In Search of the Niinja (46 page)

Mix oil with lacquer and kneed the above mixture and harden it to make a thin and long rod. If you travel one Ri with this torch, the rod will burn down less then one Sun and it will endure both rain and wind.

The Short but Long Burning Tool

Melt the above with fire and wrap in a cloth [making a cylinder] of two centimetres across. Also, pack cotton seed into paper and put into a [holder
157
]. If you use this tool for one day and one night, it will burn down less than one Sun.

The
Sokoku
is a set of commandments or rules established amongst some of the clans of Iga to help prevent invasion by ‘foreign’ powers. The document was found amongst others passed down in the Yamanaka family in Koka and was at first thought to have been a commandment of Koka. However, Professor Ishida Yoshihito discussed the possibility that the title ‘
Sokoku Ikki
’ means the self-governing organisation of the Iga district.

The document itself is not signed or dated and appears to be a draft version. Professor Ishida speculates that it was written at some point between 1552 and 1568, for two major reasons. Article 7 of the document prohibits servitude to the Miyoshi clan, however, before 1552 the Miyoshi was only a retainer clan to the more powerful Hosokawa clan and thus would not have been referred to without the name of Hosokawa taking precedence. In 1552 the Miyoshi succeeded in leaving the service of the Hosokawa and took hold of independent power within the Shogunate. Furthermore, the document does not mention or discuss Oda Nobunaga. If it had been written later than 1568, when Rokkaku Jotei, the Shugo governor of Omi province had fled to Koga, then Nobunaga’s name and attack would have been known.

If this document is in fact from Iga, of which researchers are almost certain, then it is the only document left concerning the
Iga Sokoku Ikki
as any other documents were destroyed in the
Iga Tensho no Ran
War of 1581. The document was an agreement made between the ten
Bugyo
commanders from Iga to settle conflict amongst the warrior families. Contemporary documents support this and state that twelve representatives were selected to make decisions for the land. Also, it is speculated that there was an equivalent organisation in Koka called
Gun-Chuso,
which is thought to have consisted of many
Domyoso
158
factions. There are two documents from this union left in the Ohara family (1560 and 1570). According to those documents, within the
Domyoso
, each family had equal rights and decision making was done by discussion and a majority vote. Alongside this some of the
Domyoso
seem to have formed a larger regional group. One of them is the Kashiwagi Three Families; this consisted of the Yamanaka, the Minobe and the Kashiwagi. Two sets of the commandment made among the three families have been left to us (1522 and 1556). The meetings held between Iga and Koka were called ‘
Noyoriai
’, which means ‘field meeting’. The ten
Bugyo
from each region met at the border of their lands and discussed issues of interest concerning Iga and Koka.

The title of the document
Iga Sokoku Ikki
reflects the alliance formed among the
Jizamurai
(land-owing samurai of Iga), which is also referred to as the
Sokoku
–
So
‘self-governing village’,
Koku
‘country or land’,
Ikki
, a military unit formed as a means of resisting the increasing powers of regional migrants or Shugo military governors (which was often cemented through oaths). They oversaw matters of a local nature, such as self-defence, irrigation, water control and land management.

The document itself does not concern ninjutsu, however, it is a ‘living’ testament to the fact that ninja were not set in opposition to the samurai and that the people of Iga and Koka were in fact of samurai status. Also, it is a rare glance into the world of the people of Iga, people who were without doubt the greatest ninja of their time.

I

When any other domain’s army is intruding on our province, the collective of the Sokoku should fight to defend against them, with each other as one.

II

Upon the alert sent from a gateway when the enemy are spotted, all the bells in every village should be struck and everyone should take up their position immediately. Everyone should prepare himself with food, weapons and shields and set up an encampment so as not to allow them to enter the gateways of our realm.

III

All people of the ages 17–50 should be stationed for war. If a battle is a prolonged one, and they have to be stationed for a long period, they should rotate via rota. In every village and every area, commanders should be appointed and all the men in the village shall follow the orders of those commanders. As for the temples in the Sokoku, the elders should carry out devotional service for the prosperity of our province, whilst the young should take part in the camp.

IV

All of the Hikan
159
lower people of the Sokoku should write a solemn oath, stating that they will follow their lord whatever the situation of our land.

V

Ashigaru
of our land may even capture a castle of another domain. Therefore, those who serve as
Ashigaru
during a siege and go beyond the borders and attack a castle in another land and succeeded in capturing it, they should be rewarded liberally for their loyalty and promoted to samurai status.
160

VI

Anyone who intentionally lets an army of another domain enter our land, the combined
Sokoku
will subjugate him and his clan and annihilate them without leaving any trace and their land will be put under the use of a temple or shrine. Similarly, anyone who communicates with the enemy secretly and gives them any inside information about our land will be treated just the same as those who let the enemy army within. If someone brings information of anyone’s treason in the above manner, he will be highly valued.

VII

Any samurai or
Ashigaru
foot soldiers of our land should not serve the Miyoshi clan.
161

VIII

If there is someone who does not accept the Yumiya Hanjo Tax,
162
he, his father, sons or brothers will not be eligible for the benefit from the fund for ten years. Neither should they be allowed to take charge of the Yado Okuri Transportation System.
163

IX

When positioned in a village or camp, all disorderly behaviour or violence should be prohibited within our alliance.

X

As Yamato province has unjustly attacked our province over a prolonged period of time, you should not employ any
Ronin
164
who once served the generals of the province of Yamato.

XI

As we have controlled our province without any problems, it is of utmost importance for us to obtain cooperation from Koka, Thus, we should have a meeting with Koka at the border between Iga and Koka.

The above commandment will come into effect with the signatures of all who are concerned.

16th day of November

The
Koka Shinobi no Den Miraki
(
For the Prosperity and Future of Koka Shinobi
) is one of the most important non-instructional ninja documents in the collection of the Historical Ninjutsu Research Team and highly significant in the world of shinobi research. It was dictated by Kimura Okunosuke Yasutaka to his student Chikamatsu Hikonoshin Shigenori in 1719 (transcribed in 1805). It outlines the Master’s fears for the ever-declining
Koka shinobi
and predicts the fall of the ninja with great accuracy. The document is actually one part of a four-part work, which confirmed Chikamatsu as a master shinobi. Chikamatsu on the day of the presentation was given a copy of an unknown ninja manual that contained the school’s secrets, the oral traditions which are attached to all ninja schools, a certificate of mastership and Kimura’s words, which make up this following document. It was to be passed down the ages to shinobi of the future.

Kimura says that anyone under the age of 70 at the time of writing (born after 1650), has no connection to anyone who was living in the Sengoku period and thus the practical skills have been diluted and are second rate, which ties in with Natori and Fujibayashi and their desire to start recording ninja teachings, the reason for many other manuals that exist. It removes any doubts as to the samurai heritage of the ninja, as Kimura himself states that they are retainers and were relatively well paid and could command their own salary during the warring years, being retained for considerably less in the period after. It also shows that shinobi could command extra money on top of their retainer allowance and could demand a substantial mission fee.

The end signature shows that ninjutsu was practised in military compounds and that within the schools of ninjutsu there were multiple levels of knowledge, which were kept secret from others. The higher levels concentrated on the more esoteric and the ‘magical’ aspects of ninjutsu, which makes it harder to establish which esoteric practices are real. Kimura’
s
position as a retainer to the Owari-Tokugawa clan and his position as a
Koka no mono
give his words authority. He states that there are magical’ or esoteric elements in the higher forms of ninjutsu (elements that the ‘new’ shinobi were ignoring). Normally the absence of any actual practical skills and simply a collection of magic brings any document into question, but here, a real shinobi is saying that the higher secrets of ninjutsu, beyond breaking and entering and night time raids, contain magical elements, so every scroll needs close scrutiny. The
Shoninki
states there are many ‘magical’ secrets in ninjutsu but that in this manual the greatest are listed. As we know, the
Bansenshukai
states in the Table of Contents that it contains ‘Occult Writing of
Ninjutsu
’ but mysteriously, they have been taken out.

Kimura was a man of Koka who was hired by the Owari-Tokugawa clan and is similar to Natori Masatake. Both of them served the Tokugawa family in secret military affairs and in the ways of the shinobi. Kimura himself is listed in the
Bugei Ryuha Daijiten
encyclopaedia as the founder of
Koka-gunnery
and
Koka Takeda Ninpo
. However, there is no supporting evidence presented for this and in all likelihood he simply taught both subjects within his clan. On the other hand, the student and transcriber, Chikamatsu Hikonoshin Shigenori, a personal retainer of Tokugawa Yoshimichi, is a celebrated samurai, who wrote over 100 books on warfare and other subjects and who was renowned for his tactical ability. A master of the martial arts, he founded a school called
Zen-ryu
which he later changed to
Ichizen-ryu,
which suggests that any form of
ninjutsu
within
Ichizen-ryu
school is in all probability, of Koka lineage.