Samurai and Ninja: The Real Story Behind the Japanese Warrior Myth That Shatters the Bushido Mystique (8 page)

Drums

The times of the day and the beat of the war march would sound out from the drum. Japanese hours are called
toki
, and the day is divided up into twelve toki. Each is 120
^*
minutes long and has a name, such as hour of the Boar, hour of the Dog, etc.—thus drums are used to measure time in the camp and to keep men in step when marching.

Watch Towers

A soldier in a camp may have to spend his watch up a watchtower; these may be placed around the camps to observe the local area. As can be deduced from the illustration below, these towers can be dismantled and moved to a new location.

War Curtains

Large sections of cloth reinforced with rope would be pitched vertically and set up to make barriers. Here different groups would be sectioned off and conversations kept private. Shinobi would be looking for small viewing ports in the cloth for when they sneak into camps to try to observe the command group. War curtains also have various esoteric associations.

Fake Walls and Spiked Traps

There are various traps around the camp—these can be pitfall traps laden with spikes, stones hung from ropes, fake collapsing walls and tripwires. Consider the external perimeter of the camp to be a maze of bamboo shields, bamboo bundles, walls, wires and traps.

The Setup of a Fortified Battle Camp

One important item that can be gleaned from Japanese military manuals is that camps are seldom alike and the way a commander sets his camp is often a telltale indication of the workings of his mind. The following example and translation is one of many—this one taken from the Gunpo Jiyoshi manual—and it highlights the thinking behind troop placement. Things to note in the image on the following page are the bamboo fence around the perimeter, which appears like crosshatching, and the placement of shinobi directly next to the command tent.

  1. Two units of mounted warriors with captains, one mounted scout, twenty messengers, one unit of archers and one unit of musketeers with captains

  2. One unit of mounted warriors, one unit of archers and one unit of musketeers with captains

  3. Two mounted warriors

  4. One unit of archers and one unit of musketeers with captains

  5. Flags and bannermen

  6. One unit of mounted warriors with a captain

  7. Three units of mounted warriors including those with conch shell and drums

  8. Close retainers with captains

  9. Two units of mounted warriors with captains, one mounted warrior scout, ashigaru foot soldiers

10. Musha bugyo—commander

11. One unit of archers, one unit of musketeers, two units of mounted warriors with captains

12. One unit of messengers, two units of spearmen with commanders, one unit of archers and one unit of musketeers with captains, two units of mounted warriors with captains

13. Headquarters

14. Doctors

15. Domestic staff

16. Two units of mounted warriors with captains, one unit of archers and one unit of musketeers with captains

17. Shinobi group (ninja)

18. One unit of archers and one unit of musketeers with captains

The
Yamaga-Ryu Bukyo Zensho
of the 1650s goes on to outline the people who should be put in their own quarters, those huts for people who share the same profession. It is here that we see that shinobi no mono get their own billets, due to the fact that they would have to work throughout the night.

When setting up a military camp, the following people should be billeted in huts:

  1. Catering overseers

  2. The quartermaster

  3. Those who prepare the lord’s meals

  4. Doctors

  5. Secretaries

  6. Advisors

  7. Monks

  8. Carpenters

  9. Craftsmen

10. Miners

11. Shinobi no mono (ninja)

12. Musicians

13. Swimmers

14. Cooks

15. Those who deal with supplies

According to Jinichi Kawakami, the following statement is found in Yoshitune-Ryu shinobi manuals and shows that shinobi, when they have time on their hands, should consider undertaking the following:

軍陣不断共謐時は、心を一入れ、強く張り詰め、物人数の上を遠目 に見て、油断透間を勘へ心懸る可き事

When you are in a battle camp and things are quiet, keep your mind attentive and observe your army from a distant position and consider the gaps and openings within.

The image of the Japanese battle camp should be one of a working community on the move. The smell of the latrines is thick in the air. The food is cooking, and the fire smoke rises. Huts and shelters would be in neat formations (if the commander is experienced) while the fences would be erected on soil banks. Signals and drums would sound out and orders would be given. Nearby a merchant train with gambling and prostitution would follow. Entry in and out of the camp would only be permitted with strict permission; and with the use of identifying markers/passwords. Fear of night raids would be constant and the sound of the war cry before a raid would be dreaded. As night falls, fires and braziers would flare up. Guardsmen would change the watch. Shinobi or secret scouts would be sent into the area around them. They would smell the air for fuses and odors that give away ambushes; or listen for sounds of the enemy—as enemy shinobi move through the bush and forests. A samurai may be taking part in a night raid. They may be wetting paper and wrapping it around anything that jangles. They may also be tying up the horses tongue with string soaked in blood, ready to make them silent for the raid. All the while the enemy shinobi are watching; listening to this so that they can report back to their own allies. The military battle camp of Japan was a dirty, odor-filled environment, normally with strict laws and protocols in place. It was a society in its own right. Men within it, be they ashigaru foot soldiers, servants, or samurai could be away for months at a time.

The Samurai Castle

In the popular imagination, a European castle is dark and cold. It smells, and is set against the backdrop of a cliff above raging seas; while the rain and lightning crash down upon it. In contrast the Japanese castle is considered clean, quiet, whitewashed and is always set against a hot Japanese summer. Originally, Japanese castles were much smaller and many were set on clifftops and hills. Many were actually black in color. They were similar to their European counterpart in that they were filled with the normalities of castle life. This included horse muck, smoke from cooking fires, and the trappings of medieval life. So to correctly picture the Japanese castle: imagine an even blend between the gothic stone citadel on the hill and the pristine white palace-castle. At the end of the Sengoku Period, and into the start of the Edo Period, castle technology advanced greatly. This means that the castles of the generation before, those that were at the center of the wars, were different from the ones that people picture and visit today. The result is that we often place the wrong castle in the wrong time frame. The rule of thumb is that in the Sengoku Period there existed a greater number of castles, fortified manor houses, and building complexes. This includes temporary fortifications, mountain retreats, and heavily fortified monasteries. As the Sengoku Period was reaching its height in the later 1500s, castle technology made a massive leap. Castles became much bigger and more complex. Then, in the Edo Period, the shogun had the mountain and outlying castles destroyed. He forced all samurai to leave their ancestral fortified manor houses and move into castle towns—most of which were flatland castles. He removed any natural advantage of position, leaving us with the image of the grand castle with whitewashed walls in the center of major cities. This was not the norm in the warring periods. In the Warring States Period, castles would have been smaller than we know them now, and fortified houses and monasteries would have been bigger than the ones visited by tourists today.