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Video: Spartan vs. Ninja

A TV show uses some fancy-looking measurements to determine which of the two great warrior types would win in single combat:

Who do you think would win in an actual fight?

Update: The video is down, but the episode is available here.

[hat tip to John L.]

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29 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - April 24, 2009 at 8:09 am

Categories: General Japan Tags:

LB

I think the one guy towards the end of the video got it exactly right – if a ninja saw a Spartan, he would run away. Ninjas were spies and assassins, not warriors. Most of the weapons in their repertoire were not killing weapons as such but were designed to slow down their pursuers so the ninja could get away. You are unlikely to kill someone with a shuriken or blowdart – especially if they are armored.

And the guy doing the overhand chop with the ninjatou early in the video really ought to learn how to use that thing. Japanese swords are not good chopping weapons. You slam even a well-made one into someone’s shoulder so it hits the clavicle, scapula and rib cage and you’ll probably break the damn blade. A katana is not a broadsword, and should not be used as one.

KB

Well, the ninja is still a myth along with all their weapons. Oh and since when did the ninja forge their own special sword? Weren’t they farmers who used every day tools?

This ninja art and weapons are modern recreations of what we think they could have been like. There is no documentation showing real ninja weapons or art
Ido

However the best, as in most deadly, nihontou swing is the overhead swing. That’s what Miyamoto Musashi mentions in his treaty lol

Bad Wolf

LB knows. I agree. Spartans were warriors; ninja were assasins. The media has really over-romanticized the ninja, but the black pajamas do look cool.
GK

pretty much what both said on the comments…. ninjas are assasins….. no way he would win against a spartan but….. a ninja can kill a spartan without the spartan knowing where the ninja is….. kinda goes to my point earlier on when the ninja was sneaking behind the spartan…. why didnt he use the blow gun there? lol
Coloris

agreeing with you both. at the end they just lenghted the fight to show all the weapons. a ninja would (probably) just used a poioned blowdart into the neck (or any other region that is free) as a first move, not the “look i’m here aiming at you with my blowgun” way they did in the clip
phalon

The problem with this is that they are saying that a ninja would approach the spartan in a frontal and fair fight. If you can tell they are a ninja right away, they are not a ninja.
The unnecessary flips were just horrible.
Peter

spartans were group soldiers – their greatest strenght lied in their tactics and formations when fighting in a group with other spartans… cant really doa 1v1 and say who is the better fighter

Deathoncrutches

That’s the thing though, it’s a myth that the Spartan is only good for team battle. They were first trained as solo warriors and then as in teams, they are just as strong in both. They are deadly in any form they are given

Richard

If it is some consolation, the Samurai beat the Viking last week on that show.

Bad Wolf

As I am a Viking myself, that is no consolation at all. In fact it sucks.

Richard

Well, if you’re planning on taking a longboat full of your Viking brethren to plunder Japan, try to find an area with more Ninjas than Samurai.

P.S. Bring a Spartan.

stupid

lol.. you must be the last one who survived all the centuries..

Soulraiserz

I concur with most of the above, Ninjas are assassins not warriors. A bad match up in terms of front to front.
http://l33tminion.livejournal.com/ L33tminion

Their algorithm seems to be more about the relative power of the weapons and less about tactics. In their dramatization, the ninja would have won if he’d just swung his sword silently at the beginning.
Hentaku

Ninja would have definitely won in a real-world situation. A more accurate fight would have been a samurai vs a spartan.
sam

1: what are those game makers smoking?
2: spartan were a name for the whole population. males, children, females. aside that the shield of this “Spartan” has a mark wich was used by Athens hoplites.
3: there are people inside of USA who cant buy the food for 3wnchildren but those arseholes waste millions on such shit show? WTF?

Bad Wolf

He stole the shield from a dead Athenian.

LB

Spartans don’t steal. He relieved the Athenian of it after beating him to death with it in an event which led to a new rule of Greek battle called the “Lyle Alzado Rule”.

xenolith

vid has been pulled from youtube but the full vid is available here

http://www.spike.com/full-episode/31578
http://miraloswallabies.splinder.com GT

The video is no longer available!
Roger

viacom resolved the issue by removing the video
stupid

Radio Erevan;
question; can a stoneage hunter win against M1 Abrams tank?
answer; yes, he can use TOW.
Hector

Actually, you are incorrect about the shield. The character depicted on it is Lambda, which corresponds to “L” for Lakedaimon (Λακεδαίμων) or Lakedaimonia (Λακεδαιμωνία); the ancient Greek name for the city itself. Athenians being like most other Greek City states required their soldiers to purchase their own armor and therefore their shield devises were not standardized, though some did have the Alpha character on it.

hmmm

actualy thats an athenian hoplite shield.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Without a scenario, you can’t say which would win.

Ninja gets the jump on a sleeping Spartan soldier, Spartan is dead.
Ninja faces a Spartan soldier prepared for battle head on, Spartan wins.
Spartan army plows through Japanese territory ready to do battle with ninja army, Spartan army wins.
Ninja army infiltrates Sparta, the Spartan army wouldn’t necessarily be diminished, but they would lose a few of their numbers.

The thing about ninja is that they’ve been highly romanticized, while the Spartan army was better documented. Spartan soldiers were simple human tanks of destruction who went out of their way to not get comfortable so that they could be mobilized on short notice. (For example, they slept on hard surfaces as a policy) Ironic, though, that the kanji for ninja are “enduring person”, whereas a Spartan soldier would consider a tatami mat a bed for the weak.
Morris Levy

The YouTube video has been removed for a copyright claim per Viacom International, Inc.
Luke

I completely agree with Alex. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Yes many of their facts are straight, and no I am almost sure they do not simulated the battle 1000 times. But Alex made a good point in that this battle was stupid. Ninja’s were assasins, spartans were human walls with weapons that you could stab a thousand times and they’d still fight. Honestly both warriors would have acted very differently in that they way they used their weapons…for example: the spartan only used his spear as a stabbing weapon…..spartans along with many other warriors used those type of spears as slashing weapons too. The ninja was pretty much like ” look at all the weapons I can use”. He would have never put away his sword unless he saw that he could not get close safely, therefore he would pull out the kama. These kinds of fights are situational. In a head to head battle, the spartan would probably win, but as Alex says…why was the ninja stupid enough to make noise to let the spartan know he was comging?
Daniel

Ninjas also were trained from chilhood, how often do you think they missed their marked. More than likley ,if they wanted to defeat a powerful Spartan, they probably blow their legs off. Ninjas were also experts in explosives even back then. So no contest.

Video: Spartan vs. Ninja

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