Some Famous People and Their Relation to Ninjutsu

Hōzōin of Spear Technique

   There have been numerous people throughout history who have made names for themselves through their skills, wisdom or leadership. Since, our subject is mainly about ninjutsu I am not here to discuss their accomplishments but to briefly discuss the relation of few of those people who were famous and are more or less thought to have some connection to ninjutsu. Some of these were ninjas but still got fame and some are by much far not seen to have any connection to ninjutsu but they do have some, directly or indirectly. I will not name any daimyō or a commander of forces (in Japan) who have made use of the shinobi in peace or war times because Shinobi have been extensively used by almost all lords and most commanders, even Oda Nobunaga who destroyed the villages of Iga and Koka used them -in the battle of Iga (Iga no Ran) and at other occasions. He had named his shinobi named as Kyodan. Currently, I can only think of these eight of the most famous people having some connections to ninja or ninjutsu. I will add more once I can think of others.

1. Hattori Hanzō: It wouldn't be enough to call only by the name Hattori Hanzō because there were actually five Hattori Hanzō. Hattori is actually the family name while Hanzō was the name generally given to the family leader in Hattori family. It is accepted that it was the third Hanzō in Hattori family was the ninja who served the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. It is this Hanzō who is the most famous and his complete name is Hattori Masanari Hanzō (his son is also named Masanari but with a different Kanji). He was a samurai of the Iga region and also a Shinobi, considered to be of Jōnin level, which means he was a very skilled Shinobi, feared as the Oni Hanzō (demon Hanzō). He took part in several successful battles and expedition, the most important of which is that he saved the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu and helped him escape to Mikawa province. He also helped in some of his campaigns and had fought some battles of importance from the age 17.

2. Miyamoto Musashi: It is said that while he was young (around 12 years age, then named Miyamoto Bennosuke or Shinmen Takezō), he heard from some one of a man having a booklet/manual having secret teachings that was named, 'The Book Of 5 Strategies', who the man himself claimed to have received from a Yamabushi (warrior monk). The man was a guard to the place and demanded Musashi an amount of 20 masu (one 'masu' is the amount of rice to feed a person for one day). He (Miyamoto Musashi) worked on the fields of a farmer to receive it. It is said that it was this manual that became the inspiration for his own 'The Book Of 5 Rings'. If I am not wrong, this booklet/scroll/manual must have been an excerpt from 'The 7 Strategies', a manual of importance to the early Shinobi or it may have been an inspiration from the 'The Six Secret Teachings', by Jiang Zia, which was originally written in China on military strategies and later also adopted in the Shinobi teachings. If all this is true then we can say that Miyamoto Musashi received some Shinobi teachings. Also, in one of his duals of his life, he fought a Kusarigama user by the name of 'Shishido Baiken', who lived solitary life at the outskirts of Iga and defeated him. Not much details are given by Musashi himself about this Shishido Baiken, however, by characteristics defined by writers who go in detail about life of Musashi, he (Baiken) must have been a Shinobi who gave up on his life in Iga but was still connected to his way. According to details, Shishido Baiken was a skilled Kusarigama user and in the duel, Musashi lost is his sword which Baiken captured using the chain of Kusarigama and only at the edge of his life did Musashi managed to kill him using his wakizashi (short sword). It is known that Musashi would fight any well known name, may he be of any armed skill, like he fought the spear of the Hozōin Temple. This Shishido Baiken must have been famous too, for his Kusarigama skills. This means that Miyamoto Musashi fought and defeated a skilled Ninja.

3. Sun Tzu: Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' had been an inspiration for many ninja for a long time, especially the thirteenth chapter 'Use of Spies' (which is also given as a proof that the art of shinobi existed in China long before 500 B.C), which has become the base for five shinobi types and many shinobi teachings; while many Samurai didn't consider it much, calling it as 'the teachings of the old'. I would say not anyone has truly considered, understood and adopted the teachings of Sun Tzu as much as have been by the ninja. He truly should be considered a master of ninjutsu, if indeed he had written it (the thirteenth chapter of Bingfa -Art of War) by himself.

4. Hassan ibn Sabbah: He was the famous founder and leader of the Assassins who conquered the strong castle of Alamut, but what relation he may have to ninjas and ninjutsu? And by which way did he came to conquer the Alamut Castle and how did he know that it would prove to him a strong headquarter? It is said that while he was in Cairo, one friend came to tell him that he has a Chinese merchant staying at his place and if Hassan would like to meet him. Hassan didn't show interest in meeting him himself and didn't meet him because of some other work, however, he did asked his friend to ask the merchant about the military affairs of his country and forward on to him what the merchant says. Who was this merchant and what details did he give, is all unknown but if he did knew well and give details about the special skills of his country (It is also worth considering that this story may be true or not. In case if its true), then it can be said that Hassan came to know about some skills which were latter termed as ninjutsu, in Japan. It is worth noting that Hassan ibn Sabbah used the methods of Inward, Local and Converted spies (described in Sun Tzu's Bingfa -Art of War) to capture the castle of Alamut. He went into the locals, between which he stayed for a whole one year, giving them religious teachings through which he made for himself a good standing position as a religious leader, and through propaganda converted them to his views and turned them against the forces at the castle. He also had the knowledge of the internal affairs of the castle, this he did by planting inward spies (soldiers and maids working in the castle). Through this way, he then used the common people of the nearby villages and the inward soldiers who had duty in the castle and finally conquered the castle, through properly devised strategy. His ability to know the importance of the place is also amazing. His life history shows that he wasn't ever a part of army of either the Fatimid or Seljuk and he didn't receive any formal training of military, running a full military campaign is out of question, although he did have much knowledge in other matters. If he indeed learned his methods from the Chinese merchant (or whoever he actually was) then we can indeed say that the same teachings became the base for both ninjas and assassins, because the assassins used similar methods of disguise, killing, information gathering and other guerilla war tactics. One example is that, even from the heavy security of Salahuddin (Saladin) did an assassin managed to put a threatening death note with a dagger tipped in poison, near his bed. It is also possible that this may have happened otherwise that Hassan may have given merchant information about the military affairs and methods of the Muslims, though it seems less likely.

5. Momochi Sandayu: Momochi Sandayu was the rival ninja of Hattori Hanzō. He too was a Jōnin level ninja, a former Samurai and Sōke (grandmaster) Koto-ryū Koppojutsu -one of the ryū-ha taught in Bujinkan. What is the most mysterious about him is that his exact location, name and profession are not known. He had three different names, three different wives and houses in three different regions and lived with three different jobs where somewhere he was a farmer, somewhere a local merchant and somewhere a martial arts teacher. Of all the known ninja masters, he's the most mysterious one. He was one of the most famous people in his time but he still couldn't be found anywhere for physical existence; the only time his existence was noted was during the conquest of Iga carried out by the forces of Oda Nobunaga, where he came to protect the land of Iga, in cooperation with other Jōnin rivals. It is also believed that the other rival Jōnin ninja, Fujibayashi Nagato was he himself.

6. Yagyu Sekishusai: Yagyu Munetoshi Sekishusai was a well known Samurai and a famous swordsman of the time of Miyamoto Musashi (Sengoku era). He had received teachings in Shinkage-ryū from his master Hidetsuna that became Yagyu-Shinkage-ryū after him. It was for the skills of this school that he became the most famous, although he had also studied in several other schools of martial arts. Shinkage-ryū means 'new shadow school' since it was based upon the teachings of Kage-ryū (kage: shadow), which was originally formed by a Shinobi family who employed in it the principles of ninjutsu too. Through Shinkage-ryū (which was primarily a sword school), Yagyu Sekishusai also received teachings in shuriken-justu and some shinobi strategies. Sekishusai himself had expressed that he hadn't have seen anything better than Shinkage-ryū.

7. Hōzōin In'ei: Hōzōin In'ei was a close friend of Yagyu Sekishusai. He was a monk, head of the Hōzōin temple and a master of spear technique (Sōjutsu). He had found his own school named Hōzōin-ryū. His school got fame throughout Japan for its spear technique and Miyamoto Musashi was one of the many to challenge it. The Hōzōin temple was a popular gathering place for many Yamabushi to practice their techniques there and the origin source of the Hōzōin Sōjutsu also comes from the Yamabushi. Along this, Hōzōin In'ei has also studied in Katori-Shinto-ryū which has its own connections with a Shinobi background. He also studied Shinkage-ryū alongside Yagyu Sekishusai from Hidetsuna.

8. Shinmen Munisai: Miyamoto Musashi's father (and some sources consider him his uncle) who has the credit of the early life training of Musashi in martial arts. He was a master of swordmanship having defeated Yoshioka Kenpo, founder of the famous Yoshioka-ryū; he was also a master of jutte-jutsu and shurikenjutsu. Shinmen Munisai was originally named Hirata Munisai but as he was a senior vassal to the shinmen clan and he and his father had married into the Elite Warrior Class Shinmen Clan and was granted the permission to use their family name. Shinmen Clan was a branch of the Fujiwara Clan, another branch of which lived in Iga where Munisai sometimes went to visit as it was one of his In-laws' house. Munisai probably learned shuriken-jutsu from the Shinmen clan and the teachings may have came to Shinmen from Fujiwara clan.