With the week drawing to a close, so too does ninja week. While we’ve learned a lot about these shuriken throwers for hire, in this article I’ll take a look at ninjas in art. Below I’ve cobbled together a smattering of artwork I found for your viewing pleasure. Ranging from vintage woodblock prints to deviant art finds, there’s a little bit of something for everyone. Enjoy. More »

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From Girlybubble: Not to be confused with Jpop singer Hiromi Sato, artist Hiromi Sato makes some of the cutest, most girly, illustrated artwork I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, due to my lack of Japanese knowledge, there isn’t much I could find about her background. What you can discern from her illustrations is that she creates art that appeals to simple childhood fantasy. For me, it seems like everything that was great about my childhood is represented in a lot of her illustrations. More »

It will sometimes happen that I post about bands I don’t listen to myself, but there are so big I figure people should know about them. A drunken middle-aged man in a bar once told me that I would never understand Japan until I could list all the members of SMAP, and perhaps he was right (though I still can’t). One such group is the boy-band Arashi. More »

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Today’s ninja video of the day is a blast from the past. Fans of old kung-fu movies rejoice! And for those unfamiliar with old kung-fu movies, if this clip doesn’t make you want to see more I don’t know what will. Regardless, enjoy.

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Here it is. When the cultural bomb of Ninja Scroll (Yoshiaki Kawajiri, 1993) hit American shores, the Japanese entertainment industry could assure itself of two things:

1) Its national role as tastemaker to the West was assured for one hundred years. 2) Its image as a sedate and refined nation was ruined for one hundred years. More »

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From Wirebot:

Welcome back to another exciting installment of Games You’ve Probably Never Heard Of. This week (in honor of the release of Ninja Assassin) we take a look at some horrible ninja, assassin, and samurai games, from the world of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. More »

Ninjutsu, the bread and butter of the ninja repertoire. Without it, a ninja just wouldn’t be much of a ninja. But how much do you know about Ninjutsu? Whether you don’t now your Bōjutsu from a Sōjutsu (like me) or you’re a ninjutsu novice, allow this article to fill some gaps in for you. More »

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From Ningin: Need to kill some time? Here are seven of the funniest ninja-related videos I could find on YouTube. More »

From Wirebot:

You know, with cultures influencing many games, the Japanese and their Ninja influence is hardly an exception. Many popular video games that might not come straight to mind nowadays include some form of a ninja! Whether it be simple classic ninjas with their katana and shuriken draped in dark colors, or even a turtle with a staff, ninjas are almost everywhere. But the conception of the classic ninja has evolved into so many different kinds of ninjas, and today I am going to run through with you five major totally different games and the type of ninjas in each, and how close they are to the archetypal ninja. More »

Ninjas are primarily known for being assassins, jumping from rooftop to rooftop as they stealthily home in on their prey before landing a handful of shurikens to their head. Besides leaving people with lethal migraines, these shadowy mercenaries served other roles as well and in this article we’ll look at some of those roles. More »

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