Ninja of Iga

(above:The stone wall of the Ise-Ueno castle)

(above:the Castle of Iga-Ueno)

The stone wall covered in moss rising high from a moat showed the braveness of the old days of The Iga-Ueno Castle, but shone by the gentle afternoon sun-light of May it added to the texture of calmness. The shape with white walls of the castle above the stone wall relaxed us who had a little bit of tiredness from traveling. We saw many tourists idly from the bench where we sat, when we found many children who were dressed from head to toe except the face in cotton clothes. It was the iconic costume, yes you know, of “ninja”. We payed attention to them, colors of the clothes were red, blue, green, pink and violet. These ninja children were great matches with the background view of the castle. Their parents took photos of hopping ninja children. We already took our attention away from the castle and followed the movement of the ninja children with our eyes, they were very cute. I remembered that Iga was the hometown of Iga ninja. And the ninja children made us go to see the house of ninja.

Ninja Museum of Igaryu

The Ninja Museum Of Igaryu was nearby the castle. It was the old house of ninja, and the staffs with ninja clothes showed the features of ninja tricks which were made for their hiding and disappearing.

Under the floor, behind the wall, in the pole, over the ceiling and so on. These intrigued us strongly.   After that we saw some tools of the ninja. These were the icons on the ninja. 

—Shuriken (small complex knives of ninja)

A shuriken is the greatest weapon of ninja. Throwing it from a distant point a ninja attacks an opponent. A shuriken has more than three edges. And these are so compact that ninja can carry them in their clothes. A shuriken emphasizes the attacking ability of ninja. The imitative sound of shuriken in Japanese is “shu,shu, shu”.

—Makimono (scrolls)

A makimono contains the technical secrets of ninja. How to make gunpowder, how to make medicine, how to hypnotize others and so on. A makimono emphasizes the mysterious mood of ninja. The imitative sound with smoke in Japanese is “drohn”.

—Mizugumo

A mizugumo is the tool that ninja use to traverse a moat around a castle by walking. Ninja wears them on his feet. A mizugumo emphasizes the super skill of ninja.

—Sword for ninja

A sword for ninja is shorter than a normal sword for samurai, it is suited for high performance in a narrow room. And the reverse grip by one hand is different from the grips by both hands of normal samurai. Then the ninja grip can’t use the power of arms strongly, ninja has to use the power of the body. A sword for ninja shows the heterogeneity (yes, ninja is heterogeneous samurai).

The heterogeneity of Iga ninja

In the civil war period of the sixteen century Ise was one small country among a lot of countries in Japan. Ise is a mountainous country in present Mie prefecture of Kansai region including Kyoto. The Kansai region in those days was the central region with many wars around Kyoto. In these conditions the history of Ise amid the civil war period showed its difference from other countries in a lot of ways.

Ise was an independent country without a lord. Except Ise there was only one other independent country without a lord, it was Koga. The governing system was a republic system by some strong blood families. Ise depended on no other countries.

Ise got little grain from its land, therefore, the samurai of Ise lived by earning money by spying or selling medicine, just that was ninja. Ise had kept its quiet individuality without intervention into other countries.

Nonetheless the strongest lord at that time who desired the unification of countries in Japan by his strong war power intensely, Nobunaga Oda, wanted to destroy Ise because he hated being spied by ninja in spite of no political friction against Ise. He might have thought that Ise ninja had stood in his way. In the first battle Ise resisted the attack of the Oda force by the magical abilities of ninja and made them free, but Nobunaga decided again to completely destroy Ise by the grudge of the first loss. Ise vanished without a trace. The surviving Ise ninja evacuated in pieces to other countries. They had to go to live depending on a lord, especially on Ieyasu Tokugawa who was the founder of the Tokugawa Bakufu.

 

The strong individuality of the night

Ninja has double meanings in Japanese. One is the people who have the strong ability of patience, the other is the people of hiding themselves in the dark night. Those who were raised in the poverty of little grain and in the strong independent spirit were in no anticipation of the wealth above ground, which were land, money, army power and posts of organizations. These are for the manipulation on other people. The interest of Ise ninja was not to manipulate others but to develop only themselves and to grow their abilities of their physical bodies. What they believed in was themselves alone. That was not the wealth of the day but the wealth of the night, in a nutshell. They experienced the severe suffering without hesitation to gain the personal abilities of their physical bodies.

By the way after the evacuation of Iga ninja, Kagetora Todo managed Iga and built the Iga-Ueno Castle. He was given Ise by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who was the first lord to unify Japan succeeding Nobunaga Oda. Thinking deeply of the scene of both of ninja children and the castle, it must be the irony of history, but OK, no problem. Ninja performance excites us, and ninja children are pretty and cute.