Origin of the Ninja uniform

[Chris Parker]

The Ninja of feudal Japan did what was necessary to blend. So yes they wore black dogi but unless you are training in a traditional school ( I know of only three in the US) most just train in either street clothes or a Karate- style Gi. Personally in my school we wore street clothes for training and the Gi for ceremonies. The only ones tables to wear the black Gi/dogi were 5th Dan and above

Hmm… there's a few things in this post that have me asking a few questions… especially as you cite Hatsumi in another post. Without that, to be blunt, the way you describe things here would have me thinking you were of the "Ashida Kim" variety of ninjutsu practitioners, frankly. Let's see what we have…

No, there was no "traditional black dogi" worn… the dogi as we have it is a very modern thing, stemming largely from it's usage in judo, where it was taken from some basic wear for some Jujutsu systems… but still rather different to today's. More common training gear was hakama and uwagi. As far as black, well, that colour didn't exist for ninjutsu training until Hatsumi started employing it in the 70's…

I would ask, however, what differentiates a "dogi" from a "Karate-style Gi"…

The whole thing about "the only ones able to wear a black gi were 5th Dan and above" makes no sense… and is one of the things that would raise red flags for me…

Can I ask who you train with? Your profile states 7th Dan Ninjutsu, as well as 5th Dan Jujitsu (sic) and 4th Dan Aikido…

 

[Rev Az]

Hmm… there's a few things in this post that have me asking a few questions… especially as you cite Hatsumi in another post. Without that, to be blunt, the way you describe things here would have me thinking you were of the "Ashida Kim" variety of ninjutsu practitioners, frankly. Let's see what we have…

No, there was no "traditional black dogi" worn… the dogi as we have it is a very modern thing, stemming largely from it's usage in judo, where it was taken from some basic wear for some Jujutsu systems… but still rather different to today's. More common training gear was hakama and uwagi. As far as black, well, that colour didn't exist for ninjutsu training until Hatsumi started employing it in the 70's…

I would ask, however, what differentiates a "dogi" from a "Karate-style Gi"…

The whole thing about "the only ones able to wear a black gi were 5th Dan and above" makes no sense… and is one of the things that would raise red flags for me…

Can I ask who you train with? Your profile states 7th Dan Ninjutsu, as well as 5th Dan Jujitsu (sic) and 4th Dan Aikido…

All I can do is repeat what I've been told. If you say that is not correct, all I can do is recheck my information. If it is incorrect I apologize

 

[Chris Parker]

Okay… yeah, it's not correct. At all. Of course, I'm still interested in the answer to my question….

 

[jaikali]

hi,
i think the traditional uniform that we saw in shinobi no mono movies were first introduced by the kabuki theatre in japan .
ninjas actually like to wear dark blue clothes instead of jet black.

By the way ...what was the name of the garment that appeared beneath the black jacket of ninja that looked like crisscross woven structure and closely resembled a fishnet or chainmail ???

 

[Chris Parker]

Again… not even wrong… Not even wrong - RationalWiki

I heartily recommend reading the thread preceding your post.

 

[Dirty Dog]

By the way ...what was the name of the garment that appeared beneath the black jacket of ninja that looked like crisscross woven structure and closely resembled a fishnet or chainmail ???

You think that fishnet and maile (chainmail is a silly redundancy) look the same?

 

[jaikali]

Question remains unanswered .......

 

[Chris Parker]

Okay, you want some kind of answer?

"Ninja", as depicted in popular media, never existed. There were a number of terms used for certain personages, including samurai in many cases, who engaged in acts that are identified as "ninjutsu", such as rappa, suppa, shinobi no mono, monomi, kusa, Iga no mono, nokizaru, and others… and these persons certainly didn't have any kind of "uniform" or easily identifiable clothing. After all, they were engaging in acts of spy craft, espionage, and so on… (note: not assassination… there is no evidence at all of any "ninja-related" assassination in Japan's history), so the idea of being somewhere you shouldn't be, wearing something that immediately identifies you as a member of the enemy is not exactly the smartest decision that could be taken. So you can forget about "what colours would they have worn" in the first place.

For the record, the modern wearing of black uniforms is also incredibly modern… in the 60's and early 70's, white uniforms (basically the same as Karate and Judo) were worn by the practitioners of what are claimed to be "ninja arts"… it was only in the mid-70's and onwards that Hatsumi Masaaki, founder of the Bujinkan organisation, decided to start using a black uniform… but even the uniform itself is very modern (late 19th, early 20th Century), so there's little "traditional" about it from that front.

As far as the name of the garment worn in chambara and jidai geki dramas, as well as being featured in anime and manga, eh, no idea. You could call it a shitagi (under-garment) if you want… if it's supposed to be chain, then you'd use the term "kusari"… but in any case, it's a feature of the entertainment industry, not anything historically accurate or authentic.

 

[jaikali]

This is the answer i wanted ...thanks a lot..you could have done it before...

 

[Chris Parker]

And you could have read the thread, and seen much of the information that shows how far off your ideas were before as well.