Ninja: Then and Now
During the Warring States period, ninja also undertook military missions such as surprise attacks, but in the Edo period, they were mainly engaged in information seeking and security. In particular, ninja with the name “伊賀 Iga,” such as “伊賀者 Iga-mono,” “伊賀組 Iga-gumi,” and “伊賀衆 Iga-shū,” existed not only in Iga Province, but also in each domain during the Edo Period, and performed their duties in various regions.
What happened after the Edo period ended? The profession of the ninja disappeared, but this does not mean that the art of ninjutsu also disappeared. The ninja and Iga-mono were no longer a profession, but they became the subject of research as a fact of history, and numerous creative works were created based on ninja themes. Like ninja, ninjutsu also became a subject of study and creative works were created at the same time as well.
Self-proclaimed “ninja”
The image of ninja and ninjutsu as mysterious and superhuman was prominent, but during the Meiji and Taisho periods, many research books were published that claimed that ninjutsu was not such a thing. However, during the Meiji and Taisho periods, many books were published on the study of ninjutsu, and there are people in the Iga region who have attempted to master or demonstrate ninjutsu since the Meiji period (1868-1912).
Hisanori Kubota, a carpenter from Onoki, Iga City, who was born in the Meiji era, often demonstrated ninjutsu to the villagers. Hisanori is said to have trained in ninjutsu at Oka Hachimangu Shrine (岡八幡宮) in Shirakashi, Iga City. He is said to have demonstrated the art of water walking and other techniques as “ninjutsu” at a pond in Ōnogi Village, but it is unclear whether this ninjutsu had existed since the Edo period.
Around the same time, there was also a man named Tengai Miyaoka, who was taught hypnosis and other techniques by a foreigner and became the leader of a circus troupe. According to records, Tengai Miyaoka was born in Iga and was a big man to look up to. It is recorded in a Meiji-era newspaper that Miyaoka Tengai performed ninjutsu.
The Mayor who Promoted Ninja and Ninjutsu
What these two men had in common was that they were both performing ninjutsu just to show to the general public. By contrast, there was a person in Iga who studied ninjutsu with the idea of putting ninjutsu into practice and making it useful. That person is Heishichiro Okuse, who was the mayor of the former Ueno City (present-day Iga city). Heishichiro Okuse, who was originally an employee of the Ueno City Office, actively promoted Iga region as a sacred place for ninja and ninjutsu, and he himself published books such as “忍術処世法 Ninjutsu Shoseihō” that described how to apply ninjutsu to real life situations.
Iga is now associated with the image of ninja and ninjutsu, and this image is not only due to the influence of manga and movies, but also to Heishichiro Okuse’s successful attempts to promote the existence of the Iga ninja throughout Japan from the 1940s through the 1970s.
As a result, Heishichiro Okuse’s attempts to showcase the Iga ninja and the Iga ninjutsu was to the general public, not only from all over Japan but people from all over the world nowadays visit the “birthplace of ninja, Iga”. Even today, ninja and ninjutsu are often associated with the image of throwing shurikens (手裏剣, throwing star) and disappearing with a scroll in his hand. However, even without such images of ninja, the Iga region is still a “birthplace of ninja,” and there are many historical sites and cultural assets that attest to this. （Yuta Sakai)
