was purported to be a

ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

from the Iga ''ikki'' during the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

. He is also known as Igasaki DoshunJoel Levy , ''Ninja: The Shadow Warrior'' or . According to the ''

Bansenshūkai ''Bansenshūkai'' (, ''Ten Thousand Rivers Flowing Together to form an Ocean'') (Also pronounced Mansenshukai) is a 1676 Japanese book containing a collection of knowledge from the clans in the Iga Province, Iga and Kōka, Shiga, Kōga regions th ...

'', an early Edo period document compiled in 1676 by a member of the Fujibayashi family, Tateoka led an assault in 1558.; The document recounts that in 1558,

Rokkaku Yoshikata was a samurai head of the Rokkaku clan during Japan's DF 53 of 80/nowiki> retrieved 2013-4-3 ... during Japan's Sengoku period. He was ''shugo">Sengoku period">DF 53 of 80/nowiki> retrieved 2013-4-3 ... during Japan's Sengoku period. He was ' ...

was campaigning against a rebel retainer, Dodo Kuranosuke, and besieged him in

Sawayama Castle was a castle in the city of Hikone, Shiga, Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. This castle was an important military stronghold of Ōmi Province. The Azai clan held this castle in the Sengoku Period. Niwa Nagahide held it after the ruin of the Az ...

. After many days of unsuccessful siege, Yoshikata employed Tateoka Doshun from Iga to aid him. Doshun led a team of 44 Iga ninja and 4 Kōka ninja who carried lanterns Doshun had made with replicas of Dodo's ''

mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * A ...

'' (family crest). They entered the gates of the castle without opposition and then set fire to the castle. They escaped successfully and in the ensuing panic Yoshikata was able to capture the castle. The same technique was also used by

Matsudaira clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of the ...

during the

siege of Kaminogō Castle The siege of Kaminogō Castle was a battle in 1562, during the Sengoku period (16th century) of Japan. Kaminogō Castle was an Imagawa clan outpost located in eastern Aichi Prefecture, in what is now the town of Gamagōri. With the help of his ni ...

in 1562. However, this account of the Rokkaku campaign against Dodo is full of errors, and accounts not derived from the ''Bansenshūkai'' do not mention ninja, let alone Tateoka Doshun, at all. Dodo Oki-no-Kami Kuranosuke in actuality was a retainer of the Rokkaku's enemies, the

Azai clan The , also rendered as Asai, was a Japanese clan during the Sengoku period. History The Azai clan was a line of ''daimyōs'' (feudal military lords) seated at Odani Castle in northeastern Ōmi Province, located within present day Nagahama, S ...

, and when Yoshikata invaded Northern Omi Province in 1559, Dodo was ordered by

Azai Nagamasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period known as the brother-in-law and enemy of Oda Nobunaga. Nagamasa was head of the Azai clan seated at Odani Castle in northern Ōmi Province and married Nobunaga's sister Oichi in 1564, fathering ...

to hold Sawayama. There is a popular rumour that

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

had Doshun assassinated by

Hattori Hanzō or ''Second Hanzō'', nicknamed , was a famous samurai of the Sengoku era, who served the Tokugawa clan as a general, credited with saving the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu and then helping him to become the ruler of united Japan. He is often a ...

during the

Battle of Komaki and Nagakute The , also known as the Komaki Campaign (小牧の役 ''Komaki no Eki''), was a series of battles in 1584 between the forces of Hashiba Hideyoshi (who would become Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586) and the forces of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu ...

for giving information to the

Toyotomi clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primary ...

Citations

References

* * * {{People of the Sengoku period , state=collapsed Japanese ninjutsu practitioners Ninja People of the Muromachi period Samurai Year of birth unknown