History

Ninja Fight Club

Historical Samurai & Ninja

Unfortunately the general public's misconception of Japanese samurai and ninja is that they represent opposite sides of the same coin. Samurai always being the "good guys" and ninja being the "bad guys". Ancient samurai would be considered the “regular” army soldiers or troops. Samurai were trained using conventional, accepted weapons of the day and worked within a strict code of warfare dictating exactly how encounters, duals and larger battles took place. The samurai’s strength lay in the numbers of troops that could be assembled.

The ninja might be considered “special forces” soldiers. The ninja’s strength was in their special skills, ability to adapt, use of unique weapons and ability to work alone deep within enemy territory. Their role from the 8th century up through the 19th century was one of "recon" where they were able to infiltrate enemy strongholds or castles, gather information, and get out safely. Whether they were conventionally trained troops (samurai) or specially trained troops (ninja), they were both simply "soldiers" fighting for various alliances. There are lessons to be learned from both types of training, whether it is the ideal of winning no matter what, or living by a code of honor. The lessons of which, today, are just as applicable to ever-changing contemporary criminal trends, modern warfare and terrorist activity.