Big news, people: Hiroko and I have been working with Kodansha International on a top-secret sequel to Yokai Attack! This time we took a detour from fantasy into history, and the result is "Ninja Attack! True Tales of Assassins, Samurai, and Outlaws." It is on sale now at bookstores all over the world! Ninja Attack chronicles the totally real-life adventures of the bad-asses who made ninja a household name -- and how they changed pop culture around the world.
The idea behind Ninja Attack started from a simple question: Japan didn't invent the concept of assassins or espionage. So why are ninja the poster children for clandestine behavior around the world today? We uncovered a wealth of stories and vintage art that helps explain why. It's a collection of true tales of the men and women "behind the mask."
Featuring all-new illustrations by the talented manga artist Yutaka Kondo, who was a consultant on the Ninja Scroll anime series, it covers more than a thousand years of Japanese history. Although it's anchored firmly in fact, fans of ninja in fiction will find it a tantalizing guide to the true stories behind some of their favorite characters, from Hattori Hanzo to Ishikawa Goemon to Yagyu Jubei and more.
It also delves deep into the history of ninja in pop culture, such as Jiraiya, Sarutobi Sasuke, and Kirigakure Saizo -- all of whom live on today in modern fare such as "Naruto." And a book-within-a-book explores their tools, weapons, tactics, places they lived, and more. It is a one-stop guide to ninja legend and lore.
Order it at Amazon.co.jp, Amazon USA, or your favorite bookstore today! It's everything you wanted to know about ninja... but were afraid you'd get a shuriken in the eye if you asked!
I'll take five!
Posted by: wah | June 22, 2010 at 09:36 AM
Another amazing title & you can be sure I’ll be buying a copy.
Do you cover author of the ninpōchō series, Fūtarō Yamada (who was a major influence in Naruto, Ninja Scroll, Basilisk, Y+M, Naruto, the band Onmyōza and so forth?)
Posted by: Leonardo Boiko | June 22, 2010 at 10:41 AM
You can't talk ninja without talking Yamada Futaro , but his appearance is an oblique one: similar to Yokai Attack, we based the descriptions of the ninja we profiled off of historical rather than pop-cultural references.
Posted by: MattAlt | June 22, 2010 at 10:56 AM
Brilliant!
Posted by: Seanbonner | June 22, 2010 at 11:01 AM
Any Hatsumi Masaaki interviews?
Posted by: Jason Fetters | June 22, 2010 at 06:44 PM
Alas no.... But he is quoted in the intro, and the founder of his clan/school, Togakushi Daisuke, is profiled!
Posted by: MattAlt | June 22, 2010 at 06:57 PM
Looks like another awesome book from you guys. Congratulations.
Posted by: Edward | June 22, 2010 at 08:38 PM
Looks like fun, there are far too few books in English that attempt to cover historical ninja. In fact the only one's I trust are the two from Stephen Turnbull. Most of the others are fantasy just trying to make a fast buck.
Looking forward to buying this one.
Posted by: Gilles Poitras | June 22, 2010 at 11:17 PM
Wow! But it looks like a long wait... But just in time for me to defend myself against serious swordsmen and shifty spies.
Posted by: Iamnotatwit | June 23, 2010 at 02:06 AM
This looks fascinating and fun. I've never really been all that ninja obsessed - or even interested, truth be told - but a chance to snack at the real facts and legends via your established approach is not to be missed. Like "Yokai Attack!", this is bound to lead to deeper reading. Can't wait!
Posted by: cae | June 24, 2010 at 09:05 AM
Nice - looking forward to picking it up. Congrats on the release!
Posted by: Jeff Lippold | July 04, 2010 at 12:55 AM
Any chance this book will be stocked in Australia?
Posted by: Alex | July 06, 2010 at 03:27 PM
It most definitely will be. This is a worldwide release through Kodansha International. I will post local release information as it comes in; Asia/Oceania should be a few months after Japan release.
Posted by: MattAlt | July 06, 2010 at 04:20 PM
Hi Matt! I thoroughly enjoyed your "Yokai Attack!" and will be buying this one. Would you mind if I do a short piece on "Ninja Attack!" for my own blog up at www.johnpaulcatton.com?
Posted by: John Paul Catton | July 25, 2010 at 12:58 PM
By all means! Be my guest.
Posted by: MattAlt | July 25, 2010 at 05:05 PM
Thanks Matt! Looking forward to buying it.
Posted by: John Paul Catton | July 27, 2010 at 02:12 PM
Just picked this up today! Will definitely procrastinate everything I have to do tomorrow while I read it! It goes on the shelf right next to Yokai Attack and Hello, Please!
You get an A +!
Posted by: Chris | September 03, 2010 at 11:03 PM
Thanks!! Did you pick it up in Japan, or abroad, out of curiosity?
Posted by: MattAlt | September 04, 2010 at 09:54 AM
In Kansai. I visited this blog a while back when I first purchased Yokai Attack (being a bit of a Yokai fan) and inquired about all the wacky Japanese characters kicking about and you recommended 'Hello, Please'.. Of course I immediately went looking for that as well. Oh yeah, I recently married and moved to Japan (Kansai).
Looking forward to the next publication... any hints? More monsters I hope!
Posted by: Chris | September 04, 2010 at 10:02 PM
Ninja Attack is our latest. But we've always got something new cooking in the oven. Stay tuned and thanks for the support!
Posted by: MattAlt | September 07, 2010 at 12:36 PM
Will do!
Cheers
(ps.. have you been to the Yurei bar in Kichijoji? Think you'd like it. You'd have to look it up as I don't know the name. Good fun.
Posted by: Chris | September 07, 2010 at 06:59 PM
Hiroko actually covered the Yurei Izakaya for CNNGo:
http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/drink/three-holy-hangouts-275239
Posted by: MattAlt | September 08, 2010 at 08:37 AM
Awesome!
I had bad luck. I got 3 out of 4 Wasabi/Pepper Roulette bombs... friends had a good chuckle at my misfortune.
Posted by: Chris | September 08, 2010 at 11:57 AM
speaking of ninjas...has anyone seen that movie Ninja Assassin. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
Posted by: ambigram | April 28, 2011 at 04:45 AM