Black Ronin Ninja Ring

In keeping with the theme of close-in fighting implements, I thought I’d blog about an interesting variation on some traditional Asian weapons. Basically a modernized variation of traditional Chinese hand weapons, such as the sun and moon ring, or deer horn knife, they feature a crescent blade in either side of the handle, and a central standoff in the middle of each knife. This weapon is called:

Black Ronin Ninja Ring.

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The Black Ronin Ninja Ring is an interesting design, in that, in addition to having excellent slashing characteristics, it also incorporates the thrusting abilities of a straight blade, an ability that was notably absent in the last set of knives I blogged about.
Now one point I found quite interesting is how this knife is referred to as a “ninja” weapon. Personally I think it’s a little misleading, for many reasons. First, to my admittedly non-comprehensive knowledge, pretty much every weapon this knife could possibly be based on is of Chinese origin, while ninjas are of Japanese origin. Also Ninja, by nature, like to travel light, and would be more likely to carry a somewhat more compact close-in combat weapon, like Kama. So it seems to me unlikely that they would carry a weapon like this. This would be more suited for Chinese Kung-Fu than Ninjutsu.
But regardless of the idiosyncratic name, these weapons represent an interesting mix of old and new, combining several old weapon designs into a unique new contemporary design. Very cool.