After nearly two decades of thrilling fans with adventures and prison breaks, narutoand its sequel boruto permanently established the idea of a ninja or shinobi in the minds of the manga-reading public. It was an idea of the ninja that has influenced countless other depictions of ancient stealth warriors. With so much influence on how ninjas are perceived worldwide, the question becomes, how accurate is Naruto’s version of shinobi? The answer given by the last real ninja in the world will surprise the fans.
From romance to religion, politics to the occult, Naruto deals with many issues, however, the story is first and foremost a ninja-based fighting manga. The battles between characters and the skills each character brings to a battle are appreciated. As such, fans have incredible access to the daily life of a shinobi. According to an Insider interview with Jinichi Kawakami, a lifelong practitioner of the Koka-Ryu Ninjutsu School, and the only person in Japan to have preserved the traditional practice of Ninjutsu, while there are some papers While the creative magic that Naruto author Masashi Kishimoto took to describe Konoha’s shinobi, there are still some aspects that he understands correctly about how to live, train, and fight as a true shinobi.
What Naruto Gets Right About Ninjas
One of the most iconic elements of the Naruto shinobi is combat, always incorporating different fighting techniques and martial arts. To this, Kawakami agrees that fighting skills and martial arts mastery are the basic elements of a ninja’s life. As in Naruto, ninjas are required to have a deep understanding of martial arts, as well as different weapons, survival techniques, and even gunpowder. Likewise, according to Kawakami, the widespread use of ambushes and surprise attacks is such a popular ninja strategy that it has a special name – Kamari.
Furthermore, hand signs were also common in ninja practice. However, rather than being a way to generate chakra and summon powerful supernatural attacks, hand signs are a means of preparing and calming the mind of a real-life shinobi. Also, an iconic element of Naruto, which Kawakami agrees is also central to ninja effectiveness, is the concept of a team, the basic social unit of a ninja. Most interestingly, Kawakami says that the ninja Naruto’s iconic running style with his arms outstretched behind his back – a running style that has become a joke among anime fans – is a pose that has truly become The industry standard for ninjas in TV and movies, and it’s “not entirely” incorrect because ninjas have to run without moving their hands.
What Naruto misunderstood about Ninja
According to Kawakami, the least accurate aspect of the shinobi in the Naruto universe is, of course, their superhuman, magical abilities. He said, Ninja does not have abilities beyond human ability. In addition, Kawakami says that an accurate description of ninjas is that they are an archaic version of contemporary espionage and espionage military units. Their main goal is not to engage in protracted battles but to stay hidden, agitate the enemy, and gather information. For Naruto, that means they don’t wage large-scale wars against each other – no “Great Shinobi War,” let alone large-scale battles.
In the end, Kawakami gave Naruto, or at least the two episodes he watched of the anime, an exact score of 4/10. It seems that the biggest problem with accuracy is Kishimoto’s somewhat undisciplined combination of the basic idea of ninjas, who, if well, have never been seen or heard of, with ideas of romance. More about the mythical samurai Ukiyo-e, with a hint of mystique, and a drop of the supernatural to complete the blend. Indeed, while naruto And boruto may not be entirely accurate, they are certainly interesting and even a true ninja like Master Kawakami can’t disagree with that fact.
naruto And boruto available to read from Viz Media.
Source: Insider