The history of the Ninja, or Shinobi as they were known in Japan, is hard to trace as very few records were kept of its existence. From what is known and passed from generation to generation is that they were not just trained in the art of war, but also in traditional philosophy, including Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and the indigenous Japanese religion of Shinto, which they greatly followed.
Nonuse, the art of stealth, was first introduced to Japan in 522 A.D. as a religion practiced by priests. These priests were not violent people, they were mystics who gathered and shared information for the ruling classes. It wasn't until 645 A.D. that the priests perfected their fighting skills and made use of their knowledge of nonuse. This was because they found themselves being harassed by the central government and found in necessary to protect themselves. In 794-1192 A.D. the new civilization flourished and with it, a new class of wealthy, privileged families. These families fought with one another in attempts to make or destroy empires. The need for spies, informants and now assassins grew as these families dueled for power. They were suspicious and jealous of one another and would resort to any means necessary to eliminate any possible threats. Therefore, the practitioners of nonuse were in great demand. With this, the ninja was born.
Contrary to the katana, the ninja sword or ninja-to as it was known, was shorter. Despite that, it still had its advantages. The scabbard for instance was made longer than the sword. At the end of the scabbard there was a hidden compartment that was used to hide small weapons such as spikes, daggers or small amounts of poisons. Another use the sword had was that it could act as a small step by jamming the blade into the ground, the ninja could use the hand-guard as a step to get that extra height needed to scale a wall. It was common to have the tip of the scabbard come off so it could be used as a snorkel.
Our version of the Red Shinobi Ninja-To Sword has an overall length of 36 inches with a 28 inch full tang stainless steel blade. It is perfectly balanced and it is red over a black cord wrapped tsuka handle and has a beautiful brass colored metal tsuba handguard. The saya scabbard is also wrapped to match, and has an accompanying shoulder strap making it ready to wear.
