NINJA TRAINING WEAPONS

A ninja or shinobi (忍者) was a warrior specially trained in a variety of unorthodox arts of war, summarized by the term ninjutsu ("art of stealth"). These include assassination, illusion, and espionage. The assassination, espionage, and infiltration tasks of the ninja led to the development of specialized technology in concealable weapons and infiltration tools. Infiltrating at night, a ninja had to move quickly, silently, and that required lightweight equipment that gave him or her the greatest advantage with the least amount of weight to slow them down. Many ninja disguised themselves as farmers so their weapons (the kama, for example) could double as both weapons and farming implements. In fact, many martial tools used by fuedal forces around the world have their roots in farming implements, such as pruning devices (kama), and the like.  Many ninja also viewed their hands as weapons to be used in combat. To be able to attack their enemies with enough force to damage them, ninja would often wrap cloth, leather, or wear metal gloves around their hands to avoid breaking their knuckles and immobilizing them. (From Wikipedia)