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| capital_type = Headquarters |
| capital_type = Headquarters |
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| coordinates = {{coord|34|46|N|136|8|E|region:JP|display=inline,title}} |
| coordinates = {{coord|34|46|N|136|8|E|region:JP|display=inline,title}} |
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| religion = [[Tendai|Tendai |
| religion = [[Shugendō]] ([[Tendai|Tendai]]-[[Vajrayana|Tantric Buddhism]] and [[Shinto]]) |
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| religion_ref = <ref name="Man191-192">{{Harvnb|Man|2012|pp=191-192}}</ref><ref name="Rudd">{{cite web |last1=Rudd |first1=Ian |title=The History of the Ninja |url=https://www.tokyocreative.jp/en/blog-history-of-the-ninja |website=Tokyo Creative |access-date=19 January 2023 |date=September 29, 2021}}</ref> |
| religion_ref = <ref name="Man191-192">{{Harvnb|Man|2012|pp=191-192}}</ref><ref name="Rudd">{{cite web |last1=Rudd |first1=Ian |title=The History of the Ninja |url=https://www.tokyocreative.jp/en/blog-history-of-the-ninja |website=Tokyo Creative |access-date=19 January 2023 |date=September 29, 2021}}</ref> |
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| government_type = [[Feudalism|Feudal]] [[militarism|military]] [[Confederation|confederated]] [[republic]] |
| government_type = [[Feudalism|Feudal]] [[militarism|military]] [[Confederation|confederated]] [[republic]] |
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| today = [[Japan]] |
| today = [[Japan]] |
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}} |
}} |
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The '''Iga ''ikki |
The '''Iga ''ikki''''', full name '''''Iga Sokoku Ikki''''', also known as the '''Iga Republic''', '''Iga Confederacy''', or '''Iga Commune''', was a military [[confederation]] and network of [[Ninja|ninjas]] (then known as ''shinobi'') based in [[Iga Province]] during the [[Sengoku period]] of Japan. It was the center for what would become one of the two major traditions of [[ninjutsu]] - [[Iga-ryū]]. The other major traditions, [[Kōga-ryū]], was based nearby in [[Kōka District, Shiga|Kōka]] in [[Ōmi Province]]. After centuries of rivalry, eventually the two networks of ninja schools worked closely [[Iga–Kōka alliance|in alliance together]]. In Iga, during the second half of the 15th century, the network of ninja schools formed a military confederacy dedicated to the defense of region. Eventually a constitution was drafted, based on principles of [[Defense pact|mutual defense]] and [[voluntary association]]. The confederacy produced legendary figures such as [[Momochi Sandayu]], Fujibayashi Nagato, [[Hattori Hanzō]], and Shimotsuge no Kizaru. The activities of Iga eventually drew the ire of [[Oda Nobunaga]], who launched [[Tenshō Iga War|an invasion]] in 1579 and by 1581 managed to destroy the confederation. Some ninja were spared and their activities allowed to continue. After Nobunaga's assassination in 1582, Iga and Kōka ninja, under the leadership of Hanzō, provided services to Nobunaga's ally [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] and his descendants into the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]. |
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== Primary sources == |
== Primary sources == |
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Though there are an abundance of primary documents attesting the history of the [[Iga Province|Iga]] ninjas, the majority were written decades later during the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] and were subject to distortion and exaggeration.<ref name=":11">{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|p=65}}</ref> Even so, many of these accounts, such as of the origins of the ninja in Iga and [[Kōka, Shiga|Kōka]] by ''Go Kagami Furoku'' and ''Nochi Kagami'' are generally considered to be correct.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2003|p=23}}</ref> ''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"<ref>{{cite book |last=Brownlee |first=John S. |title=Political Thought in Japanese Historical Writing: From Kojiki (712) to Tokushi Yoron (1712) |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |year=1991 |isbn=0-88920-997-9 |pages=140}}</ref> and "reliable".<ref>{{cite book |last=Sansom |first=George Bailey |title=A History of Japan, 1334-1615 |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1961 |isbn=0-8047-0525-9 |pages=423}}</ref> It includes mentions of Iga and Kōka soldiers.<ref>{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|pp=87-90}}</ref> Most pre-Edo sources are presumed lost in the devastation of [[Oda Nobunaga]]'s destruction of the Iga ''ikki'' in 1581.<ref name=":11" /> Five pre-1581 sources detailing military activities by Iga ninja survive.<ref name=":11" /> Four of these are diaries or letters from local temples. A December 1541 raid on [[Kasagi, Kyoto|Kasagi Castle]] at the request of the [[Ashikaga shogunate]] was detailed by Abbot Eishun of Tamon'In, a sub-temple of [[Kōfuku-ji]], in his diary ''Tamon'In nikki''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|p=66-67}}</ref> ''Kyōroku Temmon no Ikki'', another diary associated with Kōfuku-ji, describes an attack on [[Yamatotakada, Nara|Takada Castle]] in 1556.<ref name=":12">{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|p=67}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":13">{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|p=68}}</ref> ''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 (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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|pp=68-69}}</ref> There also is an extant constitution with an unclear provenance and no specific date or year. It was preserved in Kōka, 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.<ref name=":5" /> Based on references within the document, Yoshihito deduced that it was composed between 1552 and 1568.<ref name=":5" /> |
Though there are an abundance of primary documents attesting the history of the [[Iga Province|Iga]] ninjas, the majority were written decades later during the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] and were subject to distortion and exaggeration.<ref name=":11">{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|p=65}}</ref> Even so, many of these accounts, such as of the origins of the ninja in Iga and [[Kōka District, Shiga|Kōka]] by ''Go Kagami Furoku'' and ''Nochi Kagami'' are generally considered to be correct.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2003|p=23}}</ref> ''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"<ref>{{cite book |last=Brownlee |first=John S. |title=Political Thought in Japanese Historical Writing: From Kojiki (712) to Tokushi Yoron (1712) |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |year=1991 |isbn=0-88920-997-9 |pages=140}}</ref> and "reliable".<ref>{{cite book |last=Sansom |first=George Bailey |title=A History of Japan, 1334-1615 |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1961 |isbn=0-8047-0525-9 |pages=423}}</ref> It includes mentions of Iga and Kōka soldiers.<ref>{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|pp=87-90}}</ref> Most pre-Edo sources are presumed lost in the devastation of [[Oda Nobunaga]]'s destruction of the Iga ''ikki'' in 1581.<ref name=":11" /> Five pre-1581 sources detailing military activities by Iga ninja survive.<ref name=":11" /> Four of these are diaries or letters from local temples. A December 1541 raid on [[Kasagi, Kyoto|Kasagi Castle]] at the request of the [[Ashikaga shogunate]] was detailed by Abbot Eishun of Tamon'In, a sub-temple of [[Kōfuku-ji]], in his diary ''Tamon'In nikki''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|p=66-67}}</ref> ''Kyōroku Temmon no Ikki'', another diary associated with Kōfuku-ji, describes an attack on [[Yamatotakada, Nara|Takada Castle]] in 1556.<ref name=":12">{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|p=67}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":13">{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|p=68}}</ref> ''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 (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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|pp=68-69}}</ref> There also is an extant constitution with an unclear provenance and no specific date or year. It was preserved in Kōka, 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.<ref name=":5" /> Based on references within the document, Yoshihito deduced that it was composed between 1552 and 1568.<ref name=":5" /> |
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== History == |
== History == |
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=== Background === |
=== Background === |
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In 15th and 16th century Japan, Iga Province contained some 300-500 small estates and nearby Kōka, in [[Ōmi |
In 15th and 16th century Japan, Iga Province contained some 300-500 small estates and nearby Kōka, in [[Ōmi Province]], had some 53 [[Japanese clans|clans]].<ref name=":7" /> Both regions were in [[anarchy]], their estates and families constantly engaged in low-level, small-scale feuds and squabbles within and between each region.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Maltsev|2022|p=433}}</ref> This necessitated that the local ''[[jizamurai]]'' (lesser nobles) and their soldiers develop specialized espionage and combat skills.<ref name=":7">{{Harvnb|Man|2012|pp=122-123, 173}}</ref> Schools for these techniques produced professionally trained, highly trained mercenaries who often offered their services to nearby provinces.<ref name="Turnbull 2003 9">{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2003|p=9}}</ref><ref name="Deal 2007 165">{{Harvnb|Deal|2007|p=165}}</ref><ref name=":10" /> These schools eventually became the respective styles of [[Iga-ryū]] and [[Kōga-ryū]] ninjutsu. The remoteness hill country in this part of Japan might have helped in the formation of these schools.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barducci|2010|pp=|p=1007}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Citation |last=Yamada |first=Yuji |title=A History of Shinobi(忍び) |date=November 2014 |url=https://www.human.mie-u.ac.jp/kenkyu/ken-prj/iga/news/%E8%8B%B1%E8%AA%9E.pdf |work=The Truth about Ninja: A comparison of the historical 忍び(Shinobi)and 忍者(Ninja)as a cultural phenomenon |pages=2 |editor-last= |editor-first= |series= |contribution= |contribution-url= |place=[[London]], [[Alicante]], [[Valencia]], [[Barcelona]], [[Madrid]] and [[Rome]] |publisher=[[Mie University]] and [[Japan Foundation]] |doi= |id= |last2= |first2= |author-link= |author-link2= |editor-last2= |editor-first2=}}</ref> Iga was surrounded by mountains and accessible mostly only by narrow paths that permitted only one horse-rider at a time. Kōka was more accessible but still protected by high mountains.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barducci|2010|p=1007}}, quoting {{cite book |last1=Souyri |first1=Pierre F. |title=War and State Building in Medieval Japan |date=2010 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |year=2010 |isbn=9780804774314 |editor1-last=Ferejohn |editor1-first=John A. |location=[[Stanford, California]] |pages=110–18, 20–22 |chapter=Autonomy and War in the Sixteenth Century Iga Region and the Birth of the Ninja Phenomena |editor2-last=Rosenbluth |editor2-first=Frances McCall |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YPkYMoO0ycIC&pg=PT110#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref> The first references to term ''shinobi'', specifically ''shinobi-mono'', later known as [[Ninja|ninjas]], appearing in the late 1580s and early 1600s, referred to the soldiers from Iga and Kōka.<ref>{{harvnb|Barducci|2010|p=999}}</ref> The isolation in these two regions encouraged autonomy, and the communities began organizing into ''ikki'' - "revolts" or "leagues".<ref name=":10" /> |
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=== Iga Republic === |
=== Iga Republic === |
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By 1477 Iga was known for rejecting the authority of the military governors - ''[[shugo]]'' - appointed by the shogun,<ref>{{Harvnb|Barducci|2010|pp=1007-1008}}</ref> and by around 1500 they had formed an ''ikki'' - a "league".<ref name=":5">{{harvnb|Man|2012|p=126-128}}</ref> Instead of a local ''daimyo'' from an aristocratic family replacing the ''shugo'', leadership remained divided among the ''jizamurai'' and they formed league.<ref name=":16">{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|p=75}}</ref> Records of their military unit, ''Iga-shū'', appear as early as 1482.<ref name=":16" /> In 1485, Iga ''kokujin'' – another term for ''jizamurai'' – helped the [[Hatakeyama clan]] defend a castle in the neighboring [[Yamato Province]].<ref name=":16" /> In 1487, a contingent of ninja from the Kawai Aki-no-kami family in Iga assisted Shogun [[Ashikaga Yoshihisa]] in attacking Rokkaku Takayori at Magari, actions through which the Iga ninjas gained their fame.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2003|pp=27, 43}}</ref> Iga troops again were involved with the Rokkaku in 1492.<ref name=":16" /> By the mid-1500s, the services of ninja from Iga and Kōka were in high demand, in use by at least 37 areas.<ref>{{Harvnb|Man|2012|p=182}}</ref> 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, Kyoto|Kasagi Castle]].<ref name=":14">{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|p=66}}</ref> 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 [[Bailey (castle)|baileys]].<ref name=":14" /> Two days later, the armies inside Kasagi sallied out and were defeated, after which the Iga ninjas dispersed.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|pp=66-67}}</ref> On January 24, 1556, during the [[Tsutsui clan|Tsutsui]] siege of [[Yamatotakada, Nara|Takada Castle]] in [[Yamato Province]] (the site of |
By 1477 Iga was known for rejecting the authority of the military governors - ''[[shugo]]'' - appointed by the shogun,<ref>{{Harvnb|Barducci|2010|pp=1007-1008}}</ref> and by around 1500 they had formed an ''ikki'' - a "league".<ref name=":5">{{harvnb|Man|2012|p=126-128}}</ref> Instead of a local ''daimyo'' from an aristocratic family replacing the ''shugo'', leadership remained divided among the ''jizamurai'' and they formed league.<ref name=":16">{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|p=75}}</ref> Records of their military unit, ''Iga-shū'', appear as early as 1482.<ref name=":16" /> In 1485, Iga ''kokujin'' – another term for ''jizamurai'' – helped the [[Hatakeyama clan]] defend a castle in the neighboring [[Yamato Province]].<ref name=":16" /> In 1487, a contingent of ninja from the Kawai Aki-no-kami family in Iga assisted Shogun [[Ashikaga Yoshihisa]] in attacking Rokkaku Takayori at Magari, actions through which the Iga ninjas gained their fame.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2003|pp=27, 43}}</ref> Iga troops again were involved with the Rokkaku in 1492.<ref name=":16" /> By the mid-1500s, the services of ninja from Iga and Kōka were in high demand, in use by at least 37 areas.<ref>{{Harvnb|Man|2012|p=182}}</ref> 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, Kyoto|Kasagi Castle]].<ref name=":14">{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|p=66}}</ref> 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 [[Bailey (castle)|baileys]].<ref name=":14" /> Two days later, the armies inside Kasagi sallied out and were defeated, after which the Iga ninjas dispersed.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turnbull|2017|pp=66-67}}</ref> On January 24, 1556, during the [[Tsutsui clan|Tsutsui]] siege of [[Yamatotakada, Nara|Takada Castle]] in [[Yamato Province]] (the site of present-day Takada High School), 11 Iga soldiers attacked the castle and both the castle and the nearby Jōkō-ji were set ablaze.<ref name=":12" /> In circa 1560, the confederacy drafted a constitution which included an outline for an alliance with Kōka.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Exactly how long the document was extent and how widely it applied to the villages is unknown.<ref name=":5" /> In 1560, a highly influential leader within the confederacy, Shimotsuge no Kizaru, attacked [[Kashihara, Nara|Tōichi Castle]], which was commanded by Hashio Shōjirō Tōkatsu. The general's residence was captured, forcing him to flee to Toyoda Castle with his retainer, Dōruku. A man named Ueda and four others were killed.<ref name=":12" /> |
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The republic soon came in conflict with the rising power of [[Oda Nobunaga]]. In 1568, Nobunaga marched to Kyoto to install [[Ashikaga Yoshiaki]] as shogun. The [[Rokkaku clan]] in southern Ōmi Province allied with the [[Miyoshi clan]] and backed Yoshiaki's nephew and rival, [[Ashikaga Yoshihide]], that the Miyoshi had installed in Kyoto.<ref>{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|p=87}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|pp=87-88}}</ref> 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 (1570)|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.<ref name=":17">{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|p=88}}</ref> ''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, Shiga|Moriyama]].<ref name=":17" /> On July 6, 1570, these alliance forces were moving down along the Yasugawa river when an army led by [[Shibata Katsuie]] and [[Sakuma Morimasa]], generals for Nobunaga, intercepted them at the village of Ochikubo.<ref name=":17" /> The alliance was defeated and 780 samurai from the Iga and Kōka ''ikki''s were killed, along with the father and son Mikumo Takanose and Mikumo Mizuhara.<ref>{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|pp=78, 88-89}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":18">{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|p=89}}</ref> Around the same time, a monk named Sugitani Zenjūbō and who is presumed to have been a mercenary ninja assassin from Iga, ambushed Nobunaga and fired two shots at him, both of which missed. He was executed three years later.<ref name=":18" /> In 1473, archers from Iga and Kōka assisted the [[Ikkō-ikki]] against Nobunaga as he retreated from the [[Sieges of Nagashima#Second Siege of Nagashima (1573)|Second Siege of Nagashima]].<ref>{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|p=77}}</ref> |
The republic soon came in conflict with the rising power of [[Oda Nobunaga]]. In 1568, Nobunaga marched to Kyoto to install [[Ashikaga Yoshiaki]] as shogun. The [[Rokkaku clan]] in southern Ōmi Province allied with the [[Miyoshi clan]] and backed Yoshiaki's nephew and rival, [[Ashikaga Yoshihide]], that the Miyoshi had installed in Kyoto.<ref>{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|p=87}}</ref> After [[Rokkaku Yoshikata|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.<ref>{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|pp=87-88}}</ref> 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 (1570)|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.<ref name=":17">{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|p=88}}</ref> ''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, Shiga|Moriyama]].<ref name=":17" /> On July 6, 1570, these alliance forces were moving down along the Yasugawa river when an army led by [[Shibata Katsuie]] and [[Sakuma Morimasa]], generals for Nobunaga, intercepted them at the village of Ochikubo.<ref name=":17" /> The alliance was defeated and 780 samurai from the Iga and Kōka ''ikki''s were killed, along with the father and son Mikumo Takanose and Mikumo Mizuhara.<ref>{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|pp=78, 88-89}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":18">{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|p=89}}</ref> Around the same time, a monk named Sugitani Zenjūbō and who is presumed to have been a mercenary ninja assassin from Iga, ambushed Nobunaga and fired two shots at him, both of which missed. He was executed three years later.<ref name=":18" /> In 1473, archers from Iga and Kōka assisted the [[Ikkō-ikki]] against Nobunaga as he retreated from the [[Sieges of Nagashima#Second Siege of Nagashima (1573)|Second Siege of Nagashima]].<ref>{{Harvnb|last1=Turnbull|year=2017|p=77}}</ref> |
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=== Conquest === |
=== Conquest === |
Revision as of 21:37, 25 January 2023
Iga ikki Iga Sokoku Ikki (伊賀惣国一揆) (Japanese) | |
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Circa 1460–1581 | |
Headquarters | Ueno 34°46′N 136°8′E / 34.767°N 136.133°E |
Religion | Shugendō (Tendai-Tantric Buddhism and Shinto) |
Government | Feudal military confederated republic |
Legislature | Military-elder council |
History | |
• Shinobi begin organizing in Iga | Circa 1460 |
• The de facto independence of Iga is first mentioned | 1477 |
• Constitutional document drafted | c. 1560 |
• First Tenshō Iga War | October 6–7, 1579 |
• Second Tenshō Iga War; organized governance destroyed | September 30-October 8, 1581 1581 |
Today part of | Japan |
The Iga ikki, full name Iga Sokoku Ikki, also known as the Iga Republic, Iga Confederacy, or Iga Commune, was a military confederation and network of ninjas (then known as shinobi) based in Iga Province during the Sengoku period of Japan. It was the center for what would become one of the two major traditions of ninjutsu - Iga-ryū. The other major traditions, Kōga-ryū, was based nearby in Kōka in Ōmi Province. After centuries of rivalry, eventually the two networks of ninja schools worked closely in alliance together. In Iga, during the second half of the 15th century, the network of ninja schools formed a military confederacy dedicated to the defense of region. Eventually a constitution was drafted, based on principles of mutual defense and voluntary association. The confederacy produced legendary figures such as Momochi Sandayu, Fujibayashi Nagato, Hattori Hanzō, and Shimotsuge no Kizaru. The activities of Iga eventually drew the ire of Oda Nobunaga, who launched an invasion in 1579 and by 1581 managed to destroy the confederation. Some ninja were spared and their activities allowed to continue. After Nobunaga's assassination in 1582, Iga and Kōka ninja, under the leadership of Hanzō, provided services to Nobunaga's ally Tokugawa Ieyasu and his descendants into the Tokugawa shogunate.
Primary sources
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.[3] Even so, many of these accounts, such as of the origins of the ninja in Iga and Kōka by Go Kagami Furoku and Nochi Kagami are generally considered to be correct.[4] 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"[5] and "reliable".[6] It includes mentions of Iga and Kōka soldiers.[7] Most pre-Edo sources are presumed lost in the devastation of Oda Nobunaga's destruction of the Iga ikki in 1581.[3] Five pre-1581 sources detailing military activities by Iga ninja survive.[3] Four of these are diaries or letters from local temples. A December 1541 raid on Kasagi Castle at the request of the Ashikaga shogunate was detailed by Abbot Eishun of Tamon'In, a sub-temple of Kōfuku-ji, in his diary Tamon'In nikki.[8] Kyōroku Temmon no Ikki, another diary associated with Kōfuku-ji, describes an attack on Takada Castle in 1556.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] There also is an extant constitution with an unclear provenance and no specific date or year. It was preserved in Kōka, 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.[12] Based on references within the document, Yoshihito deduced that it was composed between 1552 and 1568.[12]
History
Background
In 15th and 16th century Japan, Iga Province contained some 300-500 small estates and nearby Kōka, in Ōmi Province, had some 53 clans.[13] Both regions were in anarchy, their estates and families constantly engaged in low-level, small-scale feuds and squabbles within and between each region.[13][14] This necessitated that the local jizamurai (lesser nobles) and their soldiers develop specialized espionage and combat skills.[13] Schools for these techniques produced professionally trained, highly trained mercenaries who often offered their services to nearby provinces.[15][16][17] These schools eventually became the respective styles of Iga-ryū and Kōga-ryū ninjutsu. The remoteness hill country in this part of Japan might have helped in the formation of these schools.[18][17] Iga was surrounded by mountains and accessible mostly only by narrow paths that permitted only one horse-rider at a time. Kōka was more accessible but still protected by high mountains.[19] The first references to 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.[20] The isolation in these two regions encouraged autonomy, and the communities began organizing into ikki - "revolts" or "leagues".[17]
Iga Republic
By 1477 Iga was known for rejecting the authority of the military governors - shugo - appointed by the shogun,[21] and by around 1500 they had formed an ikki - a "league".[12] Instead of a local daimyo from an aristocratic family replacing the shugo, leadership remained divided among the jizamurai and they formed league.[22] Records of their military unit, Iga-shū, appear as early as 1482.[22] In 1485, Iga kokujin – another term for jizamurai – helped the Hatakeyama clan defend a castle in the neighboring Yamato Province.[22] In 1487, a contingent of ninja from the Kawai Aki-no-kami family in Iga assisted Shogun Ashikaga Yoshihisa in attacking Rokkaku Takayori at Magari, actions through which the Iga ninjas gained their fame.[23] Iga troops again were involved with the Rokkaku in 1492.[22] By the mid-1500s, the services of ninja from Iga and Kōka were in high demand, in use by at least 37 areas.[24] 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.[25] 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.[25] Two days later, the armies inside Kasagi sallied out and were defeated, after which the Iga ninjas dispersed.[26] On January 24, 1556, during the Tsutsui siege of Takada Castle in Yamato Province (the site of present-day Takada High School), 11 Iga soldiers attacked the castle and both the castle and the nearby Jōkō-ji were set ablaze.[9] In circa 1560, the confederacy drafted a constitution which included an outline for an alliance with Kōka.[27][28] Exactly how long the document was extent and how widely it applied to the villages is unknown.[12] In 1560, a highly influential leader within the confederacy, Shimotsuge no Kizaru, attacked Tōichi Castle, which was commanded by Hashio Shōjirō Tōkatsu. The general's residence was captured, forcing him to flee to Toyoda Castle with his retainer, Dōruku. A man named Ueda and four others were killed.[9]
The republic soon came in conflict with the rising power of Oda Nobunaga. In 1568, Nobunaga marched to Kyoto to install Ashikaga Yoshiaki as shogun. The Rokkaku clan in southern Ōmi Province allied with the Miyoshi clan and backed Yoshiaki's nephew and rival, Ashikaga Yoshihide, that the Miyoshi had installed in Kyoto.[29] 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.[30] 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.[31] 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.[31] On July 6, 1570, these alliance forces were moving down along the Yasugawa river when an army led by Shibata Katsuie and Sakuma Morimasa, generals for Nobunaga, intercepted them at the village of Ochikubo.[31] The alliance was defeated and 780 samurai from the Iga and Kōka ikkis were killed, along with the father and son Mikumo Takanose and Mikumo Mizuhara.[32] 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.[33] Around the same time, a monk named Sugitani Zenjūbō and who is presumed to have been a mercenary ninja assassin from Iga, ambushed Nobunaga and fired two shots at him, both of which missed. He was executed three years later.[33] In 1473, archers from Iga and Kōka assisted the Ikkō-ikki against Nobunaga as he retreated from the Second Siege of Nagashima.[34]
Conquest
The Iga and Kōka ikki were destroyed in 1581 by Oda Nobunaga in the conclusion of the Tenshō Iga War. The war began after the Oda clan staged a coup on the territory of the Kitabatake clan in the adjoining Ise Province. The Kitabatake clan had recently commissioned a castle in the center of Iga, Maruyama, and with the Oda takeover, members of the Kitabatake family took refuge in Iga and sought aid from Mōri Motonari. Oda Nobukatsu in 1579 launched an invasion to take the unfinished castle in Maruyama and subjugate Iga.[35] The campaign proved disastrous for Nobukatsu. 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."[35] Nobunaga was enraged at his son and told him that his biggest mistake was not to use ninjas in his assault on Iga.[36] In 1580, Iga counter-attacked by covertly infiltrating Sakaibe Castle.[10] In the middle of the night, they crossed the wet moat from the south and were the first to arrive at each entrance. According to the narrator of the incident, Ichiborō, to enter the castle was an "event without parallel."[10] The resistance by Iga was not left unpunished. Nobunaga personally led a much larger army on a second invasion in 1581, guided by two samurai from northeast Iga.[36][37] Advised by these samurai, he approached Iga via Kōka.[36] Kōka surrendered to Nobunaga while most of the temple, forts, and villages in Iga were burned due to their fierce resistance.[37] Some ninja fled to the mountains of Kii Province, while many others took shelter in Mikawa Province, where they served Tokugawa Ieyasu.[38]
Subsequent Iga ninja activities
Many of the Iga and Kōka offered their services to Tokugawa Ieyasu, including helping Ieyasu escape to safety when Oda Nobunaga was assassinated.[17][37] Ninja activities continued in Iga into the 17th century, servicing the Tokugawa shogunate.[17] The poet Matsuo Bashō was born in Ueno to a powerful ninja family and was trained in ninjutsu before he left to study haiku.[39] The final instance of combat involving ninja was the Shimabara Rebellion, after which they mostly served as spies and bodyguards.[17] 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.[17]
Government
Around the year 1560, a constitutional document was drawn up outlining principles of self-defense and participation of villages based on voluntary association.[27][28] It also detailed an alliance and defense pact with Kōka.[27][28] The ninjas frequently held "field meetings" at the borders of their respective confederacies to discuss issues of governance and cooperation.[37][40] There was also an agreement for Kōka to form a republic similar to that in Iga, albeit smaller in scale, but little record of such efforts remain.[37] Leadership of the confederation was hierarchical: Military bands were composed of both peasants and rural samurai, but the latter trained and oversaw the former.[28] The ninjas were divided between high and low classes and only the upper class ninja were given the prestigious missions.[28] Though these class divisions were well-established, social mobility was possible as peasants who distinguished themselves in battle could be promoted to samurai. Informers and traitors were severely punished by confiscation of their property followed by beheading.[28] The 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 ninjutsu in the first place.[40]
Overseeing the entire confederation was military council of 66 elders, jonin, with a headquarters at the Buddhist temple in Ueno (located at the present-day site of Iga Ueno Castle).[12][41] The "parliament" of Iga also met in various locations throughout the province.[42] Depending on their wealth, the comparable rank of a jonin could range from that of a minor daimyō to a jizamurai village headman.[43] Some of the most famous jonin were the legendary Momochi Sandayu, Fujibayashi Nagato no Kami, and Hattori Hanzō.[43] Sandayu was a leader of the Iga village of Nabari, and allegedly he, in order to shroud his identity in secrecy, lived at three different houses, each with a separate wife and children.[44] During the fall of Iga to Nobunaga, he either perished or escaped and went into hiding.[44] Hattori Hanzō was a samurai and ninja born in Mikawa Province but the Hattori clan was based in Iga and he frequently visited. He offered his services to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became an ally of Oda Nobunaga. In the aftermath of Nobunaga's assassination, Ieyasu went into hiding and Hanzō enlisted the aid of Iga and Kōka ninjas to help Ieyasu escape to Kii Province.[38]
Religion
Within Iga Province, Tendai and Tantric Buddhism along with Shinto were the prevalent religions.[1][2] 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.[2]
Citations
- ^ a b Man 2012, pp. 191–192
- ^ a b c Rudd, Ian (September 29, 2021). "The History of the Ninja". Tokyo Creative. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ a b c Turnbull 2017, p. 65
- ^ Turnbull 2003, p. 23
- ^ Brownlee, John S. (1991). Political Thought in Japanese Historical Writing: From Kojiki (712) to Tokushi Yoron (1712). Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 140. ISBN 0-88920-997-9.
- ^ Sansom, George Bailey (1961). A History of Japan, 1334-1615. Stanford University Press. p. 423. ISBN 0-8047-0525-9.
- ^ [[#CITEREF|]], pp. 87–90
- ^ Turnbull 2017, p. 66-67
- ^ a b c Turnbull 2017, p. 67
- ^ a b c Turnbull 2017, p. 68
- ^ Turnbull 2017, pp. 68–69
- ^ a b c d e Man 2012, p. 126-128
- ^ a b c Man 2012, pp. 122–123, 173
- ^ Maltsev 2022, p. 433
- ^ Turnbull 2003, p. 9
- ^ Deal 2007, p. 165
- ^ a b c d e f g Yamada, Yuji (November 2014), "A History of Shinobi(忍び)" (PDF), The Truth about Ninja: A comparison of the historical 忍び(Shinobi)and 忍者(Ninja)as a cultural phenomenon, London, Alicante, Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid and Rome: Mie University and Japan Foundation, p. 2
- ^ Barducci 2010, p. 1007
- ^ Barducci 2010, p. 1007 , quoting Souyri, Pierre F. (2010). "Autonomy and War in the Sixteenth Century Iga Region and the Birth of the Ninja Phenomena". In Ferejohn, John A.; Rosenbluth, Frances McCall (eds.). War and State Building in Medieval Japan. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 110–18, 20–22. ISBN 9780804774314.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Barducci 2010, p. 999
- ^ Barducci 2010, pp. 1007–1008
- ^ a b c d [[#CITEREF|]], p. 75
- ^ Turnbull 2003, pp. 27, 43
- ^ Man 2012, p. 182
- ^ a b Turnbull 2017, p. 66
- ^ Turnbull 2017, pp. 66–67
- ^ a b c Maltsev 2022, pp. 439–440
- ^ a b c d e f Barducci 2010, p. 1008
- ^ [[#CITEREF|]], p. 87
- ^ [[#CITEREF|]], pp. 87–88
- ^ a b c [[#CITEREF|]], p. 88
- ^ [[#CITEREF|]], pp. 78, 88–89
- ^ a b [[#CITEREF|]], p. 89
- ^ [[#CITEREF|]], p. 77
- ^ a b Man 2012, p. 186
- ^ a b c Man 2012, pp. 189–190
- ^ a b c d e Maltsev 2022, p. 440
- ^ a b Turnbull 2003, p. 10
- ^ Stevens, John (2022-12-06). The Art of Budo: The Calligraphy and Paintings of the Martial Arts Masters. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala Publications. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-64547-054-0.
- ^ a b Man 2012, p. 173
- ^ Maltsev 2022, p. 439
- ^ Man 2012, p. 132
- ^ a b Turnbull 2007, p. 169
- ^ a b Adams 1966, pp. 18, 19
References
- Adams, Andy (December 1966). "A Leap into the Supernatural". Black Belt. Vol. 4, no. 12. pp. 12–21. ISSN 0277-3066.
- Barducci, Polina; Orbach, Danny (2020-01-01). "Irregular Warfare in Late Medieval Japan: Towards a Historical Understanding of the "Ninja"". Journal of Military History. 84 (4): 997–1020.
- Deal, William E. (2007). Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-533126-4.
- Maltsev, Vladimir V. (2022-12-01). "Lessons from the Japanese ninja: on achieving a higher trade equilibrium under anarchy and private constitutions". Constitutional Political Economy. 33 (4): 433–444. doi:10.1007/s10602-021-09354-6. ISSN 1572-9966 – via Research Gate.
- Man, John (2012). Ninja. London: Random House. ISBN 9781446487662.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2003). Ninja AD 1460–1650. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-525-9.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2007). Warriors of Medieval Japan. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-220-2.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2017). Ninja: Unmasking the Myth. Barnsley: Frontline Books. ISBN 9781473850439.