was a famed 16th century

ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

master during the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

who was also known as .

Biography

There are many versions of his story and many mysteries surround him. According to the legend he practiced sorcery, performing amazing feats such as swallowing a bull in front of the crowd of over 20 people; his alias comes from his alleged ability to fly. Some researchers believe his reported magical arts were illusion as a type of group

hypnosis Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...

. However, this belief has never been proven to be the case and therefore is only considered to be a possibility. His date of birth and death are unknown. According to historical documents, the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

Uesugi Kenshin , later known as was a Japanese ''daimyō''. He was born in Nagao clan, and after adoption into the Uesugi clan, ruled Echigo Province in the Sengoku period of Japan. He was one of the most powerful ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. Known as ...

had heard of Danzō's reputation, which had led for him to invite Danzō to his prime castle. Kenshin decided to test Danzō's abilities by challenging him to sneak into a certain castle and to retrieve a prized

naginata The ''naginata'' (, ) is a pole weapon and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades (''nihontō''). ''Naginata'' were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru (foot soldiers) and sōhei ( ...

(a sword in another version of this story) from one of his retainers,

Naoe Kanetsugu was a Japanese samurai of the 16th–17th centuries. The eldest son of Higuchi Kanetoyo, Kanetsugu was famed for his service to two generations of the Uesugi ''daimyōs''. He was also known by his court title, Yamashiro no Kami (山城守) or h ...

. Danzō infiltrated Kanetsugu's heavily guarded castle and not only succeeding in stealing the naginata, but also captured a young servant girl. Kenshin then realized that Danzō would be a very useful ally and took him into his service. However, Kanetsugu plotted to kill Danzō (according to another version it was Kenshin himself who ordered his death, perceiving him to be too skillful and thus dangerous), forcing him to try to defect to

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

, Kenshin's rival. Suspecting Danzō to be a double agent, Shingen however ordered him to be killed. Danzō was captured by Takeda's men and executed through

decapitation Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

In popular culture

Katō Danzō makes a prominent appearance in the manga series ''

Path of the Assassin is a gekiga manga created by the writer Kazuo Koike and the artist Goseki Kojima and published in ''Weekly Gendai'' magazine ( Kodansha). Unlike their previous collaborations on ''Lone Wolf and Cub'' and ''Samurai Executioner'', this story f ...

'', where he is known as Kite Katō, a fearsome shugenja and nearly unrivaled shinobi. He also appears in a minor role in the video game ''

Samurai Warriors 2 is a sequel to the original ''Samurai Warriors'', created by Koei and Omega Force. The game was released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360, and ported to Microsoft Windows in 2008. Like the ''Dynasty Warriors'' series, an ''Empires'' e ...

'' as a fire ninja bodyguard. In the manga and anime series ''

Naruto ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...

'', there is a character with the name "Danzō" who leads a secretive covert ops team ROOT and another character called Dan has the surname "Katō". On October 24, 2014, Makai Syojyo Ken held a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

event, where several wrestlers performed as historical figures and a wrestler better known as Psycho performed as Katō Danzō. A female,

Karakuri puppet are traditional Japanese mechanized puppets or automata, made from the 17th century to the 19th century. The dolls' gestures provided a form of entertainment. The word has also come to mean "mechanisms" or "trick" in Japanese language, Japan ...

version of Katō Danzō also appears in the mobile game

Fate/Grand Order is a free-to-play Japanese mobile game, developed by Lasengle (formerly Delightworks) using Unity, and published by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The game is based on Type-Moon's ''Fate/stay night'' franchise, and ...

as an Assassin class servant. In

Nioh 2 is an action role-playing video game developed by Team Ninja for the PlayStation 4. It was published by Koei Tecmo in Japan and Sony Interactive Entertainment worldwide on March 13, 2020. It is both a prequel and sequel to ''Nioh'' (2017). Versio ...

, he appears as a wandering ninja hired by Tokichiro to train the protagonist.

References

External links

Kato Danzo, The Ninja Illusionist , Way Of Ninja
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kato, Danzo 1503 births 1569 deaths 16th-century Japanese people Executed Japanese people Japanese magicians Japanese ninjutsu practitioners Ninja People executed by Japan by decapitation