When Ninjas United Japan Through Basketball
In most stories about the Sengoku period, sixteenth-century Japan is portrayed as an era of prolonged warfare. Daimyo fought over territory, armies moved from one battlefield to another, and ninjas lived amid strategy, espionage, and conflict. Under the direction of the Japanese creative collective NINJA BASKETBALL ANONYMOUS, led by Takaya Mitsunaga, NINJA BASKETBALL ARMY emerged from a speculative question: what if basketball had existed in Japan during the Sengoku era?
On May 27, the project was officially launched as a story-driven brand inspired by the NBA. From that premise grew an alternate universe that blends Japanese history, American basketball culture, design, fashion, and character development. In this world, regional rulers exhausted by endless warfare reach an agreement. The unification of Japan is no longer pursued through swords and bloodshed. Instead, they choose a ball game.
In the narrative developed by NINJA BASKETBALL ARMY, the game traces its origins to temari, a traditional ball game that has existed since the Heian period. Ninjas who once devoted themselves to combat begin training in a new discipline. Swords and shuriken are set aside. In their place, they carry basketballs.
The game gradually evolves into what becomes known as basketball. Players score points by throwing a ball into peach baskets, a symbol long associated in Japanese folklore with warding off evil spirits. From there, each region develops its own distinctive style of play, incorporating unique movements, strategies, and ninja techniques.
Every ninja character is given a team identity and a kamon, or family crest, designed around the historical and cultural characteristics of different regions across Japan. These visual elements help anchor the fictional world in a recognizable cultural framework.
Typography also plays an important role in the project. NINJA BASKETBALL ARMY uses Ninja Letter, a typeface developed in collaboration with the Ueno Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Iga City, a region closely associated with ninja history. The font draws inspiration from Jindai Moji, an ancient script that has long been the subject of debate among historians and scholars of Japanese culture.
Within the NINJA BASKETBALL ARMY universe, this script functions as a secret communication system used by ninjas. Its coded forms appear in written documents and even in knotted cords that serve as tools for transmitting messages.
This approach makes the project feel closer to a work of world-building found in films or video games than to a conventional fashion brand launch. Storytelling, character design, symbols, and visual language are woven together to create a cohesive narrative universe.
The next chapter of the project will take shape through an exhibition titled SHOMEI, which will be held in Daikanyama, Tokyo, from June 13 to June 21. The exhibition will feature artworks, official merchandise, and apparel collections presented within a space that brings together basketball culture and Japanese aesthetics. Traditional Japanese gardens and immersive exhibition design will help translate this alternate world into a physical experience.
Timed ahead of the 2026-27 NBA season, the exhibition will offer the public its first opportunity to step directly into the world of NINJA BASKETBALL ARMY.
