The Samurai

The Japanese samurai would eat, sleep, live, and die by a code of honor. It was known as Bushido which means "the way of the warrior". Now this code stressed a moral code of conduct which covered frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death. This code came about from the combination of two ways of life, the religuous life of Shinto Buddhism that stressed wisdom and serenity and the violence that the samurai lived with and dealt with on a regular basis.

Bushido was developed and accepted somewhere between the 9th and 12th century across the whole of Japan. This code was an organic growth from centuries of military careers. Samurai were required or instructed to observe the Bushido code even though this code was onwritten and in overall unuttered in those days.

Between the 1600's and 1800's certain aspects of the Bushido code were formalized and put into Japanese Fuedal Law by the Tokugawa Shogunate leadership.

The Bushido code stressed a balance between violence and peace. Thus many Samurai were not only true masters in their martial arts and weapons, but also spent there free time as artists, writers, masters of tea ceremonies, anything which would show a gentler, calmer side of an expert warrior. This outlet was believed to give the samurai a balanced being, and it was believed that the more at peace he was with himself the greater the warrior he would be on the battlefield.

Koga Ninja

For hundreds of years the Iga group of Ninja were the major force in ninjutsu. Smaller groups existed in other parts of Japan, but in the Sengoku era Ninja groups sprang up throughout Japan. Within these groups of spies, saboteurs, and killers, there developed two super groups: the Iga of Mie prefecture and the deadly Koga of Shiga prefecture. Not surprisingly, Shiga is next to Mie prefecture in southern Japan. The Koga and Iga inhabited the same mountain range, in two valleys divided by a mountain. Completely isolated from the outside world, they lived as farmers and were sought after by the locals for medicine, herbs, weather forecasting, and agriculture help.

In time there were great generals who gradually unified Japan. These leaders such as Oda Nobunaga, Takeda Shingen, and possibly the greatest general in Japanese history Tokugawa Ieyasu all employed the Ninja to help control the country through a complex spy network.

The Koga Ninja consisted of fifty-three families. They specialized in medicines and explosives and developed many of the tools and weapons used by the Ninja. Though small in number, they were an elite force and became the second most famous group, besides the Iga, in the annals of ninjutsu. Based near Kyoto, they were recruited by the great leaders of Japan as counselors and military strategists.

In 1600 the Koga rescued lord Tokugawa from an assassination attempt by rival Ninja. They made a dummy of Lord Tokugawa, filled it with explosives, and placed it in Tokugawa's carriage. Then, acting as personal escort, they made it known that Tokugawa was on the move through enemy territory. This diversionary tactic succeeded when the false carriage was attacked by the enemy and all the Koga Ninja killed, giving the real carriage with Tokugawa precious time to escape.

In time Tokugawa became the shogun of Japan. He moved the capital from Kyoto to Edo, now called Tokyo, and took three hundred ninja with him from both Koga and Iga to be her personal bodyguards.

And under Tokugawa there began a reign of peace that lasted for 300 years. As the years passed the need for Ninja's declined and the number of men willing to endure the intense training needed to become a ninja declined as well because these young men did not want to just become gardeners for Lord Tokugawa. This was the decline of the powerful Ninjas from Japans proud history.