Iga Ueno - the Birth Place of the Ninjas

He constructed the unique and magnificent castle on the shore facing the sea and with sea water brought into the moats.

People of Imabari are grateful to this lord who was in Imabari only several years, as he turned a small village of a few hundred houses to a big town. In 2004, the city of Imabari will celebrate 400th year of the foundation of the town and the construction of the castle.

He was a genius in civil engineering and arquitecture of castles. He constructed in his life 5 castles for his own ruling, and participated in 8 joint projects of the constructions of the castles at the order of Ieyasu, such as the Osaka Castle, Edo Castle, Wakayama Castle, and others. He was appointed in 1608 as the lord of Iga and Ise.

He was a so called outsider Daimyo - Tozama Daimyo -, and not a Fudai Daimyo 譜代大名 of the Tokugawas, not a lord of the family who had served for the Tokugawas for generations from hard times of the Tokugawas in the province of Mikawa 三河. But, he was one of the outsider daimyo most trusted by the Tokugawas. He was a warlord of only 20,000 koku in the small domain in the province of Kisyuu in 1587, and in 1508, he became the lord of Ise and Iga with 320,000 koku. After he became the ruler in Ise and Iga, he employed many ninjas as his retainers.

He once informed Ieyasu of the conspiracy of Ishida Mitsunari to assassinate Ieyasu, and saved him.
He saved him once more. In the Battle of Summer of Osaka, the headquarters of Ieyasu was attacked
by Sanada Yukimura 真田幸村, but Ieyasu was saved by Takatora and could escape. So, he was so
trusted by Ieyasu and could receive from him the highest privileges.

Ieyasu, when giving to Takatora the provinces of Iga and Ise, told to Takatora : " Tsu is a plain place
to build a castle as a resting place, Iga is the province to be treasured - Hizoo no kuni 秘蔵の国,
Ueno should be the fortified place - Yoogai no Chi ー　要害の地　－.

" He understood what Ieyasu meant. He constructed the rock foundation 30 meters tall for the castle,
the tallest in Japan, and he constructed a splendid 5 story castle against the possible attack of the
Tomotomis. But, in 1612, the donjon was destroyed by a typhoon, just before it would be completed.
The Toyotomis perished in 1615, and in this year, Shogunate government issued "General Laws of
the Samurai family" - Buke Shohatto 武家諸法度 which prohibited the construction of any new
castles.

In the modern ages, in 1935, a rich forest owner in Kumano offered a large quantity of timber to a
local politician Kawasaki Katsu 川崎克 to enlarge his house. He said : " A politician does not
need to have a palace to live in. Please donate timber to construct the castle. Kawasaki Katsu
himself donated his fortune. The present beautiful castle was completed in 1938.

Ieyasu was saved once by the Iga Ninjas and the Kooga( Kooka) Ninjas. In 1582, when Oda
Nobunaga was attacked by his general Akechi Mitsuhide, and he committed Seppuku, he was
in Sakai with his small troop,surrounded by the Akechis, and it was very difficult to break siege
and retun to Mikawa. The head of the Iga Ningas Hattori Hanzoo 服部半蔵 proposed him a plan
to escape, passing through Kooga (Kooka) and Iga regions to return to the province of Mikawa.
Ieyasu accepted the proposal.

Hanzoo broke siege secretely, and went to meet the head of his allied Ninjas of "Kooga", which
is adjacent to the Iga region, and asked him to cooperate defending and guiding the small troop
of Iyeyasu. The head of the Kooga Ninjas ー　Tarao Shiroobee-Mitsuhiro 多羅尾四郎兵衛光弘
said that he was willing to help them.

He climbed to the top of a mountain and sent smoke signals over the Kooga region, calling
the Ninjas to arms. This could instantly bring 300 Kooga and Iga Ninjas to his side. They
passed through the Kooka and Iga regions defended and guided by Hanzoo and other Ninjas,
crossed the Ise bay by boat, and came back to Mikawa in 2 days.　

The families of the Iga Ninjas were classified into 3 classes. The families of "High Ninjas -
Jyoonin 上忍”, " Middle Ninjas - Chuunin - 中忍　”, and " Low Ninjas - Genin - 下忍.
The Hattoris 服部, the Momochis 百地, and the Fujibayashis 藤林 were the families of
the " High Ninjas ". According to the descrptions in the Books of the Arts of Ninjutsu - 　
" Bansen Shuukai " 満川集海, the High Ninjas are the Ninjas with superb martial skills,
but they should no be noticed for their skills.

" Their sounds and smells should not be noticed. They should not be noted for their
strength, skill and courage. Their skills should not look like man-made. They should
look like the creations of the Universe."

In 1581, in the War of the Rebellion of Tenshoo Iga, Nobunaga did not annihilated the Iga Ninjas, allowing some of them escape to Ise. The families of the High Ninjas survived. The lord of Iga and Ise Fujidoh Takatora 藤堂高虎　employed Yasuda Uneme Motonori 保田采女元則 as his chielf minister. He came from a family of the Ninjas - the Hattoris. In 1676, Fujibayashi Yasutake 藤林保武 wrote 22 volumes of the the martial arts of the Ninjas entitled Bansen Shuukai 満川集海 - "Ten thousands rivers enter the same sea" .The title means that many different teachings of martial arts of 49 schools of

元陸軍少尉
小野田寛郎
２０世紀の忍者

Second lieutenant
Onoda Hiroo
Ninja in the 20th century

the Kooka and the Iga Ninjas are the same in spirit, as many different rivers enter the same sea.

Astonishingly, there were ninjas in the 20th century. Onoda Hiro-o 小野田寛郎 second lieutenant of the Imperial Army of Japan was one of them. He was born in Wakayama Prefecture in 1922. While he was a middle school pupil, he practiced Kendoo and he was an excellent swordsman. ( Now, he owns the title of the 5th Dan, and Renshi - 錬師　－　training master. )

In 1942, he entered the 61st Regiment of Infantry of Wakayama. He studied in a miltary acedemy, and entered the Nakano School 中野学校. It was a school for the secret agents. At school, he studied Ninjutsu - the martial arts of the Ninjas, and he learned the Books of the Ninjas - Mansen Syuukai, besides　many subjects to become a modern Ninja, like psychology, sociology, criminology, bacteriology, tele-cominication eletronics, secret coding methods, and many other subjects.

In December 1944, he was sent to the Japanese Headquarters in the Philippine Islands. There, he was given two orders. (1) Remain in the Lupang Island for the intelligence activities and (2) to command the guerrilla battles. In August 1945, Japan surrendered. Many Japanese soldiers in the Pacific Islands and other Asian countries began to return to Japan. But, he remained in the Lupang Island nearly 30 years, sticking doggedly to the orders, because any order to relieve him of the assigned tasks was not given to him.

In 1949, Akatsu came out from the jungle and surrendered. He belonged to the small band which lieutinant Onoda commanded. He gave information about 3 more soldiers in the jungle.

In 1952, the famous reporter of Asahi Shinbun Tsuji Yutaka shouted in the jungle " The war is over. Please come out of the jungle". Several attempts to make them cease fire failed. After two soldiers had died in the gun battles with the local forces in 1972, he became the sole survivor of the small band he had commanded.

In 1972-73, the Japanese government sent delegations composed of his father and his brother to search for him and left in the jungle thousands of the leaflets calling him to come out from the jungle and the letters written by his father directed to him. He believed that all these letters were the enemies' tricks. He was so cautious and continued hiding, because the Japanese searching group was always accompanied with the philippine soldiers.

In 1974, one young Japanese, Suzuki came to the island to find him. He finally met lieutenant Onoda in the jungle. The lieutinant asked him : " Do you come from the Japanese government ? " The young man answered : " No, I'm just a tourist. The war is over. Won't you come back to Japan with me ?".The Japanese soldier answered : " No, I won't. " " Why not ", asked the young man. " " Because I'm on　duty by the order. I must receive the formal and official order to be relieved from duty. "

As a good intelligence officer, he knew many facts that had happened in Japan. An interviewer once asked him : " Did you really believe it, when you heard the news of the bullet train railway constructed in 1964 ? He answered : " I did't doubt it. The technology　will advance." Before the Second World War, the Japanese-owned company - Manchuria　Railway in China had 1,000 kilometers' railway between Harbin and Dalian 大連, with　the most advanced and rapid trains "ASIA GO" アジア号　which ran at 120 kilometers per hour. He also answered to the interviewer that he could understand what the T.V.set was like. He said that In 1928 ( 3rd. year of Showa Era ), professor Takayanagi Kenjiroo of the Hamamatsu Industrial High School showed in Tokyo his first successful experiment of　television.

"The images sent did not move. But, technology will advance. Also, in 1930, NHK ( Japan Broadcasting Society ) in the joint research with the Waseda University succeeded in the　television experiment. " He knew all these facts as an excellent ninja in the 20th century.

He once stole into a house in a village and got a transistor radio. He listened to the news　every day, and he kept himself well informed of what happened in the world and in Japan. The Japanese governent, based on the information given by Suzuki, sent once again the　delegation accompanied with the former commander Taniguchi to the Lupang Island, and the formal order to relieve him from duty was given to him in the jungle by former commander Taniguchi. He met the president Marcos and apologized for what he did in the Lupang Island, and as a sign of his surrender, he handed his sword to the president, who returned it back kindly to him.

On 12th March,1974, he arrived at the Narita Air Port. He could view the beautiful cherry　blossoms in April in his native town in Wakayama. Thus, his 30 year long war in the jungle ended. The emperor and the primer minister wanted to meet him, but he went first to the tombs of his men died in the jungle. The government of Japan gave him ￥1,000,000, which he donated to the Yasukumi Shrine for the peace of the souls of his men who died in the jungle of Lupang Island.

In the next year, in 1975, he immigrated to Brazil, and started the cattle raising business　in 1,200 hectare ranch. It took him 10 years for the business to get on track. Before going to Brazil, at age of 54, he had got married with Machie, an educated woman, 38 years old, He was like 24 years old, because he lost 30 years in the jungle.

1,200 hectare ranch was bought with all her savings. as he was penniless, after donating　to the Yasukuni Shrine ￥1,000,000 which the Japanese government gave to him. About 7 years, he could not earn any money from his ranch business.

In 1978, he founded the Japanese Society for the Japanese community in a small town in Brasil where he owned his ranch. He served as president of the Society 8 years.

In 1984, he began to teach children how to live in nature in Japan. In 1989, he founded　"Nature School" in japan to teach children how to camp and how to live in nature.

The place where Onoda was born is now called Kainan City 海南市. It is a beautiful place on the coast of the Ise Peninsula of Kishuu (Now, wakayama Prefecture). In old days, this place was the base stronghold of people called Saikashuu 雑賀衆. They were not called Ninjas but, they were also indipendent-minded like Iga people, and did not liked to be ruled.

They were rich, but are wiiling to work sometimes as mercenaries for some warlords though. Their military power was　highly valued and wanted by many warlords, because they had troops of 3,000 excellent musketeers. All of them were astonishingly good shooters. Curiously enough, they were too rich to work as mercenaries only for money. They had fleets not only for combating but also for trading. They were great believers of Ikkooshu Buddhism. They were the great obstacles for the unification of Japan of Oda Nobunaga, who finally could beat them　in 1577. Many of Ikko people who evacuated the shiyama Honganji in Osaka fled to this place and were protected by them.

In his veins of Onoda, the blood of the Saikashuu should run.

In Kishuu, there lived another people called Negoro-shuu 根来衆. They were also　indepedent -minded. They were not always so unfriendly with Oda Nobunaga, but they did not like to succumb to the power of his successor Hideyoshi. They lived around the Negoro Temple of Shingon sect of Buddhism. They were devout buddhist of Shingon Buddhists. They had also poweful troops of musqueteers, and good shooters. Hideyoshi could defeat them in 1585, but he must order many warlords to participate in the battle, and he had to send 103,500 soldiers to defeat them.

Kishuu 紀州　was one of the 3 most important domains of the Tokugawas in the Edo Period, and was called Gosanke 御三家　－　" 3 honorable families of the Tokugawas ". When the main Tokugawa family in Edo did not have any son to succeed the shogun, the new shogun was elected among the sons of the 3 honorable families of the Tokugawas. Yoshimune　吉宗　( 1684 - 1751 ) was the lord of Kishuu. But, when he was 33 years old, he was appointed as the 8th Tokugawa Shogun.

He is considered as the most wise shogun beside the founder of the Tokugawa Regime, the first Tokugawa Shogun Ieyasu, and the last one Yoshinobu. When he took office, the culture of the commoners in Edo was at its apex, but the extravagantly luxurious life style of rich merchants and the opulent society were affecting the life style of the samarai. There were some threatening signs for the shogunate. His " Reforms of Kyoho - Kyooho no Kaikaku 享保の改革 reinforced the foundations of Shogunate and made it last 7 generations more.

The financial situation of Shogunate was critical. He made a drastic cut in the budget. He encouraged martial arts and frugality, and prohibited the production of luxury goods.

The Edo castle had been guarded by Kooka and Iga Ninjas employed by Ieyasu who was saved by them. But, Yoshimune dismissed all Ninjas from intelligence tasks and made Negoro-shuu and Saika-shuu peoples which he brought from Kishuu to be enganed
in intelligence tasks.

Thare are two famous books written about the military strategics. One is " Art of War " 孫子之兵法 by Chinese stratigist Sun Zi 孫子, the other is " On War " - 戦争論　written by Karl Von Clausewitz ( 1780-1831) - Prussian soldier and strategist. These books are used as text books in many military academies in the world. But, Mansen Suukai was written only for the descendants of the Ninjas to be read secretly only among them. The meanings of many words are diffucult to understand. Mansen Shuukai was not translated into any　foreign language, as far as I know. I believe that it is studied in any military academies outside of Japan. I don't believe that CIA or FBI of the United States have the English translation of the whole texts of this Japanese classic of strategics.

The 8 volumes of Bansen Syuukai in modern Japanese was published by Seisyuudo, in　Kooka-cho, the home of Kooka Ninjas, in 1975.

Recently, the Iga Ninja Museum 伊賀忍者博物館　began to translate these sacred books of the Ninjas into modern Japanese and made it publically available on-line. But, it is not a word by word translation. Some paragraphs are the extracts but trying to convey the essential meaning of the whole parapgraph. Some classical words will not be put into modern Japanese, because there are no equivalent modern words. (　About " Bansen Shuukai "　Only the first volume translated in modern Japanese is available on internet now.-　In July, 2003 http://www.iganinja.jp/japanese/mansen/flam.html )

The Nakano School 中野学校 of Japanese Army was established in 1938 ( 13th year of the Showa　Era). for the espionage and guerrilla battles. The existance of the school itself was the top secret. At the entrance, it had the plate of " Tele-comunication Research Institute of Ministry of Army ( 陸軍省　通信研究所）. The students were prohibited to wear military uniforms. They were called with false names. They were trained as the Ninjas of　the 20th century according to the principles of " their sounds and smells should not be noticed. ", written in the sacred book of the Ninjas - Bansen Syuukai. They studied that book there ", and learned also the martial arts of the Ninjas - Ninjutsu.