In Search of the Niinja (56 page)

•
  When attacking on mountains or slopes or in valleys, it is difficult to attack at once with a massive army. Therefore, up to day six, seven, or even day eight of the new lunar month your forces should commence night attacks and they should do this around the time of moon-set. During the day before these attacks have your troops wait in appropriate places and in position and then at moon-set, descend on and defeat the enemy. It is essential to consider if the distance is far or not and when the attack is [to be initiated]. You should not light torches.

[It should be noted here that this differs from the previous instruction to attack in the hours of the Boar and the Rat, however, this situation is different, being a specific attack on an incline. The first few days of a new moon are the darkest and by day six and up to day eight of the moon’s cycle it will be hitting the half full stage of its orbit and after this the increasing moonlight will help give away any movement by one’s forces, therefore it is best to stop after this day.]

•
  On a pitch dark night and when you have to advance through mountains, valleys, fields and streams you should assign guides to take point and place them in front and rear. If you are afraid that you have lost your way, you should halt your troops and confirm your direction. Also you should have some men go between the front and the rear.

•
  In a situation where you think that some troops may lose their way, then you should attach paper to a tree or to bamboo, this will act as a signal for the forces behind you. This [technique of marking] is called
Go
.

•
  When there are bushes on either side of the path and you are suspicious about that area, considering it a good point of ambush, you should shoot arrows into the bushes at random – then take one unit of the troop and have them line up [on either side of the path] in defence and have the rest of the troop move through the area. Also, if
Fushikamari
ambush troops are there, your horses will sense their presence – more to be passed on in oral tradition.

•
  When on a night attack your forces need to know the direction of their base camp for a safe return. Observe the heavens [to get your bearings]. Also, concerning the land, you should remember: the flow of the water, the shapes of mountains, the sounds of the river and the direction of the wind.

•
  Send shinobi close to the enemy camp and have them set fire to the enemy camp huts in the direction you are going to attack. At the same time as the flames reach upwards into view, your attack group should give war cries and you should observe the situation inside the camp. If they are confused and surprised, move through their camp, just like a howling wind. It is not good procedure to perform this raid in a sluggish manner. If the enemy try to follow you out after you have raided, have ambush troops set up to attack them from the flank.

•
  If you have set flames in their camp, if you have given the war cries yet their defence is quiet and reserved, then in this situation, you should retreat. If you are not aware of this point and try to attack them without such considerations, then it will be harmful to your forces.
211

•
  Divide your attack force into between five and seven groups and distribute among them ten good men who are trained in the way of the shinobi
. These shinobi should wear the clothes of a labourer. When the groups attack and move through the enemy camp, the shinobi from each group should remain behind in the confusion and pretend to be labourers who belong there – to make this work have them shout and react as they should during the attack, shouting out warnings to others that there is a night attack, then they should steal weapons and horses. Afterwards, at dawn, a new set of attack teams should get close to the enemy camp and when they attack from the front, the shinobi on the inside will attack the rear of the defenders. Also, the shinobi-captain should signal his shinobi-group
by means of instruments and they should go around the camp fighting. Also they should set fire to the enemy’s huts, this is done to disturb their movement and at which point the shinobi should also release the horses and let them stampede away from the camp. Sometimes they let the troops placed outside in ambush come in.

•
  Send troops close to the enemy battle camp and have them hide on either side of the enemy position. Next, shoot fire arrows at the enemy vanguard, at this signal [other] troops should descend and make a raid on the enemy and this is also the time for the use of muskets. If the enemy retaliate and fight back, you should cope with it and then retreat after a whilst. This is the point when you initiate your hidden troops to attack them from the sides. Meanwhilst, if you can, find a gap and push forward into the buildings and fight your way forward, trying to find the enemy
Hatamoto
command group. Take note, according to the situation, you should withdraw as quickly as possible. You should cause consternation in the enemy headquarters by shouting around that (insert name) is our ally or that we have killed the enemy general. Then according to the movements of the enemy, make a full force attack and defeat them. Do not take any heads at this point and attack using shields, if you do not have shields use bundles of bamboo.

•
  Concerning successive attacks – you should attack or close in on an enemy camp for two or three successive nights in a row. You should make war cries to draw the enemy out, when they come out you should retreat at speed, this is done to exhaust them. To make sure you do not exhaust your own men, you should send alternating troops on these fake raids. If you do this repeatedly you will bring them to neglectfulness after a couple of days and when they let their guard down, remember to take advantage of this and attack them at these points. In addition to this you should conspire so that enemy shinobi listen to the sounds of your army in preparation for a night attack. This is done so that any enemy shinobi [near your camp] will report back and this will make the enemy prepare for this fake attack every night and they will tire in the end. This is a virtuous tactic, as it uses the enemy shinobi to weaken their own army without ussing up your allies’ strength.

This scroll is a secret writing passed down in our school for generations. Be careful in passing this information on from person to person and do not show it to anyone outside of our school.

[Names written afterward in what appears to be a different hand and in an extremely cursive and unintelligible style]

Koike Jinnojo Sadanari

Uehara Hachizaemon Sadampbi

Mizushima Bokuya Motonari

Ito Jin-emon Yukiuji – [transcribed in the] twelfth month of the year 1689

Ito [unintelligible text]

Ito [unintelligible text]

Ito [unintelligible text]

[Unintelligible text]

Sakata [unintelligible text]

Notes

133
  The
Bansenshukai
advises that a fake wife and child should be used and you should feed them false information, which sounds plausible. Unbeknownst to the author of this manual, the shinobi they dealt with were probably enemy shinobi. We do not know if the women and children die.

134
  It is not often that defence against shinobi discusses the art of dialects, which is always present in actual shinobi manuals.

135
  It appears that this was a two-part book, the second scroll is missing.

136
  Literally three centimetres, however it is a colloquialism for ‘short’.

137
  The author comes to the end of the tools in the first book and then lists the tools that appear in the second and missing volume, these tools are not featured in the scroll.

138
  This is the original author’s note in the text; he appears to reference an ‘original’ manual of unknown title.

139
  Presumably a ninja would place this paper in the embers he is carrying to catch fire.

140
  Presumably you roll this into a cylinder.

141
  The text is highly ambiguous here and appears to mean using the pulp to form a paper, which can be used as tinder. There is a reference to a ‘bitter taste’ but it has been taken out here for clarity.

142
  These are small flammable balls which were most likely used in night raids by throwing them, possibly in high numbers, into straw or thatch.

143
  The text says ‘this size’ and draws a circle, the circle measures one centimetre.

144
  There is an illegible section of the text and all that can be made out is ‘mouth – ball’.

145
  This is a much larger tool that the one above.

146
  Most likely a decoction of pine wood and resin, however, he uses both terms earlier on.

147
  This is a thrown fire weapon, so the missing text will reflect that point.

148
  This word is damaged in the text, however, often bleached cloth is used for this tool.

149
  This twisting is supposition, the text is beyond legibility, however, often they twist them together to prolong burning.

150
  Most likely length.

151
  Probably so that it does not burn as it is inside the ninja’s kimono.

152
  The text has one more illegible sentence here which discusses ‘rubbing’, ‘sand’ and ‘stone’.

153
  A liquid used for blackening the teeth.

154
  Literally ‘water metal’.

155
  
Pagodite
or chalk?

156
  Unknown component.

157
  The text is not clear on the addition of the cotton seed.

158
  Families of the same name.

159
  
Hikan
are lower level people who serve the elite.

160
  This statement is exceptionally important for the history of Iga. Some academics believe that the people of Iga did not hold samurai status before their defeat; however, the people of Iga most definitely considered themselves as samurai.

161
  The Miyoshi were in league with the enemies of Koka and Iga.

162
  Literally
Yumiya
means ‘bow and arrow’ and
Hanjo
translates as ‘signed document’. There is another word in use at that time which was
Yasen
, ‘Money for Arrows’, which translates as ‘war tax’. By analogy, the
Yumiya
Hanjo
is a request to pay a share of the war funds for the province.

163
  
Yado Okuri
(or
Mukae
) or ‘transportation system’. It was often conducted by local leaders who could provide a number of men in that area and probably yielded some profit for them.

164
  Mercenary samurai.

165
  Throughout the entire text, Kimura insists on the two principles of constant communication and keeping the shinobi teachings only with those from Koka.

166
  The author constantly switched between the present and past tense.

167
  Senguku period.

168
  There is an ambiguous idiom here, however by context it means unused.

169
  The author is saying that many people get caught up in the ‘shallow ends’ of deception and states the truth shall be found in the way of the five spies, a concept of Sun Tzu’s.

170
  Here the ‘catching’ has a connotation of a winding motion, possibly the ‘Spider Hand’ of
Fukushima-ryu
?

171
  Here he does not seem to be referring to the end of the Sengoku period generation but the difference in understanding between the old and young. Fujibayashi also states that older shinobi are better than younger ones.

172
  This sentence should not be missed by any student of ninjutsu. Kimura is implying that those who perform this form of shinobi are merely thieves. The difference is in the use of the ideogram, the one here is found in various writings and sometimes together with the classical ideogram for shinobi.