Grandmasters of the Togakure Ryu... Essay by Sean Askew

I am going to use our blog space to start sharing some research done by Sean Askew. His research has been fascinating, and has been dug up as part of a book he is writing called: The Hidden Lineage. Look for it coming out in the next few months. The book is on the history of Toshitsugu Takamatsu's grandpa, Shinryuken Toda and the Togakure Ryu Ninja, our primary school of ninjutsu in the Bujinkan. I'll post a link once it is available for those who want to own a copy. Please enjoy this essay by Sean Askew, posted with his permission.

Fujibayashi Nagato no Kami & Momochi Tanba no Kami

Along with the infamous Hattori Hanzo, Fujibayashi Nagato and Momochi Tanba are the three most well-known shinobi commanders or “Jonin” (上忍) of the mountainous land of Iga.

Today I would like to discuss why I believe there is a strong connection between the Bansenshukai manuscript and the Togakure Ryu. The trail of evidence is stronger than most would like to believe, and many will just say it is fantasy.

But… here we go!!! I am going to take you on a ride into the history of some of the most secretive Japanese families that ever lived.

As many already know, Hatsumi Soke and his Master, Takamatsu O-Sensei were called upon in the early 1960’s to help with historical consultation and choreography for the cinema movie “Shinobi no Mono”.

This fictional novel by Murayama Tomoyoshi that was later turned into a movie by the renowned Director, Yamamoto Setsuo, was so well done it caught the attention of many Japanese ninjutsu historians.

In this story, it ends up that all the “shinobi” or ninja that were being used and or manipulated in the plot were all being controlled by one person. That person was no other than Fujibayashi Nagato AND Momochi Tanba. The two were one person.

Now you may question, what does this have to do with factual history???

Well, Murayama San did his research before writing his novel and learned that Okuse Heishichiro, the founding Director of the Iga Ueno Ninja Museum in Mie, had discovered some incriminating clues that these two commanders may actually be one and the same person, and if not... the connection is definitely extremely close.

One of the clues lies in the historical posthumous Buddhist death names at the graves of these two identities. Fujibayashi’s grave at Shokaku Temple (正覚寺) in Ayama district is inscribed with the name 【本覚深誓】 and at Shoun Temple (青雲寺) in Houjiro the temple’s death records show Momochi Tanba’s Buddhist death name as being 【本覚了誓】.

Now notice the two characters (深) and (了) are different in the two names, both holding the third character position in the name. This may not seem like much to the layperson but in the culture of Iga, where these ninjas were born, raised, fought and died there is a special custom for adopted family members. The adoptive family would build a grave and then the real family of that person would have what they called a shadow grave or “Kagehaka” (影墓) with only one of the characters in the name being different from the other grave.

Furthermore, there is other circumstantial evidence backing this idea of them being the same person.

First is that the families of Hattori, Fujibayashi and Momochi had many deep connections with each other.

Second is that ninja families had a custom of often separating the family and keeping multiple households under various names.

And finally, there is also the mysterious reason why we see no mention of Fujibayashi’s activities during the battle of Tensho Iga no Ran. Momochi Tanba fought valiantly until the end (although a body was never found). strangely we also see no action taken on Fujibayashi’s part, he simply disappeared during the whole invasion of his homeland.

Now, this is not 100% confirmation that Fujibayashi and Tanba were one and the same but it sure is starting to look that way.

Later I will present another piece of evidence that may tip the scales even further…

But before that, I would like to mention that after the battle of Tensho Iga no Ran, Momochi Tanba is thought of as being killed in action but no dead body was ever recovered. He was supposed to have been engulfed in fire with castle walls crumbling down on him. But... Fujibayashi went on to become credited with founding the Kishu Negoro Ryu of ninjutsu, also known as the Natori Ryu and the Kusonoki Ryu.

It is interesting to note that in the Nobunaga Chronicles (信長公記) written after the battle of Tensho Iga no Ran that Oda Nobunaga was aware that some ninja had escaped to the areas then known as Yamato and Kishu. At that time the Negoro Temple in Kishu was opposed to Oda Nobunaga and his invasion of Iga. So, it was a place that welcomed many of the ninja families that had escaped Nobunaga’s treacherous invasion.

As Hanzo, Fujibayashi and Momochi were all commanders of many ninja in the Iga area and it was tradition for ninja to act in groups as one individual it is likely that we know nearly nothing of what really happened. As Hanzo himself later in life wrote, anything you know about these men is after the fact and most likely fabrications.

But when a ninja historian such as Okuse Heishichiro states that they are the same individual it makes you want to listen up.

Now for the other evidence that will sum up this essay and leave it to you to decide what you think is or is not real regarding the history of the Togakure Ryu.

Fujibayashi Nagato no Kami himself, as stated in the Fujibayashi Yuishogaki, acknowledged that he taught Togakure Ryu Ninpo and Ninjutsu to Yamamoto Kansuke.

If that is the case, and if Fujibayashi and Momochi are indeed the same person, it all makes perfect sense.

Five generations of the Momochi family are recorded by Takamatsu O-Sensei as being the headmasters of our Togakure Ryu, Gyokko Ryu and Koto Ryu.
Momochi Kobei – 22nd generation Soke of the Togakure Ryu

Momochi Sandayu – 15th generation Soke of the Gyokko Ryu, 5th Generation Soke of Koto Ryu

Momochi Sandayu II – 16th generation Soke of the Gyokko Ryu, 6th Generation Soke of Koto Ryu

Momochi Tanba Yasumitsu – 17th generation Soke of the Gyokko Ryu, 7th Generation Soke of Koto Ryu

Momochi Taro Saemon – 18th generation Soke of the Gyokko Ryu, 8th Generation Soke of Koto Ryu

Therefore, it makes a lot of sense that Momochi was Fujibayashi and after escaping the invasion left his identity of Momochi as being dead. He moved on and continued to live as Fujibayashi until old age.

But who is to say what happened to the other Momochi family members who later passed their arts on to the Toda family and later to the whole world through the Bujinkan.

Later the descendants of the Fujibayashi family compiled all of the ninjutsu knowledge they had into the famous book “The Bansenshukai”. It is stated by the Fujibayashi family that the portion on explosives and gunpowder is mainly based on the teachings of the Togakure Ryu.

I hope this inspires you all to reconsider what it is we are looking for as evidence of the Togakure Ryu and our claimed lineage.

I think it is very fair to say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Togakure Ryu was a historical entity. We have a document from the 1600’s in the Fujibayashi family’s own hand stating that they learned Togakure Ryu.

Now the investigation continues into the Toda family and the location of Shinryuken’s grave…

Sean Askew
Bujinkan Kokusai Renkoumyo
9/8/2017