Magari no Jin
Koka Ninjutsu Kenkyukai
YOKOTA Shinya
The Onin War, which lasted for 11 years in Kyoto, spread to the neighboring Omi region.
The governor of Omi, Rokkaku Takayori, seized manors and territories belonging to shrines
and temples, court nobles, and shogunate officials by force.
The ninth shogun, Yoshihisa, who could not let this happen as a public authority, mobilized
the feudal lords and went to Omi himself (September 12, Chokyo 1). The Shogunate forces
conquered the strongholds in Kurita-gun, and on October 4, the Shogun Yoshihisa moved hisheadquarters to Anyouji Temple in Kagigo, Kurita-gun, and then to Shinpoukan (nowEishouji Temple) (October 27). This was the world-famous "Marari no Jin". With the main
camp of Yoshihisa at the center, various feudal lords set up their camps in the surrounding
areas of Kusatsu and Moriyama, and the Magari no Jin was the very heart of the Shogunate.
Rokkaku Takayori, who saw himself as an unbeatable opponent, withdrew from his main castle,
Kannonji Castle, in September and entered Koka Mikumo Castle.
"In the end, Takayori was defeated in battle and left Kannon-ji Castle, his home castle, to hidein the mountains of Koka with the help of bandits named Yamanaka and Wada.
Rokkaku Takayori was about to launch a counterattack from Koka. The Rokkaku clan did
not need to win this battle, but only needed to lose it. The Koka shu were the people who had
the necessary abilities to achieve this strategic goal.
Late in the night of November 18, "Fire broke out from the Inaba camp, and the area aroundShimo magari, where the Shogun's main camp is located, was half burned down (Go-Ho-Koin
Diary)" (according to one theory, on December 2).
Shortly after, on December 9, Oda Hirochika's camp in Moriyama was destroyed by fire
(Inryoken Nichiroku).
On January 9, Chokyo 2, Sanpoin Seisho's camp was completely destroyed by fire. Gusoku(armor) was lost (Daijoin Jisha Zojiki).
On May 23, the camp of Uragami Norimune in Kamikasa, Kurita-gun, was burned down (DaiNihon Shiryo).
The records of the central government's people, temples, and shrines record only a seriesof "fires and burnings" as described above, but those who were set on fire in the middle of thenight may have thought that the camp was burned down before they knew what was going on,
without the names and banners of the enemy. However, the records of the Koka side proudly
report the results of this night attack. "The world is famous for the ninja of the Iga and the
Koka, because they have been seen in front of large armies all over Japan, working together in
mysterious ways in the battle of Magari no Jin.
From this period (from February of the 2nd year of Chokyo), the shogun Yoshihisa wasoften recorded to be ill and finally died on March 26, Chokyo 3. The shogunate troops
retreated in an orderly fashion, "burning down the camp of the (Yuki) clan (Inryoken
Nichiroku).
Following the Onin War, the bitter battle at Magari no Jin and the death of the shogun werea decisive blow to the shogunate. The Shogun's authority was weakened and the Shogunate
weakened, and the era of conquering by strength rather than authority began. It can be said
that the success of the Koka samurai in the Battle of Magari no Jin became the catalyst for thisnew era. They were hired by feudal lords in various regions because of their achievements in
defeating large armies by night and guerrilla warfare using small numbers.
This was the beginning of an era in which the "Koka Shu" (Koka warriors) were active
throughout Japan as the "Koka Ninja.

Koka Ninja Gaiden-Koka in the Warring States Period is a treasure trove of human resourcesKoka Ninjutsu Kenkyukai
WATANABE Toshinobu
In the warring states era of Japan, the three great persons, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi
Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, lead to the cease of the confusion of the society to build up
the stable and peaceful country. At that time these three persons were supported by a lotof rohto’s, people historically employed mostly within the state, as well as temporally
hired warriors especially from outside of the each state.
Koka region, which is famous for Koka ninja, was just a “gun”, a district, of twelve
gun’s consisting of Ohmi state which had been historically governed by Sasaki family formore than 300 years since the end of 12th century. In the 15th to16th century no small
numbers of Kokamono, Koka warriors, were employed by Oda Nobunaga, a young loadof Owari state which was 100 kilometers far from Koka.
Ikeda Tsuneoki, Takigawa kazumasu, Saji Tameoki, Wada Koremasa, Yamaoka
Kagetaka, and Tarao Mitsutoshi contributed to the many victories and the expansion of
Oda’s territory. Especially Ikeda Tuneoki and Takigawa Kazumasu became the two of
the top ten military commanders in Oda’s army corps.
Nakamura Kazuuji, Ikeda Tsuneoki, Yakuin Zensoh and Mokujiki Ohgo, withinwhom the latter two were not the warriors but Buddhist monk, contributed to stabilize
the disturbance of the warring states both from military and religion under thehegemony by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Tokugawa Ieyasu eventually appointed four Koka families, two Ikeda’s, Nakamura
and Yamaoka, to the daimyo’s, feudal loads ,of four clans, Himeji, Tottori, Yonago andFuruwatari, while no Iga-originated daimyo was born.
. We can thus easily imagine that at the time of warring state there were so many highly
educated and useful people in Koka that they could enjoy big chance to be hired by every
load of the warring states as ninja or as warriors.

The Mochizuki clan of the Koka clan and Noda Mochizuki, who called himself a Koka ninja-On the appeal of KanseiKoka Ninjutsu Kenkyukai
TAMURA Mikio
As for the Mochizuki clan of Noda Village, Kouka-gun, little was known about the actual
situation, except for the names of Mochizuki Senzo, who was involved in the Kansei Appeal,and Mochizuki Naoe, whose name appeared in the "Meigen Renmei Sho" at the end of theEdo period.
In March 2017, the situation changed dramatically when a genealogical chart of the Noda
Mochizuki clan ("Mochizuki Naoe Family Chart") created by Mochizuki Senzo himself was
discovered in the house of a descendant of Mochizuki Naoe. From the genealogy, it can beread that the Koka clan yoriki and the Koka samurai in their chigyosho were deeply connected,
and that the relationship changed drastically after the leaving of the chigyosho in Horeki 13,
which triggered the Kansei Appeal.
The Mochizuki Naoe family genealogy was created by Hosaemon, the sixth generation of
the Noda Mochizuki clan, during the Tenmei and Kansei periods. According to the genealogy,
Tsunosuke, the first generation of the Mochizuki clan of the Koka clan, and Yajiro (Shigezane),the first generation of the Mochizuki clan of Noda, were brothers. The fourth generation
before them is said to be Mochizuki Yajiro (Izumo no Kami, Shigetane), who was appointed
by Rokkaku Masakatsu in the 2nd year of Bunmei era to take charge of three villages in thesoma no sho.
The first generation of the Noda Mochizuki clan, Yajiro (Shigezane), had been teachingswordsmanship under Hamamatsu Castle, but was called back to Noda Village by Tsunosuke
during the Shimabara Revolt in Kan'ei 15, and participated in the suppression of the revolt as
an attendant of Matsudaira Izu no Kami. The purpose of Yajiro's return to Noda wasimmediately after the Koka clan began its work in Edo, and it is thought that he was entrustedwith the management of the territory and its people after the Mochizuki clan of the Koka clan
moved to Edo.
After the Koka clan moved to Edo, the Noda Mochizuki clan, with the help of the Mochizuki
clan of the Koka clan, was guaranteed by the deputy governor of the territory of the shogunate
to be exempted from the peasant and village duties. As a member of the lord's family and withthe support of the Mochizuki clan of the Koka clan, he maintained a powerful position in thevillage and among the neighboring Mochizuki clan.

However, in the 13th year of the Houreki Era, when all the offices of the Koka clan's yoriki
were exchanged for the stipend rice, the Noda Mochizuki clan lost its family backing and was
rapidly driven into a corner in the village. In the first year of the Tenmei Era, the village
headman demanded that the Noda Mochizuki work as a village official on a par with othervillagers, which led to a dispute.
In the village where the Koka clan had its administrative office, a relationship similar to thatof the Noda Mochizuki clan seems to have been established between the Koka clan yoriki andthe local samurai who had longstanding ties with the clan. In the case of Ueno Hachizaemonof Aburahi village, his motivation for filing a complaint was that he was cornered in the village
by the Koka clan's yoriki, who had raised their authority. In the case of Ueno Hachizaemon,
his motivation for filing the petition was that he was cornered in the village due to the leavingof the Koka clan's administrative office.
The Kansei petition was triggered by the leaving of the Koga clan's administrative office in
13 Horeki, the old samurai who had close ties with the Koka clan's administrative office wereat the center of the petition, and the true intention of Ueno Hachizaemon, Mochizuki Senzo,
and others was to restore their family status rather than serve the shogunate. Therefore, it isthought that the shogunate did not treat them neglectfully, but dealt with them accordingly.

Exploring the Fifty Koka Members of the Kishiwada Clan
Koka Ninjutsu Kenkyukai
NISHIDA Takefumi
1. Newly discovered Kishomon
Recently, a letter of kishomon was discovered in the cupboard next to the Buddhist altar of
the Nishida family, the reporter. It contained the words, "I have received the art of fire" and apledge not to tell others about the transmission of the art of fire.
According to a report published by local historian Wada Shinji in the bulletin of the Koka
Town Local History Society in 2004, Nishida Bunta was one of the 50 Koka samurai who
served the Kishiwada clan in the Edo period, as of 1800. According to another historical
document, "Mochizuki Gisaburo," who was handed down the artifact, seems to be a person
who succeeded "Nishida Bunta" and supported the Kishiwada clan.
In other words, the discovered document is not just a historical document on thetransmission of personal fire techniques, but can be considered as a historical document on
the Koka people of the Kishiwada clan.
2. Origin of the fifty Koka members of the Kishiwada clan
The fifty Koka members of the Kishiwada clan, to which Nishida Bunta and others belonged,
were organized in 1632 (the same year that the Aoyama Koka Hyakunin-gumi moved to Edo).
Umeda Buzaemon and Wada Sobei, two of the ten yoriki of the Aoyama Koka Hyakunin-gumi,
approached Okabe Nagamori, the lord of Ogaki Castle, and asked him to adopt the Kokagroup. After that, the Okabe family moved to Tatsuno, Takatsuki, and Kishiwada, but during
this time they were divided into two groups: those who settled in the castle area and received
15 koku and 3 man days' allowance, and those who remained in Koka and received 5.5 koku.
3. Researching the overall picture
There have been some previous studies on the Kishiwada clan's fifty Koka men, and it isclear that they were formed in 1632 and remained unchanged at fifty until the end of the Edo
period, with a two-tiered structure of full-time Koka men (eight to ten men) and part-time
Koka men. In addition, in the event of replacement, in principle, a child would succeed to thesuccession, but in the absence of a child, a selection was made from "old samurai of stripes
from the Koka or Iga," and 50 people were maintained at all times (Ueno family documents).

4. For the Advancement of Research(1) In September 1685, when the second lord of the Okabe and Kishiwada clans passed
through Tsuchiyama on his way to work, "more than fifteen children of the Koka clan went tosee him on the road" (Mochizuki Toshinobu family document).
(2) When the Tanuma family fell into disgrace, Okabe Mino no Kami was appointed to takeover Sagara Castle, their residence, and in December 1787, the Koka samurai were engaged
in this task (Sugitani-Kimura family document).
(3) Koka samurai traveled there to fortify their defenses when foreign ships entered the waters
off Tempozan. (same document).
In light of this research situation, and with reference to the historical documents that havenow been found in the houses of Koka, I would like to read and understand the kishomon
discovered this time, and provide materials for the future discovery and study of new historical
documents.

-A comparative study on Mountain Tribes between
Shiga Prefecture, Japan and Khon Kaen province, Thailand

Lessons learned for Ninja from the local cottage industry based on the local wisdom
Kiyoto KUROKAWA
Ritsumeikan University

Keywords: mountain tribe, Ninja wisdom, cottage industry, medicinal plants, Ninja
descendants
Even in the advanced country like Japan, “Rural small businesses have moved fromagricultural foundations to retail and service sectors. The retail sector is the largest provider ofjobs in small communities” (Ryu & Swinney 2013) Local governments in Japan are trying to
attract more tourists and new residents from big cities to activate their local towns. In Shiga
prefecture, they are rich in terms of historical treasures such as temple, statues of Buddha andShinto shrine. Those physical treasures can be much easier to attract the tourists.
However, invisible local software treasures such as wisdom and business culture are not soeasy to attract them. And local people sometimes do not know the value of those invisible
treasures. We started our research works on local economic revitalization program with Koka
city, Shiga prefecture since 2016. Our duty is to review the local treasures including
Shigaraki-no-Miya or Shigaraki Imperial Palace and Ninja as well.
Occasionally, our study team conducted several field surveys in Northeast district of Thailand,
Khon Kaen province. We found that the mountain tribes in Thailand had some similarity to
Koka Ninja origin.
“Ninja” is one of the big treasure for local people in Shiga prefecture. “Ethnic tribes” are also
one of the big treasure for local people in Khon Kaen province. Thanks to Thai OTOP (One
Tambon One Product) policy, local people well recognized their local treasures. For Koka city,
they have several events related to Ninja including Ninja festival in November. And Koka city
established “Real Ninja Museum” in November 2020 to attract more Ninja lovers.
We have identified several problems on local tourism in Koka city and Khon Kaen province
including lack of awareness of local community on local treasures. However, there is a strong
demand for local tourism among tourists. These two local regions identified many potential
tourists including international tourists, but they do not have enough knowledge to welcome
them. In this study, we focused on local ethical treasures so called “Ninja” and “Mountaintribes”.
We identified the following facts via a series of discussions with stakeholders in Shigaprefecture and Khon Kaen province. The objectives of this study are;i) to identify the similarity of “Mountain tribes” and “Ninja” including new opportunities andchallenges to promote local tourism,ii) to understand the incentives for private company to introduce “Ninja” or “Mountaintribes”iii) Local universities are closely working with local community and local governments, but
how they must work for the revitalization of local towns?
This study will encourage local people and governments to understand those ethical treasures
to revitalize local economy.
Several interesting facts were discovered during our comparative studies. In general, we
learned new roles of our traditional treasures by comparing Ninja and Mountain tribes business.
To activate our local economy, good managements of our business treasures are the mostessential. But it is not perfect and still needs some improvement to activate people’s awareness.

Selected References
・FAO (2002) Case study on Education Opportunities For Hill Tribes In Northern Thailand,
Implications for sustainable rural development, Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Bangkok, Thailand 2002
・John McKinnon and Bernard Vienne (1989) “Hill Tribes Today Problems in Change” White
Lotus-Orstom (TRI-Orstom Project) White Lotus Co. ,Ltd, Thailand
・ISHII Kayoko ( 2007) Creating Diversity:Ethnic Tourism and Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand,Institute of Humanities, Human and Social Sciences, Ritsumeikan University No.89 pp37-55

Utilizing the Wisdom of the Ninja in Disaster Prevention Drills―Case Study of Ninja Movements for Sustaining Disaster Preparedness Mindset―
Graduate School of Economics, Ritsumeikan University
Miho EDAMOTO
Japan is experiencing disasters every year. In particular, the Pacific coast of westernJapan is expected to be hit by 70-80% of Nankai Trough earthquakes of magnitude 8 to
9 in next 30 years. Disaster prevention measures are an urgent issue. Among them,disaster prevention training plays an important role in preventing risks in a disaster.
However, the training effects are temporary, and it is questionable whether people aresufficiently equipped with a disaster prevention mindset. In this study, we examined theeffects of these training, along with examples of high participation rates in emergency
training, in order to increase the sustainability of these training impacts.
Our research team has been conducting researchs on natural disaster prevention andregional development with the cooperation of Koka City since 2018. In Koka City,
some areas have been affected by disasters such as river flooding and landslides, anddisaster prevention training is an important element of regional development.
We learned from Koka City's disaster management that Ninja have excellent survival
knowledge, and that Ninja food is attracting attention as a disaster prevention foodbecause of its rich nutrients. Specially appointed professor Hisamatsu of Mie
University pointed out that we can learn from Ninja food used as disaster prevention
food and how to prepare food in times of disaster. In addition, Ninja are highly
recognized not only in Japan but also overseas. According to a survey conducted by theJapan Ninja Council (2017), the percentage of people who know the name "Ninja" in a
total of 10 overseas countries was 98.7%. Taking advantage of this characteristic,
Katahira, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, will hold the "Get the Ninja Certificate
Hidden in the Town! ～The 4th Treasure Hunt Game: Secret Mission from Lord
Masamune" was held in 2019. This was an activity in which children and adults,
Japanese and foreigners, walked together through the Katahira area of Sendai City tolearn about disaster prevention in the community in a fun way. In this way, the presenceof Ninja has been utilized in disaster prevention training.

In this study, we interviewed Ninja enthusiasts in Koka City, the Tourism Promotion
Division of Koka City, and the History and Cultural Properties Division of Koka City
in response to the disaster prevention training using Ninja, and conducted aquestionnaire survey to find out the possibility of using Ninja in disaster prevention. In
order to increase the participation rate of disaster prevention training and maintain theireffectiveness, it is effective to introduce the Ninja, but it is not enough to introduce the
Ninja just for the sake of interest; respect for the wisdom of the Ninja and correctunderstanding are necessary.

Possibilities of mental health care to utilizing the wisdom of Ninja living in modern times-A case study of Ninja lovers in Koka City and college students –Graduate School of Economics, Ritsumeikan University
Mika ONOUE
Some people feel stress in their work, life or present mental symptoms such as "Corona
depression" due to refraining from going out or business suspension requests under the spreadof Covid-19. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the number of mental
health consultations for new coronavirus infections at Mental Health and Welfare Centers in
prefectures and ordinance-designated cities was the highest at more than 4000 in April and May
2020 when the state of emergency was declared. The main contents of consultation are mental
disorders such as anxiety about infection or stress related to life, going out, going to hospital,and commuting. In mid-November 2020, the Governor of Hokkaido requested the citizens of
Sapporo not to go out unless urgent needs and stay in the city in response to the rapid increasein the number of people infected with the new coronavirus. There are concerns about the arrivalof waves. This has had a significant impact on the mentality of college students who suddenly
switched to web-based classes due to lockdown in April 2020 and could not even enter thecampus. According to a survey by Ritsumeikan University press, 10% are considering
withdrawal and 25% are considering taking a leave of absence.
Since April 2018, we have been working on revitalizing the local economy and community
development in cooperation with Koka City, Shiga prefecture. We revealed the wisdom of Ninja
in Koka city to utilize not only about physical health but also about mental health. For Ninja
with dangerous activities, there are Ninja foods as a supporting diet for physical and mental
condition. Among them, there are Ninja foods such as "Hyorogan" and "Kikatsugan", which use
crude drugs such as lotus meat and Korean carrots. These Ninja diets have also been shown tohave a mental effect, but training according to Ninja training is also an important factor in
making the effect sustainable.
In this paper, we focused on Ninja diets, Ninja mental unification and daily training of Ninja
lovers in Koka city and verified that whether it can be used for mental health care incoronavirus. We conducted an interview survey and a questionnaire survey on mental health incoronavirus pandemic for Ninja lovers who are exercising as Ninja on a daily basis in Koka
City and university students and analyzed the relationship between Ninja wisdom and mental
health care.