K. Hayes |year=1981 |publisher=C.E. Tuttle Co. |isbn= 9780804813747 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ninjatheirsecre00haye/page/89 89] |url=https://archive.org/details/ninjatheirsecre00haye |url-access=registration |quote=editions:lzi6xoPi0SAC. |access-date=January 5, 2012}}</ref> 20th-century examples of this sword are displayed at the Koka Ninja Village Museum in [[Kōka, Shiga]],<ref name="Tour of Koka">{{cite web |url=http://cjj2004.tripod.com/tour_of_koka/index.album/koka-ninja-museum?i=11 |title=Tour of Koka |accessdate=May 20, 2017}}</ref> at the Gifu Castle Archives Museum in [[Gifu, Gifu|Gifu]], [[Gifu Prefecture]], Japan<ref name="Gifu Castle, Gifu, Japan">{{cite web |url=https://trooadventure.com/2013/03/18/gifu-castle-gifu-japan/ |title=Gifu Castle, Gifu, Japan |accessdate=May 20, 2017}}</ref> and at the [[Ninja Museum of Igaryu]],<ref name="Japan National Tourism Organization">{{cite web |url=https://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/spot/museum/ninja-museum-of-igaryu.html |title=Japan National Tourism Organization |access-date=May 21, 2017}}</ref> established in the mid-1960s.<ref name="igaryu">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jc4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21 |title=Photo of ninja sword display in the Iga-Ueno Ninja Museum |author=Black Belt Magazine December 1966, p. 20 |access-date=January 6, 2012|date=1966-12-01 }}</ref><ref name="Ueno City Tourist Associaton">{{cite web |url=http://web-japan.org/museum/others/ninja/ninja02/tools07.html |title=Ueno City Tourist Association |access-date=May 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209165549/https://web-japan.org/museum/others/ninja/ninja02/tools07.html |archive-date=December 9, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Tour of Iga">{{cite web |url=http://cjj2004.tripod.com/tour_of_iga_ueno/index.album/iga-ninja-museum?i=14 |title=Tour of Iga |access-date=May 20, 2017}}</ref>

Historically, there is no evidence for the existence of this "[[katana]]-like [[short sword]] legendarily used by ninja" before the 20th century.<ref name="StageCombat">{{cite book |title=Stage combat: fisticuffs, stunts, and swordplay for theater and film |last=Boughn |first=Jenn Zuko |year=2006 |publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing]] |isbn= 9781581158250|page=192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1p75iBtJD24C&q=Ninjato+katanalike&pg=PA156 |access-date=January 5, 2012}}</ref> Instead, the designs demonstrated by alleged replicas may be based on the design of ''[[wakizashi]]'' or ''[[chokutō]]'' swords or the swords associated with [[ashigaru]]—common infantrymen with no "ninja" aspects.<ref name="DK"/>

==History==
Because of the lack of any physical evidence or antique swords from the [[Sengoku period|Sengoku]] to the 20th century matching the description of the ninjatō,<ref name="DK"/> the history of the weapon can only be chronicled reliably from the 20th century onwards.
*1956: The first known photograph of a straight-blade "ninja" sword is featured in a 26-page Japanese booklet entitled ''Ninjutsu'' by Heishichirō Okuse.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ninjutsu |last=Okuse|first=Heishichirō |year=1956|location=Osaka, Kinki Nippon Tetsudō }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Ninja: Unmasking the Myth |last=Turnbull |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Turnbull (historian) |year=2018 |publisher=[[Frontline Books]] |isbn=978-1473850422 }}</ref>
*1964: The sword appears in the Japanese [[jidaigeki]] movie series ''[[Shinobi no Mono]]''—{{nihongo||忍びの者 霧隠才蔵|Shinobi no Mono Kirigakure Saizō}} and {{nihongo||忍びの者 続・霧隠才蔵|Shinobi no Mono Zoku Kirigakure Saizō}}, the 4th and 5th entries in the series—released in theaters in Japan. That same year, the [[Ninja Museum of Igaryu]] in Japan, which houses 20th-century examples of the sword, is established.<ref name="igaryu"/>
*1973: Ads selling newly manufactured and imported "ninja" swords appear in the American magazine ''[[Black Belt (magazine)|Black Belt]]''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9cDAAAAMBAJ&q=kokusai+new+ninja+sword&pg=PA61 |title=Ninja Sword ad |author=Black Belt Magazine November 1973, p. 61 |access-date=January 6, 2012|date=November 1973 }}</ref>
*1981: Books containing references to the sword written by [[Masaaki Hatsumi]], the founder of the [[Bujinkan]],<ref name="MH"/> and [[Stephen K. Hayes]],<ref name="SKH"/> an American who studied under Hatsumi in 1975,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://stephenkhayes.com/biography/ |title=Stephen K. Hayes Biography |access-date=January 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226014208/http://stephenkhayes.com/biography/ |archive-date=December 26, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> are published.
*1981: The first Hollywood film to feature the ninjatō, ''[[Enter the Ninja]]'', was released in theaters.
*1983: The next Hollywood film to feature the ninjatō, ''[[Revenge of the Ninja]]'', was released in theaters in September 1983.
*1984: The first American television production to feature these swords, ''[[The Master (U.S. TV series)|The Master]]'', was broadcast on [[NBC]] from January to August 1984.

==Appearance==
[[File:Moden depiction of ninja with ninjato (ninja sword).jpg|thumb|Ninjatō-wielding [[Edo Wonderland Nikko Edomura]] entertainers, October 2010]]

The ninjatō is typically depicted as being a short sword, often portrayed as having a straight blade (similar to that of a [[shikomizue]])<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.seishinkan.info/index.php?page=bojutsu_history |title=Concealed and Trick Weapons |author=Seishinkai Bujutsu |access-date=January 5, 2012}}</ref> with a square guard.<ref name="DK"/> Usually of a length "less than 60 cm", the rest of the sword is comparatively "thick, heavy and straight". Despite the disputed historical existence of the ninjato,<ref name="StageCombat"/> Hayes claims to describe it in detail, and states that the typical description of the ninjatō could be due to ninja having to forge their own blades from slabs of steel or iron with the cutting edge being ground on a stone, with Hayes alleging that straight blades were easier to form than the much more refined curved traditional [[Japanese sword]]. His second offered reason for ninjatō being described as a straight-bladed, rather short sword is that the ninja were emulating one of the patron Buddhist deities of ninja families, [[Acala|Fudo Myo-oh]], who, per Hayes, is depicted brandishing a straight-bladed short sword similar to a [[chokutō]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ygb_UH791gMC&pg=PA22 ''Lore of the Shinobi Warrior'', Stephen Hayes. Black Belt Communications, Nov 1, 1989P.22].</ref>

==Usage==
Due to the lack of historical evidence regarding the existence of the ninjatō, techniques for usage in a martial context are largely speculative. When used in film and stage, ninjatō are depicted as being shorter than a katana with a straight blade but they are utilized in a "nearly identical" manner as the katana.<ref>{{cite book |title=Stage combat: fisticuffs, stunts, and swordplay for theater and film |last=Boughn |first=Jenn Zuko |year=2006 |publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing]] |isbn= 9781581158250|page=156 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1p75iBtJD24C&pg=PA156 |access-date=December 22, 2011}}</ref> Books and other written materials have described a number of possible ways to use the sword including "fast draw techniques centered around drawing the sword and cutting as a simultaneous defensive or attacking action",<ref>{{cite book |title=Ninjutsu: History and Tradition |last=Hatsumi |first=Masaaki |author-link=Masaaki Hatsumi |year=1981 |publisher=Unique Publications |isbn= 9780865680272|page=13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9gOqwzsX0uYC&q=fast+draw |access-date=January 11, 2012}}</ref> with "a thrust fencing technique",<ref name="WJ"/> and with a "reverse grip".<ref>{{cite book |title=Ninja: Warrior Path of Togakure |last=Hayes |first=Stephen K. |author-link=Stephen K. Hayes |year=1983 |publisher=Ohara Publications, Inc. |pages=96–97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ec9-HX7WBkgC&pg=PA96 |access-date=January 11, 2012|isbn=9780897500906 }}</ref>

Contemporary sources allege the scabbard was used for various purposes, such as a respiration pipe (snorkel) in underwater activities or for secretly overhearing conversations.<ref name="WJ">{{cite web |url=http://web-japan.org/museum/others/ninja/ninja02/tools07.html |title=Shinobi Gatana ("Ninja" swords) |author=Virtual Museum of Traditional Japanese Arts |access-date=December 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209165549/https://web-japan.org/museum/others/ninja/ninja02/tools07.html |archive-date=December 9, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQOMTPkAd2IC&q=ninja+scabbard&pg=PT40 |title=''The Martial Arts Book'', Laura Scandiffio, Nicolas Debon, Annick Press, Feb 1, 2003 P.40 |via=[[Google Books]]|access-date=2014-07-24|isbn=9781550377767 |last1=Scandiffio |first1=Laura |year=2003 }}</ref> The scabbard is also said to have been longer than the blade of the ninjatō in order to hide various objects such as chemicals used to blind pursuers.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hk_cnvOfg5AC&q=ninja+scabbard&pg=PA60 |title=Ninjutsu: The Art of Invisibility|publisher=[[Tuttle Publishing]]|page=60 |via=[[Google Books]]|access-date=2014-07-24|isbn=9780804815970|author-link=Donn F. Draeger |last1=Draeger |first1=Donn F |year=1989 }}<!--date=Mar 15, 1992: inconsistent with year--></ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fdxk3Mbe0ckC&q=ninja+scabbard&pg=PA59 |title=''Ninja: The Shadow Warrior'', Joel Levy, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., Aug 5, 2008 P.59 |via=[[Google Books]]|access-date=2014-07-24|isbn=9781402763137 |last1=Levy |first1=Joel |year=2008 }}</ref> The [[tsuba]] (hand guard) of the ninjato is described in one contemporary source as being larger than average and square instead of the much more common round tsuba. One source's belief about the ninjatō tsuba size and shape is that the user would lean the sword against a wall and would use the tsuba as a step to extend his normal reach, and the sword would then be retrieved by pulling it up by the sageo (saya cord).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=luDcP8E5SFoC&q=ninjato+scabbard&pg=PA60 |title=''Secrets of the Ninja'', Ashida Kim, Citadel Press, 1981, P.60 |via=[[Google Books]]|access-date=2014-07-24|isbn=9780806508665 |last1=Kim |first1=Ashida |year=1998 }}</ref><ref name=":0" />

== "Ninja swords" ban in the United Kingdom ==
In 2025, the British government banned the possession, manufacture, import and selling of knives deemed "ninja swords", describing the "majority" of the banned weapons as having "a blade between 14 inches and 24 inches with one straight cutting edge with a [[tantō|tanto]] style point."<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 March 2025 |title=Ninja swords banned by summer as manifesto commitment delivered |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ninja-swords-banned-by-summer-as-manifesto-commitment-delivered |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}</ref>

==Literature==
*A Glossary of Arms and Armor, ed. George C. Stone, Southworth Press, 1961, p. 469

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/ Nihonto message board forum]
*[http://japanesecastle.bakufu.org/kougaryuninnjya.html Ninjatō at the Koka Ninja Village Museum]

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[[Category:Japanese sword types]]
[[Category:Ninjutsu artefacts]]