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THE DECLINE

The avowed enemy of all ninja was the powerful general Nobunaga Oda, infamous because of his high regard for forceful and usually violent action as a means of attaining his goals. A cold pragmatist, Nobunaga detested the mysterious and occult teachings of the ninja mikkyo, and even went so far as to protect and encourage the budding Christian religion in Japan to combat the influence of mysticism. The Christian church structure, with its hierarchy of European priests and bishops to control the followers, seemed ripe for use as a tool to Nobunaga. The esoteric ninja beliefs, in which every man was his own priest, were just an obstacle to the ambitious general’s plans to become shogun.

Legend has it that while riding through Iga with his samurai one time, Nobunaga was thrown from his horse for the first time in his life. The haunting desolation of the eerie, fog-enshrouded forests of Iga, coupled with the unprecedented fall from his horse, planted in Nobunaga a feeling of apprehension that culminated in his ordering his son Katsuyori to attack the ninja stronghold.