A portrait of Hattori Hanzō

Hattori Hanzō (服部 半蔵, Hattori Hanzō^? 1542 – December 23, 1596), also known as Hattori Masanari (服部 正成, Hattori Masanari^?), the son of Hattori Yasunaga, was a famous Samurai and a head of clan from the Iga region of Japan. Events 962 - Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city is the term for the military nobility of Pre-industrial Japan. was an old province of Japan in the area that is today western Mie Prefecture. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics.

Hanzō served Tokugawa Ieyasu loyally and well.  was the founder and first Shogun  of the Tokugawa shogunate He is commonly depicted as Ninja in manga and novel fiction. ˈmɑŋgə is the Japanese word for Comics (sometimes called komikku コミック and print Cartoons In their modern form manga date from shortly Hanzō was born a vassal of the Matsudaira (later Tokugawa) clan; he would later earn the nickname Oni-Hanzō (鬼半蔵, Devil Hanzō^?) because of the ferocity he displayed in battle. A vassal (also called feodary or fedary) in the terminology that both preceded and accompanied the feudalism of Medieval Europe, The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. The was a powerful Daimyo family of Japan. They descended from Emperor Seiwa (850-880 and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji by the are creatures from Japanese folklore, variously translated as Demons Devils Ogres or Trolls They are popular characters in Japanese His nickname distinguishes him from another Tokugawa samurai, Watanabe Hanzō, called Yari-Hanzō (槍半蔵, Spear Hanzō^?). (1542-1620 was a Japanese Samurai of the Edo period, who served the Tokugawa clan.

Biography

Though Hanzō was born and raised in Mikawa Province, he often returned to Iga, home of the Hattori family. is an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. He was an extremely skilled swordsman, tactician and spearman. In the surrounding mountains, there were large institutes for training in martial skills. Onmyodo, a Chinese system of divination propagated in Kyoto by Abe no Seimei, had been brought from the capital. is a traditional Japanese Esoteric cosmology, a mixture of Natural science and Occultism. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Divination (from Latin divinare "to be inspired by a god" related to Divine, Diva and Deus) is the attempt of ascertaining (IPA /kʲoːto / is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. (921?-1005? was an onmyōji, a leading specialist of Onmyōdō during the middle of the Heian Period in Japan. The village of Yagyu, along the Kyoto-Nara border, was home to a venerable school of sword technique. The were a minor family of daimyō (feudal lords with lands just outside Nara, who became the heads of one of Japan's greatest schools of swordsmanship is the capital city of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The Hozo-in temple in Nara supported a unique school of spear fighting, the Hozoin-ryu. is a traditional school ( Koryū) of Japanese martial arts that specializes in the art of spearmanship ( Sōjutsu) Hattori, who fought his first battle at the age of 16, went on to serve at the battles of Anegawa (1570) and Mikatagahara (1572), but his most valuable contribution came in 1582, following Oda Nobunaga's death. The 1570 came as a reaction to Oda Nobunaga 's sieges of the castles of Odani and Yokoyama which belonged to the Azai and Asakura clans The (January 1573 Mikawa Province Japan was one of the most famous battles of daimyo Takeda Shingen 's campaigns and one of the best demonstrations of his cavalry-based ( June 23, 1534 &ndash June 21, 1582) was a major Daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history

Hanzō's grave located at the Sainen-ji temple cemetery in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Hattori Hanzō died in 1596 at the age of fifty-five of natural causes. However, there is a popular legend that a ninja, Fūma Kotarō, killed Hanzō in battle. was the name adopted by the leader of the of Ninja during the Sengoku era of Japan. He was succeeded by his eighteen-year-old son, whose name was also Masanari, though written with different kanji. are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana His son was given the title "Iwami-no-Kami" and his men would act as guards of Edo Castle. Hanzō’s son mistreated the members of the Band of Iga.

To this day, artifacts of Hanzō's legacy remain; the Kōkyo Imperial Palace (formerly the shogun's palace) still has a gate called Hanzō's Gate, and the Hanzo-mon subway line which runs from central Tokyo to the southwestern suburbs is named after the gate. is the imperial main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in Chiyoda Tokyo close to Tokyo Station and contains various buildings is a military rank and historical title in Japan. The Japanese word for "general" it is made up of two Kanji words sho, meaning "commander" The is a metro line in Tokyo, Japan, administered by the Tokyo Metro. officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. Hanzō’s remains now rest in the Sainen-ji temple cemetery in Shinjuku, Tokyo. is one of the 23 Special wards of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center housing the busiest train station in the world ( Shinjuku Station The temple also holds his favorite spears and his ceremonial battle helmet.

References in popular culture

See Japanese historical people in popular culture. Many significant Japanese historical people appear in works of popular culture such as Anime, Manga, and Video games.

External links

• Detailed biography of Hattori Hanzo