Iga ikki

Though there are an abundance of primary documents attesting the history of the Iga ninjas, the majority were written decades later during the Tokugawa shogunate and were subject to distortion and exaggeration. Shinchō Kōki, a chronicle of Oda Nobunaga that was compiled in the early Edo period based on records kept by Ōta Gyūichi, a warrior who followed Nobunaga, is considered by historians to be "mostly factual" and "reliable". It includes mentions of Iga and Kōka soldiers. Most pre-Edo sources are presumed lost in the devastation of Oda Nobunaga's destruction of the Iga ikki in 1581. Kyōroku Temmon no Ikki, another diary associated with Kōfuku-ji, describes an attack on Takada Castle in 1556. A letter from Ichiborō a priest of Kongōbu-ji to Futami Mitzuzōin, dated September 12, 1580, describes a counter-attack by the Iga ikki against an ally of Oda Nobunaga, Sakaibe Hyōbudaiyū. Amagoisan rōjō okite kaki — Written Regulations for the Siege of Amagoison, a fifth and undated document, describes events from the Tenshō Iga War. While Kawakami Jinichi, a historian at Mie University, dates the document to 1579, because Oda Nobukatsu in that year invaded from Ise Province while the work mentions the invasion of Iga coming from Kōka, historian Stephen Turnbull believes that Amagoisan describes the second invasion by Oda Nobunaga in 1581, specifically the force led by Gamō Hidesato along Tamataki route from Kōka. There also is an extant constitution with an unclear provenance and no specific date or year. It was preserved in Kōka by the Yamanaka family but was attributed to Iga by the historian Ishida Yoshihito because it refers to a "self-governing league" - sokoku ikki -, which is what Iga referred to itself as. Based on references within the document, Yoshihito deduced that it was composed between 1552 and 1568. == History ==

Formation In 15th and 16th century Japan, Iga Province contained some 300-500 small estates and 700 castles and nearby Kōka, in Ōmi Province, had some 53 clans. Both regions were in anarchy, their estates and families constantly engaged in low-level, small-scale feuds and squabbles within and between each region. In Iga, fighting was constant from at least the late 13th century. Bandits also frequently raided the local monasteries. For example, late into the Kamakura period, bandits attacked the Tōdaiji monastery on the Kuroda estate. Iga was surrounded by mountains and accessible mostly only by narrow paths that permitted only one horse-rider at a time. The militant mountain-monks, yama-bushi, were also likely an influence as even the bandits in the area wore yellow scarfs that seem to have been copies of those worn by the mountain monks. The legendary general Kusunoki Masashige was said to have employed soldiers from Iga to infiltrate and reconnoiter Kyoto in the early 14th century. Turnbull in 2007 argued that this market in mercenary work could have been a motivator for exaggerating the abilities of ninja. However, in 2017, Turnbull questions the existence of such a market at all, contending that, contrary to the mercenary narrative, political self-interest, including continued survival, could also have equally motivated the activities of Iga units in these provinces. The usages of the term shinobi, specifically shinobi-mono, later known as ninjas, appearing in the late 1580s and early 1600s, referred to the soldiers from Iga and Kōka. The isolation in these two regions encouraged autonomy, and the communities began organizing into ikki - "revolts" or "leagues". and by around 1500 they had formed an ikki - a "league". Instead of a local daimyo from an aristocratic family replacing the shugo, leadership remained divided among the jizamurai and they formed a league. Records of their military unit, Iga-shū, appear as early as June 1470, when they assisted the Hatakeyama clan in an attack in the fields outside the Negoro-ji in Wakayama. Another reference to the Iga-shū appears in 1482. In October 1485, Iga kokujin – another term for jizamurai – helped the Hatakeyama defend Mizushi-castle in the neighboring Yamato Province. Iga troops again were involved with the Rokkaku in 1492. On December 15, 1541, the shogun in Kyoto sent a letter to Iga's governor requesting that the province assist Tsutsui Junshō in his siege of Kasagi Castle. In the morning of December 23, 1541, 70–80 ninja agents from Iga and Kōka infiltrated the castle, set fire to the settlement, and were said to have captured the first and second baileys. Per the account, Rokkaku Yoshikata was campaigning against an alleged rebel retainer, Dodo Oki-no-Kami Kuranosuke, and besieged him. After many days of unsuccessful siege, Yoshikata employed Doshun to aid him. Doshun led a team of 44 Iga ninja and 4 Kōka ninja who carried lanterns Doshun had made with replicas of Dodo's mon (family crest). They entered the gates of the castle without opposition and then set fire to the castle. They escaped successfully and in the ensuing panic Yoshikata was able to capture the castle. According to Turnbull, contrary to the account, Dodo in actuality was a retainer of the Rokkaku's enemies, the Azai clan, and when Yoshikata invaded Northern Omi Province in 1559, Dodo was ordered by Azai Nagamasa to hold Sawayama. The historian and travel writer John Man, on the other hand, takes the account at face value and cites this as an example of the fame of the ninjas and of them offering their services for hire. Around 1560, the confederacy drafted a constitution which included an outline for an alliance with Kōka. After Rokkaku Jōtei and his sons were defeated during the invasion of Kannonji Castle, they fled first to Kōka and then Mount Kōya. From there they staged a guerrilla war against Nobunaga, assisted by the Iga and Kōka ninja forces. The danger of harassment by this alliance made Nobunaga's control of southern Ōmi insecure, and in 1570 when Nobunaga retreated from the Siege of Kanegasaki back to Kyoto he was forced to go along the north-west shore of Lake Biwa rather than the more direct route through southern Ōmi. Jizamurai from Iga and Kōka assisted Jōtei and his sons in raids against Nobunaga, including setting fire to the village of Heso and the southern approaches of Moriyama. Stephen Turnbull estimates that 780 casualties must have been enormous for Iga and Kōka, since their armies likely were not very large, and indeed Shinchō Kōki makes no reference to that alliance for the next three years. Around the same time, a monk named Sugitani Zenjūbō and who is presumed to have been a mercenary ninja assassin from either Iga or Kōka, ambushed Nobunaga, fired at him, but failed to successfully assassinate him. Turnbull states that Zenjūbō fired two shots at Nobunaga, both of which were absorbed by Nobunaga's armor. Conversely, John Man cites an interview with a local resident in Kōka City who contends that the monk was from Kōka and attempted only one shot, which narrowly missed Nobunaga and passed through his right sleeve. He was executed three years later. The same year, archers from Iga and Kōka assisted the Ikkō-ikki against Nobunaga as he retreated from the second siege of Nagashima. Yoshiaki continued his resistance to Nobunaga but in late summer, 1573, he was defeated and forced to surrender. The campaign proved disastrous for Nobukatsu, who had underestimated the mix of peasants and local warriors: the effectiveness of their tactics, their strategic advantage conveyed by their knowledge of the local terrain, and their capacity for organization and mobilization. The historian Stephen Turnbull summarized the defeat as "one of the greatest triumphs of unconventional warfare over traditional samurai tactics in the whole of Japanese history.", first built in 1585, shortly after the conquest of Ueno by forces of Nobunaga. The resistance by Iga was not left unpunished. Nobunaga personally led a much larger army of 40,000-60,000 on a second invasion in 1581, guided by two samurai from northeast Iga and attacking from seven sides. Troops from Kōka are mentioned among Nobunaga's forces, indicating that its surrender in 1574 had forced it to terminate the alliance with Iga and instead oppose that confederacy. This time the invasion was successful. The guns and cannon employed by Nobunaga crushed the earth-and-wood fortresses of Iga. Takino Jurobei commanded the final stand at Kashiwara. When defeat was imminent, he surrendered the fort and he, his officers, and half the population of the castle fled. Sporadic guerrilla resistance continued for years and was ended when Tokugawa integrated the Iga forces into his military as auxiliaries. A castle was constructed in Ueno in 1585 by Tsutsui Sadatsugu. It was severely damaged by a storm in 1612, and then gradually abandoned. It was reconstructed in 1935. == Subsequent ninja activities ==

Purported Tokugawa escape through Iga Many of the Iga and Kōka ninja offered their services to Tokugawa Ieyasu after Oda Nobunaga was assassinated In June 1582. Specifically, it was reported by Edo period traditional records that Hattori Hanzō, a Tokugawa vassal from Iga, negotiated with Iga ninjas to hire them as guards to help Tokugawa escape to Kii Province and avoid capture by Nobunaga's assassin. Modern Japanese historians such as Tatsuo Fujita have expressed doubts about the credibility of story regarding Hattori Hanzō's ninja helping Ieyasu, given that the story does not appear until the 18th century during the rule of Tokugawa Yoshimune. Edo period activities Ninja activities continued in Iga into the 17th century, servicing the Tokugawa shogunate. The original manuscript has been lost, with the oldest extant copy being of the second volume and dating to 1748. The poet Matsuo Bashō was born in Ueno to a powerful ninja family and was trained in ninjutsu before he left to study haiku. During Ieyasu's campaigns to unite Japan under his authority, many ninja from Iga and Kōka contributed their skills. After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, many ninja turned to farming in Iga and Kōka, while others went on to serve as castle guards. Those who served at the forefront of battles for Ieyasu were granted residential land in the vicinity of Edo Castle. The final instance of combat involving ninja was the 1637 Shimabara Rebellion, after which they mostly served as spies and bodyguards. The last documented use of ninja in the shogunate was in 1853 when ninja allegedly were sent to investigate the arrival of the Perry Expedition. == Government and military organization ==

The Iga ikki functioned as a province-wide sō, that is, individual villages banded together, similar to a European medieval commune. Typically, including in Iga, the leadership of sō consisted of kokujin (the jizamurai) and the dogō (villagers) and lesser farmers. Pierre Souyri argues that the inhabitants of Iga and Kōka formed these collectives not out of a commitment to a particular ideology but out of necessity. The defeated jizamurai who took refuge in the area trained the local inhabitants and together they desperately fought to maintain their social status and autonomy. By 1477 Iga was known for rejecting the authority of the shugo. The documented ruling families were the Hattori and their cadet branches of Momochi and Fujibayashi. According to the Bansenshūkai, the Momochi oversaw southern Iga, the Fujibayashi northeastern Iga, and the Hattori, western Iga. Around the year 1560, a constitutional document was drawn up for Iga outlining principles of self-defense and participation of villages based on voluntary association. It also detailed an alliance and defense pact with Kōka. • A requirement that the village collective, the sokoku, to join as one to resist the invading armies from any other domain. • A stipulation that whenever an alert is sent signaling that an enemy is spotted at a gate, all the villages should ring every bell, and every member should take up defensive positions and encamp with food, weapons, and shields. • Conscription of every person from age 17 through 50. For prolonged campaigns, article three called for a rotation system to be set up. Commanders were to be appointed in every village and area. The elders of the collective were to pray at the temples for prosperity of the province, and the young participants partake in the camps. • Hikan (retainers or servants) must swear loyalty to their lord regardless of the situation of the land. • Permission for even ashigaru (peasant infantry) to capture enemy castles and stated that ashigaru who successfully capture a castle in an enemy land would be promoted to samurai. • Severe penalties for treason. If any member of the collective let in an invading army, or shared intelligence with any enemy, their entire clan would be annihilated. Any member of the collective who shared intelligence regarding someone's treason as outlined above would be generously rewarded. • Any ashigaru or samurai is forbidden from serving the Miyoshi clan. • States that any member who refused to pay the Yumi Hanjo tax (presumably a war fund), they and their father, sons, and brothers would be ineligible for benefits from the fund for 10 years, and would be excluded from using the Yado Okuri or Mukae transport relay stations. • Prohibition against disorderly conduct or violence for anyone positioned in a village or camp within the borders of the alliance. • The collective is forbidden from hiring any rōnin who formerly served in the military from Yamato Province, due to that province's long-standing attacks against the collective. • Calls for an alliance with Kōka To coordinate the Iga–Kōka alliance, the respective confederacies frequently held "field meetings" along their border to discuss issues of governance and cooperation. This co-operation within and between Iga and Kōka was in tension with constant petty feuds in each of the regions that helped contribute to the development of the leagues in the first place. Informers and traitors were severely punished by confiscation of their property followed by beheading. This "parliament" of Iga also met in various locations throughout the province. Conversely, Eiko Ikegami states that 10 magistrates oversaw the collective, with important matters discussed at meetings with the entire membership of the ikki, According to the latter work, important decisions made by the hyojo-shu were circulated in writing among the various bands and representatives of those bands would pledge loyalty in various written forms, such as renbanjo joint agreements or kishomon pledges to gods. In most of Japan after the Onin War, the loss of centralized power and the ensuing banditry, peasant uprisings, and feuds between and predatory taxation and raids by local daimyō resulted in insecure property rights, thin markets, and greatly weakened provision of public goods. In Iga and Kōka, this economic situation offered a lucrative mercenary market. Conventionally in economics, a formal state is deemed necessary to protect complex trade arrangements. However, Maltsev hypothesizes that in the chaotic and violent environment of the Sengoku period, state formation was cost-prohibitive and potentially hazardous to Iga. And the voluntary nature of the confederacy resulted in a Tiebout model of government. Depending on their wealth, the comparable rank of a jonin could range from that of a minor daimyō to a jizamurai village headman. Below the jonin were the chunin, the family's executive officers and leaders. Below them were the genin, the agents typically sent out on missions. == Religion ==

Within Iga Province, esoteric and ascetic forms of shugendō, a syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism – specifically, Tendai and the Shingon school of Tantric Buddhism – was the prevalent religion. The Buddha statues dating back to the Heian period are still displayed in the present-day. The Fujibayashi clan worshipped at the Tejikara-jinja Shinto shrine. Fujibayashi Nagato no Kami was known for his specialty in fire practices at the site, which are commemorated in the present-day with fireworks. The Hattori clan was associated with Aekuni Shrine and is thought to have originated the Kurondo Matsuri in which participants dress entirely in black. The Iga-shū sometimes facilitated important ceremonial events: The funeral of Shinsei, the founder of the Tendai sect Tendaishinsei-shu, in 1495 was mainly held by influential samurai from Iga, and in 1580 Iga jizamurai held a festival at Aekuni Shrine, the Ichinomiya for the Province, attended by Kanemi Yoshida, a priest from Yoshida Shrine in Kyoto. == Citations ==