If you visit a touristy area of Japan, you may see a straight sword marketed as a “Ninjato” or Ninja sword.
These have little in common with the swords the Ninja actually used.
It’s unclear where the idea of the straight Ninja sword came from, but it might have been due to some of the Ninja movies in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.
Prop teams on some of these movies may have opted for making swords from straight pieces of steel. This would have drastically reduced production cost and time.
Then the popularity of the movies made people assume that Ninja used a straight blade.
Seeing an opportunity, replica sword producers jumped on the band-wagon and created the straight blade variant marketed as a “Ninja Sword”, reinforcing the perception.
So is there such a thing as a Ninja sword?
Yes…sort of.
Weapons in Feudal Japan weren’t as standardized as we imagine them. There was a lot of experimentation in making unorthodox weapons, such as those with hidden blades or devices. And with swords, each clan likely had their own preferred specifications.
For example, Togakure Ryu specifies that the sword should be slightly shorter that your average Katana, but carry a standard or even long handle. It also specifies it should be carried in a standard length sheath or saya. This would give the illusion of it being a much longer sword.
The space in the bottom of the saya could be used to store blinding powder or secret messages. And the shorter blade meant the sword could be drawn much faster than a longer sword (which would help for fighting indoors).
However, the blades themselves weren’t that much different from any other katana during the time.
And they definitely weren’t straight.
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