Activities of Igashu in the Sengoku Period (a summary)
Lecturer: Kenji Kasai
Records about the activities of "Igashu" can be found in archives written in the period of the Onin-Bunmei Wars (1467-1477), dawn of the Sengoku period (the period of warring states) onward. We can find some records, for example, in June 1470 (2nd year of Bunmei) when Igashu went to the field around the Negoro-tempel in Wakayama to join the attack as the supporter of Hatakeyama's troops, and again in October 1485 (17th year of Bunmei), Igashu also sustained a siege in the Mizushi-castle (in southern part of Kyoto) for Hatakeyama's troop. In addition to that, one of the later records says that Igashu supported Katsuie Shibata and other retainers of Nobunaga Oda to attack Asai's main Castle in Omi Province (Shiga Prefecture) in 1573 (4th year of Genki).
Through these records, it could be concluded that Igashu supported the Daimyos in their surroundings and joined the attacks in Kyoto prefecture, as well as in Nara, Shiga and Wakayama prefecture successfully. The kinds of checked record reveal their favorite tactics used at that time.
We can find some descriptions, for example, in a record about the battle at Kasachi-Castle (in Kasachi town/Kyoto Pref.) in 1541(10th year of Tenmon). "Igashu sneaked into the Kasachi Castle this morning and set fire on several priests' living quarters." Or in another record about the attack to a castle in Gojo city (Nara pref.), "Around midnight Igashu climbed the water moats and sneaked into the castle from its southern side. ". So, it is through descriptions such as sneaking into the targets or setting fire that we get our typical images of Ninja. Furthermore, a Bushi, named Shinkuro Ogawa, who joined the Nobukatsu Oda's troop for the attack of the Takino castle in Nabari City, stated in 1582 (10th year of Tenshou), "Originally, Igashu are good at sneaking and making night attacks..". What we can conclude from the writing is that it was already well-known among people in the end of Sengoku period that sneaking and making night attacks were Ninja's favorite tactics.
We can also point out ordinary local activities of Igashu at that time from the archives written about social gatherings or ceremonies, such as funerals, festivals and so on. For Example, the achievement of the founder of the Sect (Tendaishinsei-shu), Shinsei-Shonin (Prister Shinsei) was written in the archives. In this archive, we could find a story that after his death in 1495 (4th year of Meiou) his funeral was mainly held by the personage from Iga (Dankata/Danna-shu: influential local samurais or local clans). In 1580 (10th years of Tensho), Kanemi Yoshida, a Shinto priest at Kyoto Yoshida Shrine, saw a festival of the Aekuni Shrine in Ichinomiya, which was also held by the local samurai (jizamurai). Same as their successful activities in another province, it is conceivable that Igashu, the local influential samurai, played a main role at holding ceremonies and managing their local communities.
We can imagine that Igashu had their individualities and identities and lived by themselves under the influence of other provinces in the turbulent Sengoku period.
Even small amounts of information about "Shinobi" in the Japanese historical sources can give us a chance to get a glimpse of the activities of Igashu at that time.