Why did 'Ninja' come to be loved by Americans so far?

One of the popular Japanese culture in the world is "Ninja (NINJA)". Among them, the American ninja lover is famous, but Vox has published a movie " How ninjas went mainstream " that considered the roots of "why ninja has become one big thing so far".

How ninjas went mainstream - YouTube


"Why did a ninja become a big deal like this?"

One scene of the movie " Burning NINJA " released in 1981, the scene where a ninja lives and falls into a waterfall is one of the roots Americans have become like ninja.

The American version of " muscle numbering " appeared as "Ninja WARRIOR" ......

For LinkdIn, Americans' ninja love is a considerable level, including more than 60,000 people who put "ninja" in their nicknames.

For Westerners, especially Americans, the traditional Japanese character "Ninja" is a loving presence.

However, in Japan, it is a ninja of "a cool presence that conducts intelligence activities with secrecy, is a warrior and also an assassin", but has a unique position depending on the cultural sphere. So how did the ninja get accepted in the West?

I do not hear the phrase "ASSASSIN (assassinate)" which has the etymology in the Persian of the Middle Ages so frequently in America.

However, in the case of "ninja", it is quite familiar with " teenage mutant · ninja · turtles ".

"Shadow Dancer" is a game in which a ninja appears, but the ninja that appears does not accurately represent the traditional Japanese ninja.

Roughly speaking, a ninja is a spy with a special mission to use the traditional "ninjutsu", an assassination group, existed in Japan from the 1400s to the 1800s.

Ninja is a big feature that uses special tools.

This tool attached to the leg was used to walk on the water.

However, the ninja did not necessarily wear "black snapshoes" (jumpsuit in the United States), but acted like being lost by the general public.

The jumpsuit may be the image from the stage.

This is a picture of Kabuki, but you can see a ninja in a jumpsuit surrounded by a yellow circle.

It is actually a black cloth (kuroko) appearing on the stage under the promise that it is not a ninja, but a fantasy like that it is invisible to the audience.

Ninja of jumpsuit which uses magic (ninjutsu) also appears in Japanese traditional manga.

The image of a ninja who uses ninjutsu has been handed down to the Japanese culture of the 20th century, and it also appears frequently in novels. Thus, a ninja has a special power, sometimes it is invisible to the person, sometimes it is drawn as a wearing jumpsuit.

However, the image of these traditional ninja began to change as Japanese movies advanced to Europe and the United States. The reason why Japanese movies came out to the world is Akira Kurosawa's " Seven Samurai ". It is a work of symbolic existence of the Japanese movie Golden Period of the 1950s and 60s.

The seven samurai, even in the United States, had a big influence to be remade as "the seven of the wilderness ."

After that, the series of " Shinobi " became a work whose mythical image that ninja uses ninja starts to change.

In the person of the shield, the element of magic is characterized as being excluded.

In addition, ninja will also appear in the world of Western movies. This is a scene of " 007 will die twice ."

"NINJA's training school" comes up.

A new ninja wearing a dojo like karate or judo appears as a person who has a hard training.

Unlike Japanese film ninja of those days, a ninja who takes machine gun is drawn.

And, "Enter The Ninja ( burning NINJA )" which caused the ninja boom in the 1980s America

Show · Kosugi of the "ninja star" played a violent ninja.

This ninja boom was accelerated by the book " The NINJA " which became the best seller of the New York Times for over 20 weeks.

A large number of books with subjects of ninja ... ...

The game was born in the 1980s and 1990s.

And at the time of the teenage mutant · ninja · turtles, the ninja became a popular character for children.

American culture began to enjoy interpreting ninja independently as "NINJA".

And finish "job seeker"

Writing Ninja "as a person who writes sentences, expressing human resources as" NINJA "has spread.

NINJA in the United States is a fact that there is not much battle like the traditional Japanese ninja.

However, the ninja changed its appearance and began sneaking in every part of daily life, both in the United States and Japan.