Four Deadly Ninja Weapons you Might not have Heard of

Thanks to the enduring fascination that Hollywood has with Japanese martial arts, ninja weapons have been embedded into the minds of today's youth. Movies like X-men and Wolverine have given us a glimpse into the deadliness of the ninja weapons of 17th century Japanese society.

Ironically, most Ninja weapons were actually farming tools or benign objects that were turned into lethal devices by the ninjas. Ninjas themselves came from commoners or farming class who were in constant tussle with the aristocracy of feudal Japan from 10th to 18 century.

Whether you know them from anime series or martial arts training, chances are you may have not paid close attention to the following four Ninja weapons. Here is an explainer for you.

1-Metal Claws (Tekko-kagi)

You must have seen this ninja weapon in the X-men movies or all the movies featuring Wolverine. The X-men mutant is known to wear these ninja weapons in every fight scene he has. These metal claws were originally harvesting tools (like all ninja weapons) used by farmers.

But ninjas saw their devastating potential. These ninja weapons can block incoming attacks, can be used defensively and to ensnare an opponent's sword in the claws to disarm them. These ninja weapons also allow for natural hand movement. This meant ninjas could move faster and easily wield damage at the same time.

2- Ninja Chain (Kusari-fundo)

This ninka weapon is a weighted chain which may look like a simple weapon in design but is deadly as hell. This ninja weapon is used to entangle opponents and disarm them.

Your opponent will have no chance against you because he is being whipped and strangled by the ninja chain. Weight is added to the bottom of the chain to hit pressure points of the opponents with punch.

These types of ninja weapons are easily concealed and so they wouldn't attract much attention. During the 1600s the common folk in Japan were banned from owning swords. In this era many ninja used these chains to arm themselves.

3-Ninja Bõ

Like most ninja weapons, this simple Bo staff was used for non-lethal purposes. It is perhaps the most basic of all ninja weapons. A traditional ninja Bo staff is around 6ft tall. It can be used as walking stick.

In fact most pilgrims and monks still use it for assisted walking. How can this symbol of peace loving monks turn into a ninja weapon? Well, during the 17th century, the commoners in japan were not allowed to keep an weapons so ninjas improvised most farm tools as well as a Bo staff and made these into ninja weapons. A bo staff is extensively used as the basis of Japanese martial arts.

4-Kusarigama

This deadly ninja weapon is made by combining two different ninja weapons. One is kama, or the sinister ninja knife with a curved blade screwed onto the ninja chain (kusari-fundo) explained above.

The lethal effect of this ninja weapon is thus increased manifolds by combining the two. To expertly utilize the full potential of this ninja weapon, a ninja would entangle his opponent with the weighted chain and use the sickle as a follow up tool.

Or the knife could be swung with the chain, keeping distance from the opponent. This would result in a slit so deep that the opponent would have no choice but to crash on the spot. This ninja weapon surely gets style points for being efficient deadly weapons-something your opponent doesn't want a face off with.

Final thoughts

Thanks to these gruesome ninja weapons, the ninja warfare with all its espionage feels and tactics will continue to enthrall us for ages to come.

Always keep an eye out for more fascinating ninja weapons that you can find scattered across pop culture today. You won't be disappointed.

Julia Peter

Four Deadly Ninja Weapons you Might not have Heard of