Talk:Shuriken

Samurai and ninja

I don't know about you people, but when I think of those two elements of the feudal Japanese culture, I surely won't see them as the same thing. Ever. Reasons are many. The samurai might have been a social class in the ancient Japan, but they also had their code of honor. A set of guidelines they followed to maintain their reputation. They usually served a master, and when they didn't, it was usually because their honor got tainted for some reason (becoming ronins). Ninjas were hired hands. They used to do all kinds of dirty jobs for money. Honor wasn't an aspect of their lifestyle. I don't think many of them would easily kill themselves for failing on a mission.

That's what I know about the subject, and analyzing the Japanese culture, I don't think I'm very mistaken when I say that. That's why I think that it makes no sense to say 'on the other hand, leaving the "other" out implies that ninja were not samurai - and probably most of them were'. It might be better to leave that "other" there for different reasons, but keep in mind that most of the ninjas were probably not samurai. Sure, maybe I'm generalizing too much here, but think about that. – Kaonashi 02:25, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I have not read Karl Fridays writings myself nor his sources, but from what I have been told the historians today pretty much agree that ninja were mainly, if not only samurai. The "hired hinds" thing is largely a myth - the myths about ninjas emergen quite early in Japan, and if you today say "Ninja" to an average Japanese he is quite likely to think of ninja as mythical figures with more or less supernatural powers. Ninjutsu was not only the art of being a spy but also of strategy, how to build fortifications, how to best set fire on a castle - and a person doing ninjutsu is a ninja. The most well known ninja is probably Hattori Hanzo. http://www.samurai-archives.com/hanzo.html IMO there are good reasons to not have a wording that says that ninja and samurai were two different groups, which is how most people would read "ninja and samurai". Ninja was not a class, ninja was a military function regardless of who did it. Habj 19:17, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC)