“It is a part of our history. When all hope seemed loss, you confronted destruction with creation. Balance was restored. That is the power of Spinjitzu.”
— Master Wu

Spinjitzu is a close-combat martial arts technique in the world of Ninjago. It involves the user tapping into their inner balance while spinning rapidly, creating a tornado-like vortex of energy around themselves. It is the art of rotation, which adds force and momentum to blows.[1]


Spinjitzu grants the user the ability to create a tornado of energy and color around themselves while spinning. The user and element (if one is activated/being used) rotates rapidly, allowing quick perception and the ability to hit or spin enemies in the process. When slowed down (A Line in the Sand), it is visible that these tornadoes are made of small elemental particles which, when sped up, form a Spinjitzu tornado.

The speed and the blocked viewing of the user acquired inside the tornado allows a fast and efficient clothing change if the clothes are available. This has been used by the Ninja on several occasions to change from normal clothing into their Ninja suits.

In regards to transportation, the Spinjitzu tornado can move horizontally across surfaces at a rapid pace. This speed does not seem to be affected by stairs or the surface of still bodies of water. The user does not touch the ground (or surface below) while doing Spinjitzu, and hovers a few to several inches above. By propelling themselves upwards in a certain direction (using a jump or a running jump) and then doing Spinjitzu, the user can be carried through the air in that direction for a short time. This technique is most commonly used as a boost, but only more experienced users can keep themselves moving through the air long enough for it to be more effective then simply jumping the distance.

Without a weapon or active elemental power, the user's Spinjitzu becomes dramatically less effective in defense and offense. It becomes, simply, a user spinning rapidly, without any protection other than their body. The ninja have demonstrated its inefficiency throughout Season 2 (when they lacked their elemental powers, but still had weapons) by not relying on Spinjitzu as much. Misako (without an element or a weapon) and Wu (only a staff and an element that offered little offensive advantage) also lost a fight with the Stone Army, though that was likely more to do with the warriors outnumbering them and being invincible than ineffective Spinjitzu. Likewise, Spinjitzu has a massive toll on the user, requiring much energy to sustain, with individuals like the Ninja (at peak physical capability) only able to sustain a tornado for about fifteen seconds.

The user is also given the ability to wield the Golden Weapons properly. It is unknown if this only applies to those that use the Spinjitzu of the four main elements, or to any user of Spinjitzu. One of the things required to fully master Spinjitzu is to gain one's True Potential, unlocked once the person overcomes a personal problem that was preventing them from being at peace within themselves.

Verbal communication is possible while doing Spinjitzu, despite all motions being sped up. In one of the pilot episodes, when Jay first learns the martial art, he talks with the other Ninja while in his tornado. Seasons later, in "Grave Danger," Zane tells the Ninja about his solution to the first puzzle in the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master, while still doing Spinjitzu.

Despite the nature of technique, the user's vision is never observed to be impaired when using Spinjitzu, as they always seem to know where they're going. In "Grave Danger," when the viewpoint is changed to what Zane sees in Spinjitzu, it appears that he was able to clearly see several feet around him as he spun, even with some streaks of color from the tornado. Though, his better vision may be connected to his other Nindroid abilities (specifically his enhanced sight and perception in general).

Notable Uses

Tornado of Creation


The Ninja combine their Spinjitzu together to make the Tornado of Creation

The four Ninja are able to use their Spinjitzu tornadoes to form the Tornado of Creation. By each Ninja doing Spinjitzu in order (Earth, Fire, Ice, then Lightning), they make a quick spiraling movement, until the four tornadoes get close enough to come together. A large vortex is immediately formed that appears as a combination of the four main elements, known as the Tornado of Creation. Coming out of this tornado is also similar to its formation, with it quickly shrinking in size, followed by the reappearance of the four Spinjitzu tornadoes. The resulting creation also stands where the Tornado of Creation had been.

It can be used similarly to Creation, but on a larger scale. The four users are able to pull materials and objects from around them and into the tornado. The result is any structure, tool, or object (of an abundance of different sizes and shapes) among an almost unlimited variety, bound only by the users' imagination.

Despite its advantages, however, there is one serious drawback: performing the Tornado of Creation is extremely hard and dangerous. It is said that it takes total cooperation, trust, and teamwork for it to be accomplished, or it will have disastrous consequences. Due to this costly risk, the Tornado of Creation is only used in the most desperate of times, if not, as a last resort.

Pilot Episodes

"Way of the Ninja"

"The Golden Weapon"

  • The Ninja unlock their Spinjitzu abilities (Jay being the first).
  • They also use Spinjitzu to escape the Earth Dragon with the Scythe Of Quakes.

"King of Shadows"

  • Wu explains the Tornado of Creation to the Ninja.
  • Kai uses Fire Spinjitzu to free Nya.
  • Jay uses Lightning Spinjitzu to defeat several Skulkin while attacking the Skull Truck.

"Weapons of Destiny"

  • Wu uses Creation Spinjitzu to defeat several Skulkin when arriving at Garmadon's throne room.
  • The Ninja's Dragons use a Spinjitzu-like ability to cross over to the Underworld.

Mini Movies

"The New Masters of Spinjitzu"

  • Kruncha and Nuckal attempt to steal the Golden Weapons, only resulting in them losing control and activating Lightning and Fire Spinjitzu for a brief period of time.

"An Underworldly Takeover"

Season 1


  • Each of the four Ninja are introduced with their Golden Weapon's abilities and then their corresponding Spinjitzu.
  • Halfway through the season, the Ninja switched from their original suits to their ZX suits.

"Rise of the Snakes"

  • When the Fire Sword overheated, Kai tried to use Fire Spinjitzu to cool it down but failed.
  • When confronted by several Hypnobrai in Jamanakai Village, Kai tried to use Fire Spinjitzu to defeat them, but lost control and crashed into a wall.
  • After Zane froze Lloyd's candy cart he used Ice Spinjitzu to hurry over to Lloyd.


  • While training, Kai practiced his Fire Spinjitzu but slipped when Zane froze the course.
  • While training, Zane used Ice Spinjitzu to freeze the training grounds.
  • Zane and Jay used Ice and Lightning Spinjitzu respectively to cut the support ropes of Lloyd's Treehouse Fortress.

"Never Trust a Snake"

  • The Green Ninja's Spinjitzu is seen briefly for the first time, in Zane's dream.

"Can of Worms"

  • After Lloyd turned his ninja suits into pink ones, Zane's Spinjitzu tornado is pink.

Season 2


  • The Ninja are introduced in the same way as the second half of Season 1.
  • After the episode "Child's Play," Lloyd was introduced using his elemental power, and then would use his Spinjitzu like the others.
    • This debuted the first close-up look at Lloyd's Spinjitzu.


  • The Ninja no longer possessed their Golden Weapons, and therefore lacked elemental Spinjitzu. This affected their fighting advantage, and they logically used the martial art less.

"The Day Ninjago Stood Still"

  • Misako does non-elemental silver Spinjitzu.

"Return of the Overlord"

  • Nya does Spinjitzu for the first time while corrupted by Dark Matter. Its color is crimson red with some gold streaks.

Season 3


  • The Ninja once again had no active elements, and relied on their Spinjitzu less than ever. Despite this, the Techno Blades were effective against the Nindroids, making Spinjitzu somewhat useful.

"The Surge"

  • Lloyd's Golden Power Spinjitzu is debuted upon battling the Nindroids for the first time.


  • Because Zane gave half of his power source to P.I.X.A.L., he was unable to use Spinjitzu on his own. Though, by working together, the two successfully performed the martial art, defending themselves against the other Nindroids.

"The Titanium Ninja"

  • The Golden Master, along with his Golden Mech, performed a large scale form of Golden Power Spinjitzu (possibly the largest and most powerful ever used). With it, he was able to pull objects of many sizes from around him into the vortex (presumably destroying them).

Season 4


  • The Ninja (other than Zane), Wu, Garmadon, and Nya all do Spinjitzu together at the end of the intro.
  • For the first time, Master Garmadon's Spinjitzu (purified of Darkness) is shown as a dull silver, and Nya's Spinjitzu is a dark red.
    • This indicates that Garmadon's Destruction element returned to a balanced state,[2] and that Nya had learned Spinjitzu at some point.
      • According to one of the show's co-creators, though, Garmadon's Spinjitzu, after being purified, is still purple.[3] This indicated that its color in this intro is non-canon.


  • Despite having active elements, all the Ninja but Lloyd and Kai stopped using their Spinjitzu, as they no longer fought enemies, taking on full time jobs (Lloyd continued to train as a ninja, and Kai became a competitive fighter).
  • After entering the Tournament of Elements, the Ninja still refrained from performing Spinjitzu, except in dire situations when not competing. This may be because they considered using such a rare and powerful martial art to be an unfair advantage to the other competitors (outside of the Tournament, they use the ability to even the odds of an outmatched fight).


  • While training under Master Chen, Garmadon was forbidden to use Spinjitzu, though he used it to win a fight against Clouse that ended up granting him lordship.
  • When trying to flee from Chen and Skylor, Kai uses fire Spinjitzu to destroy the ice they were all standing on causing the ice to break but Chen subdued Kai with his staff.

"The Forgotten Element"

  • After regaining their elements and reuniting with Zane, the ninja did Spinjitzu to defeat Chen's forces as Nya expressed a smile at seeing them fighting together again.

"The Corridor of Elders"

  • While holding back Chen's forces, the ninja used Spinjitzu to prevent the fake Anacondrai from advancing.

Season 5


  • After losing their elemental powers, the Ninja could no longer perform elemental Spinjitzu. This would be especially ineffective against ghosts, which can become intangible.
  • Since Morro was able to command and control strong gusts of Wind, and Spinjitzu is a tornado-based ability, it became useless in combat.
  • Because the art of Airjitzu involves extreme spinning in a vortex (and even turning the same color as the user's element), it can be considered a branch from the original art of Spinjitzu.
    • It was also said that Airjitzu allows a "Spinjitzu Master temporary flight," so it's possible that only Spinjitzu users can perform the technique.

Season 6

"Misfortune Rising"

  • While fighting Lloyd and Cole, Doubloon uses Spinjitzu against the two of them.


  • After Cole had wished for Vengestone to strengthen the Ninjas' elemental powers, they got out of control, and in order to regain control, the Ninja broke the bonds of the Vengestone shackles. Despite this, there appeared to be some heightened power that was still unused; which showed when Cole, Lloyd, and Jay then did Spinjitzu that sparked and had deeper coloring.

"Day of the Departed"

  • When the Ninja arrived at the museum, all six used Spinjitzu to enter the building as quickly as possible, revealing Nya's spinjitzu as dark blue and noticeably smaller than the others'.

Season 7

"The Hands of Time"

  • Master Wu and the Ninja use their Spinjitzu during their battles with Acronix.

Season 10


  • The Ninja, Wu, and eventually Garmadon all used Spinjitzu to create the Tornado of Creation during their last stand against the invading Oni.

Season 11

"Boobytraps and How to Survive Them"

Aspheera vs ninja spinjitzu duel
  • Aspheera attacks the ninja using Spinjitzu while draining Kai's powers

Known Users


Types of Spinjitzu


  • Imagination - used by Neido (only in LEGO Universe)
  • Serpent Spin - used by most Serpentine (only in comics and sets)
  • Maelstrom - a power similar to Spinjitzu that the Skulkin wield physically through the act of roughly spinning in a sloppy fashion (used in comics, sets, and LEGO Universe)


  • Each of Ninjago's Dragons are able to perform something similar to Spinjitzu when they cross over to the Underworld.
    • Given that the First Spinjitzu Master is half Dragon, this makes sense.
  • Although the element of a user's Spinjitzu is always based on their natural elemental affinity, the color of the resulting tornado appears to also be influenced by the color of their outfit. For instance, Zane's Spinjitzu generated a pink tornado in "Can of Worms," after his white gi was turned pink after being washed with Kai's red gi. This leads to the conclusion that both attire and element contribute to the Spinjtizu's color (or possibly that it defaults to the elemental color, and only if the user's attire is entirely one color does it change).
    • It is possibly that when a user is dressed completely in one color, the elemental color and attire's color combine (Zane's white element and pink gi would create the pink spinjitzu, and the other ninja have all justified the possibility throughout their uniform changes).
  • In “Return of the Overlord,” a Dark Matter-infected Nya uses what appears to be a crimson Spinjitzu tornado when she first attacks the Ninja. After the defeat of the Overlord Nya was cured from the corruption from the Dark Matter.
    • After becoming the Master of Water, her Spinjitzu's color has become dark blue (however, as of Season 8, her Spinjitzu tornado color has become light blue.
  • Misako is one of only three people who don't have elemental powers, but use Spinjitzu (the others being Doubloon and Master Yang). When she was young, she trained with Wu and Garmadon.[4]
    • Doubloon trained in Spinjitzu at some point, long before he became a thief.[5]
    • Yang learned Spinjitzu at some point, and used it to develop Airjitzu. He has never used the original technique on-screen.
  • In a scene during "Day of the Departed", Cole's Spinjitzu has a ghostly green glow to it. This is the only time in the series that this is seen.
  • In the eighth to tenth seasons, each of the Ninjas' Spinjitzu dramatically changed, having them a more elemental redesign. Wu and Garmadon's tornadoes also changed, matching Lloyd's with the addition of their respective color-schemes, but lacking sparkles. The Spinjitzu animations returned to a less detailed style akin to earlier season in Season 11.
    • Kai, Jay, and Zane’s Spinjitzu looks more like a spinning sphere with parts that represent their elemental powers.
    • Lloyd’s Spinjitzu tornado looks more detailed, but less individualized than the other Ninja, as it is a basic tornado of energy.
    • Nya’s Spinjitzu looks like a water cyclone, and is now a light blue color.
    • Cole’s Spinjitzu has a more brown-ish color, and it has rocks circling around it.
  • The Ninja (as of Season 8) have their own individual warming up to it:
    • Lloyd performing windmill arms.
    • Zane does a spinning handstand.
    • Kai does three turns in the air.
    • Nya does a turn and then a back flip.
    • Jay turns only once.
    • Cole hits the ground.
  • As of Season 8, whenever Cole uses Spinjitzu while his Earth Punch is active, his Spinjitzu will leave behind a trail of magma.
  • Elemental Powers can be used while using Spinjitzu, shown when Kai is able to melt floors and ice and Zane froze Ultra Violet.
  • In LEGO Ninjago: The Book of Spinjitzu, it reveals that there is a dark side of Spinjitzu, and that its secrets lie in the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu. It is a forbidden art that The First Spinjitzu Master didn't want Wu and Garmadon to know.
  • Garmadon has done it the fewest times of the original main characters. The only episodes where he has performed Spinjitzu are The Royal Blacksmiths and Endings. However, the younger version of himself is seen doing Spinjitzu in Spellbound and Lost in Time. He is also seen using it in the mini-movie An Underworldly Takeover.
  • Aspheera is the third main villain capable of performing Spinjitzu. She has a bright-purple tornado seen in Boobytraps and How to Survive Them. However, it is unknown whether this is normal Spinjitzu or Forbidden Spinjitzu, but it resembles normal Spinjitzu more.


In LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu

In LEGO Universe

In LEGO Ninjago: Tournament

In LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin

In LEGO Dimensions


  1. LEGO Ninjago: The Book of Spinjitzu

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