Narrow Road To The Deep North 36

In 1582, immediately following the news of the betrayal of Oda Nobunaga at Honnoji temple, Hanzō proposed that his lord Tokugawa Ieyasu escape to a safe haven, with an entourage of remnant ninja clans from Iga, and their one-time Koga rivals, and then, when the time was right, attack the traitor who had killed Nobunaga. Ieyasu agreed, and the company departed for Mikawa. Revenge is never a straight line. It's a forest, and like a forest it's easy to lose your way... to get lost... to forget where you came in. 
Approaching the Otogi pass, on the border of Iga and Koga, Hanzō shot a signal rocket skyward. When leyasu arrived at the summit, 300 ninja were already gathered. He rode in a kago litter basket, and Hanzo himself guarded the future shogun’s side. Guided by the ninja, the retinue negotiated difficult places day and night, receiving reports about the repercussions of the Honnoji attack, and the movements of various daimyô. If on your journey, you should encounter God, God will be cut.
Tokugawa was so impressed by this escort’s display of bravery that he permanently retained two hundred of the ninja band on his payroll, officially forming the ‘Men of Iga,’ under the command of Hattori Hanzo. In 1590, when leyasu entered Edo, they accompanied him, and assigned the critical duty of protecting the West Gate of Edo Castle, the Hanzōmon gate, in the area of Hanzocho. To this day ‘Hanzo’s Gate’ still stands, burned to death in a blaze of glory by flaming oil. The creation of a ninja quarter outside the west gate was astute, because it was from the back of the castle that the people within would escape and an enemy would stage a surprise attack. Ninja were best qualified to guard such a place. His own clan was recruited to spy on Tokugawa’s enemies, performing assassinations, reconnaissance, sabotage, demolitions, kidnappings, and other forms of espionage black ops. Ninja operatives worked undercover as rōnin in the castles of many of Ieyasu’s enemies, and his spies were omnipresent. Hanzo's ninjutsu skills procured his clan a healthy living for two centuries.  In a folk song from Mikawa in the early 1600s, Hattori Hanzo was identified as one of the three bravest retainers of the Tokugawa Shogun. Lord Tokugawa has brave retainers. Hattori Hanzo is Hanzo the Daredevil...
Hanzō lived the last several years of his life as a monk under the name ‘Sainen.’ He built the temple Sainenji, named to commemorate Tokugawa Ieyasu's elder son, Nobuyasu, accused of treason and conspiracy by Oda Nobunaga and ordered to commit seppuku by Ieyasu. When Nobuyasu was instructed to end his life, Hanzo was called in to act as the official second, but refused to take the sword. After hearing of Hanzo's ordeal, Ieyasu valued the loyalty.
“Even a demon can shed tears.” He had said.
On December 23, 1596 Hanzō died at the age of 55. His remains, and his favorite spears, lie in Sainenji today. What never rests is the quarter millennium leadership of his lord, who remade the country into what Japan is today.






       Hattori Hanzo: ‘Funny, you like samurai swords... I like 
                                 baseball.’
                                                        Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003)