I know this isnt really the right place for this but if anyone could clear this up id appreciate it. i know the biggest difference is that samurai were loyal to one daimyo and had a code of honor, whereas ninja were more like mercenaries and would work for money.

Hi,

The difference between Ninja and Samurai are considerable; huge actually.

Samurai were of a higher warrior class, and enjoyed privilege in society.

There were two basic Ninja families. One worked for the Shogun, the other for the imperial family.

While Samurai were highly trained and skilled individual warriors, contrary to the modern politically accepted 'history' that ninja were skilled individual warriors, they were not.

One on one, (probably even multiple opponents), with bladed weapons, ninja could not stand in front of a strong Samurai warrior.

Ninjas were highly trained with regard to espionage types of practices. Poisons, assassination techniques, map making, the role of the ninja was largely to 'observe' and report. Basically, they were spies. Less than five percent of their role was combat related. Today, this is largely inaccurately reported. The official 'history' of the ninjitsu schools say that there were actually styles of 'ninjitsu.' Actually, the two main families could be considered 'styles,' but not actually so. This was a family related 'business,' and one could not simply join. Even retaining them usually was at the request of a major lord close to the Shogun or Emperor. Ninjas were kept in secret, and certainly out of any type of visible appearance or school.

Their acrobatic training was amazing. There are stories of ninja who would run out of a house only to disappear... then reappear perhaps to kill from behind. They actually had the capacity to run out of the house, grab a beam from a low roof, and do a 'giant' swing up to the roof. The people chasing would not see the swing up, and it appeared as if the ninja just disappeared.

Many traveled with/as roving bands of performers, actors etc. They might be the gardeners on a large property covertly observing and protecting their employer's house, or working for the enemy and spying. Usually no one knew who they were. Their business was basically espionage related.

The Samurai were highly skilled standup warriors. They lived by a code of honor and dignity called the Bushido code. Bushi, warrior, and 'Do' or way. So they lived by a code referred to as the 'Way of the Warrior.' During the Tokagawa Shogunate, and the six hundred years of peace under their control, Samurai were not fighting wars. So their emphasis was on 'perfecting' their fighting arts and strategy. Also, they were expected to 'cultivate' their higher spiritual, artistic and intellectual abilities.

Many Samurai were also poets, writers, fine art painters, masters of calligraphy etc. Each thing they did, each task they undertook was always with a mind of focus and precision.

They lived, trained, refined and perfected their war arts. They were the soldiers who were above board and highly visible.

In summary, the Samurai were highly skilled individual warriors facing opponents openly either individually or on the battlefield. Ninja were skilled in some individual fighting, but were not as trained in the sword or blade arts, or the jujitsu; they were not well equipped to go straight one on one with a Samurai. They did however have some tricks which could equalize the engagement, but again not in a straight up fight pitting pure fighting skill against a Samurai.

Hope this helps.

All the best,

Joel 'Chihand' W

http://chihand.com

Stay Connected, (Internal) 'Body Sense'

I do not know why people love to believe in stereotypes and bull.

Samurai is the term used by non Samurai to describe a warrior class. It's literal meaning is something like "to serve", the Samurai preferred to call themselves Bushi (armed gentry).

Within the Samurai class there were several levels. Some were beaurocrats, actually they all were to an extent particularly towards the end of the Togugawa Shogunate, where they were running the country.

It would be a generalisation to suggest that the Samurai followed a particular code. Of course there was military etiquette etc, however books like the Hagekure was not available to all Samurai within a clan let alone distributed to all Samurai in Japan (actually it is called Nippon or Nihon, only retarded foreigners call it Japan). So to suggest they followed one particular code would be misleading.

The Samurai I like to liken to civil servants that know how to use a blade. Note that because one person was called a Samurai it did not necessarily mean they knew how to fight let alone be good at it. Often one would be born into a Samurai family and thus recieve the Rank of Samurai. Of course you could also earn it.

Interesting side note is that Samurai where initially Cavalry men, hence the curveture to their swords. Equivalent to knights in Europe.

The ninja clans are quite interesting and very different to the Samurai. Not in as described above, that one was better at fighting than the other or possesed great acrobatic skills. I am sure a couple may but it would be a misleading to suggest this is what the ninja clans were about.

No one really knows exactly how they came about, but essentially they were Japanese society outcasts that created their own way of life usually in the mountains. Bandits, foreigners (chinese) etc that found themselves shunned by society were thought to have first formed the Ninja clans.

As a group of people they were often attacked by the Samurai (contrary to the Samurai good and Ninja bad theory that often goes round) as they were meant to be the scum of soceity. In fact around the onset of the Togugawa shogunate entire villages of the "ninja" families were wiped out.

They were a people that were used to living by their wits, and were not as constrained by the law of the Daimo as being outcasts they lived outside normal soceity. They developed skill sets that the normal Samurai would not need to learn as they were more used to pitched battles.

The ninja's often carried shorter blades with hollowed handles to store extra equipment. It would be ignorant to suggest that a ninja could not take a samurai in a fight. Fights are not determined by the name of your clan, but the ability of the individual.

They would often be hired as mecenaries much in fact like the Samurai. The main difference being that the Ninja would usually be more loyal to his family than the to the daimo (generalisation I know, but significant difference in mindset).

They were used in a number of espionage missions, and interestingly the last active Ninja was used in the 2nd world war to steal information from Allied ships.

Any way to summarise. Ninja = Not from mainstream japanese society. More street savy fighting. Sometimes hired by local governments for espionage.

Samurai (bushi)= Armed civil servants. Police/mafia.

Question everything, Know nothing.

Interesting take on my post... Partially true, but largely incomplete.

My study was made on Samurai with men who were placed high in the Japanese hierarchy and government affiliated with the prime minister of Japan. These men were well studied in history, highly credible, who owned history books well over 150 to 200 years old outlining the military and political history which included historical information on the ninja as well.

While I am not an expert in history, I certainly did a fair amount of study in this regard.

During the years of peace while the Tokogawas were in power, the emphasis WAS on the cultivation of mental, artistic, technical abilities. The wealthier of the Samurai was deeply occupied in the pursuits I mentioned above.

They did follow a code commonly known as Bushido. Bushi - Warrior , Do - Way. Way of the Warrior. Much of this code was taken from a classical Chinese document: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which outlined the 36 strategies, part of the education of the elite. The Shogunate adopted Buddhism, largely because the Imperialists were mostly Shinto, and they wanted to enjoy a separate and different understanding. This played well as the 'Zen' understanding of being in the moment worked well with the study of war arts. It caught on so well, that many imperialists adopted the Zen understanding while still keeping the Shinto religion intact.

I don't know who mentioned the issue of the sword being curved because it is a cavalry weapon: but this is not accurate.

There were MANY blades developed going back to the 5th century.

The older blades were often straighter. The curved blades evolved over the course of time.

The swords used on horseback were largely the same, but the scabbard had different mountings. The horseback scabbards mounted horizontally so they would not get in the way. Samurai who were not mounted, or traveled otherwise carried their sword in their sash.

Actually, I could go on, but it is late. I have a fair amount of books which outline much of this...

I don't think there is much interest on this forum however...



Stay Connected, (Internal) 'Body Sense'

1. Samurais = Warriors..[in general]
2. Ninjas = Spies, Assassins. [in general]

Each came about due to different causes. Each had different aims. Each studied, trained, refined arts and crafts that were means to their desired ends.

Thers no point in arguing whos better in this or that, important is to understand What they were and WHY.

Just as one can argue that Samurai was better at 1 to 1 fights, you can say Ninjas were better Spies and Assassins than Samurais. Ninjas would succeed in killing their target, so could Samurais. The difference were there circumstances. Dont compare em, learn from em, and use the knowledge for your cause!


Best of Luck with your training people.

Train with Aim!

Exit DRAGON.