Thought I’d post a link in case anyone hasn’t yet seen the Nitaboh movie. Having read about him, it’s neat to see his story wrapped up into an animated feature. Those of us starting on a nagauta shamisen can feel a little better after seeing this. ;]
NITABOH, the Shamisen Master
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=1ZN3J9TM
Nice playing at the end! Didn’t watch the movie itself because it didnt seem to have many shamisen playing parts.
Oh I guess I’ll watch this but I just stumbled upon one of my all time favorite movies on youtube and gonna woohoo watch this now I got a bit of a cold and stayed home today this is perfect I haven’t seen this in years . . .
lol bloodsport 
seen that one
Excellent, I’ll check that out.
lol The full, uncut, version of Commando is up there now too!
Get it while it’s hot!
(Man, how off-topic can ya get?)
I would rather have seen it executed in late 80s action format also. Bloodsport deals with some similar themes… blindness/sand in eyes, broken legs/skins… ;]
@Karl - Ya, for those who aren’t as interested in the story, skip straight to Nitaboh’s solo:
I see Mr. Kmetz has done an outstanding rendition also, featuring the movie poster on his wall, hah!
Speaking of shamisen movies… Does anyone have any insider information on whether the film Birth of California Shamisen will ever be made available? It looks like it premiered a while back.
somehow the megavideo player hangs on my suboptimal netbook mobile system so I could only enjoy watching Bloodsport and one of Arnold’s finest so far 
similar themes well I didn’t see the nitaboh movie yet but in case it got any ninja esque stuff in it like Bloodsport I would surely enjoy watching it even more . . .
There is an amazing movie called Overdrive. Masahiro Nitta and his father Hiroshi both start in it. It has demonic battles, a custom legit multi-neck shamisen created for the movie, and a lovable protagonist.
As far as I know it’s only in Japanese and I’m not sure if there is a link for it.
The Nitaboh movie is a must-watch for any serious player (unless you plan on reading the book of his history. The Tsugaru-Shamisen playing was done by Agatsuma, so that in itself should be enough to entice you.
As far as “The Birth of California Shamisen”, I’m not sure. I was there for it’s premier, but still have nothing to go off (and it’s been 4 years). I do have it on VHS, so if you want to come over we can watch it, lol.
I suggest sending Kevin Kmetz a Private Message.
To keep on the subject of random videos…
Anybody here enjoy watching pro latte art? 
Nice Grant. I wasn’t going to watch nitaboh but you made me change my mind
and good work Kyle for keeping up the random lol ( never watched latte art but it actually is pretty neat :D)
from kyles link i got here im a cook so i felt i needed to see and link this food is amazing
demonic battles and shamisen and them? I shall keep an eye out for this movie . . . although my japanese ends at uh anata wa donata deska so I would probably need subtitles to enjoy all aspects of the movie . . .
Latte art is totally cool I once wanted to get into that but since I drink coffee black usually I figured it would be sort of a hassle to get into serious ongoing training so on occasion some cocoa on top of some foam gotta do
since I guess anyone here is somewhat into japanese culture I would like to repeat that in case anyone stumbles upon this topic or post knowing of a good ninjutsu movie please let me know anytime . . .
I did learn a bit about it over the years and like its simple constructive natural realistic and peaceful philosophy that got nothing to do with 80s action movies as much as I like those too . . .
Well I just saw this video over at MemeBase and I felt it applies to your request. It’s also funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0t71cexWzvM
woohoo . . . close to what I’m looking for
since I just watched it still recovering from my cold gonna stay home tomorrow too and to keep this thread off topic war games anyone?
Hi BH,
I heartily recommend:
Anything by Kurosawa (especially Yojimbo and The Seven Samurai)
For more ‘ninja-action’ type mvies you can’t go wrong with The Hunted:
Also, The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise is actually pretty good. Ken Watanabe rocks!
Plus it has ninja who actually look like they’re using taijutsu!
Man, I’m such a geek!
Enjoy!
If you like samurai movies you should definitely watch Lonewolf and cub movies there are like 5 parts or something … They are awesome
I agree on Ortjo’s suggestion. There are some american dubbed versions that combines parts of those movies. One is called Shogun Assassin and is pretty fun.
Anime: Samurai Champloo is a nice anime with the classic japanese rivalry between two characters. Of course you can’t miss Basilisk which not only has epic characters and epic violence, but also epic music.
But the most realistic ninjutsu movies you’ll ever see are the American Ninja movies.
hey thanks for the suggestions (last link not working Matt) I shall explore youtube some more too I thought it would probably be a waste of time . . .
so maybe there is some good stuff out there on the other hand Terence Hill in a ninja movie is also a great find I should probably dig out those Stephen Hayes books I bought at the local supermarket when I was a kid and see if my fingers might have become more flexible through playing the sem . . .
(definitely a great book is essence of ninjutsu by hatsumi available at amazon)
anyway hey this clip is actually cool not to mention it features a hot kunoichi
Happy Halloween everyone . . .
Awesome stuff there guys! The video with the 9 kuji-in (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuji-in) is pretty awesome, lol.
I am a practitioner of Ninjutsu (also known as Bujinkan), and most movies you find are not at all accurate, but there are some that have been choreographed by Hatsumi Masaaki, in which case, the combat is accurate to the traditional fighting styles.
My dojo produces a ninja blog ( http://www.youtube.com/user/NinjaLearningNetwork ) if you ever want to check it out. If you look hard enough, you’ll find me on there!
The hand gestures (a lot of people associate them with Naruto and what-not) are a lot of fun, and meant to be body and mind triggers that help you meditate and access the elements that each one of them embodies.
There is one movie I recommend for sure, Shinobi no Mono; it was choreographed by the Bujinkan’s grandmaster.