Ninpo Taijutsu

In order to understand how Ninjutsu evolved, you have to understand the Iga region of Japan. Iga as a region belonged to the Ise province. Ise being one of the central focuses in Japan's history due to the Tokaido road where most traders passed by.

Around the year 680 Iga was separated from Ise, and became a relatively isolated region. Surrounded by mountains on all sides, except on the north side close to the Koga region in the south Omi province. In this remote and unvisited area is where the Ninpo culture was developed. Both the Iga and Koga regions were located in a relatively safe place just southeast of Kyoto, the capital town of Japan and just south of the Tokaido road. So these regions played an important part to the rest of Japan and its history.

From there a general named Ikai, a refugee from China with a wide knowledge of military strategy and martial arts, brought to what is know today as the foundation of Ninpo Bugei. His knowledge gave all the opportunity for developing an independent Ryu Ha (martial arts systems). As a parenthesis it can be mentioned that in Sada (in Iga) there are places called Tojin Iwa (The Chinese rock) and Karadobuchi (The door to china's deep water) still reminding of the connection to China.

Close, just southeast of Iga at the Yoshino mountain is where one of the head leaders of the Shugendo sect was located. And in south of Iga where the Kumano Mountain is located, is another holy place to the Shugendo sect. It is very probably that these Yamabushi (wandering Mountain priests) exchanged philosophy and methods with the Iga people.

Within Iga there was a lot of other different Ryu's (traditions) with their own specialties and traditions, but the origin to all Iga Ryu are supposed to have come from Ikai who had fled to a cave at mount Takeo in the IGA region from China.

What he brought from China was in first place his knowledge of Kosshijutsu that he taught to among others Gamon Doshi (Doshi means Moralist). Gamon Doshi's and his student Garyu Doshi can be seen as foundation to most parts of the tradition of martial art that developed in and around IGA. It may also be so that Yo Gyokko brought the Kosshijutsu, and that Ikai brought the knowledge about strategy and Hicho Kakure Gata and it was those systems together that formed the foundation of the martial arts in Iga.

To continue, Garyu initiated Hakun Ryu, a school that was further developed and named by Hakun Doshi. Hachi Ryu Nyudo is another name that ought to be mentioned, because it was probably he who brought GARYU's knowledge further on to Tozawa Hakunsai, the first official grandmaster of Gyokko Ryu. Gyokko Ryu is in most cases recognized as a Kosshijutsu school, but it's also officially known as a school of Ninpo.

Hakun Ryu was transferred to Kagakure Doshi and it was Kagakure who taught the system to Nishina Daisuke. Daisuke founded Togakure Ryu, and Togakure Ryu together with Gyokko Ryu two of the oldest Ninjutsu traditions in Iga, and they have both been a great influence to most of the other schools in IGA.