The or was a group of government-employed undercover agents (''onmitsu''), established by the 8th Tokugawa ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'',

Tokugawa Yoshimune was the eighth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lineage Yoshimune ...

(1684–1751). They were under the direct command of the shōgun and were in charge of undercover intelligence operations. In actuality, their work consisted more often of reporting any news about the city of Edo to the shōgun or remaining incognito to inspect and report on the states of affairs in the countryside. Their activities were comparable to those of the inspectors and general inspectors of the shogunate albeit under the direct orders from the shōgun. Most historical plays and novels of the era depicted them as spies or ninjas, a tradition that continues to this time in popular culture. Oniwaban were male servers in the inner palace of the shōgun during the Edo shogunate where they served under the command of junior elders. They were the guards of the Edo castle who kept the security and checked every single thing for the sake of the Shogun's safety. There were restrictions placed on them regarding their contact with outsiders. They could only marry within their profession. Intelligence gathering was originally conducted by the Iga and Kōka mono guards, who arrived to Edo years after Tokugawa Ieyasu's escape through the Iga and Kōka regions in 1582, where they were placed under the command of Hattori Hanzo Masanari. However, as the Edo period progressed, the Iga and Kōka mono were tasked less with intelligence gathering, and more with guard work and criminal capture. When Yoshimune arrived from Kii, he had given his niwaban guards the same rank as the Iga mono guards. While relatively low in ranking, they could directly communicate with the shōgun. As such, some among their ranks were able to become close advisors or sent as diplomatic envoys. The character "niwa" in their name, meaning garden or yard, refers to the rumor that they were quartered in the garden of Edo Castle.

History

During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, onmitsu (the term meaning a spy or an undercover detective) acted as secret agents in

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

and

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tang ...

functions, mainly intelligence and information gathering, sometimes with aid of ''kobushikata'', small groups of lower-class agents posing as mobile manual laborers and working under Iga ninja supervisors. The oniwaban followed a strict set of regulations, which, in some cases, forbade them from socializing with the general public. Tokugawa Yoshimune established the Oniwaban as an elite cadre of originally about 20 handpicked onmitsu, providing him with information about ''

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

'' feudal lords and

shogunate , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

officials, while also protecting high-ranking officials of the government and acting as security guards in the Edo Castle. They were possibly quartered in the garden of the castle, hence the name. According to some sources, during the tumultuous time of the

Bakumatsu was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji governme ...

revolution the oniwaban were even sent to the United States to spy not only on the shogun's opposition, but on the Americans as well.

In popular culture

The Oniwaban have been depicted as the main characters in the television series ''

Ōedo Sōsamō and are long-running (1970 to 1992) prime time television ''jidaigeki'' programs that originally aired from 1970 to 1992. The series was broadcast on TV Tokyo (Tokyo 12 Channel). The title literally translates as " Oedo Dragnet" ("New Oedo Dragnet ...

'' (an undercover group of secret agents, including Isaka Jūzō, Jūmonji Koyata, Konami and others) and '' Shōgun no Onmitsu! Kage Jūhachi'' (the group of Kanō Ametarō: Miki, Otojirō and Inokichi, brought together by

Tokugawa Munetada was a Japanese samurai of the mid-Edo period who was the founder of the Hitotsubashi-Tokugawa family, one of the Gosankyō, the three lesser branches of the Tokugawa family. He was the fourth son of Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth shōgun with hi ...

) and in the film ''Oniwaban'' (known in English as ''Demon Spies''). They were also featured in the TV series ''

Abarenbō Shōgun (Abarenbō Shōgun) was a Japanese television program on the TV Asahi network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa ''shōgun''. The program started in 1978 under the title '' ...

'' (being the spies and bodyguards for Yoshimune, including Akane, Ayame, Gorōta, Hayate, Osono, Jūmonji Hayato, Koyuki, Kaede, Nagisa, Ōtsuki Hanzō, Saizō, Satsuki and Sukehachi), as well as in the manga/anime series ''

Ga-rei , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Segawa. It has been serialized by Kadokawa Shoten in the magazine '' Shōnen Ace'' from 2005 to 2010 and collected in twelve '' tankōbon'' volumes. The English version was then re ...

'' (Hattori Naizou, a member of the Judgement Day brigade, was an Oniwaban in life), ''

Gin Tama is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hideaki Sorachi. It was serialized in Shueisha's Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 2003 to September 2018, later in ''Jump Giga'' fr ...

'' (Ayame Sarutobi, Zenzo Hattori and Jiraia), ''

Lone Wolf and Cub is a Japanese manga series created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya, an ...

'', '' Peace Maker'' (

Shinsengumi The was a special police force organized by the (military government) during Japan's Bakumatsu period (late Tokugawa shogunate) in 1863. It was active until 1869. It was founded to protect the shogunate representatives in Kyoto at a time when ...

member Yamazaki Ayumu), ''

Samurai Champloo is a 2004 Japanese historical adventure anime television series. The debut television production of studio Manglobe, the 26-episode series aired from May 2004 to March 2005. It was first partially broadcast on Fuji TV, then had a complete ...

'' (Kariya Kagetoki), ''

The Dagger of Kamui is a Japanese novel series by Tetsu Yano released by Kadokawa Shoten from 1984 to 1985. The series was adapted in 1985 into an anime film directed by Rintaro and animated by Madhouse. The screenplay was adapted by Mori Masaki, and charac ...

'' (the oniwaban monk Tenkai) and '' Yoshimune'' (the character Kunoichi, in love with the titular character). The first ''Shadow Warriors'' TV series has Oniwaban existing under Tokugawa Ietsuna, the fourth Tokugawa Shogun, but they are Kouga Ninja working against the Iga Ninja. The Oniwaban also appears in ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...

'' where they work for the Shogun Orochi. Some depictions feature the oniwaban in a time period following end of the shogunate, like the manga/anime series ''

Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan (1878) and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his work ...

'' (featuring the now-unemployed Oniwaban group including Aoshi Shinomori, Beshimi, Han'nya, Hyottoko, Okina, Shikijō and

Makimachi Misao , in the Media Blasters dub, is a character from the fictional '' Rurouni Kenshin'' universe created by Nobuhiro Watsuki. Misao is a 16-year-old girl and the youngest member of the ninja group called Oniwabanshū. She leaves her home to fi ...

) and '' Yokujō Climax'' (Hayato); others take place in an altogether fictional alternative worlds, even in the futuristic

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

setting, such as in the case of the anime '' Chou SD Sengokuden Bushin Kirahagane'' (Jyuuha

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), the video game '' Red Earth'' (Oniwaban leader Kenji), and the miniatures game ''

Infinity Infinity is that which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is often denoted by the infinity symbol . Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the philosophical nature of infinity was the subject of many discussions am ...

''. In the anime series ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine '' Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The s ...

'' the name of the

villain of the week "Villain of the week" (or, depending on genre, "monster of the week", "freak of the week" or "alien of the week") is an antagonist that only appears in one episode of a multi-episode work of fiction. A villain of the week is commonly seen in Br ...

Oniwabandana (renamed Ninjana in the English version) is also an obvious pun on the oniwaban.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oniwaban Edo period Japanese historical terms Law enforcement in Japan Ninja Secret police 17th-century spies 18th-century spies