MY COLLECTION: Ninja and Samurai

[WhiteFang]

Hello everyone,

I took abit of time and played with my ninja collection today, and I thought it will be nice to arrange my ninja and samurai collections together and shared some images with you all. This army is united under one banner, which is the Shogun. Therefore, you might see different factions of the Ninja theme are placed together. In my context, these units have different purpose in the empire. I hope you enjoyed viewing these, as much as I do, even though it's not as impressive as others. I do hope this collection will eventually grow overtime and expand the size of this empire.

Background information

Let me formally introduce this kingdom of mine. This is "Kyoto Empire" in my own imaginary world of fantasy. In Kyoto Empire, unlike any other Japan feudal states or tribes which focus a clear division between ninja and samurai. In Kyoto Empire, Ninja and Samurai work together, to serve the Shogun, whom is the current ruler Shogun Itachi Takeda.

In this empire, there are generally 5 divisions/units to support the military structure. These units' names are not finalised and is currently using a proxy name for it. There are some generals whom are able to wield magic through their weapons such as the one which has the light saber, is known as a legendary weapon obtained by the Princess herself, "Zephyrus". Characters and division progress will be updated in this topic.

• Swift Light (Red and Green Ninja whom are considered as elite and used for special task force)
  
• Kyoto Imperials (Samurai Riders whom are the main calvary unit)
  
• Kyoto Guards (Samurai and Spearmen whom are the offensive ground troops)
  
• Misty Ninjas (Grey Ninja whom are on defensive grounds and escort purposes)
  
• Shadow Ninjas (Black Ninja whom are on offensive grounds and stealth missions)
  

Overview of the armies

A closer look at the Shogun, Royaltes and Generals

Samurai Riders

Ninja and Samurai Units

More pictures can be found in My Brickshelf (when moderated).

Edited January 5, 2009 by WhiteFang
Background information added.

[AwesomeStar]

I like it :) I has the Samurai rider when I was little lol :D

I think the way you've given teh lead ninjas capes is pretty cool :)

Good work

[SWMAN]

Very nice collection. I like the variety and different units.

[Dwarvenlord]

Nice collection you have there, WhiteFang! Althought i doubt it is historical corect: way too many ninjas and almost no (cross)bowmen ah, who cares

[oo7]

Ah, very impressive legion, mate. Not sure how well the scimitars fit in the Far East Asian setting, but I think that green ninja should keep his neon spider variety raised up just a little more to hide the "Zhongwen" printed on his tunic. Wouldn't want him to be convicted as Chinese spy, now would we?

He probably wouldn't take the order for sepukku very well, either....

[Captain Blackmoor]

Looks like a nice army so far. Are you making it even larger?

Don't want to meet it on the battlefield...

[natelite]

Nice collection you have there, WhiteFang! Althought i doubt it is historical corect: way too many ninjas and almost no (cross)bowmen ah, who cares

if you were worried about historical accuracy here's one: i don't think samurais used shields ever. no orientals ever used shields. samurais carry 2 swords. one long katana and one shorter dagger. soldiers can wield a variety of weapons including halberds and polearms but don't think they ever used shields either. ninjas also use a variety of weapons including psi, shurikens, nunchuks, etc. but no one used shields.

[Dwarvenlord]

LOL, i wast just thinking about the shields a few minutes ago!

[oo7]

I don't know about you guys, but from what I read about the assassin shinobi clan and the feudal knight samurai clan being allied under the banner of one shogunate, I made the assumption that none of this was actually intended to reflect actual Japanese history. Not entirely sure why we're picking out the small anachronistic details here when the largest, most obvious one remains as the founding basis of the rest.

[Sandy]

if you were worried about historical accuracy here's one: i don't think samurais used shields ever. no orientals ever used shields. samurais carry 2 swords. one long katana and one shorter dagger. soldiers can wield a variety of weapons including halberds and polearms but don't think they ever used shields either. ninjas also use a variety of weapons including psi, shurikens, nunchuks, etc. but no one used shields.

You shouldn't make such broad generalizations. A quick googling tells that although shield were very uncommon in practice (since most of the Japanese weapons required both hands to wield), they weren't totally inexistent in Japan. Here's a discussion about the subject: http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-7895.html

Could you perhaps explain what do you mean by "orientals"? That's quite a large area, the orient... Japan, China, India, Persia, Arabia, Mongolia, Oceania, Australia... I can swear they used shields in many places in that area.

Also, psi energy? Sure, that's historical accuracy for you.

As for that collection, I think it's quite marvelous with all the mages and ninjas and different type of brigades. I intend to buy some ninja sets in the future as well, so that I can have some Japanese minifigs of my own.

[Raven Brickroft]

Also, psi energy? Sure, that's historical accuracy for you.

I'm pretty sure he meant SAI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sai_(weapon)

[JimBee]

Impressive! I imagine some of them are custom, like the one with a Luke Skywalker torso. I was wondering- why does one of them have a blue lightsaber blade? Another has a trans-neon green spider... but excellent setup anyway, and I really hope for the return of Ninjas.

[WesternOutlaw]

Wow! What a great collection of Ninja-themed figs. I'd love to see you create a large-scale MOC with all of these WhiteFang. I really liked the Ninja theme, short-lived (like Wild West), but definately a great theme. I think we'll see a similar theme in the future, but that's a whole different topic.

This is really a nice collection. Thanks for sharing WF.

[WhiteFang]

Thanks for all of your awesome words. I am glad most of you enjoyed viewing this small collection of mine.

First of all, I will need to clarify the agenda of this collection. In this collection, there is a story behind it which I have not updated it above, due to the lack of time earlier, which has actually caused a little confusion for some of you out there. This Ninja and Samurai collection is based on fictional basis which was actually based on my imaginative kingdom, also known as EBRP (Eurobricks Role Play) concept. I am intending to expand this army, hoping to be one of the major powers in this fictions world.

I will shed some light on why some of the minifigs and designs of the attire looks weird and uncommon, compared to feudal Japan. I know quite a fair bit of history and origins of ninja and samurai, even for some of us whom have actually associate it with movies and anime like The Last Samurai and Naurto for examples. Nevertheless, this is another country which has rich culture context.

Let me formally introduce this kingdom of mine. This is "Kyoto Empire" in my own imaginary world of fantasy. In Kyoto Empire, unlike any other Japan feudal states or tribes which focus a clear division between ninja and samurai. In Kyoto Empire, Ninja and Samurai work together, to serve the Shogun, whom is the current ruler Shogun Itachi Takeda.

In this empire, there are generally 5 divisions/units to support the military structure. These units' names are not finalised and is currently using a proxy name for it. There are some generals whom are able to wield magic through their weapons such as the one which has the light saber, is known as a legendary weapon obtained by the Princess herself, "Zephyrus". Characters and division progress will be updated in this topic.

• Swift Light (Red and Green Ninja whom are considered as elite and used for special task force)
  
• Kyoto Imperials (Samurai Riders whom are the main calvary unit)
  
• Kyoto Guards (Samurai and Spearmen whom are the offensive ground troops)
  
• Misty Ninjas (Grey Ninja whom are on defensive grounds and escort purposes)
  
• Shadow Ninjas (Black Ninja whom are on offensive grounds and stealth missions)
  

[natelite]

Could you perhaps explain what do you mean by "orientals"? That's quite a large area, the orient... Japan, China, India, Persia, Arabia, Mongolia, Oceania, Australia... I can swear they used shields in many places in that area.

i think you meant asia, not orient. australia is not asia. it's in its own continent. so i am quite sure you are mistaken.

orient refers to east asia, and would exclude south asia and the middle east.

katana can be used one handed or double handed. samurais typically wield katanas two handed but may opt for a one handed style and use the smaller dagger as backup.

i lived in tokyo for 5 years. i can only hope i learned something. seriously...trust me or not, just ask a japanese if shield was ever used in the feudal times. and this is not from last samurai or naruto. nor is my source from a web forum discussing shield usage in japan. you trust those "experts"?

besides, as WF said...this is his fantasy realm. reality has nothing to do with his army.

[Dwarvenlord]

Ah ok, I thought you were making a historically based army, WF. My fault

Also i considered ninjas more as assasins or some kind... not realy "soldiers". That's what Samurai actually means, doesn't it?

[WhiteFang]

Also i considered ninjas more as assasins or some kind... not realy "soldiers". That's what Samurai actually means, doesn't it?

In that context, it can be considered so. Many of us will feel that ninja played different roles, mainly either for stealth, ambush missions, assassination, hired spies and etc. They can be categorised as an individual tribe, mercenaries, secret unit and etc. Samurai could generally be considered as the established recognised warrior whom fought the enemies in the open with katanas. Yes, they could be generally considered as soldiers to certain extend, as samurai do have a code to follow, which I could not remember at this moment.

[natelite]

In that context, it can be considered so. Many of us will feel that ninja played different roles, mainly either for stealth, ambush missions, assassination, hired spies and etc. They can be categorised as an individual tribe, mercenaries, secret unit and etc. Samurai could generally be considered as the established recognised warrior whom fought the enemies in the open with katanas. Yes, they could be generally considered as soldiers to certain extend, as samurai do have a code to follow, which I could not remember at this moment.

code = bushido.

samurais were the japanese equivalent of knights. they weren't common soldiers in that they weren't paid money for their service.