diff --git a/Mk/Uses/ninja.mk b/Mk/Uses/ninja.mk
--- a/Mk/Uses/ninja.mk
+++ b/Mk/Uses/ninja.mk
@@ -2,18 +2,19 @@
 #
 # Feature:		ninja
 # Usage:		USES=ninja
-# Valid ARGS:		build, make (default), run
+# Valid ARGS:		build, make (default), run, samurai
 #
 # build			add a build dependency on ninja
 # make			use ninja for the build instead of make, implies "build"
 # run			add a run dependency on ninja
+# samurai		use samurai irregardless of NINJA_DEFAULT
 #
 # MAINTAINER: ports@FreeBSD.org
 
 .if !defined(_INCLUDE_USES_NINJA_MK)
 _INCLUDE_USES_NINJA_MK=	yes
 
-_valid_ARGS=	build make run
+_valid_ARGS=	build make run samurai
 
 .  for _arg in ${ninja_ARGS}
 .    if empty(_valid_ARGS:M${_arg})
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@
 .    endif
 .  endfor
 
-.  if empty(ninja_ARGS)
+.  if empty(ninja_ARGS) || ${ninja_ARGS:M*samurai*}
 ninja_ARGS+=	make
 .  endif
 
@@ -29,12 +30,14 @@
 ninja_ARGS+=	build
 .  endif
 
-.  if ${NINJA_DEFAULT} == ninja
+.  if ${NINJA_DEFAULT} == ninja && (${ninja_ARGS:M*samurai*} == "")
 NINJA_CMD=	ninja
 _NINJA_PORT=	devel/ninja
-.  elif ${NINJA_DEFAULT} == samurai
+.  elif ${NINJA_DEFAULT} == samurai || ${ninja_ARGS:M*samurai*}
 NINJA_CMD=	samu
+.  if ${NINJA_DEFAULT} == samurai
 _NINJA_PORT=	devel/samurai
+.  endif
 MAKE_ENV+=	SAMUFLAGS="-v -j${MAKE_JOBS_NUMBER}"
 .    if ${ninja_ARGS:Mbuild} && !${BINARY_ALIAS:U:Mninja=*}
 # Cmake and Meson have native support for Samurai and detect and
@@ -48,15 +51,17 @@
 IGNORE=	invalid DEFAULT_VERSIONS+=ninja=${NINJA_DEFAULT}
 .  endif
 
-.  if ${ninja_ARGS:Mbuild}
+.  if ${ninja_ARGS:Mbuild} && (${ninja_ARGS:M*samurai*} == "")
 BUILD_DEPENDS+=	${NINJA_CMD}:${_NINJA_PORT}
+.  elif ${ninja_ARGS:M*samurai*}
+BUILD_DEPENDS+= samu:devel/samurai
+.  endif
 # Humanize build log and include percentage of completed jobs %p in it.
 # See samu(1) or the Ninja manual.
 MAKE_ENV+=	NINJA_STATUS="[%p %s/%t] "
-.  endif
 
 .  if ${ninja_ARGS:Mmake}
-.    if ${NINJA_DEFAULT} == ninja
+.    if ${NINJA_DEFAULT} == ninja && (${ninja_ARGS:M*samurai*} == "")
 # samu does not support GNU-style args, so we cannot just append
 # -v last.  samu gets this via SAMUFLAGS above but ninja does not
 # support an equivalent environment variable.
@@ -71,7 +76,7 @@
 _DESTDIR_VIA_ENV=	yes
 .  endif
 
-.  if ${ninja_ARGS:Mrun}
+.  if ${ninja_ARGS:Mrun} && (${ninja_ARGS:M*samurai*} == "")
 RUN_DEPENDS+=	${NINJA_CMD}:${_NINJA_PORT}
 .  endif