ShortYes@aol.com wrote:
Actually Ninja clans were feared and respected. They were not ragabonds
that
you implied in the story. During the Tokugawa there might have been a few
rurouni but all in all ninjas are honorable and yes, assasin is an
honorable
job in more than a few people's eyes.
Except to the Samurai, to them a Ninja was lower than a horse.. The Tokugawa
Era lords used them mainly because full out war was not allowable... Most of
the "Honorable" ninja movies are really Samurai ficks, but because Ninja is
more widely known word, it is used... Another slight misconception is that
Ninja used straight bladed swords, which is total myth, the whole idea was
created by movie execs to be able to tell Ninja from Samurai... If they did,
there is no historical proff, and the blades would be far inferior to the
Samurai's curved blade... As a side note, Ninja clans were usually branch
offs of the major two, Koga and Iga....
Just thought I'd add my $.02..
-Toshiro