Customer Reviews

Secrets of the Ninja: Their Training, Tools, and Techniques

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I was surprised! I thought I'd seen all there was to see about Ninja in print. But this book, published in Tokyo, has got to be the best! Page after page of color photos of nasty Ninjas doing their stuff, and between loads of fascinating info that I, as a Ninja buff, never even knew. Like what do Ninja eat? How do they tell the time from a cat's eye? What's the real colors of their costumes? (The answers: Tofu; by the dilation of the pupil; blue, but also other colors, such as grey, brown, etc depending on light). If there was one complaint, that is that I want more! If you're into history, martial arts, Japan, or just get off on super cool Ninja coolness, get this book!

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Jennifer Cahill and Michie Itoh, Secrets Of The Ninja: Their Training, Tools, And Techniques is a fascinating compendium of ancient training methods, rituals, martial arts, survival strategies, and much, much more used by those ancient Japanese spies, saboteurs, assassins and warriors once known as "ninja". Enhanced with an informative introduction by Hiromitsu Kuroi (Director of the Iga Sect Ninja Association, Jurondo), the descriptive text combined with exquisitely detailed, full color photography, bring the "real world" of Ninja training, tools, costumes, codes, diets, lifestyles, techniques, and philosophy vividly to life in a first-rate, historically accurate, "user friendly" reference which is very highly recommended for martial arts students, Japanese history buffs, fantasy and historical fiction writers employing ninja characters, as well as the non-specialist general reader who is genuinely curious about what it once meant to be a ninja.

At first glance Secrets of the Ninja appears to be just an interesting picture book. And... it certainly is that, every page is filled with professional color photographs depicting some aspect of ninjutsu.

Although the photographs are all captioned, there is only a limited amount of actual text in the book. But, it has been said that a picture can be worth a thousand words, and in the case of Secrets of the Ninja that turns out to be the case.

The photograph series show many things, from how to write in the ninja's secret alphabet, to techniques for fighting with a length of rope, to how to make a compass using a candle and a sewing needle. We even find a recipe for `ninja tofu'.

Secrets of the Ninja reveals no great secrets, but it is still a well-done, though very basic reference to the training, tools, and techniques of the ninja.

This is a great book for children that have an interest in the martial arts and ninjutsu, and not too bad for adults with like interests.

Secrets of the Ninja is a wonderful (but a bit thin) book about the techniques of the ninja, the mysterious subclass of the samurai. This book is a delightful read, but talks more about the techniques the ninja used than what they actully were. With interesting information about how ninja told time, ninja exercises, tools, ninja moves and more, this book is for the slightly interested American, not a person who already knows tons of information about ninjutsu. Falling into the first catagory, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It will keep you laughing till the end, but has only 90 or so pages, so dont expect that much. Most of this book was pictures, which many people probably like. All in all, this book was very interesting and not at all dense. I cant really say whether it is worth your money or not, because it really depends on the person.

This really is a great book, for the begginer. It is loaded with information on weapons, the history of the ninja(I'm not sure how accurate it is, I'm not an expert.), and the life style of the ninja. This book is great but teaches little technique and kind of has a childish tone, that might just be me, but it is still awesome. if you want to learn some more technique then I suggest; Stephen Hayes, Ashida Kim, And
Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi. If you want the most basic information, and basic technique, then get this book. I gurantee you will read it over, and over again. Lot's of fun, and very informative.