Shinobi Shozoku
From Karate, Kungfu, Wrestling, Mixed Fighting Information Source
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The traditional ninja uniform or shinobi shozoku, was dark in colour, usually charcoal, navy blue, brown or dark red. It consisted of a mask which came as two pieces of cloth. The shorter piece covered the nose and mouth and the larger piece covered the head and neck. The jacket had overlapping lapels and was tucked into the trousers. It also had a number of secret pockets hidden within where the ninja could store small weapons and equipment. Gauntlets were also worn which covered the hands and forearms. The trousers were traditional hakama style but had ties at the knees and ankles. Split-toed shoes known as tabi were worn on the feet. Although worn for night attacks, ninja did not limit themselves to the shinobi shozoku. In the daytime, they would most likely dress in normal clothes and disguise themselves as musicians, priests or peasants so they could blend in with their environment. Female ninja would disguise themselves as geisha or household servants in order to gain entry to an enemy's castle and gather intelligence or misdirect battle plans. The black uniform popularised by 80's ninja movies, is derived from Japanese Kabuki theatre. The prop movers dressed in black so they would be less conspicuous as they moved items around the stage. Today's Ninjutsu or Budo Taijutsu practitioners train in black karate-style uniforms called gi and the split-toed shoes or boots called tabi. In the Bujinkan organisation (headed by Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi from Noda City in Japan), the ladies used to wear purple uniforms but that practice has largely died out. Within the Bujinkan, the junior grades have two belts, red for ladies and green for men. It has been known however for various classes to adopt both yellow and brown belts as indicators of higher ranked junior grades. In the United States the green belt is worn by all junior students regardless of gender.
