Collecting information about this title is a pretty hard quest, no matter if
Ninja Bugeicho is one of Shirato's masterpieces. An hard quest, 'cause it has never been published in Italy, nor elsewhere in the West. Because of this, the manga has gained an undeserved oblivion outside its own country.
Anyway, as I've said, the indifference of our publishers does not mark
Ninja Bugeicho Kagemaru Den(忍者武芸帳) as a low quality work, otherwise it would be unexplicable why such a director like Nagisa Oshima could have decided to transform it into a movie: both graphic and narrative standards are absolutely highly artistical, not to mention the deep impact that Kagemaru's story had on Japanese people during the '60s. Basing my researches on the web - my only source -, I have to admit that all I have found are information about the movie. Anyway, Oshima's work is based on the very plates drawned by Shirato: it would be naive to believe that a film could contain the whole complexity of seventeen thick issues, but it is higly likely that Oshima did not vary so much from Shirato's patterns, so talking about the movie could signify talking about the manga itself.
Ninja Bugeicho (
Handbook of Ninja Arts) is set in the twenty years from 1560 to 1582. The XVIth century was a very turbulent period for Japan: the lack of a central authority caused a continual struggle among the many
daimyos (that is, the feudal lords) who wanted to extend their own power on larger and larger areas of the land, and - why not? - on the whole Japan itself.
In the northern village of Dewa, Yuki Mitsuharu, lord of Fushikage, is betrayed and killed by one of his men, Shuzen Sakagami. Mitsuharu's son, Jutaro, escapes the murder, but - after a few years - he comes back to avenge his father. On his way, he finds the resistance of the sister of Shuzen, Hotarubi, who stops him and nearly takes his life. Suddenly, anyway, appears a strange man who intervenes and saves the boy: it is Kagemaru, a skilled and smart ninja who has decided to help the peasants oppressed by Shuzen in their rebellion. But why does he save Jutaro? The fact is that both Jutaro and the peasants have the same goal, the downfall of the lord, and that means they could be allies. Together they attack the castle of Fushikage, and the move is lucky: anyway, thanks to Hotarubi, Shuzen escapes and hides himself (even if against his own will) under the protection of Akechi Mitsuhide, one of Nobunaga Oda's men. Oda was the lord of Owari and a very powerful man, one of the main characters in Japanese history. His significance is shown here by the fact that, since his first appearance, the story develops on his choices and battles in order to obtain the control on Japan. Nobunaga wants the total power, and his worst enemies are those who refuse to obey him. That is the other
daimyos, of course, but most of all the rebels among the peasants and their leaders: Kagemaru becomes a thorn in his flank. They have no choice but to fight against each other.
Kagemaru makes a stand against Oda, helped by his clan, the clan of Kage, but finally he loses almost all his men and is deceived and captured by Nobunaga, and obviously killed.
The variety of characters in this story is very large: we find peasants, ninjas, samurais, monks, children, thieves and even historical characters. The result of their struggle will be the chance for Japan to rise from its dark ages, even if Shirato does not hide his strong disapproval for the emerging system, neither his hope for a better future, and this political taste attracted a lot of young students of those days, who were protesting against the presence of American military in their country. It is worth of interest that the heroes, in this story, are the ninjas: those figures were very popular, at the time, but they were usually portrayed like bloody ruthless murdereres. In Ninja Bugeicho, instead, they become the symbol of the noble struggle for freedom and justice against the tiranny and cruelty of the Power.
The manga had been serialized between 1959 and 1962 and obtained a great success, even if the very first publication utilized the limited
kashihon system.
Ninja Bugeicho is still nowadays a very popular work, which have inspired a lot of characters, parodies and more.
