Editing Ninja (section)

===Iga and Kōga clans===
{{Main|Iga ikki|Kōka ikki|Iga–Kōka alliance}}
[[File:ReizanView.JPG|thumb|The plains of [[Iga Province|Iga]], nested in secluded mountains, gave rise to villages specialized in the training of ninja.]]
The Iga and Kōga "clans" were ''jizamurai'' families living in the province of [[Iga Province|Iga]] (modern [[Mie Prefecture]]) and the adjacent region of [[Kōka District, Shiga|Kōka]] (later written as ''Kōga''), named after a village in what is now [[Shiga Prefecture]]. From these regions, villages devoted to the training of ninja first appeared.<ref name="Deal 2007 165">{{Harvnb|Deal|2007|p=165}}</ref> The remoteness and inaccessibility of the surrounding mountains in Iga may have had a role in the ninja's secretive development.<ref name="draeger smith 1981 121" />  The chronicle ''Go Kagami Furoku'' writes, of the two clans' origins:

{{blockquote|There was a retainer of the family of Kawai Aki-no-kami of Iga, of pre-eminent skill in ''shinobi'', and consequently for generations the name of people from Iga became established. Another tradition grew in Kōga.}}

Likewise, a supplement to the ''Nochi Kagami'', a record of the [[Ashikaga shogunate]], confirms the same Iga origin:

{{blockquote|Inside the camp at Magari of the ''[[Shogun|shōgun]]'' <nowiki>[</nowiki>Ashikaga<nowiki>]</nowiki> [[Ashikaga Yoshihisa|Yoshihisa]] there were ''shinobi'' whose names were famous throughout the land. When Yoshihisa attacked [[Rokkaku clan|Rokkaku Takayori]], the family of Kawai Aki-no-kami of Iga, who served him at Magari, earned considerable merit as ''shinobi'' in front of the great army of the ''shōgun''. Since then successive generations of Iga men have been admired. This is the origin of the fame of the men of Iga.}}

These professional ninja were actively hired by ''[[Daimyo|daimyō]]s'' between 1485 and 1581. Specifically, the Iga professionals were sought after for their skill at siege warfare, or "shirotori", which included night attacks and ambush.<ref>{{Cite conference |last=Nakagawa |first=Takaaki |date=2015 |title=Lecture No. 4: "The Samurai Powers in the Kinai (Capital Region) and Iga" – (2nd term) |url=https://www.human.mie-u.ac.jp/en/projects/iga/lecture/2015/2015-10.html |conference=Conference with the Cooperation of Iga on Ninja Culture |publisher=[[Mie University]] |conference-url=https://www.human.mie-u.ac.jp/en/projects/iga/}}; {{Cite conference |last=Kenji |first=Kasai |date=2012 |title=Lecture No.2: Activities of Igashu in the Sengoku Period |url=https://www.human.mie-u.ac.jp/en/projects/iga/lecture/2012/k20121124.html |conference=Conference with the Cooperation of Iga on Ninja Culture |publisher=[[Mie University]] |quote=What we can conclude from the writing is that it was already well-known among people in the end of Sengoku period that sneaking and making night attacks were Ninja's favorite tactics. |conference-url=https://www.human.mie-u.ac.jp/en/projects/iga/lecture/2015/2015-1.html}}</ref> By the 1460s, the leading families in the regions had established ''de facto'' independence from their ''[[shugo]]''. The [[Kōka ikki|Kōka ''ikki'']] persisted until 1574, when it was forced to become a vassal of [[Oda Nobunaga]]. The [[Iga ikki|Iga ''ikki'']] continued until 1581, when Nobunaga invaded Iga Province and wiped out the organized clans.<ref name="Green 2001 357">{{Harvnb|Green|2001|p=357}}</ref> Survivors were forced to flee, some to the mountains of [[Kii Mountains|Kii]], but others arrived before [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], where they were well treated. Some former Iga clan members, including [[Hattori Hanzō]], would later serve as Tokugawa's bodyguards.<ref name="Adams 1970 43">{{Harvnb|Adams|1970|p=43}}</ref> Prior to the conquest of Kōka in 1574, the two confederacies worked in [[Iga–Kōka alliance|alliance together]] from at least 1487.

Following the [[Battle of Okehazama]] in 1560, Tokugawa employed a group of eighty Kōga ninja, led by Tomo Sukesada. They were tasked to raid an outpost of the [[Imagawa clan]]. The account of this assault is given in the ''Mikawa Go Fudoki'', where it was written that Kōga ninja infiltrated the castle, set fire to its towers, and killed the [[castellan]] along with two hundred of the garrison.