Koga people

A general term for local samurai from Koga County, Omi Province (Shiga Prefecture). They were skilled in the art of stealth, and were employed by the Edo Shogunate and various feudal domains along with the Iga ninja. They became close with the Tokugawa clan when, during the Honnoji Incident, Ieyasu, who was staying in Sakai at the time, hurriedly returned home by crossing Iga, and they served as guards. During the siege of Fushimi prior to the Battle of Sekigahara, over 100 Koga soldiers rushed to the rescue, but over 70 of them were killed in battle. After the war, to reward their service, Ieyasu organized the Koga Hyakunin-gumi and had them guard the Ote-sanmon Gate of Edo Castle. Those who did not want to emigrate to the Kanto region became local samurai in their home countries, but at the time of the Kansei Reforms, about half of the 21 families of old samurai who petitioned the shogunate for the revival of ninjutsu were in financial difficulty and claimed that it would be difficult to maintain ninjutsu.

[Ichiro Watanabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

近江(おうみ)国（滋賀県）甲賀郡の地侍(じざむらい)出身者の総称。忍びの術に長じ、伊賀者と並んで江戸幕府や諸藩に召し抱えられた。徳川氏と親密になったのは、本能寺の変に、おりから堺(さかい)に滞在中の家康が急遽(きゅうきょ)伊賀越えで帰国する際、護衛にあたったことによる。関ヶ原の戦いに先だつ伏見(ふしみ)の籠城(ろうじょう)戦に、甲賀から100余人が救援に駆けつけたが、うち70余人が戦死している。戦後、家康は彼らの功に報いるため、甲賀百人組を編成させ、江戸城の大手三門の警固にあたらせた。関東に移住することを嫌った者たちは生国で郷士となったが、寛政(かんせい)の改革当時、幕府に忍術復興を陳情した古士(こし)二十一家のうち約半数は経済的に窮迫し、忍術の維持は困難であると訴えている。

［渡邉一郎］

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