D
dragyngirl
Guest
A friend of mine and I are having a debate.
She believes that samurai are better than ninja, while I am a complete ninja supporter. I strongly stick to my opinion, and after doing some research, I am even more convinced in the all-encompassing awesomeness of shinobi (proper name for the ninja).
Please debate this with me---I want to hear your responses. If you support ninja, awesome, if you're a believer of bushido and samurai, good for you, but I strongly disagree.
To clear up a few things (and to state my arguments) ninja (again, proper name shinobi)
--DID NOT WEAR BLACK. There is NO historical evidence that states actual ninja wore anonymous black outfits. I agree this looks cool, but that shouldn't be the only reason that makes ninja impressive. In night operations they did wear midnight blue, but generally they wore what could get them closest to their target without detection.
--DID NOT USE SHURIKEN (throwing stars). Again, these are amazing, I agree, but this is the FAKE version of ninja. They did throw blades and other weapons, but the actual spy-assassin did not use metal objects shaped like stars.
--CANNOT TURN INVISIBLE. Duh. However, they were very adept in the art of blending in and concealment. Plus kept as silent as possible.
--COULD BE FEMALE. A female ninja is kunoichi, and they were vital to the network of ninja spies and assassins. The female ninja could go many places where male ninja could not. The kunoichi would infiltrate acastle using whatever guise was appropriate (musician, concubine, geisha, etc.) and with a combination of intuition, deception, seduction, and other skills, be able to reach her target, make a clean kill, and get away without and suspicion against her. Pretty sweet, don't you agree?
--COULD BE ANY CLASS. As long as you had the patience, the motivation, and the physical and psychological stamina, you could train to be a ninja. While samurai were restricted to only a certain class, ninja could be farmers, disgraced samurai, monks, and others.
Some facts:
- Samurai were restricted by their honor. If a samurai's honor was blemished, they would have to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) to regain their honor.
---For ninja, anything that's efficient and effective is acceptable. Ninja get the job done.
- Along with being restricted by honor, a samurai, before every kill, had to clearly state what the conflict was between them and their target and recite their family pedigree. Pretty boring, eh? Even the victim would be saying "Come on, get it OVER with!"
---Again, ninja get the job done.
- Samurai dressed in bright colors that identified them and their clan.
---Ninja dressed appropriately, for stealth and concealment and generally to blend in.
- Samurai depended heavily on swordsmanship.
---Ninja had a variety of weapons and tools.
- Samurai were bound by their honor (I've said this, like, three times but it's very true) so they HIRED ninja to perform a mission they couldn't complete....! Hello?! Even the samurai admitted ninja were better than they were!
---Ninja finally exterminated the samurai. This was pretty much the entire purpose of the ninja: to get the influence of samurai from the feudal Japanese government.
Since this turned out to be more of an article, I think I can cool my jets for a little while.
I'm waiting to hear any responses. Thank you!
(|
)) (<--Does that look like a ninja?)
She believes that samurai are better than ninja, while I am a complete ninja supporter. I strongly stick to my opinion, and after doing some research, I am even more convinced in the all-encompassing awesomeness of shinobi (proper name for the ninja).
Please debate this with me---I want to hear your responses. If you support ninja, awesome, if you're a believer of bushido and samurai, good for you, but I strongly disagree.
To clear up a few things (and to state my arguments) ninja (again, proper name shinobi)
--DID NOT WEAR BLACK. There is NO historical evidence that states actual ninja wore anonymous black outfits. I agree this looks cool, but that shouldn't be the only reason that makes ninja impressive. In night operations they did wear midnight blue, but generally they wore what could get them closest to their target without detection.
--DID NOT USE SHURIKEN (throwing stars). Again, these are amazing, I agree, but this is the FAKE version of ninja. They did throw blades and other weapons, but the actual spy-assassin did not use metal objects shaped like stars.
--CANNOT TURN INVISIBLE. Duh. However, they were very adept in the art of blending in and concealment. Plus kept as silent as possible.
--COULD BE FEMALE. A female ninja is kunoichi, and they were vital to the network of ninja spies and assassins. The female ninja could go many places where male ninja could not. The kunoichi would infiltrate acastle using whatever guise was appropriate (musician, concubine, geisha, etc.) and with a combination of intuition, deception, seduction, and other skills, be able to reach her target, make a clean kill, and get away without and suspicion against her. Pretty sweet, don't you agree?
--COULD BE ANY CLASS. As long as you had the patience, the motivation, and the physical and psychological stamina, you could train to be a ninja. While samurai were restricted to only a certain class, ninja could be farmers, disgraced samurai, monks, and others.
Some facts:
- Samurai were restricted by their honor. If a samurai's honor was blemished, they would have to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) to regain their honor.
---For ninja, anything that's efficient and effective is acceptable. Ninja get the job done.
- Along with being restricted by honor, a samurai, before every kill, had to clearly state what the conflict was between them and their target and recite their family pedigree. Pretty boring, eh? Even the victim would be saying "Come on, get it OVER with!"
---Again, ninja get the job done.
- Samurai dressed in bright colors that identified them and their clan.
---Ninja dressed appropriately, for stealth and concealment and generally to blend in.
- Samurai depended heavily on swordsmanship.
---Ninja had a variety of weapons and tools.
- Samurai were bound by their honor (I've said this, like, three times but it's very true) so they HIRED ninja to perform a mission they couldn't complete....! Hello?! Even the samurai admitted ninja were better than they were!
---Ninja finally exterminated the samurai. This was pretty much the entire purpose of the ninja: to get the influence of samurai from the feudal Japanese government.
Since this turned out to be more of an article, I think I can cool my jets for a little while.
I'm waiting to hear any responses. Thank you!
(|
)) (<--Does that look like a ninja?)