The Ninja Ken (also called shinobigatana) is the more correct term for "ninjato," or the sword a ninja would have carried. According to the book "Ninjutsu History and Tradition" by Masaaki Hatsumi, spoke of the Bujinkan Dojo system, these swords came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Often, however, they were much shorter than the traditional daito katana used by the samurai of feudal Japan. ninjatō (忍者刀) is a fictional Japanese sword used by the ninja that was similar to the katana, but tended to be straighter, and was generally not made of folded metal. ... A ninja on the cover of Black Belt magazine. ... Masaaki Hatsumi (初見良昭 Hatsumi Masaaki) was born December 2, 1931. ... The Bujinkan, or more properly the Bujinkan Dōjō (武神館道場) is a martial arts organization. ... Katana of the 16th or 17th Century, with its saya. ... Japanese samurai in armour, 1860 photograph. ...

The typical shinobigatana carried by a ninja would most likely have been a wakizashi or cut-down katana, fitted with a katana-length handle and placed in a katana-length saya (scabbard). This is to deceive one's opponents into miscalculating how quickly it could be drawn and allows one to use an Iaijutsu strike faster than expected as well as not carrying a weapon that would easily identify them as a ninja which would be counterproductive to their cause. The extra space in the saya may also be used to store or hide other equipment or goods. Wakizashi style sword mounting, Edo period, 19th century A wakizashi (Japanese: 脇差) is a traditional Japanese sword with a shoto blade between 12 and 24 inches (between 30 and 60 cm, with an average of 50 cm), similar to but shorter than a katana but also quite longer than the kodachi. ... Saya can be either: a sword sheath for a katana. ... Iaido (居合道 iaidō), also sometimes called iaijutsu (居合術 iaijutsu) or battojutsu (抜刀術 battōjutsu) is the art of drawing the katana, cutting down the opponent, flipping blood from the blade, and then re-sheathing the katana in one fluid movement. ...

Modern ninjato are often straight with a square tsuba (hand guard), but the historical accuracy of this is indeterminate. According to the same book by Masaaki Hatsumi, the ninja ken was often straight. Curvature of katana is due to the way they are forged and tempered, and since ninja were largely peasants, they would not have the knowledge or ability that a professional smith would. Hence, Hatsumi says that they were often straight bars of low-quality steel with an edge ground on to them. According to other sources, some of the sword being forged during the Tokugawa era also had blades with less curvature than others. This was also the period during which the mythology of the ninja grew as they were employed by the Shogun as secret police. A typical tsuba The tsuba (鍔) is the round guard at the end of the grip of the arm. ... Masaaki Hatsumi (初見良昭 Hatsumi Masaaki) was born December 2, 1931. ... The Tokugawa shogunate or Tokugawa bakufu (徳川幕府) (also known as the Edo bakufu) was a feudal military dictatorship of Japan established in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family until 1868. ... In Japanese history, a shogun (将軍 shōgun) was the practical ruler of Japan for most of the time from 1192 to the Meiji Era beginning in 1868. ...

The Bujinkan dojo currently contains one school, the Togakure ryu, which teaches the use of the ninja ken. Typically, this is a wakizashi-length sword (or slightly longer) that has been outfitted with katana sized koshirae (fittings). The idea behind a shorter sword is that it is much easier to fight in close quarters with a shorter sword, as would be necessary for a ninja acting as an intelligence-gatherer. The Bujinkan, or more properly the Bujinkan Dōjō (武神館道場) is a martial arts organization. ... The Togakure ryu is a ninjutsu ryuha that some Bujinkan practitioners claim was founded at least 900 years ago by Daisuke Nishina (Togakure), who had learnt shugendo practices as well as hakuun ryu ninjutsu from Kagakure Doshi. ...

See also Ninjato ninjatō (忍者刀) is a fictional Japanese sword used by the ninja that was similar to the katana, but tended to be straighter, and was generally not made of folded metal. ...