Why did Ninja Start Wearing BLACK!? - (Which Ninja)

Head to geolog.ie/GAIJ... or scan the QR CODE on the screen and use code GAIJIN70 and they will give you an exclusive 70% off of their award-winning skincare trial set. It's been a long running gag that "Real Ninja Wear Blue!" over on this channel, but WHY did they start wearing black? I think the answer is in the Edo period artistic renaissance, but even then, the answer is more illusive than the ninja itself!
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[@GaijinGoombah]

Head to geolog.ie/GAIJIN70 or scan the QR CODE on the screen and use code GAIJIN70 and they will give you an exclusive 70% off of their award-winning skincare trial set. THANKS FOR STICKING AROUND GANG! I really want to get started on some orky vids so I'm gonna get goin on that. I hope you check it out as well as hang here for more culture in gaming!

[@Fabio-Jose-DragonKing]

Keep up the good work 🎉🎉🎉🎉😊😊😊

[@akirayamaguchithekitsune4010]

so I want to see anime culture like Rising of the Shield Hero like Melromarc and the Four Guardian Beasts (The Spirit Tortoise, Kirin, Phoenix and Dragon King)

[@akirayamaguchithekitsune4010]

and Good work and I hope you get to best in 2024

[@Starcat5]

Signal boosting @boxhead6177's comment, along with my own thoughts: Research the cost of blue dye, ink, and paint. If the cost difference is great enough, they might have been using black as a stand in. A Ninja is going to spend the money because it is worth as much as his life. And artist, not so much. Lord knows the phenomenon has reversed with modern dyes costing about the same across the board, and blue in place of or to highlight black in order to stand out. Economics influence art.

[@FaytVanguard]

As lights at night became more of a common thing. I imagine thats what inspired the change. For a horse rider with lamp is likely to notice the reflection of blue, while Black literally moves with the absence of light. Also likely easier to maintain in Urban modernizing Japan. Color clothing can be expensive

[@TheZajicekfarber]

I always assumed at least the more modern depictions of ninja wearing black came from the advent of electricity and lightbulbs. Artificial light eliminates those moonless blue tinted nights, but in turn makes shadows darker and effects our eyes to see even less in that dark too. However, your mention of kuroko outfits not being "invisible" made me think of another idea. What if the point of dressing in all black was not for literal stealth, but a percieved one? In plays we can all see actors dressed in black outfits, but we're taught to pretend they're not there and ignore them. What if the idea of ninja wearing black was meant to take advantage of this learned blindness so that they wouldn't be noticed- even if they did technically stand out more.

[@giboi03]

I assume it could be also be a difference in assignment setting, like: if they're doing outside recon, they'd have to wear dark blue or grey. If they're infiltrating someone's house in the dead of night, the black would hide them in the shadows of weakly lit rooms and halls, and maybe someone's shadow on a screen door.

[@boxhead6177]

It may also just be the modern fiction troupe in cartoon, animation and cinema where the villain wears black, the hero wears white or another signature colour.

[@mr.stoneface7699]

The spread of intense, sustained lights also occurred to me. Shinobi are excellent at adapting with time and technology, it makes sense they'd switch to black fabrics to compensate for the darker shadows. Gaijin Goomba made that point when he looked at Batman, saying that darker gray and black colors are more effective in Gotham City.

[@michaelprost6130]

@@mr.stoneface7699 were ninja even still around by the time the light bulb was invented though?

[@josh-oo]

​@@michaelprost6130 Yeah, but they stayed in the shadows. It's kinda their whole thing.

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

If the black outfits were a late enough invention I coulda seen it as just "Light pollution required them to adapt as night itself changed", but apparently it's too old for that at all.

[@ManILoveFurina]

Unless we're underestimating lanterns as light fixtures

[@PJDAltamirus0425]

@@ManILoveFurina Mine espionage and assasination. :P Look up miner's spikes. Mine shafts would have spots of brightness followed by total darkness.

[@redlunatic2224]

Actually, maybe this makes more sense than we think. The cause may not be artificial light, but artificial shadows. The night was as bright as ever, but if villages and cities became more densely packed over time, they would create more and more places in deep shadow, so it would make sense to switch to black because moonlight was no longer that much of a factor. I'm just throwing wild guesses here, but it doesn't seem too far fetched.

[@KyrstOak]

​@@redlunatic2224 I'm not a historian, but this sounds plausible to me.

[@boxhead6177]

Blue ink/dyes in older times were relatively expensive and extermely rare in some regions compared to black inks which are far easier to produce since charcoal is a basic. To even use blue ink or die in art or pottery was considered a sign of immense wealth.

[@Starcat5]

So as an inverse of the modern phenomenon of using Blue to represent Black to help it stand out in art, you are saying they used Black instead of Blue as a cost cutting measure?

[@DavidRichardson153]

It largely depends on the source of the blue color. When it comes to paints, blue was more common than you might think (though still on the uncommon side). Using ground gems like lapis lazuli and ultramarine was somewhat common, at least in Europe, and some of these paints could be used in clothes to varying degrees. The most common source - and even shade - of blue coloring we usually think of is indigo. While it is certainly a source, it is actually much more recent than you might think. It was actually found as a supplement, if not outright replacement in some cases, to what actually is the historical source: woad. Granted, the bulk of woad's usage for coloring is Europe, but it has been found to have been used in ancient Egypt. It is even possible that this knowledge made its way to the Far East, as woad is used in ancient Chinese medicine. That said, it is woad leaves that the blue coloring is made from, while Chinese medicine used woad roots. Still, the fact that woad was used (most commonly for cold remedies) could suggest that it was common enough, though I do not know if it actually was. Could the ninja have obtained this knowledge or even figured it out themselves? Either is possible, and when you live in a way that demands that you squeeze every single bit out of your resources, especially for something like espionage, you are going to experiment with whatever you can however you can (this same mentality was a big part of how paper was first invented). Now, I am not exactly an expert on ancient Japan in any way, not in any anthropological sense or any ecological sense, so I cannot confirm whether or not this was how they got their blue clothes. Would it have been more difficult than with your mention of charcoal? Probably, but given how much woad was used (it only fell out of use after synthetic dyes were invented), it would not be by much, so for groups like the ninja, who were not exactly known for being wealthy, it would likely still be feasible for them to have sufficient amounts of blue clothing. Again, I cannot say whether or not it actually was the case, just that it is quite plausible.

[@rolandswift4311]

that was my first thought too, but apparently there are types of indigo that have grown in abundance in Japan since ancient times. Blue dye was apparently cheap, plentiful, and easily accessible.

[@boxhead6177]

@@DavidRichardson153 I was thinking more of the context how one artist may choose to pick black to paint a ninja over blue, cause they were a starving artist, rather than commissioning a work for a wealthy noble/merchant.

[@DavidRichardson153]

@@boxhead6177 Possibly, but blue paints would probably not have been that expensive. Maybe the ones of a deeper blue were (comparatively speaking, at least), but I would not know.

[@Warrior-Of-Virtue]

My best guess is that by the time the Ninja Boom came about, there was more than enough light pollution in most of the world to make blue as a stealthy color hard to believe for most people. So black was chosen instead as the default color for pop culture ninjas.

[@davidspring4003]

I read somewhere the idea of black clad ninja actially did come from kabuki stage hands...but much more directly. In a play, the director had a stage hand assassinate a major character, and the image of someone that was supposed to be non-existent in the context of the play actually doing something (instead of puppeting or handing someone the weapon) stuck with people and combined with traditional depictions to create black clad ninjas

[@thevoid3010]

That’s really interesting But do you know how old that play is?

[@davidspring4003]

@@thevoid3010 not off the top of my head

[@manguy01]

@@davidspring4003 Too bad you don't remember the name of the play.

[@davidspring4003]

@@manguy01 indeed it is, I'll see if I can find my source.

[@Maswartz226]

That's how I always heard it.

[@mervjohnson8010]

Consider what comes to mind when you imagine a "spy" Chances are you imagined someone wearing a tuxedo like James Bond even though a real spy would want to be as incognito as possible. Black for ninjas are like tuxedos for spies.

[@DuranmanX]

To be fair, a tuxedo for James Bond would be like a chonin outfit, or a costume that was common and easy to blend in with, at least for the situations he was in

[@DavidRichardson153]

It does make a fair amount of sense for Bond to wear a tuxedo, at least for his more public appearances. After all, the vast majority of the power brokering goes on amongst the ultra-wealthy, and to this day, the tuxedo is a sign of wealth. That said, I should qualify this by saying that itnwould make sense for a spy to wear a tuxedo, and Bond would certainly fit the bill. The problem with Bond, though, is that he is famous - a.k.a. well-known and recognizable - and intelligence agencies say that a spy that is recognizable is a spy that is already dead. In short, it makes perfect sense for Bond or any spy to wear a tuxedo, at least in those settings where a tuxedo would be called for, but in Bond's case, his face renders the cover a tuxedo would provide moot. I suppose the best illustration of this - not to mention it being the most favorable for Bond - is _Casino Royale,_ where Bond was only just promoted and not already recognized by anyone outside of MI6. In that movie, Bond is just another face and has not gained the notoriety he had in the movies before it, so a tuxedo can work.

[@DuranmanX]

I think the worst aspect of Bond as a spy is that his most notable catchphrase is him saying his actual name

[@solidskullz5736]

I remember you mentioning that because of light pollution in the modern day the sky isn’t light blue in more populated areas. The sky in well lit areas looks black, so I always figured that’s why people started dressing ninjas in black

[@redkingrauri3769]

This. Especially if they had to go to populated areas that might have lights on all night.

[@starmaker75]

I can image when sneaking in dark urban area where munch more light pollution. So black could be a better color in urban areas.

[@Kalebfenoir]

I wonder if the shift from blue to black isn't a real shift, but because of the artwork. If I remember right, colors like blue and purple were exceedingly hard to make in terms of dye. So bookmakers, to save money and time, simply used a black ink instead of blue. Prior to that, ninjas were merely described, not shown, so when someone decided to add illustration... they used the black ink instead for convenience. And unknowingly set this all off because people started to assume that's what they were colored, no matter the written description.

[@MrBackman85]

I'm pissed because I used Purple on one of my ninja characters and I don't know which is even accurate anymore. Which is right though?

[@akirajotaro]

My guess as to where the black garbs came from: People who saw ninjas just misinterpreted the navy blue colors to be black. They were usually hidden in the dark after all, it's really easy to fail at seeing colors when shrouded.

[@Shadow952013]

As a pre-watch note; Even with all we know-- I figured that there were, admittedly rare, occasions for a ninja to wear black. Mostly in places where doing so would help them blend with people already wearing such colors. Post Watch Notes; I have to agree with our host on the doubts equating black ninja outfits with the kuroko outfit, at least in meaning. Out of curiosity, I started looking at cultural understanding of black. Of course in the broad sense, black is often associated with things like death/evil magics/stealth. So I figured that maybe artists had similar thoughts when potraying ninja in their works. The answer yet eludes me, but i did find that the two major associations with black in Japanese culture are formality and misfortune. While not so in all artwork depicting ninja, a good amount of artwork does depict ninja performing violence/misfortune on others.

[@tn1881]

In the 7th century, the Hattori clan of the Iga region wore black costumes during the Kurondo festival, a ritual at the Aekuni shrine. They were called Kurondo (black party). It seems that the color of the costume was charcoal gray rather than black. The dye was called astringent persimmon dyeing, which was made from astringent persimmons.The tannins of astringent persimmons have waterproof, preservative, and insect repellent effects. With astringent persimmon dyeing, the tannins react with the iron in the water, causing the color to change and turn black over time. They became independent from the shogunate and were called akuto (rogue party), and in the 14th century they were called Sinobi.

[@Shidyk]

I guess the best way to look at it is just that there's a detail somewhere on the road that's been missed, and because it was missed, the actual detail was lost in time as things progressed and modernize. My view on it is that, like you said on the video, ninja became the equivalent of super heroes and people just began to recognize them in plays easier if they wore black instead of navy blue or something else.

[@WOOTcorey]

My best possible guess would be this. As ninja became more and more commonly known, and the age of renaissance and art quickly approaching, they have come to realize that common citizens might start getting too familiar with how to spot them. So, what they would do is have artists, actors and stage hands, depict ninja in black, or in black-lined outfits as a thorough line to the 'perceived invisible' and, even going a step further, using their own mythology to heighten the mysticism of what ninja were capable of, so that when they used their true, mundane tactics, they would hardly be seen as impressive, thus potentially making them even more effective to those untrained, or those who became too comfortable with the rapidly developing public idea of ninja. Hell, maybe some ninja would even play themselves off as over dedicated fans if they were caught, but I'd doubt that... eh sorta.

[@AlvoriaGPM]

Interesting. Maybe I'm weird, but honestly to me the whole "wearing a costume over another costume" thing makes perfect sense. Since you're telling a story through visuals and metaphor it would make for great visual short hand to have a element that tells the audience that "This person is a ninja". However to avoid the trope of ninjas being identical and faceless it also makes sense to have distinct elements to each named ninja. Hence the second costume over the first - visual shorthand that says whatever this person is on the outside, the truth is that he's a ninja! Also, you inspired my facial hair style and so I find it funny that you're doing the "long hair in a ponytail" look that I've been doing for years. That makes me happy! ^_^

[@MeliesCinemagician]

The story that I've always heard is that, in some kabuki plays or something like that, ninja characters would occasionally wear black in order to blend in with the stagehands; that way, when they popped up and started engaging with the action on stage, it would be like they appeared out of nowhere. Sort of a fourth-wall break. However, I have no idea what plays specifically this happened in, or if it's just an apocryphal story.

[@zioncullen1288]

But we will always know 🎵Really ninja wear blue🎵

[@Hound851]

Close enough.

[@theyakkoman]

Interesting video. I have a similar relationship with the "pink is for girls, blue is for boys" thing because as many like to point out "It used to be the reverse". You see, red was seen as a more agressive colour, the colour of fire and blood and therefore masculine. And since pink is in essence light red it made sense that boys (who are young men) would wear a lighter shade of red. Blue on the other hand was seen as a more passive, calm colour and therefore feminine, as well as being connected to the Virgin Mary. And so, Blue was seen as more feminine. But what everyone leaves out and I haven't been able to get a satisfying answer to is WHY? Why was the switch made? We know roughly when. But why? If anyone knows or has some interesting idea, please reply.

[@derpyquagsire6678]

I just thought they switched to black for indoor darkness kinda like in that Samurai Jack episode jack vs the ninja

[@ShoKasai]

My idea is that around the ninja plays were becoming popular, lights in towns were getting good enough that unlit areas would appear more black compared to the light areas so that to stay in the shadows in towns, black would be harder to see in a dark area when someone has lights shining around them. I enjoy these Which Ninja videos, I have been using this for references for a ninja clan I have been making for an RP group I’m in and it is great! Thank you so much for easy to process information. ❤

[@DetectiveLance]

*strums guitar* Blue on black, tears on a river- oh. Oh Blue OR black!

[@mrmochi935]

A modern example of a ninja wearing blue that I loved seeing recently was Gabimaru from Hell’s Paradise. I think a video reviewing him and his village would be quite interesting as his fellow ninja in the manga were portrayed in a way I’ve never seen before.

[@AutisticPhantomOtaku]

I hope to see more "Which Ninja" videos in the near future!

[@moonwalkerangel7008]

Has anyone told you that your username is Awesome?

[@sethtruesdale1848]

For the art piece examples, maybe it's just a simple example of black ink being cheaper/easier to use than blue ink, so for a figure completely clad in it black ink was able to get the same idea across a lot easier

[@theshadyprotector8412]

I am in the camp of light pollution. It would appear to me that with the modernization of Japan, that in the cities the shadows would provide more cover than the night sky. A quick aside note. Has anyone ever noticed how bright the night sky is and how many stars there are the further away from a city or town one gets? Just an observation. A separate idea on the clothing could be to depict a disguise. Like how the forty seven ronin dressed as firefighters to gain access to their target to complete their mission of revenge. A subtle way to show in art that this is a ninja performing yo-nin.

[@girl1213]

Having dabbled in art history in college, I always figured that it was more or less an art/culture memory thing. Since Iga Ninjas went all the things that make ninja "shinobi" to a police force. And you know what blue also represents: law and authority. And that's exactly what the Iga ninja became. Whereas black is a lot more "evil" with themes of death, despair, and illnesses. So, to me, when I look at artwork depicting Ninja past their hay-day in Japanese art, it makes sense to me why they are depicted in black. They're *not* supposed to be positive image.

[@allengordon6929]

Modern Japanese policemen wear black...

[@girl1213]

@@allengordon6929 Not back then

[@boxhead6177]

The word "Dark Arts" or "Dark Magic" is the term used by stage magician of using black clothing, black stages and directed lighting to hide stage movement and sleight of hand.

[@alasiadarthe001actual9]

In a production theater or film you need to identify who someone is. Defining colors help with this. This is boxers are identified by their shorts so if you look away and look back you can easily identify who is who. Again theater of the mind for kabuki. The audience knows that for the black that he’s a ninja even if the characters don’t know. Old westerns did the same thing where the hero always wore a white cowboy hat. Also with detailed costumes you need to know who is who quickly. Fun fact this why warhammer originally has bright colors. So you can see who is who on the battlefield.

[@sylvanstrength7520]

I wanted to let you know that you’re one of many inspirations behind me growing my hair long again. I started thinning and receding a bit and I immediately jumped to razor shaving my head. While your density is better than mine, our hairlines are similar with mine being a little further back. Point is your hair looks great and I’m going to be getting mine long again too!

[@sylvanstrength7520]

Bear in mind I’m only 32 and have had long hair for most of my life.

[@New3DSLuigi364]

and Here I Thought modern depictions of Shinobi started wearing black because of modern-day light pollution which has turned the sky pitch black at night. .

[@MaxRavenclaw]

It's funny you mention Stephen Turnbull. He wrote The Ninja: An Invented Tradition in which he retracted his earlier statements about the historicity of the ninja. Worth a read, at least the conclusion if not the whole thing. It's free on the internet.

[@stars_song1156]

Keeping in mind that black dye was difficult and expensive to make for a lot of history. Only the rich could afford it. For ninja re-dyeing clothes for a maybe better affect on specifically the new moon (if you have ever been in the country on a new moon nothing is blue and you are lucky if you can see your own feet), this would be a waste of time. "Good-quality black dyes were not known until the middle of the 14th century. The most common early dyes were made from bark, roots or fruits of different trees; usually walnuts, chestnuts, or certain oak trees"(Wikipedia) and these more often produced a grey cloth which would have to be darkened by dyeing it many times or starting with a BLUE cloth. I can't find when these dyes made their way to Japan specifically, but their might be some answers in trading routs. Maybe with different dyes ninja did use black sometimes, maybe these were the ones more often caught, maybe it is a fabrication for dramatic affect. but I think looking into what black dyes were available via trade of the Japanese landscape will help. All the best with possible answers Love your videos

[@PJDAltamirus0425]

There is a cheap way to make black, it isn’t long lasting at all and risky. Smoking the fabric.

[@Fabio-Jose-DragonKing]

LOVE YOUR CONTENT! You always make My day! (Daniel here gaijin still huge fan)😊😊😊😊❤❤❤❤

[@OverlordMMM]

I have a couple questions and theories. First, is it possible that some ninjas had utilized kuroko stage hand costumes in order to blend into settings where entertainment was being had? Just a single instance of this, or even rumors of it occurring, could account for some of the lore behind the color of ninja outfits. Second, how well does the navy blue of ninja outfits blend in while indoors? Against any kind of human made lighting, wouldn't black be closer to the the color of shadows? I know that while travelling or moving between buildings it would definitely be appropriate, but if one were to be within a large enough building, wouldn't blue stand out a bit more? This would be a very situational case and uncommon, but maybe a possibility. Third, maybe it's a case that in artistic renderings, black is just a really good contrast to use compared to blue, even if blue would be more accurate. If the focus of an art piece is the ninja, it's possible that they wanted it to pop for the viewer, especially if a lot blue was already used for the surrounding.

[@Sovreign071]

I heard/read the same story about it being based off of stage hands. It was even suggested that at least one play had a character assassinated by a ninja who was hidden among them, giving the impression that the Ninja simply appeared out of no where, and the vanished back into the shadows. That said, I DON'T know which play this could be, so I can't even cite it properly. Very interested to see if there's a follow up after some brainstorming. Sorry I got nothing.

[@vampirehunter9047]

“It’s like trying to make a power rangers series without sentai suits” way to call out cosmic fury

[@ArdvarkTerbick]

As someone with a bit of experience mixing paint. It was most likely a time saving measure, as that shade of blue would require mixing. While it's composite colors blue & black would be very easy to get your hands on. The over powering nature of black would not only make it very tedious to produce, but also very tedious to keep it consistent throughout the painting. To give you an idea on how tedious it is, I once tried mixing light gray. It took me about 5 min to make it. As every time I went too light, I had to re-add black, & it always set me back to square one. & Worst of all, it would only last for about 1 min. So ya, when you spending just as much, if not more time mixing one color, then painting the whole thing. It's easier to just say "screw it", & swap to black.

[@theinfrnoblazer]

You know, in a play, it'd be kind of mind breaking if you took one of those "background special effects workers" and had them suddenly become part of the forefront and story. Imagine it like the people in green suits in a greenscreen movie ripping the bodysuit off to become part of the movie. The effect would be so much stronger in the plays though because they wouldn't be tearing off the "special effects" suit, they'd be jumping into the story AS a "non entity"

[@MagicalMaster]

I think that while the plays may be part of it, the shifting of light, as in the larger well lit cities got, the more a black outfit would blend in with the dark shadows cast by artificial light. So it's also practical. The orange and yellow light of fire tends to cast a darker shadow than the silver of the moon.

[@Maswartz226]

13:29 Cosmic Fury did just that. For better or for worse depending on who you ask...

[@ZackExplorer28]

wait, they aren't using Sentai footage?

[@GokuSS400]

he should have been more specific and said "no sentai footage." Although it's a bit of a stretch to say that Cosmic Fury reuses the Ryusoulger suits to a degree (they at least are reusing the helmets). at the same time, Cosmic Fury also has a lot of things that are completely unique to it and exist nowhere in either Ryusoulger or Kyuranger.

[@westXninja]

Although this is a good head scratcher. I still think the shift from blue to black has to do with lighting. Tho maybe it was changed over the years as generations tend to change. But i could be way wrong. But also i would like to know how we can apply old ninja techniques into modern day. That would be an interesting topic.

[@Meshawroo]

So ... to me it just sounds like ninja=cool black=cool, ninja=black

[@dragoon4530]

Okay but having a play where a ninja character is dressed like one of the stage hands then just jumps out and assassinates a main character would be such a sick theatrical device.

[@willhicks7027]

I have an idea, since Ninja are trained to survive they could have worn Black as they climbed moutains and winter months to keep warm as travel clothes. Navy blue is still the best for infiltrations at night and they have used colors that fits stealth but the common black can fit the absorption of heat.

[@thetribunaloftheimaginatio5247]

I think the whole thing began as a visual signifier, the way wizards are associated with pointy hats and long, flowing robes and doctors always wear a stethescope and/or a parabolic reflector (that's the headband with the shiny metal disc)... so the audience can tell at a glance what that character's occupation/skill-set is supposed to be. Guy in a pointy hat? He'll be the one throwing fireballs. Guy with parabolic reflector? He'll heal you. Guy in the ricky-tickin' black pajamas? He's the guy who's gonna sneak about to stab unsuspecting sods in the back. "If I don't wear the hat, how will people know I'm a wizard?"

[@zomfragger]

I think the answer was discovered back in the which ninja batman episode. According to to Japanese cenus data there was a population boom during the 1700's. Also alot of power was consolidated into cities rather than villages after the country was reunified in the 1600's. This ment ninja had to adapt to the cities were their iconic blue uniforms would stand out. They changed to black uniforms to better blend into the dimly lit streets of cities like Kyoto.

[@autobotskyflame6287]

I've finally started assembling my Orks. I can't wait to see what you do next in the idea

[@SKy_the_Thunder]

I wouldn't be surprised if the choice of black has the same reason that black is associated with stealth over blue today as well. It's just more intuitive for a person who hasn't really spent any time looking into actual stealth tactics. Hide in darkness => as dark as possible => black. Without actually diving into how exactly moonlight affects the perception or how much contrast you need to identify a shape in "complete darkness" (aka dark enough where people claim that they "can't see anything") the various shades of blue may just feel too "abstract". It could also be a case of artistic exaggeration. Like any other costume in kabuki, the stealthy Ninja was depicted with the most extreme version of the traits associated with them - including their outfit not only being "somewhat dark-ish", but "pitch black". Not just some faded blue-ish hue as if someone had washed it too many times over the years, but a pristine and well maintained dark garb. They're supposed to be understood as a serious and skilled threat in the context of the play after all, not just some random dusty peasant that somehow snuck in.

[@GameShamus]

Been waiting for this episode for years 💙

[@awesomechameleon1536]

I was under the impression that the "Ninja wear black because of kuroko" was not because it represented stealth, but as a meta joke of the ninja infiltrating using yonin disguised as a irl kuroko

[@newhelmfun72]

Interesting idea. Well to ideas your video gave me. 1. Some ninjas disguised themselves as other professionals, like shadows on a stage perhaps? 2. Same idea but for the play itself, playwrights always try strange things for incorporating the 4th wall or audience, good surprise factor, so in play a ninja disguises as a stage hand till boom, shows up in the story "out of no where" to the characters

[@dasirrlicht5415]

My guess was pretty much 'Cheap Ink is sometimes Black' so art depicting the dark blues will, for cost reasons, just use black. Throw that cost-efficient version at the europeans that do not know any better, and they just drag that depiction back after a while.

[@roycehuepers4325]

Well, long story short, light a candle in a dark room. As to why they wore normal clothes, if you notice, they're usually depicted with a blue hue but they are of course the normal everyday clothes. In the prepper community, this is a called a gray man tactic. Basically, the clothes over the black gives them a way to scope a target and then at night change to black. In the prepper community, which we actually got from CIA tactics, you'd bring a change of clothes in a non descript bag and such. Really good videos on the subject from channels like Survival Dispatch. Now, I should point out the black could be shorthand for any dark clothes. I'm not sure if that's the exact reason, just based on similar modern examples, it seems to be likely. The most likely reason though would be in the cities, they were lighting buildings with candles to a similar degree we do today. Unnatural light of any kind casts shadows.

[@ThatSonOfAGlitch]

Knowing our luck, whatever material used to illustrate/color ninja garb started off as blue but turned black over the MANY years due to oxidation

[@DuranmanX]

Funny how this happened again recently with Princess Peach

[@Aflay1]

The greatest trick that ninja ever pulled on humanity was convincing us they ever existed at all.

[@garretwoeller7669]

I assumed black was used since some ninjas were simple farmers that its easier to get black colored clothes then it is go get dark blue clothes. Plus I assumed Black was for interiors like castles and compounds with lots of torches.

[@tedweird]

TMK, the actual answer is in-between: ninja started being associated with black due to the association with the kuroko, not that the kuroko themselves were considered ninja (although iirc, there was at least one scene where a kuroko unmasks to reveal they actual did exist in-universe as a ninja). Basically, both ninja and kuroko are unseen, nonexistent in-setting, one metaphorically (kuroko) and the other *mystically* (ninja). Eventually the association blurred the truth, as many things about ninja become blurred tend to (see clones, fireballs, etc). This, potentially along with some of the other factors mentioned, is how ninjas came to stereotypically be in black: it just became another part of their legend

[@SaintofM]

I remember being in the put orchestra for a highschool production of Fidler on the roof in the early 2000s. Stage hands moving scenery (or rescuimg a stuck fidler on a roof) and they wore black for the same reasons mentioned

[@Tanookicatoon]

This is the first time in, like Five years I was finally suggested a video by you, and I've been bell subbed to you for longer than that.

[@GaijinGoombah]

Welcome back!

[@Bysthedragon]

I heard about a Kabuki play were they used one of the stagehands as a secret Ninja because the audience was expected to be ignoring them so when the stage hand pulls a knife and assassinated one of the characters it was like a modern "Gotcha!" moment in movies where the Audience would be surprised like "Oh my gosh! There's the Ninja!"

[@Hc2p3n4t4rp]

One of the reasons you gave me is a reason I give the MK ninjas The blue was choosen to hide in the moonlit night But that wont work under different enviorments, Scorpion is yellow couse he hides in fire, smoke grey cause, well, he hides in smoke Blue may have been the color of the open night, but black could be the color of indoor shadows There is also another comment that gave 2 really good reasons in 1 comment, the first is the one most mention about light pollution, but the other he did was about "learned behivior" that I really liked, cause its been proven to be a thing

[@shadeknight6537]

I was wondering where the stereotype of ninjas holding a scroll in their mouth came from. Now I know it's from a kabuki play.

[@ImminDragon]

The explanation I had heard was that it stemmed from the stage hands wearing black, because they were meant to be ignored, so when they revealed themselves by attacking, they "appeared from nowhere" to the audience who would have not known they were an actor in the play. Problem with that is, I have absolutely no idea when that would supposedly have actually happened. Couldn't name a play that actually did it. I couldn't even tell you if that's a modern concept or not. It could, very easily, be a bit like the modern fixation on the katana. Sure, traditional samurai may have *had* katana, but they didn't treat it as the be-all-end-all of weapons. The near supernatural, practically divine, viewpoint of them didn't start until a katana would have been more common on a stand than a person. The bow was an extremely important weapon to samurai, but a daisho stand is just so much more visually appealing than what is, in essence, a long stick.

[@EclipsePheniox]

I know I'm a bit late, but this is the thing about history. Parts of it get so muddled and complex that there may not even be a straightforward answer. Hell it could be all that was mentioned here, we may never find a direct answer. But it's always fun to theorise and think about.

[@jadegecko]

Whenever I hear about this topic, all I can think about is Ninja III: The Domination where the ninja on the golf course was in olive drab

[@marikuami6840]

what if being dressed head to toe in black has a different symbolic meaning then just stealth attire or for theater which is why some depictions show it under regular clothes, as you stated...just a thought

[@frankwest5388]

I could imagine that the ninja = black stagehand trope could come from the same place where many other popular tropes come from. An iconic fourth wall break that deconstructed a trope. Like what if back in the day there existed a stage play that is now lost to time, where out of nowhere a Ninja is meant to appear and the director cleverly wrote it as “the stagehand reveals himself as the ninja character”. But as time went on the original stage play that popularized the idea was lost. A bit like how no one really knows here the western trope of “knight saves Princess from a dragon in a lone tower” comes from, despite us all being aware of it.

[@earthboundkid1]

Surly it has to be because of the advancement of lighting technology and light pollution but proving that would be hard to show

[@traveling47]

This is a great video and I'll be watching it again for sure. Love seeing all the art.

[@platinumraven118]

The way I heard the connection to Kabuki theater wasn't just generally the stage Hands wearing black. It was an event in a specific Kabuki play where a stage hand stepped from the background to kill a character, going from the roll of non-existent to ninja in a single motion, then sneaking back into the stage hand's anonymity. Now this is just something I have heard in passing on KZbin shorts some years ago, but it stuck with me cause it sounded like a cool event

[@Tool30301]

In terms of the tribute art to actors in the play,I guess the artist included the stagehands seeing them as important to the play as the actors and included them in?And showed the eyes of the people behind the curtain.

[@Morgil27]

"It's like trying to make a Power Rangers series with no Sentai suits" And yet that's what Hasbro wants to do from now on 🤦‍♂️

[@JadeFalcon07]

Having a hard time searching for the new channel. Keep getting videos of fancy cakes.

[@neosuduno]

There is still one episode that explains it, even if people forgot it. Batman shows why black would be better than blue in the modern age; light pollution.

[@mathiascroqvist4719]

I believe that that the "Black shizoku" underneath the regular clothing can be a form of metaphor for "Those who have hidden agendas" essentially another form of "We all wear masks". They could include the shizoku underneath the regular clothes in art to show that someone or rather Anyone could be a ninja with a hidden objective and you'd never know it till they strike at you. You yourself said they disguised themselves as literal everyday people from monks to farmers and even merchants so they could walk around without problems. Who's to say they couldn't use that very same tactic to get into close friendships with targets over time and strike to eliminate them and "revealing their hidden agenda" or "Taking off the mask" so to speak.

[@norahhiroki]

(I'm just assuming) maybe they had both according to their mission, like missions that required to be done outside of a house or a castle they wear blue, and missions that would be done inside a house or a castle they wear black. But then ninjas missions became more to be done from the inside so they wore black more and invented ways to sneak in while wearing black, and with that black became the well known one. that's just a theory

[@lvcsslacker]

man I had a time finding your new channel. I found stuff about quilting... Kinda interesting.

[@gamithemighty5932]

my guess is they are meant to represent theft death and assassination, a lot of popular media depicts ninja as some sort of assassin or assailant or henchman. the black in the more industrial age would probably have an easier time fitting into the more fantastical representation of night, so having an assassin stand out in a black outfit in a more urban setting of a fantasized night setting would make it easier to see them in media, and also represent what those particular characters were there to do. get in, kill or steal from their target and get out without being caught. its more likely an urbanized mythos than a more historical impression. built to give off that, assassin or intrusive appearance. kind of like a burglar or a hit man.

[@MeepChangeling]

Mabey its like why Ticonderoga changed their penlightpencils from orange-yellow to pure yellow. Black dye suddenly became cheaper than blue.

[@johntheechidna1]

If the whole ninja wearing blue or black thing caused some veins to burst, I would think you'd be a bloody wreck wrapping your head around the myriad of colors worn by Naruto's so-called ninja.

[@Korusuro1981GamingAnimeA-id6th]

That's great for people who live near places that are connected to Japan and can access them, but not so much for those of us who do not have any access to those places and festivals, as well for someone like me who has never been to Japan.

[@komodrasteel8019]

Time for a Ninja Bounty hunt

[@shiekko]

I have zero confirmation on this, but I was told that the theater connection came from one performance where the aforementioned stage hands in their all black costumes used that perceived "ignore me!" quality to shock the audience by having one/some of them suddenly do something plot relevant: an assassination in the play. Again, this is all third-hand information, probably inaccurate, but I believed it at the time

[@trontheblackranger]

My theory. Theaters needed a shorthand costume to denote a ninja, and it being easier and probably cheaper to have many black costumes made than to make sure the same shade of blue was used each time, the black ninja outfit became the iconic look.

[@SmileyTrilobite]

Date Masamune was said to have founded a band of ninja called the Kurohabakigumi (黒脛巾組) named after their black leg wear. This was in Mutsu Province in what is now Miyagi Prefecture. They were said to be his eyes and ears in disguise in various regions. They were also in charge of transporting goods and people, so maybe their eponymous legwear was for non-disguise jobs.

[@DrakonLameth]

As others have commented, my knowledge of a "source" for black-garb ninja is here-say stories about someone having a stagehand come on stage to handle something, and then *stab*, it's really a ninja, out of "nowhere"... also helps the semi-joke name of "stage ninjas" for stagehands.

[@jlee3479]

Watching your videos made watching house of ninjas so much more entertaining... I think this is the mist accurate ninja media has ever seen

[@kazekamiha]

That Usagi Yojimbo issue gave me an idea; what if the depiction of ninja went black to allow them to contrast against the sky? Maybe not in plays but in illustrations? I mean if you paint the sky blue and the ninja blue *but* want the viewer to see the ninja that's not gonna work out... but if you paint him black...

[@RiverChaos]

Pigments for paint way back then were difficult to make for certain colors, and the more rare the pigment the more expensive it was to make. Shades of blue (and all shades of purple) were mostly made for the extremely wealthy and powerful (for example the Catholic clergy during Medieval Europe and the Renaissance with their menagerie of colorful robes and paintings).

[@Kreiser_VII]

4:59 I went INSANE when I saw you finally give the name of that song, I HAVE BEEN WANTING TO KNOW THAT FOR YEARS (and may've missed it on previous uploads, oops) and... Looked it up and still can't find it, ah dammit. Oh well, it's still a banger whenever I watch your vids :3 God it's good to watch your stuff again, this was lovely and can't wait to see what else comes from this topic. NGL, the first thing that I thought of as soon as you started wrapping up the video was Super Sentai/Power Ranger style ninja suits that are used to blend to very unique scenarios... That actually sounds like a very nice drawing challenge.

[@Maswartz226]

I always heard the kuroko story, plus these days yeah black would blend in the night better.

[@merakimelodies8931]

I had heard something from somewhere.about white being seen as the color of death in Japan, but not in a negative sense, and that Samurai would often where a white article of clothing (often a hachigane or unarmored-headband, if I’m not mistaken), so depicting shinobi as wearing black was a way for artists and story-tellers to depict that the shinobi’s goal and conduct was opposite of the role of the samurai (even if they were the same individual, a samurai acting as a shinobi, the role was very different), and it also showed that they were not looking to meet an honorable death, but to endure and survive past a mission. I am not saying this is necessarily-true-and/or-accurate, but it is just what I believe I may have heard once. I hope this is useful! 😄

[@MrJuCes]

I always guessed that it was due to an assassination attempt or mission gone awry that a ninja actually posed as a stage hand. And thought one artist was referencing that event and it just stuck

[@wiselkhzhang7853]

Perhaps the connection is due saying about being a ninja? Like stealthy and fast as a ninja. That could be the merging of ninja and kabuki?

[@Hero_of_Comedy]

Here's a fun tidbit. I created a gaming-themed superhero character who can plug games into his body to turn into the game characters. And one of the original game concepts I imagined for him to play was something I call Dragoninja, which I re-watched a lot of Which Ninja videos to take inspiration from so my ninja dragon would be as accurate as possible.

[@TheBottegaChannel]

Quick story about an experiment I performed that leads me into my answer for your inquiry about today's video topic. So, I ran an experement to figure out what colors would work well in an urban terrain because of your " real ninja wear blue" jingle. To clarify paramiters of the experement, all I did was see which people got startled by me saying " Hello." or " Good Evening." To them as I sat on the poarch of my house in full view, slightly in shadow cast by the street light on the opposite corner ( as my house's poarch is on a directly adjacent corner lot). I dressed in 6 colors: Blue, black, charcoal grey, green, eye gouging orange/ yellow and chestnut/ coffee brown. My experements showed that the brown spectrum of attire, charcoal grey, and blue colors allowed me to startle people equally well ( about 90% of the time) because all except 10% of people walking after dark didn't see me. Black and green were effective at about 60% of the time, and hazard colors ( walmart neon yellow/ orange) oddly didn't get noticed 40% of the time. 😂 This led me to question the efficacy of the " ninjas wear black" trope and how it came about. Then, about half a year later, you post this video. My answer to it? Most likely the artists started perpetuating the idea because of a multitude of socio- economic criteria. Greyscale, black and white images are easier in some cases to fabricate then the hues and shades of various colors. Same goes for various neutral colors and natural colors for making antiquated forms of dyes and inks. Throw in popular media of the time " plays, grandpa's old war stories, people telling tall tales in various " establishments", etc..." you can kinda get an idea where artists could minimize costs on ink/ paint colors and simply " embellish" key black and white images with bits of color to make the image more striking. Do this for about a generation, and you end up raising kids who think " Real ninja wear black!" instead of blue. Also note, four of the neutral colors used as bases for old ukio prints/ paintings that cause accent colors to pop? Black, charcoal grey, brown and green.

[@DragonFae16]

Maybe the reason is that a kabuki troupe decided to add ninjas to their performances, and they needed to give them a costume that would set them apart from the other actors. They gave them black because it's a colour none of the other actors would be wearing it. And to make it clear they were separate from the kuroko, other clothes were put on top of their black outfit.

[@Rioluman10]

I've always found issue with the idea that ninja wore blue anyway. The only time they'd be worrying about being seen against a blue sky is from above, which if you know anything, nobody ever looks up. On the other hand, blue occurs almost nowhere in nature or common building materials. Wood? Brown. Stone? Tan or grey? Brick or mud: red, brown, tan, or grey. And from what I've seen of Japanese architecture, painting things blue wasn't a common practice.

[@corjoth]

So, for my take; The black Ninja is probably a Riff on the stage hand, and indication of the attempt to not exist (be stealthy) in settings where there is no need for a stage hand. As for no Black Costume Ninja in Kabuki, it defeats the purpose of having stagehands in black (not existing), and you want the characters to be recognized as characters. Logistically, I could also see the Indigo dye being more expensive than charcoal ink. A lot of this is Occam's Razor, I admit, but it makes the most sense.