All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

ninja

A samurai wearing Japanese armor and holding a katana on dark background. 3D illustration. Source: pictosmith/Adobe Stock

Forged in Honor: The Epic Saga of Japan's Samurai (Video)

The Samurai , esteemed warriors of ancient Japan, transcended gender boundaries, with notable women like the onna-musha demonstrating prowess alongside their male counterparts. Their emergence...
An agent of the Assassins (left, in white turban) fatally stabs Nizam al-Mulk, a Seljuk vizier, in 1092 AD. (14th-century AD manuscript) Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul (Public Domain)

History Of Assassins: When Human Hunter-Killers Began Hunting Humans

For at least 200,000 years Homo sapiens were hunter-gatherer-fishers and at the end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago, they flipped from being the number one prey food on the planet to...
Flat throwing stones with sharpened corners, an early form of ninja weapons, unearthed at the ruins of the Owada jinya administrative headquarters in Saitama, Japan.		Source: (Saitama Prefectural Ranzan Historical Museum

Ninja Weapon Prototypes Found in Japan

After analyzing artifacts collected from three locations in the Saitama Prefecture, which is located just north of Tokyo, a Japanese archaeologist has announced findings that shed new light on the...
A 300 years old scroll bearing a ninjas oath has been discovered in Japan.

300-Year-Old Ninja Master’s Oath Alludes To The Secrets Of The Masked Deadly Assassins

Historical researchers in Japan have uncovered a rare, three centuries-old, ‘Ninja Oath’ in which one of the famed ancient warriors pledged “never to divulge the secrets” of spying, sabotage and the...
Japanese samurai warrior (brunogm / Fotolia)

Medieval Japanese Weapons Influenced Culture Long After the Middle Ages

Weapons are important instruments and are essential during wars. This was especially true regarding Japanese weapons used during the Medieval period. The wars that were fought, won, and lost impacted...
Iga-ryu Ninja Museum, shows how ninjas concealed and booby trapped their weapons.

Fly and Violently Dance: The Explosive History of Alchemists, Knights and Ninjas

The first European records of gunpowder were written in the 13th century by Roger Bacon, the English philosopher and Franciscan friar who was believed by many to have been a wizard. In 1248, a...
Ninja warrior

Ancient Psycho Secrets of Ninja Assassins

Ninjas or shinobi ("to sneak”) have become kings of popular culture and their acrobatic trained-killer antics have been featured in hundreds of movies and television series. These deadly mercenary...
Edited image from the Tokyo National Museum of the actor Nakazō Nakamura playing Goemon Ishikawa (or, in Japanese style, Ishikawa Goemon), a legendary ninja

Ninja Warrior Ishikawa Goemon: Charitable Hero or Violent Outlaw?

Ishikawa Goemon was a legendary Japanese outlaw and folk hero who lived during the 16th century. This outlaw has sometimes been compared to Robin Hood, as he stole from the rich to give to the poor...
Deadly Female Ninja Assassins Used Deception and Disguise to Strike Their Target

Deadly Female Ninja Assassins Used Deception and Disguise to Strike Their Target

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got a lot of ninja qualities right: their preference for sticking to the shadows, the emphasis on reconnaissance and espionage, and, of course, their choice of weapons...
This Too Shall Pass: Will Jinichi Kawakami Be the Last of the Ninjas?

This Too Shall Pass: Will Jinichi Kawakami Be the Last of the Ninjas?

The ninja warriors seen in Hollywood are, sadly, born more of myth than reality. Truths were exaggerated and those exaggerations misconstrued as fact. One cannot wholly blame the screenwriters or...