Red Scarf Ninjas

[furryman]

I noticed in both the video game Shinobi and Strider the ninja character wears a red scarf. Is this a reference to something Japanese?

[Darren_Garrison]

Apparently (going by a post on this Reddit thread) it is a thing from ninja folklore:

@a post on this Reddit thread

Actually, it’s not as much of a trope as it is " fact ". In the book ‘Fujita Seiko The Last Koga Ninja’, he wrote;
" Fujita also claimed that a ninja was expected to be able to move 10 miles an hour, or 100 miles a day, and thus was required to undertake endurance training to acquire this ability. One such method involved putting a bamboo leaf on one’s chest and reaching adequate speed to ensure that the leaf adhered to one’s chest while moving. Another similar practice involved wearing a long, cloak-like cloth that would be worn around the ninja’s neck while running, with the aim of attaining adequate speed so that the cloth would not touch the ground. "
Source: Hevener, Phillip T. (2008-02-19). FUJITA SEIKO: THE LAST KOGA NINJA (Kindle Locations 256-260). Xlibris.com. Kindle Edition.

(Also mentions that in manga/anime/games having the scarf helps in being able to suggest fast movement in the character.)

There’s A Trope For That, but no explanation.

(It really doesn’t help in searches that apparently “ninja scarf” is a type of hijab.)

[furryman]

Visually speaking it does suggest speed and looks really cool. So that’s probably the main reasons.