Natori-Ryu
Natori-Ryu was already established in the Sengoku Period when one branch of the family served the Takeda clan in the second half of the sixteenth century. The country then was at war. After the fall of the Takeda family, the Natori warriors, along with many others who served the Takeda clan, moved to serve the future shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. From here the Natori clan separated into further sub-branches and served in places such as the capital, Edo, and in Kishu—present-day Wakayama. In or around the 1640s, Natori Sanjuro Masazumi was most likely born and later started to serve the clan, becoming an instructor of gungaku—military study. He revolutionized the school system and was a prolific writer, capturing the then declining military skills of the last generation. (The last generation being those who had seen active service in the wars, or who had studied directly under them.) His aim was to amass and accumulate the teachings, the valuable skills of the samurai, and to allow his school to flourish. He became known as a Chuko no So—“a grandmaster of rejuvenation”—and was known by the name Issui sensei. Issui sensei would write on a wide and comprehensive range of subjects, all of which were dedicated to the arts of war. He went on to write one of the most important shinobi scrolls in history, the now famous Shoninki, which has been published in English under the title True Path of the Ninja. The school was eventually abolished during the Meiji Restoration and closed its doors under the tide of a new form of warfare. However, in libraries and collections across Japan his writings and teachings have lain on shelves in darkened rooms. For the first time in over 150 years they have been brought back together with renewed life.
To fully immerse into the samurai mind, and the details of samurai warfare, a student of military arts must have an understanding of a samurai school in full. This understanding is not just a liking for swordplay or hand-to-hand combat—a usual outlet for samurai enthusiasts. Therefore I set about the task of resurrecting Natori-Ryu and have succeeded in collecting the works of Natori Sanjuro Masazumi. Because of these things, we now have the full opportunity of that understanding before us.
Antony Cummins at the grave of Natori Masazumi
In 2012, my translation partner Minami Yoshie and I discovered the lost grave of the shinobi-samurai Natori Sanjuro Masazumi. We gained a connection with the grave keeper, the monk Yamamoto Jyuho. He was at that time unaware of Natori Masazumi but is now extremely involved in the preservation and promotion of the history of the Natori clan.
The monk Yamamoto Jyuho—keeper of Natori Masazumi’s grave.
From here a bond with the last remaining members of the Natori clan was established. On the May 5, 2013 the family and monk signed both an agreement and blessing to allow me to publish Natori-Ryu, reestablishing it as a working military school. This reestablishment allows the English-speaking world to study a complete samurai school of war for the first time. This new opportunity has created an exciting movement in the world of martial arts and Japanese historical research. Members across the globe have actively participated in the reestablishment. I would like to invite you, the reader, to become a part of this movement and to become fully involved with the correct interpretation of these once lost skills. This worldwide community is open to everyone, and is founded on the principles of communal study and mutual benefit to all students. The skills of Natori-Ryu include all the military learning needed in samurai tactics and military campaigns, including a full shinobi curriculum. To contribute in adding life to this authentic samurai school, see the author’s website along with other social media for more information—these sites will provide guidance on becoming involved.
The Natori-Ryu logo, with family crest and name in Japanese.
The blessing for the reopening of Natori-Ryu by the last members of the Natori family.
Antony Cummins and a museum curator, Nagayo Toshihiko, with some of the Natori-Ryu manuals.
Minami Yoshie, cofounder of the Historical Ninjutsu Research Team, and Nagayo Toshihiko examining some of the same manuals.
A New Understanding of the Samurai and the Shinobi
As the Western knight underwent such a radical change in our understanding, so this book should now have cleared away the debris from the distortion of samurai history. With the “field of battle” cleared there should be an open plain in our minds, so that we can start rebuilding a solid picture of the samurai and of the shinobi. This time building from the ground up.
A New Picture
First, insert the land, the ancient and history-filled country of Japan. Include its surrounding islands, the ancient forests and natural riverbanks (which are almost all gone today). The movement of the four seasons give a dramatic display with snow-covered mountains. Spring brings the wind-swept cherry blossom, and then intense summer burns up the ground with insects screaming at full velocity, to only die off with the arrival of the cold. The cool winds of autumn carry golden leaves into the snow of winter. Next is the placement of buildings within the landscape, some new, some under construction, but many old and in various states of decay. Some are under maintenance, while a few that are beyond the count of years, almost falling back into nature as the spread of deep green moss swallows them. Next, towns, cities, or rural hamlets nestled on plains, in valleys, or in the mountains. Vast graveyards contain stone obelisks covered in a cloud of incense and smoke. Lights burn by night, and crows keep chorus by day. All of the above are subject to the weather, the famed Japanese earthquakes, the hails of rain, deep mountain mists, a humid vision-distorting heat, and even the dreaded tsunami—which all take their toll on the landscape. Finally add to this picture the people of Japan, a people who came from mainland Asia in waves, bringing with them a culture that has had thousands of years invested in it, which is then reshaped by new movements and other people bringing Buddhism and other mainland influences.
The sun vomits through the sky in a crescendo of centuries as our picture arrives at the Sengoku Period in the 1500s. In the rest of the world the Americas had just been discovered by Europeans, Queen Elizabeth I has ascended the throne of England, and while the complexities of European history play out, a very bloodthirsty time has erupted in the once tranquil land of Japan with revolution and establishments being overthrown. To this image and time, enter the samurai! A warrior class who have been in control of the land for over five hundred years, their rule is absolute and established with rods of iron. “Recently” (in the Sengoku Period), lower samurai and those who wish to take up arms and become powerful have turned the order on its head and the once aristocratic families are being thrown from their seats of power and a new order is upon the field. These deep mountains and snow-rimmed lakes are filled with beetle-like figures in dark carapace armor, bright flags bending in the wind and furled about them as they move through our “oil painting,” moving through the seasons and the years, falling in battle while new graveyards are erected—a time of man and the assent of his power. At the top of this movement, great names rule the divided nation: Takeda, Uesugi, Hojo, Oda, Asakura, Mori, Tokugawa, all of who look back to the great names of the past for inspiration: Kusunoki, Genji, Fujiwara, Heishi and Tachibana.
Our image clarifies as we focus on a mountain castle, on one unnamed night when the moon is but a slight crack in the sky. The castle is fixed into the natural rock of the mountain and its black walls support tiny figures on patrol, each carrying a blazing torch in the light snowfall. At the base of the mountain an enemy camp is in a nighttime hush, the well-constructed bamboo barricades lead up to the temporary gateways where guards stand by, trenches and pits have been laid out, traps and defenses are in position. Moving through the gateway past the old and experienced guards, we move at ground level through the mud, the tents in rows, the braziers giving off sparks as the mercenaries huddle around fires, sat at the edges of the camp with dogs whose eyes reflect this fire as they hide in the shadows beyond them. Moving closer into the center, we pass all the different huts for all the different tasks—one of which is empty. The picture moves up to the m
ain war curtains, snow drifting past a great family crest as we peer through a small hole in this material division to see that which lies beyond. A prince sits upon a stool and a few of his most trusted men are at his side, ready to defend him at all times. Before him are the occupants from an empty hut, the shinobi no mono of his army. His command is given by mouth directly to the ear of these specially-trained samurai with their specially-trained foot soldiers in support—they are the shinobi of Japan. They move out of the camp, moving into the snow and the dark, their faces blacked out with powder, their clothes without heraldry and armed with ladders, rope and explosives. They sling their swords on their backs to make ready for the mountain climb, off they move, to do what they do best—infiltration.
The Round Up
The samurai was a highly trained professional soldier who deserves the true telling of his story. With a sense of honor that was dominated by the ethics of his time, this was a captain and officer among men, an independent combatant with his own men-at-arms, and a lord at his back. Housed in knightly abode and a lord of his own land, he was a full-time warrior with all the trappings of his office. He held the spiritual beliefs of his era. Above all this was his love and dedication to sophisticated warfare and military action. An equestrian gentleman or esquire on foot his equipment was sturdy and solid, his sword thick with quality, and his furnishings rich with his family history. However, the latter is not his true weapon: below his helm and the skin on his head, housed inside his skull—which may one day adorn a spike—lies years of knowledge held inside his brain; this was the weapon of the samurai, a trained mind. Skilled in Chinese classics, having knowledge of tea and ritual, understanding the art of the brush, and the pleasure of the fine arts are all balanced amidst a structure of military strategy. He loves the planning of war, the movement of the formations, the chase through the forest at night, the high-speed mounted scout run, the charge into battle, and the achievement of praise. Above all he loves to collect decapitated human heads and the power that lies in such success. Gold and silver have an appeal, land he wants more. Above all things in his mind, he wants to walk off the field of battle with a bag of heads in his hands, emerging out of a gunpowder fog. A hero to some, a murderer and rapist to others, a champion to his people, and a demon to the enemy, with homicide as a specialty and killing as a business, he is the samurai—the knight of Japan.
The shinobi was a subsection of samurai culture. Like all warriors of his time he could have been of the samurai class or of the foot-soldier class, or even with one foot in both worlds. While being from the samurai world—even though many shinobi were of samurai status—they were also on the outside. This external position was not because of any class divide but because of the nature of their job—which was clandestine. Secrets have a way of alienating people and placing them on the fringe. This was evident with the shinobi. The shinobi may have been an under-cover agent in a far off territory, away from comrades, away from family and away from his life. He may have been a hidden warrior within his own or enemy army, again, outside of his own life, away from the people he knew, waiting in silence for his activation. The shinobi may also have been hired in public, placed with a group of other shinobi but this time separated by function and task, given their own quarters in battle; specifically taken away from regular tasks. A group such as this would operate in their own setting, just outside of the normal warrior. To be a shinobi took a special skill and a special personality. Those who did not match the grade were filtered out by the grim reaper in times of war and only the highest caliber shinobi achieved what was considered a hellish existence—like that at the height of the Warring States Period. With the foundation of samurai military ways in their make up, these specialists would study language, codes, explosives, infiltration, ritual magic and many other aspects in addition to the normal teachings. They were not frontline soldiers, but those who dared to go beyond enemy lines, either in open disguise or in stealth. If the business of the “pure” samurai was murder, death and the exchange of heads, then the occupation of the shinobi was in destruction, intelligence and secrets. The working shinobi was not among the princes of Japan, he was not found in the generals or in the higher echelons of the samurai world. He was found stood outside the door to the hall in which these ranks met, he was the man who was not on the path to high society but the man who had the key to the backdoor, an aid to princes and generals, and agent of information trafficking—he was the commando-spy of Japan.
The Boring Stuff
Conventionally, introductions, explanations, and aides to helpfulness are found at the start of most books. However, without question they are skipped over as the reader finds the “juicy cuts” of the book and returns after their “appetite” has been appeased. For this reason they have been moved to the back of the book, waiting in the “correct” position.
Measurement
All translations of measurement have been given in their original Japanese form; the following table has been constructed to allow you to make the correct conversions.
Numbers from one to one hundred are mainly given in the written form. Numbers above one hundred or those given in dates or recipes have been given in numerical form.
Library lists and catalog numbers
The translation of the Giyoshu manual is taken from multiple transcriptions including the Okayama Prefectural Library. The originals can be seen with the following catalog numbers:
Version one:
上0002120335 – KW399.2.1
中0002120327 – KW399.2.2
下0002120319 – KW399.2.3
Version two:
上0002120681 – KW399.3.1
中0002120699 – KW399.3.2
下0002120707 – KW399.3.3
The Iike Gunki
This manual can be found at the Japanese National Archives.
The Hattori Doson Ichi-Ryu no Shinobi No Ho manual
This manual can be found in the Ikedake collection at Okayama University
Library with the catalog number:
H2-105
The locations of the remaining manuals have been referenced in the text or are found in private collections or have been previously published.
About the Author
Antony Cummins is from Lancashire, England, and is the author of multiple books on Japanese history and the ways of the shinobi. Antony has a Bachelor’s degree in Ancient History and Archaeology and also a Master’s degree in Theoretical Archaeology. He leads the Historical Ninjutsu Research Team and is dedicated to the reinterpretation of historical samurai ways and the promotion of medieval Japanese culture. For more information, visit his website and other social media sites: www.natori.co.uk.
The Tuttle Story
“Books to Span
the East and West”
Many people are surprised to learn that the world’s leading publisher of books on Asia had humble beginnings in the tiny American state of Vermont. The company’s founder, Charles E. Tuttle, belonged to a New England family steeped in publishing.
Tuttle’s father was a noted antiquarian book dealer in Rutland, Vermont. Young Charles honed his knowledge of the trade working in the family bookstore, and later in the rare books section of Columbia University Library. His passion for beautiful books—old and new—never wavered throughout his long career as a bookseller and publisher.
After graduating from Harvard, Tuttle enlisted in the military and in 1945 was sent to Tokyo to work on General Douglas MacArthur’s staff. He was tasked with helping to revive the Japanese publishing industry, which had been utterly devastated by the war. After his tour of duty was completed, he left the military, married a talented and beautiful singer, Reiko Chiba, and in 1948 began several successful business ventures.
To his astonishment, Tuttle discovered that postwar Tokyo was actually a book-lover’s paradise. He befriended dealers in the Kanda district and began supplying rare Japanese editions to American libraries. He also imported American books to sell to the thous
ands of GIs stationed in Japan. By 1949, Tuttle’s business was thriving, and he opened Tokyo’s very first English-language bookstore in the Takashimaya Department Store in Nihonbashi, to great success. Two years later, he began publishing books to fulfill the growing interest of foreigners in all things Asian.
Though a westerner, Tuttle was hugely instrumental in bringing a knowledge of Japan and Asia to a world hungry for information about the East. By the time of his death in 1993, he had published over 6,000 books on Asian culture, history and art—a legacy honored by Emperor Hirohito in 1983 with the “Order of the Sacred Treasure,” the highest honor Japan can bestow upon a non-Japanese.
The Tuttle company today maintains an active backlist of some 1,500 titles, many of which have been continuously in print since the 1950s and 1960s—a great testament to Charles Tuttle’s skill as a publisher. More than 60 years after its founding, Tuttle Publishing is more active today than at any time in its history, still inspired by Charles Tuttle’s core mission—to publish fine books to span the East and West and provide a greater understanding of each.
Samurai and Ninja: The Real Story Behind the Japanese Warrior Myth That Shatters the Bushido Mystique Page 23
