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Gaming in Feudal Japan
Campaign Scenarios
For role-playing, the following are proposals for scenarios:
The player-characters can meet any historical or fictional character or
come across any historical event without regard to actual timeline of history.
This will allow the players to enjoy the full panorama of Japanese history.
- Witness the duel between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro.
- Get a massage
from Zatoichi.
- Participant
in the revenge of the 47 ronin of Ako.
- Go from school to school to learn
archery and sword fighting techniques.
- Travel to all the islands and
experience the people, places, and culture.
- Visit temples, learn Buddhism, and practice meditation.
- Climb Mount Fuji.
- Go to Iga to learn ninjutsu techniques.
- Visit the hot springs of
Atami (Izu), famous for their medicinal value.
- Travel with William Adams on a trade expedition
to Siam and Cochin China.
- Visit Nikko, where Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu is
enshrined, and where the natives say "do not mention beauty without having
seen Nikko."
Keep geography accurate, however. Daimyo should travel from Edo
to their domains along a plausible route. Characters will have to travel by
sea to get from Honshu to Shikoku. Castles and temples should be at their
historical locations.
Who will win, the Taira or the Minamoto? Travel with Yoshitsuné as he flees from his brother's assassins.
What if Oda Nobunaga had lost the Battle of Okehazama to Imagawa Yoshimoto?
What if Ashikaga Yoshiaki's plot to destroy Nobunaga with an alliance of the
Takeda, Asakura, Asai, and Ikko monks had succeeded? What if Tokugawa Ieyasu
had not won the Battle of Sekigahara?
Adventure in the major cities of Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka.
- Interact with
samurai, merchants, ronin, and shopkeepers.
- Watch kabuki plays and sumo.
- Visit
the pleasure quarters of Yoshiwara (Edo), Shimabara (Kyoto), and Shinmachi
(Osaka).
- Eat sushi, drink
saké, and cavort.
- Kill ninja.
- Escort daimyo to and from his
domain.
- Practice tea ceremony.
- Travel the Tokaido from Edo to Kyoto, and visit famous spots along the
way.
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Osaka Map |
The Tokugawa Bakufu rejects Commodore Perry's demands to open Japan to
foreign trade and diplomatic relations, and remains committed to policies of
isolation. A war breaks out between the forces of the Shogunate and those
seeking to restore Imperial rule. Both sides are forced to turn to foreign
powers for support: America, Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands,
etc.
It is East versus West, tozama daimyo versus fudai daimyo, old versus
new. Who can muster the larger army? Who will get the latest weaponry and use
them to their best advantage?
If the Imperialists win, will the Emperor finally wield power? Or will an upstart
daimyo take over?
Other Scenarios
- Vendettas
- Succession disputes
- Love suicides
- Musha shugyo -- A sabbatical where the samurai goes on a pilgrimage
wandering the land practicing and honing his martial arts skills and meditating on
the meaning of Bushido.
Roles
- Daimyo
- Family member -- Wife, son, daughter, concubine
- Samurai
- Ronin
- Yojimbo "bodyguard"
- Ninja
- Warrior monk
- Merchant
Gaming Notes
Bujutsu "Art of War" Training
Although it became less and less of a necessity during the Edo Period, the
samurai still prided themselves in their martial skills. As part of their
official duties, they participated in martial training of all types. Training
was available at schools that had a comprehensive curriculum or specialized in
certain disciplines, or master martial artists would visit clan training
grounds to provide lessons.
- Swordsmanship -- Included iaido "art of the quick draw." Schools
teaching various techniques and styles were available.
- Naginata -- Japanese halberd, a polearm with a curved blade at the end
- Spear
- Staff
- Jitté
- Archery -- Included while riding on horse, as well as etiquette,
ritual, and gracefulness of technique
- Arrow deflection
- Other weapons such as chain & sickle, war fan, bludgeon, etc.
- Kiai -- "Battle cry" or the art of using the mind and
breathing techniques to enhance the fighting spirit
- Horsemanship -- Included while riding in water
- Military strategy & tactics
- Unarmed combat
- Sumo
- Ninjutsu techniques -- Included shuriken "throwing stars"
- Swimming in armor
- Etc.
Competition between clans or between schools of a discipline were not all
that common, but they were indulged in by lower-ranking samurai in disciplines
such as archery.
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Martial Arts Ranking System
Every discipline had a ranking system, and many were similar. For game
purposes, have students start at 10 kyu and progress up to 1 kyu. From 1 kyu
the student steps up to 1 dan, which means he has learned or mastered the
basics, depending on the discipline. From 1 dan the progression goes up to 10 dan,
the highest degree of achievement in an art, and is sometimes awarded
posthumously.
This ranking system, with modifications, is now used in many arts where
degrees of proficiency is measured. This includes non-martial disciplines such
as tea ceremony or flower arrangement. In the game of go, this system is
used for handicapping, where someone with a 2 dan ranking would get a three
stone handicap advantage from a competitor with a 5 dan rating to balance
game play.
Historically, this ranking system was invented during the Edo period for
the game of go, and was not used in martial arts until after the Imperial
Restoration, when it was introduced in judo. In judo, once a practitioner
has achieved 1 dan, he is awarded the black belt. This system has since then
spread to other Asian countries.
As this particular system was not yet used for martial arts in the
samurai era, there is never a reference to a samurai as being of 5th degree
black belt in swordsmanship. It is offered here as a meaningful way to rank
proficiencies in the martial arts on a character's stat sheet. For game
purposes, it may be useful to have 10 kyu being level -10, 1 kyu being -1, 1
dan being +1, and 10 dan being +10. It may also be useful to have a level 0
between 1 kyu and 1 dan for mathematical purposes. In this system, the
legendary Miyamoto Musashi would have a swordsmanship rating of +10, and
Hattori Hanzo may have a +10 in various ninjutsu techniques.
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Sankin Kotai "Alternate Attendance"
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Daimyo procession leaving Nihonbashi in Edo at the
crack of dawn.
--Woodblock print from The Fifty-three Station
of the Tokaido by Utagawa Hiroshigé (1797-1858) |
In
order to control the daimyo, the Tokugawa Shogunate installed a system of
alternate residence, called Sankin Kotai, where the daimyo were required to reside alternately
in Edo and in their respective fiefs. The period of residence was not strictly
fixed and changed over time, but in general it was one year in Edo and one year in their domains.
Daimyo of the Kanto region alternated every six months. Travel schedule was
spread out to control crowding of roads and facilities, although most occurred
in the spring. While in their
domains, every daimyo was required to leave his wife and children in his yashiki
"residence in Edo," essentially as hostages. Depending on the
daimyo's rank and prestige, his estate in the capital varied in size and
closeness to Edo Castle. Maintaining a lavish household for his family and his vassals
in Edo and in his fief, and the regular trips back and forth, were costly.
This effectively helped to deplete the daimyo's finances, making it difficult for
him to wage
war against the Shogunate. While Sankin Kotai was formally enacted into law in
1635 by Shogun Iemitsu, it had been an established custom since the days of Toyotomi
Hideyoshi. In principle, Sankin Kotai was a military service to the Shogun.
Each daimyo was required to provide a certain number of samurai based on the
assessed value of his han. A daimyo who failed to meet the obligations of
Sankin Kotai, such as due to illness, was met with a public reprimand that could
include loss of privileges, fines and other punishment, demotion, or even
expropriation of domain. In 1686, for repeated offenses, the Bakufu punished the
Lord of Echizen with ritual disgrace, revocation of permission to use the
Matsudaira name and the hollyhock family crest, loss of his seat at audiences at
Edo Castle, and loss of almost half of his territories. In addition, he was to
close the main gate of his Edo mansion and restrict himself to using the other
smaller gates.
Not only did the family lose face, it lost many retainers, several of whom had
committed seppuku in vain attempts to remonstrate with their lord. As there were over 260 daimyo, comings and goings
of daimyo cavalcades were practically a daily occurrence in Edo, especially in the spring. Sankin Kotai encouraged road
building and construction of inns and facilities along their routes. Special
lodgings called honjin were reserved for the use of daimyo. Depending on the daimyo's
prestige and finances, the gyoretsu "procession," can be from a few hundred to
a few thousand, and the longest would snake for miles. It was an impressive sight:
flying banners, vassals on
horseback, foot soldiers with decoratively-covered spears and halberds, porters carrying crates emblazoned with the daimyo's crest, and
numerous attendants. The daimyo himself traveled in a lacquered norimon "palanquin" that
was sometimes
large enough for him to lie down and sleep in, and required eight carriers. When
the parade first left Edo, the marchers all wore
their finest uniforms and outfits. When they reached the first post station outside Edo, the marchers changed into more practical
travel clothes. Commoners
along the road were required to avert their gaze and bow to the ground. Leading
the procession were samurai who shouted "Bow down! Bow Down! The lord is
coming!" It was
not rare for a retainer to strike down anyone who did not show proper
respect, as the samurai, by law, had the right to kill any commoner who offended
them in any way. Each gyoretsu had special officers
who scouted ahead to see to lodging arrangements and travel conditions. If a
daimyo had to travel through unsecure terrain or had reasons to be paranoid, he
may have had secret escorts who traveled somewhat behind the group to see if anyone
was following them. Fiefs along travel routes were always on the alert as the
parades of armed soldiers marching through their territory posed a security
risk. Protocol required that official representatives greet the procession upon
entry into their realm and accompany it until it departed its borders, whereupon
it would be met by a new contingent of officials. For a paranoid daimyo of a
well-trafficked domain, this was an especially time-consuming chore. The daimyo of the Maeda clan, who was rated at over 1
million koku and ruled the provinces of Kaga, Noto,
and Etchu, in mid-17th century had gyoretsu of more then 4,000 that traveled between Edo and
his home in Kanazawa Castle (Kaga), located to the west at the coast of the Japan Sea, a
distance of about 600 kilometers, or about 370 miles, and took a fortnight of
travel. By the mid-18th century this was reduce to about 1,500 due to
the sheer cost of travel. It 1690 the entourage of the Tosa daimyo reportedly
numbered 2,775. Under the 8th Tokugawa Shogun Yoshimuné (1684-1751)
daimyo rated at 200,00 koku or more were restricted to 120-130 foot soldiers and
250-300 attendants and porters, while those of 100,000 koku or more could have
80 and 140-180 respectively. Overages required additional payment of fees. The
most distant travelers to Edo were from Kyushu. The Shimazu daimyo from
Kagoshima (Satsuma) would take some 50 days to get to the capital. Part of this
trip would be on water, but they usually landed prior to the city somewhere
along the Tokaido, and marched towards Edo, where the procession would be
greeted ceremoniously at the outskirts of the city by the Shogun's officials.
Daimyo power depended on income, status, and influence. Higher income, of
course, meant the daimyo can hire more vassals. Status depended on the
following:
- Higher the income, higher the status.
- Daimyo of the Tokugawa and Matsudaira clans had higher status than other
daimyo.
- Fudai daimyo had higher status than tozama daimyo.
Influence depended on the following:
- Higher the status, higher the influence.
- A daimyo usually had more influence on other daimyo of the same clan.
- Fudai daimyo had more influence than tozama daimyo.
- Fudai daimyo had more influence on other fudai daimyo than on tozama
daimyo.
- Tozama daimyo had more influence on other tozama daimyo than on fudai
daimyo.
The successor of a household was not necessarily the oldest son.
Theoretically, it went to the most capable. In practice, the eldest was nominally
given first consideration. If he was not willing or was deemed unsuitable, the 2nd son
was
considered next. Etc.
In an unforced, voluntary abdication, the retiring daimyo selected his heir.
If there was no abdication, the heir apparent was usually selected by the
daimyo before expiration. If for some reason the daimyo was not able to decide on a heir on his own, advisors and family
relations offered their preferences.
If a daimyo had no male heir, upon his death the law allowed for the Shogun to appropriate
his domains and dissolve the clan. Daimyo without an heir normally petitioned the
Shogun to adopt a suitable candidate, usually a non-heir son of another daimyo,
whose clan would make a good political ally. If the
daimyo had a daughter the new son was often married to her. In these cases it
was not unusual for the new son to be unassertive and the wife domineering, as
she would have her sway backed by her family. Success of petitions
depended on the daimyo's power and influence.
A daimyo with many sons promoted the younger non-heirs to anyone with
influence who can find suitable families for them to marry into. Matchmaking is a
time-honored tradition that has been practiced throughout the history of Japan
at all levels of society. At least among the samurai, both sons and daughters were of value for their potential to create favorable alliances. Professional
matchmakers, fortunetellers, and religious advisors were also available for
consultation.
Conflicts of succession among claimants and their supporters occurred
regularly. They provide plot devices for storylines and scenarios.
Marriages were normally arranged by a samurai of the same rank or higher than those
being married. It was always for political reasons and never for affection,
although this may occasionally have occurred after-the-fact.
Samurai usually married women from samurai families, but lower-ranked samurai
were allowed to marry commoners. If necessary, a dowry was brought by the
woman to start their new lives.
Divorces were rare as it would embarrass the samurai who arranged the
marriage. A samurai could divorce his wife for a variety of reasons, including
inability to produce a male heir. A wife could initiate a divorce, but it
generally took the form of the samurai divorcing her. A divorce meant the
samurai had to return any dowry, and this often served to prevent separations. A
divorce usually meant dishonor for the wife, and she was allowed to commit jigai, a form
of female seppuku, as an option.
Mistresses were allowed, but their backgrounds were carefully scrutinized. If
she was a commoner, a messenger would be sent with betrothal money or a note of
tax exemption to ask for the parent's acceptance, and many did so gladly
as resulting sons could be samurai.
Every daimyo shared the same desire to create a dynasty that would carry on
the family name forward into the future with successive generations of good
government and virtuous rule, peaceful or otherwise. To this end, samurai
wives were expected to produce many children, including and most importantly
an heir.
Daughters were valued by daimyo as they were used for seiraku kekkon, the
arranged political marriage, to form important family ties between samurai
clans. Manipulation of arranged marriages became rampant and were dangerous to
the central authorities, so it was law that marriages of members of daimyo
clans required the approval of the Shogunate.
The following are stories of samurai women and arranged marriages during
the Sengoku Period and its aftermath:
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Nohimé |
- Nohimé -- In 1549 Saito Dosan (1494-1556), a powerful daimyo from Mino province, arranged a
marriage of his daughter Nohimé to Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), the son of his rival
Nobuhidé,
to end hostilities and make peace. At their wedding Nobunaga described her as
having "the mind of a genius and the appearance of a goddess,"
although records apparently do not indicate that he was madly in love with
her. There is a popular story about Nohimé that
purports that she was acting as a spy for her father, and knowing this
Nobunaga falsely told her that he was plotting to have her father Dosan
murdered with the help of some of her father's senior retainers. Nohimé
conveyed the names of the alleged traitors to her father, who obligingly
executes them, effectively weakening him with the deaths of his most loyal
followers. The irony here is that Nohimé was considered highly intelligent.
After the death of Nobunaga, Nohimé effectively disappears from history.
- Tokuhimé -- When Oda Nobunaga made his alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1561, he had
his daughter Tokuhimé (1559-1636) married to Ieyasu's eldest son Nobuyasu
(1559-1579) when they were both only a few years old. Tokuhimé regularly
reported back to her maiden family on the activities of her new one, and when she heard about a plot to have her
father Nobunaga killed, she reported this to him. Nobunaga had Ieyasu order the deaths
of the two culprits, Ieyasu's own son Nobuyasu and wife Tsukiyama. Ieyasu did
this as an act of samurai loyalty to Nobunaga, but he later expressed deep regret
about his decision to do so.
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Oichi (1547-1583) |
- Oichi -- A tragic life was led by Oda Nobunaga's younger sister and
Nohimé's sister-in-law, Oichi (1547-1583). Also known as Odani, Oichi, who was also renowned for her beauty and her
resolve, was first married to Shibata Katsuié (1522-1583), Nobunaga's most senior
retainer, but as Nobunaga needed a marriage alliance with the Asai clan of
Omi, in 1568 he divorced Oichi from her husband, and had her marry Asai
Nagamasa (1545-1573), the heir to the clan. Oichi had a son and three daughter by the
union. The alliance did not hold and when the two clans went to war, Oichi and
her three daughters were returned to her brother. Nobunaga prevailed over the
Asai, and Nagamasa, his two sons, and his father committed seppuku. Nobunaga then had Oichi
remarry her former husband Shibata Katsuié. After Nobunaga's death, Katsuié
sided against Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who triumphed, and Katsuié and Oichi
committed seppuku.
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Yodo-dono (1569-1615) |
- Yodo-dono -- Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) spared the three daughters of Oichi, and
took as his concubine the eldest, Yodo-dono (1569-1615), whose life was even
more tragic than of her mother. Yodo-dono, also known as Yodogimi, had seen the suicides of her father,
mother, and stepfather, all consumed by flames in blazing castles, and had to
submit to the man who caused the death of her parents. After Hideyoshi had
prevailed over all his enemies and became supreme dictator of Japan, Yodo-dono
bore him a son, Hideyori (1593-1615), who became his designated successor.
When Hideyoshi died in madness when Hideyori was only 5 years old, the child
was placed under the care of the Five Tairo until he came of age. Yodo-dono
shaved her head and became a nun, and remained at her son's side. After the
seminal Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) took over
the country as absolute ruler and became Shogun. His son Hidetada, the 2nd
Tokugawa Shogun, arranged the marriage of his 7 year old daughter Senhimé (1597-1666) to Hideyori. Despite this, Ieyasu was never
comfortable with Hideyori and saw him as a potential threat. Eventually a war
broke out between the two, and in 1615 Hideyori and his mother Yodo-dono were
besieged in
Osaka Castle, where the battle being lost and the castle in flames, they
committed suicide. The son of Hideyori and Senhimé, Toyotomi Kunimatsu
(1608-1615), who was 7 years old at the time, was captured and later
beheaded, ending the Toyotomi legacy. Senhimé survived, and in 1616 her
grandfather Ieyasu remarried her to Honda Takatoki (1596-1626), who the
next year received the daimyoate of Himeji-Shinden (Harima). After his
death she became a Buddhist nun and moved back to Edo.
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Ohatsu (1570-1633) |
- Ohatsu -- Oichi's 2nd daughter was Ohatsu (1570-1633), who in 1587
Toyotomi Hideyoshi married off to his vassal Kyogoku Takatsugu
(1560-1609), daimyo of Omi (60,000 koku). In 1600 Takatsugu sided with the
Tokugawa, and was rewarded with the fief of Obama (Wakasa -- 92,000 koku).
Although he was categorized as tozama, Takatsugu prospered. As Ohatsu had
connections with both the Toyotomi and the Tokugawa, she long served as a
liaison between the rivals until 1615, when the Toyotomi was eliminated.
Ohatsu is the mother of Takatsugu's son Kyogoku Tadataka (1593-1637), who
married the 4th daughter of Shogun Tokugawa Hidetata. After her husband's
death, Ohatsu became a nun and withdrew to Nozen-zan, a Buddhist convent
in Obama.
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Oeyo (1573-1626) |
- Oeyo -- Oichi's 3rd daughter was Oeyo (1573-1626), who married the 2nd
Tokugawa Shogun Hidetada (1579-1632), 3rd son of Ieyasu. They had two sons
and two daughters. Their eldest son Iemitsu became the 3rd Tokugawa
Shogun. Their 2nd son Tadanaga (1606-1633) was favored by his mother be
the 3rd Shogun, but instead was appointed daimyo of Kofu (Totomi --
550,000 koku), which covered the provinces of Suruga, Totomi, and Kai.
Tadanaga was eventually arrested for misconduct and forced to commit
seppuku. Their older daughter was Senhimé, who her father married off to
Toyotomi Hideyori at the age of 7, to the dismay of her grandfather
Ieyasu. Her tragic life is summarized above; see Yodo-dono. In 1620
Hidetada married their 2nd daughter, Masako (1607-1678), also known as
Kazuko, to Emperor Go-Muzunoo (1596-1680). In 1629 their daughter became
Empress Meisho (1624-1696), at the age of 5, when her father was forced to
abdicate due to misconduct. She reigned from 1629-1643, and had no
children of her own.
Outside of producing heirs, the main duty of samurai wives was the
maintenance of the household. As daimyo traveled back their home han every
other year, wives of daimyo had to stay behind and manage all household
affairs, including care for the children, that did not involve vassals, who
had their own responsibilities.
Traditionally, a samurai woman was trained in some martial arts, but it was
usually in the use of the naginata "Japanese halberd," a polearm with a curved blade at the
tip, and a dagger, called the kaiken. She would receive the kaiken as a wedding
gift, and the small knife was carried in a
scabbard in her obi for self-defense, and was considered good luck.
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A samurai woman wielding a naginata "Japanese
halberd" |
Traits valued in samurai women were:
- Humility
- Obedience
- Self-control
- Strength
- Loyalty
- Self-sacrifice
Samurai wives were also expected to be skilled at:
- Managing property
- Keeping records
- Dealing with financial matters
- Education of the children (and servants, if necessary)
- Caring for elderly parents or in-laws
A good head for financial matters was especially important as the samurai
themselves tended to shun the counting of money as it ran counter to the Bushido
ideals of loyalty and valor above all else in the fields of battle, which
effectively made many of them relatively incompetent and clueless in business matters,
budgeting, and economics.
Samurai mothers were expected to exercise discipline and not indulge or
spoil their children.
Samurai women were prohibited from engaging in political affairs, traveling
alone, or committing adultery.
As the Edo Period progressed and more value were placed on education, women
of all classes began their education at an earlier age. Along with physical
attractiveness, intelligence and education began to be seen as desirable
attributes for a wife. More women learned to read, and though many text
written for women were mainly about how be a successful wife and household
manager, they also began to read philosophical and literary classics. By the
end of the Tokugawa Period, nearly all women of the samurai class were
literate.
A husband had one legal wife at a time. Usually, men who can afford them also had several concubines.
Indeed, he was generally encouraged to have many concubines, within reason, to
produce more offspring. Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339) had 17 wives and
concubines, and at least 31 children. The 11th Tokugawa Shogun Ienari
(1773-1841) reportedly had 15 concubines, and 24 occasional companions, but is
reputed to have been a degenerate with a harem of 900 women, and fathered 75
children. A concubine was usually of lower status and could be
someone who one fancied, or someone recommended by anyone of influence. Concubines
usually lived in the same household with the man's legal wife in a
jealously-preserved hierarchy. Concubines had certain status and legal rights.
For instance, a son of a concubine and a samurai would be a samurai, and occasionally became the heir upon
his father's death. Many women willingly
became a concubine. For these women, concubinage offered them a better situation
and economic security. The advantages often extended to their parents to a
certain degree, as they were grandparents of any children from the union,
although they may not have been allowed to see them. Sometimes a concubine
would be released, e.g., if the sponsor had grown tired of her, and have her
marry one of his retainers. Sometimes a concubine would have an outside lover.
If she is found out, she is either executed or sometimes exiled, based on the
sponsor's leniency and her perceived culpability. Concubines provide
natural plot lines:
- Conflict between the wife and a concubine.
- Petty jealousies among concubines.
- Succession disputes between sons of the head of the family.
In feudal Japan love between men was viewed as the purest form of love. This
did not necessarily involve a sexual relationship, but it often did.
Theoretically men who loved each other would boost the morale, bravery, and
fighting spirit of the group through comradeship and self-sacrifice in the
battlefield. Generally this bond between men was stronger than
those they had with their wives, who were selected mainly for political purposes
and rarely for any affectionate reasons.
There was also a tradition where it was customary for a young samurai to
apprentice to an older and more experienced man. The young samurai would usually
be his
lover for many years, and the practice, called shudo, was held in high esteem by
the warrior class. Shogun, daimyo, Emperors, and head priests who did not
practice shudo were exceptions, and were most often bisexual. In sources which do not
reference this
type of relationship, the younger lover, called wakashu, are euphemistically
referred to as a protégé, page, subordinate, student, or apprentice. This practice is called pederasty in in the
western tradition, which was practiced in ancient Greece, Rome, and elsewhere.
Within a few generations after Ieyasu
became the 1st Tokugawa Shogun, samurai essentially became bureaucrats. No
longer were they practitioners of Bushido, but men who sought to preserve and
advance their position in government.
The real adventurers during this time were ronin, who were men of samurai
background, but without a master to serve. Since they were of samurai heritage
they wore the two swords indicating their class. There were two types:
- Samurai who became ronin by choice -- These men voluntarily left the
service of their lord, and gave up their stipends, for one reason or
another. They may have
felt the life of vassalage was oppressive and stifling. They may have felt
their lord was unworthy of their service. They may have had ambitions for
other interests such as travel or writing. Provincial samurai may have left
their homes for a life in the city. There were not a great many in
this group. These ronin was considered especially shameful for turning their
back on the Bushido code.
- Samurai who lost their position involuntarily -- This may be due to the
abolishment of the fief for one reason or another, the loss of position due
to misconduct, etc. They will tend to go from daimyo to daimyo looking for
another gainful position. This group made up the great majority of ronin.
During the Edo Period, the number of ronin increased greatly. The
confiscation of fiefs during the rule of the 3rd Tokugawa Shogun Iemitsu
(1604-1651) resulted in an especially large increase of ronin, a number which
approached half million. As peace prevailed throughout the rest of the period,
the need to maintain a standing army greatly declined. This coupled with the
financial problems many in the military class suffered, more and more samurai
lost their positions.
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Duel between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro at
Ganryu Island
April 13, 1612
– 1856 woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
(1798-1861) |
The most famous ronin is the great swordsman Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645).
Musashi fought his first duel when he was 13 years old, when he killed Arima
Kihei, who not a terribly talented swordsman. He was at the Battle of Sekigahara
in 1600, for the Toyotomi side, but there is no confirmation that he
participated in battle. A few years later, when Musashi was about 20 years old,
he fought a series of duels against the Yoshioka clan, who ran the foremost
school on the art of the sword in Kyoto. He killed all the three heirs and
single-handedly caused the demise of the Yoshioka School. Afterwards, from 1605 to 1612 he traveled
extensively all over Japan in a musha shugyo "warrior pilgrimage" during which
he honed his skills with duels. Musashi fought over 60 duels and was never
defeated, and he never cared which weapon his foe used. In 1612 Musashi defeated
Sasaki Kojiro at Ganryu Island, on the strait between Honshu and Kyushu, in the
most famous duel in Japanese history, arranged by Hosokawa Tadaoki, daimyo of
Kokura (Buzen -- 370,000 koku). In 1614-1615 Musashi fought in the two Sieges of
Osaka Castle, but accounts differ as to which side he fought for. In 1615 he
entered the service of Ogasawara Tadanao of Harima as construction supervisor,
and helped construct Akashi Castle. In 1621 Musashi defeated Miyake Gunbei and
three other adepts of the Togun-ryu in front of the daimyo of Himeji. Musashi
later helped lay out the organization of the town of Himeji. In 1622 Musashi
embarked on a new series of travels, winding up in Edo in 1623, where he applied
to become a swordmaster to the Shogun, but as he already had two, Jiroémon
Tadaaki and Yagyu Munenori, his application was denied. In 1634 Musashi entered
the service of the daimyo Ogasawara Tadazané (1596-1667), daimyo of Kokura (Buzen
-- 150,000 koku), and took a major role in the Shimabara Rebellion. In 1643
Musashi retired to a cave named Reigando, to the west of Kumamoto (Higa), as a hermit to write Go Rin No Sho "Book of Five
Rings."
He died in 1645, soon after completing his manuscript.
Revenge for the death of one's father or liege through murder or other foul
play was a solemn and loyal duty of the samurai under the codes of Bushido and
Confucianism. A samurai who shrank from this obligation was considered beneath
contempt.
Although katakiuchi "vengeance" was sanctioned, a samurai must first report his
intentions to a court of criminal justice to receive permission and a
certificate of authorization to search for and slay the offending party. If the petition is for just cause, the court was not allowed to deny
the vendetta. The
certificate would have the avenger's name, home domain, and some details of the
vendetta. Once the deed was accomplished the samurai must immediately
report this and present the certificate to the nearest authorities. After
questioning, and if everything is found to be in order, the samurai is free to
return home, usually with congratulations, and perhaps lauded for his
achievement. After this the samurai must return home as soon as possible with
proof of his accomplishment.
If the avenger did not procure prior permission for the vengeance, it was
considered illegal and the punishment or pardon depended on the circumstances.
The following are a few of the famous vendettas from samurai history with,
perhaps, embellishments from popular storytellers of the day.
Soga Monogatari "Tale of the Soga Brothers"
In 1176 Kawazu Saburo Sukeyasu, an active sumo wrestler and son of
Jiro Sukechika, the head of the Ito clan in Izu, was murdered by his cousin Kudo
Suketsuné in the mountains of Hakoné.
Sukeyasu had two sons, 3 and 5 years old at the time. Although the
murderer feared the possibility of a later revenge, not unusual in samurai
history, they were for some reason spared. The two boy's widowed mother
later married Soga Sukenobu, who adopted the elder son Juro Sukenari and
raised him as a warrior. The younger brother, Goro Tokimuné, was exiled to
a Buddhist temple in Oiso (Sagami) to become a monk. The two brothers
plotted to revenge their father's death and secretly trained themselves for
when the right circumstance arose.
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The Soga brothers practicing swordsmanship on a
mound of snow.
--Woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861) |
In 1193, Suketsuné was out on a hunting party hosted by the Shogun
Minamoto Yoritomo. Juro, now 22 years old, recognized the opportunity, rode
to pickup his brother Goro, now 20, at Oiso, and with the help of two girls,
Tora Gozen and Tegoshi no Shosho, headed for the hunting camp at the slopes
of Mount Fuji. In pouring rain they found Suketsuné in a tent and killed
him. A fight broke out between the retainers of Suketsuné and the two
brothers. Juro was killed in the fight and the younger Goro was tripped by
a sumo wrestler name Goromaru and captured.
The next day Goro was dragged in front of Shogun Yoritomo and told the
story of how he and his brother spent the last 18 years of their lives
waiting to take revenge on the man who had killed their father. Yoritomo
himself had a hard life as an exile when he was young, and not only the
Shogun but also his men were moved by the dedication of the sons of Sukeyasu to
complete their filial duties. Although Suketsuné was one of Yoritomo's
favorite retainers, the Shogun was inclined to spare Goro's life, but
Suketsuné's son insisted on death. The story goes that Goro said "Give
me death! I have been resolved to die. I want to meet my father and brother
in the next world as soon as possible." Goro was then beheaded.
Shogun Yoritomo honored the Soga brothers by
reinstalling their mother as the legitimate owner of her late husband's
estate. As neither Juro and Goro had children, the vendetta ended with their
deaths. Their graves are located at Jozen-ji in Odawara.
The revenge of the Soga brothers was extremely popular during the Edo Period,
and it was adapted for Noh, bunraku, and kabuki, where several hundreds of plays based the
Soga brothers' various exploits were performed for centuries.
In 1630, on the night of the bon odori festival in Okayama, Watanabé
Gendayu, a son of a retainer of the local daimyo
Ikeda Tadao (1602-1632), was murdered by Kawai Matagoro, also a retainer of
the Ikeda. Matagoro took flight and ran off to Edo, where a
comrade, hatamoto Ando Jiémon, sheltered him. Tadao ordered a raid to
capture the culprit, but it
was seriously bungled, and Matagoro escaped.
In 1632 Gendayu's older brother Watanabé Kazuma, at the age of 18,
received official approval to search for Matagoro. In 1834, Kazuma heard
that Matagoro, who was hidden in Nara by his uncle, was on his way to Edo
with his guards. Kazuma, his brother-in-law and renowned swordsman Araki
Mataémon, and two others waited for the party at Iga-Ueno, 60 miles, or 97
kilometers, due east of Osaka.
When the two sides met, Kazuma and Matagoro fought in a heroic duel that
lasted all day, until Kazuma prevailed. The avengers surrendered themselves
to the local authorities of the Todo clan. They had fulfilled the
requirements of the vendetta, and the event became famous as a legal duel
conducted within the limits laid down by law.
The following is a version of the vengeance of two daughters from the
kabuki play Gotai eiki shiro ishi banashi.
In a rice field in a village near Shiro-ishi-banashi in Mutsu, Shiga
Daishichi, a samurai who was hiding from the authorities, was surprised by a
farmer named Yomosaku, and killed him.
The farmer had two daughters, the
eldest, Miyagino, had been engaged to be married to a samurai, but through
poverty had been sold into prostitution, and had become a tayu
"courtesan" of the highest rank in Yoshiwara, in Edo. The younger
daughter, Shinobu, traveled from the village to Edo to find her sister. As
she was unfamiliar with the great city, by chance, at the Kaminari Gate of
Asakusa, she was helped by Muneteru, master of Okurosha, where Miyagino was
employed. When the girls met, Shinobu informed her sister of the death of
their father.
Daishichi had been captured by the village headman, who was the girls'
uncle, and turned over to the local daimyo. The two daughters vowed to seek
revenge and secretly slipped away from Yoshiwara to Miyagino's fiancé to
study the martial arts from him.
In 1649 the girls returned to their village and went through the
formalities of asking their daimyo for authorization to avenge the death of
their father. The lord promptly had the culprit brought forward and the
girls immediately prepared for the fight. Shinobu incapacitated Daishichi's
sword with her kusari-gama "sickle and chain" and Miyagino
finished him off with her naginata "Japanese halberd."
Subsequently Miyagino was freed from her servitude as a courtesan,
married her fiancé, and lived happily ever after.
In 1672 Ishii Uémon was murdered by Akabori Gengoémon at Osaka Castle.
Uémon had four sons, and his eldest, Hyoémon, who was 18 years old at the
time, applied for a leave of absence from his lord, and set off in search of
revenge. Unable to find Gengoémon, Hyoémon killed his father,
Akabori Yugen, in Otsu, hoping his enemy would make an appearance. Gengoémon,
now looking to revenge his father's death, tracked Hyoémon to a bath house,
where he attacked and killed him from behind.
The duty of revenge passed on to Uémon's 2nd son Hikoshichiro, but he
died an early death. Uémon's two other children, Genzo, who was 6 years old,
and Hanzo, who was only 3, were being cared for by a relative. In the
meantime, Gengoémon entered the service of the Itagaki clan in Kameyama with
a stipend of 150 koku, and changed his name to Suinosuké.
In 1688 the two brothers, who were now 20 and 17 years old, went to Edo
to study the Sankin Kotai comings and goings of the Itagaki clan, disguised
as peddlers. The two were eventually able to enter into service of the
Itagaki, and changed their names to Morihei and Han'émon. As fellow
retainers, they were now able to keep watch on Suinosuké.
Upon the hour of the dragon, 8 a.m, on the 9th day of the 5th month,
1701, the two sons of Ishii Uémon struck and killed Akabori Suinosuké, who
was accompanied by his attendant, as he made his way through the Ishigaki
Gate inside Kameyama Castle. The attendant ran off and the two tied on the
corpse a note explaining their actions. They fled from Kameyama and sent a letter to their family rejoicing in
accomplishing their vengeance
finally after 28 years. The brothers made their way via the
Nakasendo to Edo, and reported to the machi-bugyo. They were not punished for their
deeds as they had carried out the vendetta in accordance with samurai
tradition. Instead, because they showed talent and perseverance, the
brothers were
enlisted by Lord Aoyama Tadashigé of Hamamatsu Castle (Totomi), and were each
given a stipend of 250 koku.
In the morning of the 14th day of the 3rd month of the 14th year of
Genroku, 1701, Asano Takumi-no-kami Naganori (1667-1701), Lord of Ako (Harima -- 55,000
koku), in anger attacked the Bakufu's highest ranking master of protocol,
Kira Kozuke-no-suké Yoshinaka, in Edo Castle. Kira suffered a minor wound
and Asano was arrested. Asano stated the he had a personal grudge against
Kira, and because of accumulated anger decided to kill him. Kira claimed
that he was not aware of any grudge against him and thought that Asano had
become deranged. The reason for the grudge is apparently not recorded
anywhere in official records, although Kira was reputed to be an arrogant
and a coercive bribe-taker; a few years earlier another daimyo in Asano's
position seriously contemplated killing him. As any
sort of violence in the Shogun's palace was against the law, Lord Asano was
quickly sentenced to death by seppuku and his domain was dispossessed. He
disemboweled himself that very evening of the assault.
In the early afternoon of the attack, two of Asano's retainers were
dispatched to Ako to report the incident. After the seppuku, two more
followed. These men traveled day and night taking one express palanquin
after another, covering the 620 kilometers, or 380 miles, in four and a half
days.
The clan petitioned the Shogunate to reinstate the daimyoate under
Naganori's brother and designated heir Daigaku, but this was denied. The Ako
retainers who numbered over 300 were now ronin. Although revenge was officially prohibited in this case by the 5th Tokugawa
Shogun Tsunayoshi (1646-1709), the clan karo
"elder" Oishi Kura-no-suké Yoshio (1659-1703), after careful consideration,
revealed his plan to take vengeance on Kira. Sixty-one of the retainers took
a blood oath to carry out the vengeance. They would secretly prepare for the
vendetta posing as commoners or monks, waiting for the right opportunity.
Although Oishi had left his wife and seemingly led a life of leisure and
drunkenness in the entertainment quarters, spending many nights in the
now-famous and exclusive Ichiriki Ochiya in the Gion district of Kyoto, Kira
was a paranoid and careful man, and surrounded himself with many bodyguards
in his estate in Edo, but in time he relaxed and let down his guard.
Once Oishi was confident that Kira was no longer worried for his safety,
he snuck out of Kyoto for Edo, where his men were secretly gathering arms
and armor for the eventual attack. One of the retainers, Okano Kin'émon
Kanehidé, went so far as to court the daughter of the architect of Kira's
mansion to get plans of the building.
A year and eight months after the death of their lord, the ex-men of Ako got
news that Kira would be at his mansion after a tea party that afternoon. On a snowy winter
night, the 15th of the 12th month, 1702, a band of 47 of the remaining ronin gathered to attack Kira's mansion. The
group was split into two with Oishi leading the attack on the front gate and
his son Chikara leading the attack via the rear gate. A drum sounded the
simultaneous attack and a whistle was to be sounded when Kira was found.
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Oishi Kura-no-suke Yoshio (1659-1703)
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Chushingura
--Woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
(1797-1861) |
After scaling the walls and gates opened, there was fierce fighting with
dozens of Kira's retainers, killing and wounding many, including his
grandson Yoshichika. After subduing the defenders, Kira was still not to be found.
Oishi checked Kira's bed, and it was still warm, so the object of their
vendetta could not be far. Kira was eventually found cowering. Oishi
presented to Kira the dagger that his lord Asano had used to commit seppuku
and entreated him to do the same. Kira refused, so Oishi cut off his head
with the dagger.
The day was now breaking and one of the ronin, the ashigaru "foot
soldier" Terasaka Kichiémon, was ordered to travel to Ako and inform
the people there that their revenge had been completed. The rest of the
avengers marched to Sengaku-ji, where Asano was buried, carrying Kira's
head. There they washed and cleaned the head in a well and presented it and
the fateful dagger in front of Asano's tomb. The 46 ronin then turned
themselves over to the authorities. Although the Shogunate received a number
of petitions from the admiring populace to spare the loyal men as they had
followed the precepts of Bushido by avenging the death of their lord, since
the Ako ronin had defied the prohibition against the vendetta, nearly fifty
days after the assault, on the 4th day of the 2nd month, 1703, they were
allowed to honorably commit seppuku, and were buried alongside their lord in
Sengaku-ji.
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Seppuku of Oishi Yoshio on the 4th day of the 2nd
month, 1703 |
In the aftermath many of the former vassals of Asano, who had problems
finding employment, as they had served under a disgraced clan, were cleared
of their blemish and were able to find service with other lords. Kichiémon
eventually returned to Edo, was pardoned by the Shogun on account of his
youth, lived to a ripe old age of 78, and was buried with his comrades.
Daigaku was allowed by the Shogunate to re-establish his clan and received a
small part of the former Asano fief, but not at a daimyo level. The 46 men
had a total of 19 sons. The four who were 15 years or older were exiled, but
pardoned three years later. The rest who were younger then 15 took Buddhist
vows to escape exile. Kira's grandson Yoshichika, whom he had adopted as a
son, and who was seriously wounded during the fight, was stripped of his
holdings on the grounds that he did not fight to the death to protect his
father. He was placed in the custody of a local daimyo as a semi-criminal
and died of his wounds four years later.
The incident quickly caused a sensation throughout the Empire. It
generated a spirited discussion among Confucian scholars and others. Within two
weeks there was a play based on the event, but even though the names were
changed and set in a different era to avoid the censors, it was shut down by
the authorities. Many others soon followed, especially in Osaka and Kyoto,
further away from the capital, and were mostly for the bunraku puppet
theater and kabuki. They are collectively known as Chushingura "Treasury
of Loyal Retainers." Woodblock prints depicting scenes from the
plays are among the most popular in the genre.
Over a dozen versions of the story has appeared on film and in
television. The best movie version is Hiroshi Inagaki's Chushingura
(Toho 1962), one of the most beautiful films in Japanese cinema. Another
recommended film is Kon Ichikawa's 47 Ronin (NTV 1994) starring Ken
Takakura as Oishi, which on the surface is more realistic and a bit more
historical, and a more serious counterpart to Inagaki's more rousing
version.
The following is from a short story written by Mori Ogai (1862-1922) with
a detailed account of a celebrated incident.
Late in the year 1833 Yamamoto Sanzaémon, treasurer of the Edo mansion
of Sakai Tadamitsu, Lord of Himeji (Harima -- 150,000 koku), was attacked by
a robber and subsequently died of his wounds. The offender was determined to
be a messenger named Kamezo. On the 2nd month of 1834, his son Uhei, who was
19, his daughter Riyo, who was 22, and his younger brother Yamamoto Kuroémon,
who was 45 and a vassal of Himeji karo "elder" Honda Ikiri,
received permission from Lord Tadamitsu to perform the vendetta. Although Riyo
was named on the document, and was determined to join in the hunt for the
miscreant, Kuroémon insisted that it was inappropriate for her to come
along as she was a woman.
Neither Uhei nor Kuroémon had ever seen Kamezo, so they did not know
what he looked liked. Fortunately a man named Bunkichi appeared and stated
that he had served the Sakai clan as a messenger at the same time as Kamezo
and could identify him. Bunkichi, who was 42 years old, volunteered to go
along and was invited to become Uhei's vassal.
After paying their respects at the grave of Sanzaémon, the three set off
for Takasaki (Kozuké) where they had been informed that it was Kamezo's
prior residence. Although they did not expect to find Kamezo there, it was
the only lead they had. It was like finding a particular grain of rice in a
granary. From Kozuké, they searched through the provinces of Musashi, Kai,
Shinano, Hida, Mino, Owari, and Isé, where they visited the shrine to pray
for the successful completion of their mission. From there they took the
Tokaido through Omi, Yamashiro, Kawachi, and Settsu to Osaka. After
searching the city for 23 days, the party entered the provinces of Harima
and Bizen. On the 16th day of the 6th month, 1834, they crossed by boat to
Shikoku, landing in the province of Sanuki. They searched the mountains
there and entered Iyo. From there they took a boat to Kyushu, landing in
Bungo. They spent many months searching the provinces of Higo and Hizen,
before leaving Kyushu from Buzen, landing in Nagato province on the 6th day
of the 12th month.
At this point snow was falling and Kuroémon's foot was in bad shape. He
reluctantly took a boat back to Himeji in Harima to recuperate. Uhei and
Bunkichi continued their search through the provinces of Suo, Aki, Bingo,
Bitchu, and Bizen before reuniting with Kuroémon in Himeji on the 20th day
of the 1st month, 1835. The next month they gathered in Osaka, where their
money ran out. Uhei became moody and decided he longer wanted to actively
participate in the vendetta. He asked Kuroémon to take Bunkichi as his
vassal and walked away.
Soon thereafter, Kuroémon received a letter from Sakurai Sumazaémon,
brother of Sanzaémon, that he had overheard a conversation that Kamezo was
seen at the Asakusa Temple in Edo. The two immediately left for the capital
and arrived on the 7th month of 1835. They did not let their families know
that they had entered the city. On the 13th day of the month, the day of the
Bon festival, after searching all day, they finally spotted Kamezo near the
temple grounds. Around midnight they apprehended the object of their
vendetta. Kuroémon had Bunkichi run to fetch Riyo. When she arrived, Kuroémon
released Kamezo's bonds and the three prepared to attack him. Kamezo dove in
the direction of Riyo, but she jumped back and, with her father's short
sword, she dealt him a severe wound. Kuroémon took the honor of finishing
him and cut off his throat. Riyo regretted that Uhei was not there.
The three went to the guardhouse in Kashi under the authority of Honda
Tadataka, Lord of Okazaki (Mikawa -- 50,000 koku), to give their story. A
report was sent to the Shogunal inspectors-general and to Sakai Tadanori, successor to
Tadamitsu, who had originally given permission for the vendetta. On the
evening of the 14th, the Nishimaru inspector and chief police
official Mizuno Unemé dispatched the Nishimaru assistant inspectors-general Nagai Kamejiro and
Kubota Eijiro, the Nishimaru inspectors-general of commoners Hiraoka Tadahachiro and
Inoué Matahachi, the fief representatives Shimoya Rinzaémon and Itami Chojiro,
and four han messengers to conduct a formal investigation.
They were joined by overseers from the Honda, Endo, Hiraoka, and Udono
residences. The investigation took one hour and Udono Kichinojo reported
their findings to inspector-general Matsumoto Sukenojo of the Western Enciente of Edo Castle. Shono
Jifuzaémon, proxy of the Sakai lord in Edo, reported back to the Sakai
mansion's investigator-general; and the Sakai mansion filed a report with the Shogunate
senior councilor Okubo Tadazané.
The three were summoned the next day, the 15th, to the residence of the
Edo city magistrate Tsutsui Masanori. The Sakai mansion assigned a company
of foot soldiers led by an inspector-general, assistant inspector-general, and a lower samurai
official, to escort Kuroémon and Riyo, who rode in palanquins, and Bunkichi,
who walked behind them. They were personally interrogated by the magistrate.
The following day they were again summoned by Tsutsui and were interrogated
by his police official Nisugi Hachizaémon; they then signed an affidavit.
That day Riyo received formal congratulations for accomplishing the vendetta
from her former employers at the Hosokawa residence, where she was working
when her father was attacked.
On the 19th day of the month they went to Tsutsui's mansion again to
listen to the draft of the report. On the 23rd day they went again to
impress their thumb prints on the final draft of the document. Finally on
the 28th day, on their 5th visit, at the request of the Shogunal senior
councilor Mizuno Tadakuni, Kuroémon and Riyo were declared "extremely
commendable and innocent without any crime," while Bunkichi received a
formal notification of "innocence without any question." They then
received the praise of Tsutsui.
Afterwards Kuroémon and Riyo returned the license granting them permission to
perform the vendetta to the office that issued the document.
On the 1st day of the 8th month, 1835, the relatives Yamamoto Heisaku and
Sakurai Sumazaémon accompanied the trio to an audience in the office of the
highest Sakai retainers. The inspector-general, who sat next to the han karo
"domain elder" Kawai Kotaro, made the announcement to Riyo that
since she was a woman, she especially merited Lord Sakai's praise, and
therefore would succeed as the head of Sanzaémon's household. She was
granted a stipend of 14 koku, and was told that the lord wished for her to find
a suitable husband.
On the 11th day of the month, Riyo received an audience with Lord Sakai.
She was presented with one roll of black silk crepe, one roll of undercloth
of red silk with cotton underlining, and one roll of double-lined white
silk. On the same day she received from Lady Hamacho, cousin of the late
Lord Sakai Tadamitsu, one roll of striped crepe silk; and from the widow of the
late Sakai Tadataka a dyed Takasago striped crepe silk wrapper, two fans,
and a purse.
Lord Sakai Tadanori sent a letter to Kuroémon's lord,
Himeji karo Honda Ikiri, that Kuroémon should be praised for his discretion, and out of
special consideration for his deed he had been granted a special outer coat
with the mon "crest" of the Sakai clan. Honda conferred 100 koku
of rice upon Kuroémon and promoted him to the post of personal attendant of
the upper rank. Honda also gave Riyo 400 ryo to buy kimono material, and
from Honda's mother one roll of striped crepe silk and a box of dried fish.
Bunkichi was summoned to the office of the inspector of the Sakai clan
and formally made the servant and vassal of Yamamoto Kuroémon, and given
the rank of lesser official, four ryo of gold, and a stipend of two koku.
His name was changed to Fukanaka and was posted as forest warden at the
Sakai clan estate at Kisugamo.
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Archetypical ninja
--Woodblock print from Hokusai Sketchbook
(1817) by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) |
Historically there were two types of ninja:
- Those who used stealth tactics and went on covert missions
- Those who fought openly as samurai during times of war using ninja
fighting techniques
In cases of the former, a daimyo would hire ninja for:
- Espionage
- Sabotage
- Infiltration
- Assassination
Samurai often hired ninja for covert activities that required the use of underhanded
tactics, which they were careful to avoid in order to preserve their reputation
and image. Professional ninja were mercenaries, and were almost always contracted
through an intermediary. The arrangement was made in total secrecy by all
concerned, and the mission was never to be revealed. If the ninja was caught,
he must kill himself before anything is exposed. The original ninja credo
required complete secrecy and anonymity. There were to be no record of their
background, activities, or even existence. Their ninja techniques,
collectively called ninjutsu, were taught and passed down orally, and were never to be divulged.
That said, there were many samurai who
were known to be of ninja background, and many manuals on ninjutsu, a few of
which included some ninja history, began to appear after mid-17th century. Clans
devoted to the training of professional ninja appeared in the province of Iga and the nearby region of Koga just to the north in Omi
province. The area is a small mountain-ringed basin in the center of Japan's
Kinki region. It is claimed that there were over 70 schools of ninjutsu and
all the arts of ninja could be acquired within a radius of 45 miles, or 72
kilometers, from Iga. Three of the most prominent ninja clans of Iga were:
- Hattori -- Controlled western Iga
- Momochi -- Controlled southern Iga
- Fujibayashi -- An offshoot of the Hattori, controlled northeastern Iga
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Hattori "Devil" Hanzo (1542-1596) |
Each of the three clans had a member who was one of the Three Iga Ninja
Grandmasters. The most famous of these is Hattori Hanzo
(1542-1596), a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was nicknamed "Devil Hanzo,"
and is considered one of the
future Shogun's three bravest retainers. Hanzo's father Yasunaga served Matsudaira
Kiyoyasu, Lord of Mikawa, and grandfather of Ieyasu. Although he was born and raised
in Mikawa province, Hanzo often returned to Iga, home of the Hattori ninja
clan, where it is said that he learned ninjutsu. Following the Battle of Okehazama
(1560) Tokugawa Ieyasu employed a group of eighty Koga ninja, led
by Tomo Sukesada, to raid an outpost of the Imagawa clan. The Koga ninja
infiltrated the castle, set fire to its towers, and the killed the lord of the
castle along with two hundred of the garrison. In 1581 Oda Nobunaga invaded Iga
province and wiped out many of the organized clans, killing many ninja and
their families. The survivors were forced to flee, some of whom approached
Tokugawa Ieyasu and were given refuge. After the
assassination of Oda Nobunaga in 1582, Hattori Hanzo helped Tokugawa Ieyasu
escape to his home province of Mikawa through the Iga and Koga regions. Prior to the Battle of Sekigahara
(1600) it is said that several hundred Koga fighters assisted Torii Mototada
and his men in the defense of Fushimi Castle, and helped change the course of
Japanese history. After his victory at Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu settled
200 men from Iga in the Yostuya district of Edo, and employed them as guards
to key gates of his castle, and he and subsequent Shogun used them as
intelligence agents. The west gate of Edo Castle is named Hanzo-mon "Hanzo's Gate" in honor of
Hattori Hanzo, whose clan, led by Hattori's son, Masanari, lived nearby. Ieyasu also used the Koga
ninja to act as a
police force and to assist in guarding the outer gate. Iga ninja were also
employed in both Sieges of Osaka Castle (1614-1615), and Koga ninja were
recruited by Tokugawa Iemitsu against Christian rebels during the Shimabara
Rebellion (1637-1638). The Tokugawa Bakufu's 1649 law on military service
specifically declares that only daimyo can retain the services of a shinobi,
or ninja, which formally acknowledged the profession. The 8th Tokugawa
Shogun Yoshimuné (1684-1751) dismissed all mercenary ninja from intelligence
work and established the Oniwabanshu (Garden Guardians), a group made up of
Negoro ninja from his home province of Kii, to perform security, information
gathering, and espionage functions, especially on daimyo and government
officials. Positions in the Oniwabanshu were hereditary and members were later
thought to be in the samurai class. In the late Tokugawa Period, it is
speculated that members of the Oniwabanshu were included in missions sent to
the United States to gather intelligence there. Professional ninja were born
into the profession and were trained in specialized skills from childhood:
- Physical training -- Long-distance cross-country running, swimming, running down
hills, holding one's breath for as long as possible, night vision,
acrobatics, recovery from throws, tumbling, wrestling, high-jumping into
water, pole-vaulting, etc. Stance and
posture. Training of strength, dexterity, coordination, and balance, as well as
spatial and kinetic awareness.
- Special climbing skills -- Ropes, trees, walls, grappling hooks,
leaping, jumping
from heights, etc.
- Survival -- Including endurance from cold, hunger, and even torture (in
case of live capture).
Crossing raging rivers and rugged terrain. Creating fire from scratch.
Knowledge of edible plants, bugs, shellfish, worms, etc. Knowledge of
medicinal plants and antidotes of poisons. Ability to shift bone
alignment.
- Patience and meditation
- Deception and misdirection -- Including the use of wooden footpads to
lay tracks of animals or little children.
- Military strategy and tactics -- Including political warfare, exploitation of current
events, planning of surprise attacks, use of smoke signals, etc.
- Guerilla warfare -- Setting traps and ambushes. Contaminating or
withholding water supplies. Diverting water to flood an area. Destroying
bridges or weakening support beams so they would collapse when enemies pass
over them. Flame throwing.
- Psychological warfare -- Disruption of enemy morale. Creating
confusion among enemy ranks. Smoke bombs. Starting fires.
- Espionage and intelligence gathering -- Reconnaissance and scouting.
Includes pick pocketing,
individually or in teams, torture techniques.
- Infiltration -- Timing. Determination of weak points. Use of knives,
saws, chisels, and other tools for break-ins. Lock picking. Etc.
- Sabotage -- Making of gunpowder and a variety of
explosives including bombs, grenades, and landmines. Large wooden boxes
were used to hold explosives to create holes in castles, fortifications,
and walls. Small bombs or firecrackers were used as noisemakers to
distract bystanders, startle horses, and confuse the enemy.
- Rope tying
- Assassination -- The best ninja left no evidence that it was even an
homicide.
- Security -- Includes guarding against infiltration and assassination
attempts, setting of traps and trip wires for alarms, and concealment of
weapons for emergency use.
- Stealth -- Camouflage and other forms of concealment, movement without sound to avoid detection, escape
tactics, distraction of guards and pursuers, holding still for as long as
possible while minimizing breathing, quietly moving underwater with the
use of breathing tubes that doubled as blowguns, etc.
- Assassination -- Knowledge of vital parts and pressure points. Disarming
and pinning of victims. Knowledge of poisons.
- Disguise and impersonation -- Appearance as a priest, samurai, merchant,
craftsman, entertainer, puppeteer, or farmer. Knowledge of local dialects
and idiom,
trade lingo, and social customs.
- Martial arts -- Swordsmanship, chain & sickle, telescoping spears,
staves, daggers, small bows and arrows, various types of shuriken
"throwing stars," darts, blowguns, needles,
claw weapons, spiked iron knuckles, firearms, unarmed combat,
horsemanship, etc. Also study of vital body parts, breaking of bones, and
pinning.
- Meteorology -- Ability to foresee weather changes and to use them to advantage.
Awareness of moon phases.
- Geography -- Classroom study included roads, rivers, tributaries,
mountains, temples, botany, entomology, geology, zoology, regional exports
and imports, etc.
No one ninja studied all of the above disciplines, of course. Clans
specialized in certain aspects of ninjutsu, and to
provide all the necessary skills to accomplish a particular mission, teamwork was necessary. Ninja were divided
into three ranks:
- Jonin -- The ninja group leader, who organized the individual
assignments.
- Chunin -- Assistants to the jonin.
- Genin -- Field agents, who were drawn from the lower class and assigned
to carry out the actual missions.
Major historical manuals of
ninjutsu include:
Some legendary ninja abilities were:
- Flight -- With or without the use of kites, birds, etc.
- Invisibility
- Shapeshifting -- Especially into animals.
- Splitting in to multiple bodies -- To confuse the enemy, only one of
which was real, perhaps by way of mirrors, as a fanciful explanation.
- Summoning of animals -- Including the ability to communicate with
animals for information.
- Control over the five elements -- Including control of weather: rain,
wind, lightning, etc. Spontaneous combustion.
- Teleportation
|
%20421x599.jpg)
Ninja with his hands in the kuji-kiri position
shapeshifting into a giant rat
--1857 woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada
(1786-1865) |
These skills originated in manga "Japanese comic books" and popular
literature, and may have been perpetuated by the ninja themselves as
dissemination of misleading information. They should only be considered for inclusion
in the most fantastic of scenarios,
such as in animé.
Contrary to popular belief, not all ninja wore black outfits and
operated in the dark. Those who acted as spies and infiltrators normally mingled with
the citizenry, wore appropriate
everyday clothing, and were masters of disguises.
Female ninja were called
kunoichi, and trained differently from male ninja. They focused more on
disguise, poisons, and female tactics. Kunoichi often posed as
entertainers, prostitutes, maids, fortune tellers, etc., to get as close to the
enemy as possible to overhear confidential conversations, to seduce them into
giving up information, or for assassination. For the latter, they
used poison or weapons hidden in their hair, sleeves, fans, shoes, umbrellas,
traveling sticks, and body orifices. The most famous kunoichi is
Mochizuki Chiyomé, who created an all-female ninja group in the 16th century,
and who was rumored to be from Koga. When her husband died in the 4th Battle
of Kawanakajima in 1561, his uncle, Takeda Shingen, asked Lady Chiyomé to create an
underground network of female ninja to act as subversive agents who would
gather intelligence and deliver coded messages to his allies. She agreed and started recruiting prostitutes, destitute widows, and recently
orphaned girls. Initially they were trained as miko "Shinto attendants,"
which allowed them to travel freely, without suspicion, as religious
personages. Later they learned to disguise themselves as entertainers and
prostitutes to get closer to their targets. Eventually Lady Chiyomé had set up
an extensive network that served Shingen well. He was always well informed of
all activities, giving him great advantage over his rivals. Note that
the Japanese traditionally refer to the ninja as shinobi, a different reading
of the same kanji, while ninja is a more recent term that is mostly used in the west. The kanji meaning is "one who endures"
or "person of stealth." Depending on the era and the region, they
were also known by many different names: monomi "seer," rappa "ruffian," kusa
"grass," Iga-mono or Iga-no-mono "person of Iga," etc., or sometimes no name
at all.
Daimyo and their vassals amused themselves in many ways:
- Tea ceremony
- Zen Buddhism
- Art
- Poetry of all kinds
- Flower viewing
- Flower arrangement
- Calligraphy
- Scent identification -- Including different types of incense
- Mistresses
- Entertainment quarters
- Noh plays
- Kabuki
- Buraku -- Puppet plays
- Kyogen -- Comic skits
- Partying -- Dancing, singing, eating, drinking, etc., with geisha,
dancers, singers, musicians, etc.
- Brothels
- Hunting
- Fishing
- Falconry
- Etc.
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