Fake, Fake Ninja

Not long ago, I posted about several groups claiming to be ninja. Hopefully that helped sort out the real, fake ninja. But a few of you have been asking questions about fake, fake ninja.

So let's get straight on those ninja clans have never actually existed.

The Hand: This secretive, mystical group of assassin mercenaries first appeared in the Daredevil series of comic books. One of the Hand's best gimmicks was disintegrating into a puff of green smoke when they were killed. They were the invention of Comic Book genius, Frank Miller. They have since turned into the standard Marvel Universe ninja clan. Elektra Natchios is the main Hand trained ninja character, but Wolverine, Daredevil, and an assortment of other Marvel comics heroes have fought against, or trained with The Hand.

At the height of ninja-mania back in the Eighties, two artists created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a spoof of the explosion of ninja in comic books. Eastman and Laird riffed off The Hand, and created The Foot. This group of ninja, lead by the evil Shredder was bent on world domination. They never got very far, thanks to those Turtles.

Everyone here has learned about GI Joe's resident ninja clan -- the Arashikage. About two years into the comic book's run, writer Larry Hama introduced the ninja storyline. The series quickly turned into the saga of the sword brothers, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. The mythos grew slowly. At first, Hama didn't even know the Japanese translation of "Storm Shadow." A reader volunteered the information. Despite the shaky start, Hama did a pretty good job of coming up to speed in the research department. Although he borrowed liberlly from the ninja legends, not just history. Still, the main ninja inspiration for many in my generation.

The Japanese Manga series, Lone Wolf and Cub featured The Kurokawa ninja clan. These were the Shogun's spies, one third of the secret police who maintained order in Tokugawa Japan. The other branches were the Yagyu assassin samurai, and the Dai Kaishakunin executioner.

The main character, Itto Ogami, often fell into conflict with the Kurokawa. His greatest battle with them was against the Bentenrai brothers, experts with hand claws, warclub, and backhanded sword technique. Fortunately, this was a fight between professionals, and the last brother admired the splendid cut Itto used to finish him.

Although fictional, the Kurokawa were based on legends and rumors about the Tokugawa's gardeners being a corps of ninja sent on special missions. The Kurokawa were also the inspiration for Frank Miller to create The Hand.


The League of Shadows: Oh boy. Repeat after me -- "There are no ninja in Tibet." Actually, despit this gross inaccuracy, I rather enjoyed the portrayal of ninja in Batman Begins. They were cool.