This paper examines the establishment and development of the ninja, known as Oshinobi, in the Tottori domain, focusing on “Tottori Hansei Shiryō” (Tottori Domain Administration Documents). Research on the history of ninjas in the early modern period has accumulated results related to the Tokugawa Shogunate and various domains. However, since ninjas were lower-class individuals, there are few surviving records, and the density of research has not been consistent. Therefore, this paper focuses on the Tottori domain and clarifies the basic characteristics of the ninja in this domain based on the vast amount of existing records.

The status of vassals who served the Ikeda family, the feudal lord of the Tottori domain, was roughly divided into two categories, with Oshinobi being of lower status. Nevertheless, they had the right of “omemie,” which was only granted to those of higher status, and could have a direct audience with the lord of the domain. The reason for this special treatment was that they possessed the qualities of what was called a “kagyōke” (a family engaged in specific professional duties). Their role was deeply connected to the gathering of information. By fulfilling their duties through “Oku” (Duties directly related to the domain lord), they were able to establish a unique position within the domain. This paper examines the placement of the Oshinobi within the domain from the perspectives of rank, organizational structure, and duties, and discusses the functions they performed.

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The purpose of this paper is to take up the ninja of the Obama domain as an example of research on Ninjutsu training, and to clarify some aspects of Ninjutsu training based on actual records. There are few historical records on the ninja of the Obama domain, and their existence was unknown until now, but records on Ninjutsu training were found in the history books of the Horiguchi and Imanaka families.

Analysis of these historical documents revealed that it took at least ten years of training to master Ninjutsu. It was also discovered that some of the Obama domain’s ninja trained in the Okayama domain, and that they eventually received “忍術皆伝 (full Ninjutsu)” in the Okayama domain. The reason why this Ninjutsu training was conducted in the Okayama domain is thought to be because the Ninjutsu had been lost due to the death of a parent, and there was no one in the Obama domain who could transmit all the Ninjutsu in the family.

It was newly discovered that there existed a practice called “土地見習 (terrain learning)” as part of Ninjutsu training, which is considered to have been a very important practice since it was conducted from the initial stage of Ninjutsu training. These records also revealed that ninja were used for searching and other activities from the period of training prior to the “忍術皆伝 (full Ninjutsu)”.

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