Are the Turtles real "ninja"?

[The-Shredder]

Based on a few Internet searches, they seem to be a mix of samurai and ninja, with the turtles leaning more towards the samurai in terms of behavior and morals. Ironically, the Foot Clan seem to fit the criteria of ninja more accurately than the turtles since they would do anything to get their way with no real moral code. I could be completely wrong, but it would be great if someone could elaborate more on the subject.

[turtle1237]

What parts the 2 are really class imo. Samurai were hired by lords to keep the peace, go to war ete. the ninja was well pretty much a hired gun for murder.

As the saying goes with knights, all knights equipped for war certainly were men-at-arms, not all men-at-arms were knights, would about be what parts a samurai and a ninja.

[Kendamu]

Ninja were spies, ambush troops, and saboteurs for their military force in feudal Japan. Many times, they were actual trained soldiers (of the Samurai class) that were also taught these covert tactics. For example, Hattori Hanzo was a Samurai, but he also was very skilled in Ninjutsu.

When it comes to Ninjutsu, people who were tasked with learning and using it were often told something along the lines of, "This would normally be considered dishonorable or cowardly or criminal under normal circumstances, but in this case you're doing this service for your lord. So, it's okay."

Nowadays, in relation to martial arts, Ninjutsu (or Ninpo) is mostly used as an umbrella term for martial arts organizations descending from Toshitsugu Takamatsu who passed down both Samurai martial arts and Ninjutsu techniqes down to a man called Masaaki Hatsumi. Hatsumi still teaches martial arts at the Bujinkan and some of his old students went on to create other organizations such as AKBAN, Genbukan, and Jinenkan (amongst others). Some of those schools emphasize the Ninja aspect more than the others, but they're mostly martial arts schools.

Outside of the martial arts scene, Ninjutsu is still just seen as an old form of spying and whatnot (http://www.iganinja.jp/en/about/index.html).

In the case of the Turtles, Splinter taught them their skills to protect them from being discovered by the outside world and they do spend most of their time making sure people don't know that they exist even if they do tend to fight in the open for our entertainment. So... you could accurately call them Ninja.

[Candy Kappa]

within the context of the comic/cartoon, yes. They are ninjas: pop-culture comicbook Ninjas, ie shadow warriors that totally kicks ass, wear fancy mono colored do-gi and masks, and totally are the arch nemesis of the super duper honorable Samurai.

Ss for real life? No. Shinobi was spies, infiltrators, saboteurs and sometimes assassins. Trained in Shinobi no Jutsu, or more known as Ninjutsu, they come from various social statuses like soldiers, farmers or Samurai. Although the turtles are proficient in stealth and reconnaissance, we don't see much actual Ninjutsu techniques like, making a torch with low glow radiance or making explosives like hand-grenades and traps.

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

No, they are not ninjas, they are 'super kewel gritty martial arts fighters' born ofrom the orientalist projections of what a 'ninja' is supposed to be, and more inspired by bad Kung-fu movies from hong kong that were popular in the U.S. in the 70's and 80's than anything to do with actual shinobi.

[CowabungaMikey]

No, they're ''hero''.

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

No, they're ''hero''.

Well said :)

[madyankees]

I think they are in the Mirage comics. OT definitely not...:D

[Kendamu]

I think they are in the Mirage comics. OT definitely not...:D

It wasn't intentionally written to be authentic, but the Turtles' attack on the Technodrome, causing a distraction while Donatello made it suck itself to Dimension X, is a classic Ninja raid strategy with a sci-fi twist. Also, in earlier episodes like "Corporate Raiders from Dimension X," the heavy use of disguises and sending in a spy (Casey) to get info is also classic Ninja strategy.

To be fair, though, there are a lot more episodes where the Turtles walk around without disguises and don't use any sort of Ninja strategy than there are episodes where they do use such things.

[TigerClaw]

within the context of the comic/cartoon, yes. They are ninjas: pop-culture comicbook Ninjas, ie shadow warriors that totally kicks ass, wear fancy mono colored do-gi and masks, and totally are the arch nemesis of the super duper honorable Samurai.

Ss for real life? No. Shinobi was spies, infiltrators, saboteurs and sometimes assassins. Trained in Shinobi no Jutsu, or more known as Ninjutsu, they come from various social statuses like soldiers, farmers or Samurai. Although the turtles are proficient in stealth and reconnaissance, we don't see much actual Ninjutsu techniques like, making a torch with low glow radiance or making explosives like hand-grenades and traps.
Yeah, The same can be said about Snake-Eyes from GI Joe, Also a Ninja.

[joe-eyeball]

They can still be considered ninja. the important thing is that the turtles possess and implement the skills of a ninja even though they do not always reflect the culture/philosophies
of one.