Gina Jordan said:Now I thought this Straight Bladed ninja sword thing had been discussed elsewhere. In Lore of the Shinobi Warrior Book five in the chapter "Myths of Ninjutsu" it clearly states that this idea is a cultural sterotype, and goes on to say where the misinformation possibly comes from. He then goes on to say that in Dr Hatsumis collection the majority of swords do not fall into this catergory. If one views the Stephen K Hayes DVDs one will be hard bushed to find a straight bladed sword, except possibly on the shuriken DVD, but then one can't really tell if the blade is straight as one does not, if I remember correctly, see all the blade. Its probably just a cheap blade that they did not mind damaging considering they were throwing metal shuriken at it.
Wait a minute, are you now trying to say that Hayes had nothing to do with the spreading of that mistaken little story? His early works clearly say that the ninja used straight bladed swords. I am sure someone not on the road can give exact quotes and page numbers. Heck, he even sold a straight bladed bokken through a martial arts' gear company he liscened with. "The Steve Hayes Collection" IIRC.
In this case, it seems that Hayes got his mistaken impressions from theatre. Stage swords are actually wood covered with thin metal for safety. Cheap, low budget productions have been known to not carve the blades but to go with just the straight pieces of wood you can pick up anywhere to arm their many actors at times.