Ninja of Iga, Koga, and Fuma Summary
NINJA: Shadows of the Warring States is a manga that brings Japan's ninja to life from old written records, set from the Muromachi period into the Warring States era. The narrator is Fujibayashi Yasutake, a man of Iga who compiled the ninja manual Bansenshukai in 1676. Episode 1 opens in 1487 at the Magari campaign. When Ashikaga Yoshihisa, ninth shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, attacks Rokkaku Takayori in Omi Province, Takayori withdraws into the mountains of Koga. The deeds done in this war made the names of the Iga and Koga ninja known across the land.
Episode 2 turns to Seishin, or "the right mind," the first rule taught in the Bansenshukai: a ninja's skills are to be used with a righteous heart, never for greed. In the manga, a young ninja created for the story faces this teaching as he stands before an open strongbox in an enemy's residence.
Episodes 3 and 4 belong to the Fuma, as recorded in the Hojo Godaiki, a chronicle of the Hojo clan. A giant with four fangs, standing seven shaku two sun tall, leads 200 rappa, or ninja raiders, under Hojo Ujinao and launches night raids on Takeda Katsuyori, camped across the Kise River. Night after night, horses are set loose and fires are lit. Lost in the dark and unable to find their enemy, the Takeda troops finally end up cutting down their own comrades.
Story summary
Episode 1The One Night That Created the Ninja — The Battle of Magari (Koga Ninja Night Raid)
In the mangaOn the night a shogun's army tens of thousands strong closes in on a mountain village, Genta, a timid young man of Koga whose only gift is his sharp hearing, holds his breath beneath the floor of the enemy camp. "We don't kill them. We just never let them sleep." By lamplight, an old writer begins the tale of the night that first made the shinobi famous.
In the original mythThe story comes from the Bansenshukai, often described as the great encyclopedia of ninjutsu. Its compiler, Fujibayashi Yasutake, came from the Fujibayashi family of Iga. He gathered the techniques handed down in Iga and Koga, the two mountain regions most closely tied to the shinobi (ninja), and put them into one work. The preface explains the title: just as ten thousand rivers flow into one sea, many schools of…
Episode 2The Gold Was Open. No One Was Watching. — Seishin (Bansenshukai)
In the mangaYoichi, a young Iga shinobi, wants his family to make it through the winter. On the night of his first infiltration, he finds himself alone in an empty room with an open box of gold. This is a story about seishin, the "true heart," the rule a real ninja book put on its very first page.
In the original mythThe Bansenshukai is one of the best-known ninja manuals from Japan. Its title can be read as "ten thousand rivers gathered into one sea." The idea is that the many separate streams of shinobi knowledge, especially those of Iga and Koga (two mountain regions near Kyoto famous for their ninja), are brought together in a single work. The preface is dated 1676, in the early Edo period, and names Fujibayashi Yasutake, a…
Episode 3Summon the Seven-Foot Ninja With Fangs — Fuma Kotaro
In the mangaWith the vast Takeda army camped across the river and a decision due by dawn, young commander Hojo Ujinao summons the Fuma, men his retainers sneer at as common thieves. Out of the dark steps a man over seven feet tall, with four fangs and a voice said to carry for miles.
In the original mythThe tale comes from the Hojo Godaiki ("Chronicle of Five Generations of the Hojo"), written by Miura Joshin, a samurai who had once served the Hojo. He seems to have written it near the end of the Keicho era (about 1610s), and it was printed during the Kan'ei era (1624–1644). One chapter is about the rappa of the Kanto region. Rappa was a word used in eastern Japan for the kind of hired spies and raiders we would…
Episode 4No Swords Drawn. An Army Fell. — The Fuma Night Raids at Kisegawa
In the mangaNight after rainy night, Fuma Kotaro's ninja cross the river, set horses loose, light fires, and raise war cries. They never draw a single sword, yet the great Takeda army crumbles. On the final night, a young soldier driven mad by fear turns his blade on the man who looked out for him. Then, bare-handed, he steps between comrades about to cut each other down.
In the original mythThe story takes place during Japan's Warring States period, in the Tensho era, around 1580 to 1581. Two warlords, Hojo Ujinao and Takeda Katsuyori, have camped their armies on opposite banks of the Kise River (Kisegawa), near the border of the old provinces of Suruga and Izu, in today's Shizuoka Prefecture. Neither side moves. The armies simply stare at each other across the water.