Below are further details of the people mentioned in the series, arranged alphabetically. Ienari and Sadanobu are not listed here because they were covered fully in the main text.

Baba Nobukatsu (1514-1575), also called Nobufusa, a general of Takeda Shingen's. His original family name was Tamibe and he was given the surname 'Baba' by Takeda Shingen in 1546. In 1553 he came to the aid of Imagawa Yoshimoto and attacked Hojo Ujiyasu in Suruga. In 1561 he served Shingen in his attack on Uesugi Kenshin and defended him at Kawanakajima. In 1562 on Shingen's orders, he constructed Makinojima Castle and garrisoned it with 150 horsemen. In 1568 he attacked Hojo Ujikuni in Suruga and the following year defeated the forces of Hojo Ujiyasu with a small force. In 1570 he reconstructed Tanaka Castle in Suruga and garrisoned it. Two years later he fought Tokugawa Ieyasu in Omi and in 1573 he defeated a large army of Oda Nobunaga's. The fall of Iwamura Castle in Mino brought him great fame as a warrior. The same year he tried to dissuade Takeda Katsuyori, Shingen's son, from his reckless campaign but Katsuyori was encouraged by his close retainers. In 1574 Nobukatsu attacked Mino and was victorious, then he crushed the armies of Ieyasu and Nobunaga. In 1575 Katsuyori attacked Nagashino Castle in Mikawa. Ieyasu and Nobunaga came to its aid while Nobukatsu aided Katsuyori. There was hard fighting but Nobunaga and Ieyasu's army were using the latest weaponry - muskets - and the Takeda forces suffered a grave defeat. Nobukatsu was killed in battle aged 62. [Shusaku's ancestor. Mentioned in Koga Ninjas)

Fuma Kotaro Nobuyuki (fl.1581-1603).Born in Ashigarashimo in Sagami Province,(modern Kanagawa Prefecture), birthdate unknown, surname Kazama (which, with the change of one character, becomes the chilling name 'Fuma' [Wind Demon]).He was the 5th generation Fuma Kotaro to serve the Hojo and his family went back, according to some sources, to the 10th century when they served Taira no Masakado in his revolt (939-940).He was the leader of band or tribe of about 2000 men, women and children who roamed the mountains around Hakone, plundering the locals for food. Of these, the best 1000 were ninja. The Fuma appear to have been one of those minority peoples of Japan, sort of like gypsies, who turn up in chronicles from about the 10th century onwards. So skilled were the Fuma at guerrilla warfare that it seemed expedient to Hojo Soun, the founder of that family, to enlist their aid in consolidating his hold over the region, rather than fight them. Such peoples may have come over from China or Korea or further west. One writer thought that Kotaro Nobuyuki may have had foreign blood because of his legendary height.

At any rate, five generations after Hojo Soun, Fuma Kotaro Nobuyuki was the leader of a band of 200 ninja divided into four groups (brigands, pirates, burglars and thieves).Unlike other ninja groups, they were not divided into jonin, chunin and genin but rather they reported directly to their leader and operated with a degree of autonomy. In the above four groups, they were used to spy out enemies, gather information and carry out guerrilla warfare in defence of the Hojo family. They were known as 'rappa' (the term 'ninja' although in limited use in the 18th century, did not really become common until around the mid-1950s.Other terms at the time for ninja included 'suppa', 'toppa', 'kusa', 'kusemono', 'shinobi' or 'nokizaru').The historical Fuma Kotaro's reputation was so fearsome that historical sources endow him with quite an extraordinary physical appearance, more like a monster than a human being. He is one of the few ninja actually mentioned in historical records, namely the Hojo godaiki.

His most famous exploit was his night attack on the forces of Takeda Katsuyori in the autumn of 1581 at Ukishinagahara in Suruga Province, using his four groups to harass constantly Katsuyori's men. First they mounted a series of fake attacks using horses with straw dummies tied to them so that eventually the Takeda samurai took no notice of them - then they mounted a real attack. They stole Takeda horses, and concealed themselves by securing themselves to the horses sides, so that when the horses were brought back into the camp by the Takeda samurai, the Fuma opened fire as the horses dashed about. They killed samurai, set fire to things and generally caused so much confusion that in the morning it was found at the dawn inspection of heads that the Takeda had killed their own comrades, fathers had killed sons, retainers had killed masters and so forth. At the height of the attack a great warcry had been heard so from then on, the Takeda forces would say, in fear and trembling, that in the sound of the wind, could be heard the words, "The Fuma have come! "

The Takeda were determined to revenge themselves on Kotaro. They set their own ninja to infiltrate the Fuma. However, they did not know the password and so were discovered and killed. The Takeda were forced to withdraw.

In 1590,Hideyoshi laid siege to Odawara Castle which eventually fell and the Hojo had to surrender. Some traditions say Fuma Kotaro and his band became pirates on the Inland Sea in their submersible dragon-ships, concealing their ships by day in caves in the many islands and raiding the homes of the inhabitants by night. Ieyasu sent ships to deal with him but Kotaro tricked them in battle, luring them in to allow his men, working underwater, to remove their rudders.

Another tradition says he and his band turned to brigandry in and around the fledgling city of Edo. The sort of thing for which he had been praised for on the battlefield could not be tolerated in a time of peace. Tokugawa Ieyasu set up a special police force and offered a reward in his enthusiasm to crush them. At that time Takasaka Jinnai and his band, remnants of the Takeda ninja group, came to Edo and turned to robbery also. In due course, rivalry over spheres of influence arose between the two old enemy groups and Jinnai informed on Kotaro, guiding the special police to his hidden house where Kotaro was arrested. This was 1603 and Kotaro was executed simply as a brigand. [Ancestor of Fuma Kotaro Kaneyoshi. Mentioned in Fuma Ninjas]

Hojo family: Descended of Taira Sadamori, they were powerful warlords of the 16th century and resided at Odawara. The first was Hojo Nagauji or Soun (1432-1519).Born Ise Shinkuro, he served Imagawa Yoshitada but marched against the son of Ashikaga Masatomo who had assassinated his own father, put him to death and took the province of Izu in 1491.He had his son, Ujitsuna marry the descendant of Hojo Shikken and so changed his name to Hojo (the Hojo had been regents from 1200-1333 in Kamakura). He had his head shaved and took the name Soun. In a string of campaigns against the Uesugi he drove out Lord Omori and took Odawara and established himself there in 1495.He increased his domains to take in all of Sagami Province by 1518. He died the following year.

His son, Ujitsuna (1487-1541),continued his father's plan to annihilate the Uesugi. In 1524 he took the castle of Edo and in a series of campaigns he conquered the whole of the Kanto region. With peace now in the area, he applied himself to repairing the damage caused by the wars.

His son, Ujiyasu (1515-1570) found himself opposed by the Uesugi and defeated them, driving them from the Kanto, leaving the Hojo supreme (1551). In 1560, allies of Uesugi Norimasa besieged Odawara Castle but could not take it so withdrew. The alliance of the Imagawa and Takeda confronted him but peace was brought about. Ujiyasu's grandson Ujinao, married a daughter of Takeda Shingen and Shingen's son married a daughter of Ujiyasu but in 1568 he sided with Imagawa Ujizane against Takeda Shingen, disgusted with Shingen's treachery towards Ujizane. He died two years later, aged 56. Under him, the power and glory of the Hojo was at its height.

Ujimasa (1538-1590) was the eldest son of Ujiyasu and took part in his father's campaigns. In 1570 Shingen attacked Nobunaga and made peace with Ujimasa. Ujimasa attempted to maintain peace in the Kanto and served as a mediator between Takeda Katsuyori (Shingen's son) and Nobunaga in 1574 and restored peace. Nobunaga acknowledged the rights of the Hojo to possession of the Kanto but when Hideyoshi asked them to acknowledge their vassalage, they refused. In 1590, Odawara was besieged by Hideyoshi and Ujimasa committed suicide.

Ujinao (1562-1591),a son of Ujimasa, marched against Takeda Katsuyori and defeated him in 1579 in a dispute over the successor to Uesugi Kenshin (which had been promised to Kagetora, Ujimasa's brother, but had been taken by Kagekatsu, a nephew of Kenshin's with the aid of Katsuyori). He then sent an army to take Kozuke whose lord was away in Kyoto but that lord returned and defeated him whereupon he called for aid and Kozuke province was added to the Hojo domains. He campaigned inconclusively against Tokugawa Ieyasu and Uesugi Kagekatsu and peace was signed. Ujinao married a daughter of Ieyasu's. In 1589,Hideyoshi ordered him to come to Kyoto but he did not comply. Hideyoshi gathered a large army and besieged Odawara. Both he and Ieyasu offered terms of surrender but Ujinao refused. Eventually he was forced to yield. His father, Ujimasa, was forced to commit harakiri while Ujinao was sent into exile on Mt. Koya where he died the following year. A younger brother, Ujinori, surrendered to Ieyasu and obtained a small fief, Sayama, (Kawachi province,10,000 koku) where his descendants ruled until 1868. [owners of the buried treasure in and Musai impersonated his spirit in  Fuma Ninjas]

Mizuno Tadatomo (1731-1801): Lord of Numazu fief (30,000 koku) in Suruga Province. His father was Mizuno Tadayoshi (Dewa no kami). In 1739 he became an attendant to the shogun Ieharu and in 1742 he succeeded his father as lord of Numazu and served under Ieharu in a number of positions. In 1768 he became a wakadoshiyori (one of six members of a shogun's council below the roju, or chief councillors) and worked with. national receipts and disbursements and the finances of the shogun's women's quarters. In 1777 he built a castle at Numazu. In 1785 he was put in charge of receipts and disbursements for the nation and for the shogun's women's quarters. In 1788, at the behest of the roju Matsudaira Sadanobu, he was obliged to resign because he was a politician of the disgraced Tanuma Okitsugu faction. [Former employer of Kongo of Koga. Mentioned in Phantom Ninja]

Momochi Sandayu (fl.1581): Also known as Momochi Tanba no Kami. Semi-historical figure said to be a founder of Iga style ninjutsu, the ruins of his house are said to be at Ryuguchi in Nabari City, Iga Province (modern Mie Prefecture) and the remains of his fort where he trained so many ninja are at Hojiro in Ueno City. He was the head of the southern Iga ninja. In 1581,when Oda Nobunaga attacked Iga, he fled the province and disappeared. Some legends say he was the same person as Fujibayashi Nagato, head of the northern Iga ninja, maintaining not only two separate ninja groups but three households. He figures in some Ishikawa Goemon legends as the master to whom Goemon was apprenticed and whose wife he ran off with. He is also said to have been Momochi Yasumitsu. He seems to have been a shadowy figure, deliberately so, a person who caused events to happen behind the scenes leaving no evidence of his hand in matters. There are the usual collection of legends attesting to his cunning. other legends say he went to Wakayama and trained the Negoro ninja after the Iga invasion. [Ancestor of Momochi Genkuro. Mentioned in Iga Ninjas)

Okubo family: Okubo Tadayo (1531~1593) served Ieyasu in all his campaigns and was given Odawara after the fall of the Hojo family in 1590. His son, Tadachika (1553-1628) succeeded him with a revenue of 70,000 koku. In 1614 he was accused of conspiracy against the shogun, Hidetada, and dispossessed of his fief and died in exile. His grandson, Tadatomo (1604-1670) was implicated in his disgrace and was transferred to a series of fiefs but his descendants moved back to Odawara in 1686 and remained there until 1868 with a revenue of 100,000 koku. [Current occupiers of Odawara Castle whose retainer was implicated in a move to revive the Hojo in Fuma Ninjas]

Takeda Shingen (1521~1573): Eldest son of Nobutora who planned to disinherit him in favour of a younger brother, so Shingen got in first and attacked his father and placed him the custody of his father-in-law, Imagawa Yoshimoto, in 1540. He then assumed the government of the province of Kai. In 1547 he attacked and defeated Murakami Yoshikiyo who went to Uesugi Kenshin for help, thus began the famous 20 year war between Shingen and Kenshin. Their most famous battleground was Kawanakajima where they fought many battles with neither side gaining a decisive victory. Both were skilled strategists. In 1551,Shingen shaved his head and took the name Shingen (he was originally called Harunobu). In 1568 he took Suruga and was attacked by Hojo Ujimasa but victory was uncertain. (He had already occupied Shinano, Hida and part of Kozuke). In 1569 he was in trouble with Ieyasu and made peace with the Hojo. Gathering a large army, he answered the summons of Shogun Yoshiaki for aid against Nobunaga in 1571.Shingen battled Ieyasu at Mikata-ga-hara, then marched on to Kyoto He was struck by a bullet during the siege of Noda Castle in Mikawa and died. He requested that his death be kept secret for three years, no doubt aware of his enemies and his rather rash son. He left several buried treasures in the form of gold mines around Kai which furnished warfunds for his campaigns. [Owner of buried treasure in Koga Ninjas]

[Home]