The {{nihongo, Negoro-shū, 根来衆} were an order of warrior monks based in

Negoro-ji is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Iwade, Wakayama Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. Surrounded by the sacred peaks of the Katsuragi Mountains, the temple grounds were designated as a National Historic Site and a National Pla ...

temple, in

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 ...

Kii Province , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Pro ...

. They were famous for their skill with firearms, as well as with more traditional monk weapons like the

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 ( ...

. Negoro-ji, along with many other warrior monasteries, came under

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...

at the end of the 16th century; in 1585, the temple was burned to the ground by the forces of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

. The monks of Negoro-ji were devotees of the Shingi sect of

Shingon file:Koyasan (Mount Koya) monks.jpg, Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks suc ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

, but were allied with monks of other sects, such as the

Ikkō-ikki were rebellious or autonomous groups of people that were formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th-16th centuries; backed up by the power of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, they opposed the rule of governors or ''daimyō''. Mainly con ...

, as well as with

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

, a chief rival of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. They aided their allies in a number of battles, including the

siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji The , taking place from 1570 to 1580 in Sengoku period Japan, was a ten-year campaign by lord Oda Nobunaga against a network of fortifications, temples, and communities belonging to the Ikkō-ikki, a powerful faction of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist mo ...

, the main base of the Ikkō-ikki. When their own temple came under siege in 1585, its inhabitants are estimated to have numbered 30,000 to 50,000, though many escaped before the siege and sought refuge in

Ōta castle Ohta, Ōta, or Ota may refer to the following: People * Ota (wife of Arnulf of Carinthia), Queen of the East Franks 888-899, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire 896-899 * Ota (cartoonist), Brazilian cartoonist * Atsuya Ota, Japanese basketball pla ...

, home of the Saiga Ikki. Following the destruction, twenty-five of the survivors joined Tokugawa Ieyasu's army, forming the core of his firearms squads. An insight into the daily lives of the Negoro-gumi was provided by Father Gaspar Vilela, a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary who visited the temple. He compared the monks to the Knights of Rhodes, devoted warriors who would give anything to fight for their religion. However, he observed that the monks of Negoroji focused far more on military preparations than on prayer, and that many had not even taken monastic vows. Vilela was impressed by their martial prowess, the extent of their daily training, and the strength of their weapons and armor. These monks were not only expert

arquebus An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. Although the term ''arquebus'', derived from the Dutch word ''Haakbus ...

iers, but also some of the best gunsmiths in the country, and accomplished fletchers. They celebrated military victories with all the pleasures enjoyed by a secular force, indulging in many things that an ascetic life ought to prohibit, such as

wine, women and song "Wine, women, and song" is a hendiatris that endorses hedonistic lifestyles or behaviors. A more modern form of the idea is often expressed as "sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll", a phrase popularized by British singer Ian Dury in his song of ...

References

*Turnbull, Stephen (2003). ''Japanese Warrior Monks AD 949-1603''. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. Japanese warrior monks