TOKYO -- Roughly 100 "ninja" recently showed up at some tourist spots in central Tokyo during a tour of places associated with the Mie Prefecture city of Iga and the Shiga Prefecture city of Koka -- the birthplaces of the two major ninja schools.

Dressed as ninja, the tour participants walked about 14 kilometers under a clear sky on Nov. 23, surprising passersby. They let foreign tourists take photos of them and responded with ninja poses when they were called.

The event, whose name roughly translates to "100 ninja: look for signs of Iga and Koka in Tokyo," was planned by the Shinobi-no-Sato Iga Koka Ninja Council, consisting of the tourism associations of Iga and Koka among other bodies, to promote the cities and the ancient Japanese martial arts practitioners, and to please ninja fans. Seventy-four people from east Japan's Utsunomiya to west Japan's Hyogo and Tokushima prefectures participated in the event, and with staff included, the group swelled to about 100 people. They changed into ninja attire, either rentals from the council or their own costumes, in a tent set up at Ueno Park in Taito Ward, and left in a procession on the cue of a rallying cry at around 9:30 a.m.

Yuji Yamada, a leading researcher in ninja and ninjutsu studies and a professor at Mie University, set the tour route and guided the participants again in this eighth edition of the event. The group first walked about 4 kilometers to the Kanda Surugadai district in Chiyoda Ward, and listened to the professor's explanation of the area, which still retains the name "Koga (Koka)-zaka" slope, and where many people from Koka used to live.

They took the subway from Shin-ochanomizu Station nearby to Tsukiji Station in Chuo Ward, where Tsukiji Hongwanji temple came into view.

Walking past by the Tsukiji Outer Market, they headed for Kachidoki Bridge. At the foot of the bridge, Yamada again gave a presentation, explaining that the area is associated with people from Iga, as it is marked on an old map as Iga land.

After lunch there, the participants passed by the Kabukiza Theatre and headed for the heart of the Ginza shopping district. Continuing downtown, passing under the Yamanote train line, going around Hibiya Park, and strolling through the government district of Kasumigaseki in Chiyoda Ward, they got to the Nagatacho area, where the National Diet building, the prime minister's office and the headquarters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are located. The neighborhood was quiet on the national holiday, but many police officers were in front of those facilities, and the tour organizers had to explain their event each time they were stopped by officers. Then it was down a hill to the Akasaka downtown district in Minato Ward. Yamada gave his third commentary in front of broadcaster TBS, near where land was given to people from Iga.

The ninja then walked to the Meiji Jingu Gaien area, where an avenue lined with ginkgo trees was crowded with people viewing the yellow leaves. At the Japan National Stadium in the area, the final of the Japan Football Championship, known as the Emperor's Cup, was being played. Hearing loud cheers, the group passed through Meiji Jingu Gaien and arrived at Hatonomori Hachiman Jinja shrine in Shibuya Ward's Sendagaya district, where Yamada gave a final commentary, saying that the area had been home to the residence of Koga (Koka)-gumi, a group of people associated with Koka.

After leaving the shrine, the members headed for Sendagaya Station and went back to Ueno Park by train at around 5 p.m.

The ninja tour first began in 2014, and every time most participants were residents of the Kanto region, or the greater Tokyo area. The event was canceled from 2020 to 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A 53-year-old woman from the suburban Tokyo city of Hachioji, who has participated in the tour four times in a row since 2018, said, "I like the tour of places associated with ninja, with commentaries by Yamada. Without them, this would be a costume parade. This time, it was interesting to learn that there was a place in Akasaka associated with people from Iga who controlled and developed it."

(Japanese original by Yasuhiro Onishi, Iga Resident Bureau)