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View Full Version : Mail Call: Ninjutsu on The History Channel



Fuzzy Dragon
14th January 2003, 18:21
The History Channel has a program on Monday nights called Mail Call. R. Lee Ermey answers mailed in questions, usually about weapons and warfare. The answers are usually pretty general, but entertaining. Last night a viewer wanted to know what weapons ninja used.

R. Lee explained that ninja were "12th Century" warriors that performed a variety of missions; "the first special forces". All the while footage of a man in a cheap Hollywood ninja suit and mask skulks around and looks scary. The "expert" brought in to demonstrate weaponry was a white guy named Dan King. No further information was provided about him.

The first weapon shown was a short sword. It looked like a waskizashi at first, but the blade looks like a cut-down katana. It had a short hilt and square tsuba, which Mr. King explained allowed the sword to be used like a step ladder.

Next up was the kusarigama. Mr. King said most of the ninja's weapons were "defensive", and the kusarigama was derived from an agricultural tool, with a weighted chain. King takes a stab at R. Lee (literally)with the sword, hands held close together baseball bat style at the end of the hilt. R. Lee sidesteps the thrust, entangles King's lead wrist withe the chain and mimic's cutting his neck.

Next up are shuriken: kudima(sp?)or "wheel" shuriken, bo shuriken, and shu "palm" shuriken. The palm shuriken were flat with red tassels and sure looked like Chinese darts. Shuriken means "hand thrown blade", per Dan King. R. Lee is now dressed in a black uniform, sans mask, and is shown how to throw bo and wheel shuriken. He's not too bad. A watermelon gets a senban shuriken buried inside. King comments that a watermelon has the same tensile strength as human skin, so a hit to the stomach of a human being would produce the same results.

The segment wraps up with R. Lee explaining the nunchaku are a "20th century invention" and "would have been as familiar to real life ninja as a laptop."

The segment lasted a whopping 4-5 minutes, tops. I realize it's hard to get out a lot of info in such a short time, so I think the segment was OK. The black suits where cheesy, but nunchaku were laid to rest. Go here for more info. on the show, and some information about the "samurai sword"...

http://www.historychannel.com/mailcall/mailcall.html

Anyone know any more about Dan King, ninja expert/historian?

Fuzzy Dragon
14th January 2003, 18:33
D'Oh! Sorry for the wasted bandwidth. I didn't read down the list. I was too excieted at finally being "first" to post on a topic....