Hattori Hanzo Masanari, also known as “Oni no Hanzo,” was a ninja leader and spear master

The present-day name of Tokyo’s “Hanzomon” gate originates from Hattori Hanzo’s role in guarding Edo Castle.

The Hattori clan of Iga is said to have originated from the Taira clan. Their stronghold was Hattori-gō in Iga Province, they were one of the three major ninja families, along with Momochi Sandayu and Fujibayashi Nagato. Like the Kōga ninja, the Iga ninja were born and raised in the same geographic area of the Suzuka Mountain. It is likely that during the Sengoku period, no warlord utilized or was aided by ninjas as much as Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The representative figure of this era was Hattori Hanzo Masanari. His father, Iwami no Yasunaga, and his subordinates were brought into the Tokugawa vassalage when Ieyasu’s grandfather, Kiyoyasu, happened to be in Okazaki, Mikawa Province and added them to his family vassals. The land Yasunaga received from Kiyoyasu as a reward was named “Iga” and the shrine built in Okazaki City is the Iga Hachimangu Shrine. 

Hattori Hanzo Masanari’s first battle was in February 1526, during the siege of Kamino-gō Castle in Mikawa Province led by Ieyasu (then known as Matsudaira Motoyasu). Hattori was 16 years old, and Ieyasu was 21 years old at the time. During this battle, Yasunaga, who had already served three generations, Kiyoyasu, Hirotada, and Ieyasu, caused chaos in the battle by setting the castle on fire with the support of 80 men from the Kōga Taro family. Hattori Hanzo fought valiantly using his spear as a member of Ieyasu’s bannermen. As a reward for his achievements in his first battle, Ieyasu gave Hanzo a spear.

From then on, Hattori Hanzo became known as “Hanzo the Spear ” (in Japanese “Oni no Hanzo ” which could also be read as “Hanzo the demon”). Ieyasu placed greater emphasis on Hanzo’s skills as a ninja rather than his spear expertise, and he soon entrusted him with 150 Iga ninja to be their leader. This marked the birth of the ninja Hattori Hanzo. 

Hanzo was also the ninja who detected and informed Ieyasu that Takeda Katsuyori, the successor of the Takeda clan after Shingen’s death, and Lady Tsukiyama, Ieyasu’s wife, along with his eldest son, Nobuyasu, were involved in a plot against Oda Nobunaga.

When the Honnoji Incident occurred in June 1582, Ieyasu was in Kyoto. Hattori Hanzo accompanied Ieyasu’s return to Mikawa from Sakai and Kyoto, and safely escorted the Kōga and Iga ninja during the “Iga crossing” accompanying Ieyasu’s return. 

Afterward, Hanzo participated in several battles leading groups of ninjas. After the battle of Odawara, Ieyasu was transferred to the Kanto region and he granted more than 10,000 koku to 39 of his vassals to make them daimyo (feudal lords), but Hanzo was granted 8,000 koku.

Hattori Hanzo was given a residence in Edo’s Kōjimachi district (later moved to Yotsuya) and was tasked with guarding the back gate of Edo Castle. This gate came to be named “Hanzomon.”

Four years before the Battle of Sekigahara, in 1596, Masanari died of illness at his residence in Kōjimachi at the age of 55. Hanzo’s successor, the second Hanzo Masanari (Masanari II), lacked popularity and faced opposition and distrust from his subordinates, leading to a strike and his downfall. Subsequently, the Hattori family, the leaders of the ninjas, was dissolved.

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