The Ninja are arguably one of the coolest things in cinema ever. I’ve often wondered
why there is no capital letter Ninja Movie, it could be huge.
Whenever ninja appear, they kind of steal the show, be it Shogun or Batman Begins or elsewhere. They are menacing, stealthy, skilled, mysterious and have a lot of mythology.
Now would seem like a great time to release such a movie. Nolan is proving that such a film doesn’t have to be campy and sword fighting in movies has gotten a lot of popularity in recent years.
I would enjoy watching Ninja in their true time and operating realisticly as in Shogun rather then all those movies showing them in modern times,for me at any rate it seems to just make them yet another secret agent who happens to dress up in unusual clothes instead of what could potentially be a really interesting character and original story.
That’s what happens in those 1980’s movies, you’ll have your random ninja ambush in the big city, where the ninja are really detached from their own mythos. The modern day equivalent, I guess, is the high kicking kung fu female.
Hey! *Revenge of the Ninja * rocked! Sho Kosugi is my god!
Well, that’s what I thought when I was 13. But back then, I liked The Beastmaster, too, so maybe I’m not the best authority.
Allow me to merely hint that James Clavell was quite incapable of historical fiction. He made a drama, based on flagrant stereotypes and mediocre historical research. And his verison of the ninja (as briefly as they appeared) were far and away nothing like the actual ninja. And his characterization of the Japanese in general and the Samurai in particular approaches the criminal.
The closest on-screen depiction of ninja actually occurs in The Last Samurai. Yup, the Tom Cruise flick got it pretty close.
I enjoyed the book immensly and it just seemed so realistic.
I must admit that I watched The Last Samurai but it seemed too "Hollywood for me,particulary at the end where he wore the armour to honour a man but didn’t wear the helmet so that we in the audience could recognise him.
I did read a book by a famous Japanese author about a famous Japanese historical figure both of whom I am ashamed to admit that the mists of time have rendered me unable to remember their names.
And I was incredibly surprised that the protagonist acted boorishly(innapropriate behaviour,boasting,lusting after his own sister amongst other things and definitely not an esthete of any variety ) that the Samurai when not actually at war had quite servile jobs(He was rewarded for his service on the way up by being put in charge of a castles kitchens),he was most definitely not a weapons expert nor a devotee of Zen either.
But one of the things that struck me also was his description of Samurai before a battle being pale with the fear of of oncoming death.
The occidental stereotype of the Japanese Samurai or even soldier is a Zen induced resignation to an individuals own death resulting in fearlessness in battle.
Now I dont know if the Japanese author was trying to be ironic about military history or if this was a pretty faithful depiction of life as it was without hero glasses on etc. so if those with indepth knowledge could fill me in on this I would be very grateful.
Also a recommend for a realistic book about the Ninja but also a good read would be much appreciated.
Clavell is good at that. But the other book you mentioned was probably more accurate. Clavell’s strength lie in his evoking a foreign, almost incomprehensible world, but he tends to fail to understand the human motives of foreign characters. The samurai were not slaves; they were proud, often rebellious, sometimes traitorous, and very often ambitious. Many of the greatest samurai, including one Shogun, rose from the ranks of peasants or low-ranking warriors.
There’s a lot of Hollywood there, but the ninja bit is pretty accurate. And the images of feudal Japanese life are excellent (although they are inappropriate for Samurai in the 19th century, who used guns on a large scale).
It’s like the Japanese version of Beowulf crossed with Gone with the Wind. It’s not only very accurate historically, it evokes an entire era and the men who made it. It covers their failings and triumphs, and the violence and desperation of a brutal time.
Warriors of Medieval Japan. A good book on the Samurai, Ashigaru, Ninja, and Warrior Monks. One thing to remember is that the Ninja were spies and assassins at times, but their major use was as a sort of battlefield operative. But they were warriors and quite often samurai themselves.
