It is a common myth that the Ninja and Samurai were similar warriors and that both fought the same way – but the fact of the matter is that they were very different in their way of fighting and in the swords they used. The Samurai swords were the best that the current sword making technology could produce and were made of the best steel by a select group of blacksmiths who were experts at making them. The Samurai sword was a potent weapon that could cut through armor and sever limbs with a single blow and were available only to the Samurai and not the Ninja who were socially inferior and also unable to afford them.

Having a sword that was in some ways inferior to the Samurai ones did not make much difference to the Ninja and it was their special Ninja swords that suited them best. At 24 inches in length, the Ninja sword was considerably shorter than the Samurai one which was usually between 30 to 36 inches long; Ninja swords were also made form a lower quality steel. This size difference was because unlike the Samurai sword, the Ninja sword was not used to slash and cut but to stab.

The shorter length of the Ninja sword made it easier to use as a stabbing weapon and since little slashing or cutting was done with it, it was the sharpness of the tip of the weapon that was important, not the fineness of the long cutting edge – this meant that there was no need to use the expensive high quality steel of the Samurai sword. Whether the evolution of the less sophisticated cheaper short sword of the Ninja and the development of a special form of fighting the makes best use of this weapon was a result of the economic limitations of the Ninja or the sword was natural outcome of their close quarter guerilla style of fighting is not known. What is beyond dispute is that the Ninja sword, although technically inferior to the Samurai one, was, when coupled with the special fighting skills of the Ninja, just as lethal a weapon as the more glamorous Samurai sword.

There are many legends about Ninja swords and one of the most intriguing is that the short sword usually has a long scabbard where the extra length was used to conceal hidden weapons like spikes, daggers and vials of poison. It is also said that the Ninja would ram their swords into the ground and use the handle as a step to help them jump over obstacles. In interesting story is that the tips of Ninja scabbards were removable so they could be used as snorkels when needed. Irrespective of the truth of these and other stories, the fact is that the Ninja sword was the perfect weapon for these deadly warriors.