The History of
Togakure Ryu Ninpo
So-o was the name
of a monk at a monastery on Mount Hiei-zan.
As was a custom in those times he left his home to live for three years
in a cave, subjecting himself to the hardship of nature in order to discover
truth and enlightenment. It was after a
mysterious dream that he formed the Tendai Shugendo sect of Buddhism, and
established the headquarters of the Tendai monastery at Hiei-zan. These monks
still exist today and some are still engaged in Shugendo, or mountain
asceticism: purifying one's self by trial and hardship.
Near to Hiei-zan
was a small village called Togakure, in the prefecture of Shinano. Here in approximately 1161, Daisuke Nishina
was born into a Samurai family.
Sometime during his early life, he studied at the Tendai monastery on
Togakure Mountain (Mount Hiei-zan) near his village. These early experiences were to play an important role later when
Daisuke was to establish a system of fighting, survival and infiltration.
It is important
to understand the events leading up to the creation of Togakure Ryu Ninpo. Daisuke Nishina's father was Yukihiro
Nishina, who was a highly ranked samurai in the service of Lord Yoshinaka
Minamoto, the cousin of the first Shogun of Japan. When Yoshinaka Minamoto was only an infant, a samurai was sent
from a rival family to kill him and his mother. Yoshinaka's mother escaped with him and went secretly to the home
of a farmer who was loyal to their family.
Yoshinaka was later brought to Kiso village in Shinano, not far from
Togakure village.
It was possibly
because of this movement that Yukihiro Nishina of Togakure came into his
service. Years later, Yoshinaka's
family had defeated their rivals and became rulers of Japan. But they saw Yoshinaka as a threat to their
leadership, and they turned on him.
Yoshinaka Minamoto changed his name to Yoshinaka Kiso, taking the name
of the village where he lived, which was a common practice at the time. In 1184, Yoshinaka was attacked by the army
of his half-brother... sixty thousand warriors descended quickly upon
Yoshinaka's army near Kyoto. The battle
was called Awaza no Kassan, and Yoshinaka Kiso was killed by an arrow in his
eye. On his side had fought Yukihiro
Nishina of Togakure, who was also killed, and his son Daisuke Nishina, who survived.
Daisuke, being on
the losing side of this battle, was forced to flee into far-away Iga to escape
persecution. There he fled into the
remote villages, hidden in the mists of a land of high mountains and thick
forests. He changed his name to Daisuke
Togakure, after the village of his birth.
While he was in
Iga, Daisuke was found by Kagakure Doshi.
Kagakure Doshi was a shinobi, and the third soke of Hakuun Ryu, which
was one of the original ninjutsu systems developed from the teachings of Ikai
(Yi Gai, who brought the roots of koshijutsu from China). It is also possible that Doshi was Daisuke's
uncle, and that Daisuke fled to Iga with the intention of finding him.
Daisuke Togakure
learned Doshi's warrior teachings, and added them to his own Shugendo beliefs,
and the beginnings of Togakure Ryu where forged. But Daisuke was not alone studying under Kagakure Doshi. With him was Shima Kosanta Minamoto no Kanesada. He was a high level samurai retainer who had
also fought at the battle of Awaza no Kassan, where he had become a friend to
Daisuke and his father. Shima was
wounded in the fighting, and was taken by Daisuke to Iga. Shima was to become the second soke of
Togakure Ryu. He took the name Daisuke
Togakure II after Daisuke's death. His
son Goro Togakure, the third soke, is recognized as being the person who
actually formed the teachings of Togakure into the Ninjutsu system that we
learn today. The 11th, 12th and 13th
Soke of the Ryu are named after the main town of Iga, Ueno. Again, it was
common in those days to be named after the town or village from which one
came. It is therefore likely that the
Togakure Ryu was based at or near Ueno at that time. Ueno is in north Iga, but Togakure Ryu mainly operated out of
southern central Iga during most of its history.
It is told that
members of the Hattori clan trained in Togakure Ryu. Hattori Hanzo is the most famous of all Ninja. Also members of the Momochi family also
trained in this system, and the 21st Soke of Togakure Ryu was Momochi Kobei, a
descendant of Momochi Sandayu, the second most famous ninja and a leading
figure of the Iga region.
As with most
martial traditions in earlier days, control of the system stayed within the
family that founded it, and control of the style passed from father to son.
With Togakure Ryu, it continued in this way for the most part until the
1600's. When the immediate family died
out, most senior member of the system was Nobutsuna Toda, who was given
leadership and became the 24th Soke. When the Toda family took control in
approximately 1625, they added their own ninjutsu system of Kumogakure Ryu to
it. They also controlled Gyokko Ryu and
Koto Ryu, and from that time on, all those martial arts systems were then
passed down together.
The 32nd Soke of Togakure Ryu, Shinryuken
Masamitsu Toda, was the sword instructor for the Tokugawa Shogunate in the mid
19th century. He resigned his post when
he learned that he was teaching men who were then forced to kill other Japanese
people. This went against the Law of
Togakure Ryu. The 33rd Soke, Toshitsugu
Takamatsu, was the last member of the Toda family to control the Togakure
Ryu. Within the Tendai Shugendo sect,
nearly a millennium after its founding by the monk So-o, the 33rd Soke of Togakure
Ryu Toshitsugu Takamatsu was ordained on Mount Hiei-zan.
"Violence is to be avoided, and Ninpo is Bujutsu"
Soke of Togakure Ryu
Ikai
Hogenbo
Sakabe,
Tendo
Hachiryu,
Nyodo Tenei era 1110
Kimon,
Hyobei Ninpei
era 1151
Kasumigakure, Doshi
1. Togakure
(Nishina) Daisuke Oho era 1161
2. Minamoto no
Kanesada, Shima Kosanta 1180
3. Togakure,
Goro 1200
4. Togakure,
Kosanta
5. Koga, Kosanta
6. Kaneko, Tomoharu
7. Togakure, Ryuho
8. Togakure, Gakuun
9. Kido, Koseki
10. Iga, Tenryu
11. Ueno, Rihei
12. Ueno, Senri
13. Ueno, Manjiro
14. Iizuka, Saburo
15. Sawada, Goro
16. Ozaru, Ippei
17. Kimata, Hachiro
18. Kataoka,
Heizaemon
19. Mori, Ugenta
20. Toda, Gobei
21. Kobe, Seiun
22. Momochi, Kobei
23. Tobari, Tenzen
24. Toda, Nobutsuna
Seiryu Kwanyei era 1624 - 1644
25. Toda, Nobuchika
Fudo Manji era 1658 - 1681
26. Toda, Kangoro
Nobuyasu Tenna era 1681 - 1704
27. Toda, Eisaburo
Nobumasa Hoyei era 1704 - 1711
28. Toda, Shinbei
Masachika Shotoku era 1711 - 1736
29. Toda, Shingoro
Masayoshi Gembun era 1736 - 1764
30. Toda, Daigoro
Chikahide Meiwa era 1764 - 1804
31. Toda, Daisaburo
Chikashige Bunkwa era 1804 - ?
32. Toda, Shinryuken
Masamitsu ? - 1907 (b.1824 - d.1909)
33. Takamatsu,
Toshitsugu 1907 - 1968 (b.1887 - d.1972)
34. Hatsumi, Masaaki
(Yoshiaki) 1968 - (b.1931)
San-po Hiden: The
three secret treasures of Togakure Ryu
Senban Shuriken- the
four pointed throwing star. This
resembled a tool used by carpenters to remove nails, called a kugi-nuki. It was a weapon to harass the enemy to
assist in escape.
Shuko- commonly known as climbing claws, they were
frequently used on both the hands and feet for combat as well, capable of
delivering very serious injuries. They
were made of metal bands around the hand and wrist with a strap of leather
connecting them. Also called Tegaki.
Shindake- a bamboo
tube around 4 feet long, used as an underwater breathing tube and a blowgun.