is an umbrella term for

ninjutsu , and are terms for the techniques and skills used by spies and scouts in pre-modern Japan known as ninja. Some of these techniques are recorded in ninja scrolls, some which have been published and translated. The study of these scrolls have c ...

traditions that come from the Iga region, according to Japanese legend. It became one of the two most well-known

ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

traditions in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The ''Iga-ryū'' traditions originated in the

Iga Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan located in what is today part of western Mie Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Iga" in . Its abbreviated name was . Iga is classified as one of the provinces of the T� ...

in the area around the towns of Iga, Ueno, and Nabari (modern Iga City and Nabari City in

Mie Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture an ...

). ''Iga-mono'' is a synonym for Iga ninja.

History

Since the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

, the Iga district had supplied lumber to

jisha , along with the titles ''inji'' and ''sannō'',Hori, pp. 638–639 are Japanese language, Japanese terms used in reference to the personal attendant of a monastery's abbot or teacher in Zen Buddhism. In the Rinzai school, the term is usually ...

(寺社, temple-shrines). But in the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

, jisha declined in influence while

shugo , commonly translated as ' ilitarygovernor', 'protector', or 'constable', was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the shogun to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The position gave way to th ...

(governors) and

jitō were medieval territory stewards in Japan, especially in the Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates. Appointed by the shōgun, ''jitō'' managed manors, including national holdings governed by the '' kokushi'' or provincial governor. There were als ...

(manor administrators) grew dominant. The power of these functionaries then waned in Iga while that of bushi (warriors) rose instead. Iga was divided into local

jizamurai The were lower-ranking provincial samurai that emerged in 15th-century Japan Muromachi period. The definition was rather broad and the term ''jizamurai'' included landholding military aristocracy as well as independent peasant farmers. They alt ...

regions locked in

guerrilla war Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrorism ...

for which Iga warriors developed specialized skills and tactics. During the early

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

, the people of Iga became independent of their feudal overlords and established a kind of republic—'' Iga Sokoku Ikki'' (伊賀惣国一揆) in Japanese. ''Iga-mono'' 伊賀者 (Iga men) first appear in historical records in 1487 when the Shōgun

Ashikaga Yoshihisa was the 9th ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1473 to 1489 during the Muromachi period of Japan.Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982) ''Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron'', p. 331. Yoshihisa was the son of the eighth ''shōgun'' Ash ...

attacked Rokkaku Takayori, 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 no ...

'' of southern

Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...

from the

Rokkaku clan The was a Japanese samurai clan. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)">DF 53 of 80">"Rokkaku" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 49 Koga ninja fought on the side of Rokkaku, helping to successfully repel the shōgun's attack. In 1579, warlord Kōga-ryū">Koga ninja fought on the side of Rokkaku, helping to successfully repel the shōgun's attack. In 1579, warlord Oda Nobunaga's son Oda Nobukatsu">Oda Nobunaga">Kōga-ryū">Koga ninja fought on the side of Rokkaku, helping to successfully repel the shōgun's attack. In 1579, warlord Oda Nobunaga's son Oda Nobukatsu launched an unsuccessful attack against the Iga Republic. In 1581, Oda Nobunaga himself attacked Iga from six directions with a force of 40,000 to 60,000 men, about a ten to one advantage, and slaughtered many Iga ninja and their families. The Iga held only two castles when Nobunaga declared a ceasefire and allowed some of the ninja to escape. In 1582, during the turmoil following Oda Nobunaga's death, Hattori Hanzō advised Tokugawa Ieyasu to escape to Mikawa Province, Mikawa through the Kōka, Shiga, Kōga and Iga regions. Ieyasu, when he became the shōgun, employed ninja to guard Edo Castle—the headquarters of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

—and to supply intelligence. He settled 200 men from the ''Iga-ryū'' in the

Yotsuya is an area in Shinjuku, Tokyo, that previously was a ward (四谷区 ''Yotsuya-ku'') in the now-defunct Tokyo City. In 1947, when the 35 wards of Tokyo were reorganized into 23, it was merged with Ushigome ward of Tokyo City and Yodobashi ...

neighborhood of Edo (

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

). Hanzo's Gate in Edo Castle took its name from the nearby residence of the Hattori clan. Hattori Hanzō's son Hattori Masanari commanded the castle's Iga guards but proved a less successful leader than his father. In 1606, the Iga men rebelled due to harsh treatment. They continued to serve the shogunate as a musketeer unit and as dōshin, low ranking samurai policemen, with their ninja skills gradually fading out in later generations. One of the last known recorded ninja missions performed by an Iga ninja was in the late

Bakumatsu were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate Meiji Restoration, ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a Feudali ...

period of the 19th century, when an Iga ninja by the name of infiltrated one of the black ships of Commodore

Matthew C. Perry Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a United States Navy officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. He led the Perry Expedition that Bakumatsu, ended Japan' ...

Organization

Iga ninja were trained in disguise, escape, concealment, explosives, medicine, and poisons, as well as more conventional forms of warfare such as unarmed combat and various forms of weaponry. They used scaling hooks for climbing and many different tools, such as lock picks and ladders. According to the Bansenshukai, Iga ninja of the Fujibayashi family also used a special water flotation device called

Mizugumo ''Mizugumo'' () was a water crossing device used by ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguard ...

(displayed at the

Iga-ryu Ninja Museum The situated in a forested location in Iga, Mie, Iga, Mie Prefecture, Japan, is a museum dedicated to the history of the ninja and ninjutsu. It was established in 1964 and is located near Iga Ueno Castle. Jinichi Kawakami, who serves as the hono ...

). The ninja of the ''Iga-ryū'' was also divided into different "classes" and ranks, based solely on the ninja's skill level. This hierarchy was simplified in the writings of the mid-20th-century author Heishichiro Okuse, who labeled them into three general categories: "jonin (upper ninja)", "chūnin (middle ninja)", and "genin (lower ninja)". This modernized model is very often seen in various pop culture ninja media such as the

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 ...

franchise and the

Shinobi no Mono is a series of jidaigeki novels written by Tomoyoshi Murayama originally serialized in the Sunday edition of the newspaper '' Akahata'' from November 1960 to May 1962. Shinobi no mono is the long form of the phrase meaning ninja, see the Nin ...

movie series starring actor Ichikawa Raizo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iga-ryu Ninjutsu organizations History of Mie Prefecture Azuchi–Momoyama period

History

Organization

See also

References