Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and those are martial artists, not ninjas. There's a big difference. Even I have studied some martial arts, but that doesn't make me a ninja. But if you want to go all "I studied ninjas at school because no one took me to the prom and they were the next big thing" (
) on me, here's a few facts that separate martial artists like Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee from ninjas.
A martial artist fights for self defense, and self defense
only. A true martial artist never, ever under any circumstance attack anyone. He or she will always try to talk their way out of trouble, run or fight back. In that order.
A ninja on the other hand uses martial art for combat, but only if he have to. His weapons of choice include the bow for long range attack, shuriken (or throwing star) for shorter attacks, ninja-to aka ninja sword for combat, and finally martial art if unarmed. And unlike what you might think from American Ninja movies, a ninja never kills anyone he never has to. He is paid to kill a target, and will kill that particullar target only. The exception is if he is caught, in which case he will try to run.
