Hattori Hanzō

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"Those who cling to life, die; those who defy death, live."

―Hattori Hanzō.

Hattori Hanzō (服部 半蔵, 1542 – 1596) was a vassal for Tokugawa Ieyasu, the last of feudal Japan's three great unifiers (三英傑). A famous samurai and ninja, Hanzō was also a member of the Kakushiba ikki, a sub-group of the Japanese Brotherhood of Assassins.

Biography

Early life

Hattori Hanzō was a vassal of the daimyō Tokugawa Ieyasu, and a ninja trained in Iga. Aside from the ninja arts, Hanzō was also trained as a samurai, and his skill with the yari was legendary. In 1565, he had a son, Hattori Masanari.

Meeting Fujibayashi Masayasu

In 1560, a teenage Hanzō was apprenticed to the legendary shinobi Momochi Sandayu, who saw great potential in the young man but also feared his arrogance and callousness. Around this time, Hanzō and his mentor made the acquaintance of the Assassin Alvaro Catarribera and his apprentice, Tsuyu. Being of a similar age to Tsuyu, Hanzō tried befriending her, but the ever-stoic Tsuyu mostly ignored him, something their respective mentors would occasionally joke about.

One day, Hanzō and Sandayu traveled to an Igan village under attack by two corrupt samurai demanding tribute. Hanzō assassinated one of the samurai, saving Fujibayashi Masayasu, a farmer who had attempted to fight off the attackers but found himself overwhelmed. Masayasu, awed by Hanzō's reputation and skills, pleaded to be trained as a shinobi, but Hanzō harshly refused, dismissing him as an unfit farmer and suggesting he'd be better off serving a local daimyō.

Masayasu and Hanzō preparing to fight

However, Sandayu, not caring about Masayasu's status, was willing to give the young farmer a chance to prove himself and suggested a sparring contest between Masayasu and Hanzō. During their fight, Hanzō quickly gained the upper hand and managed to throw Masayasu down a small cliff. He then began to boast about his skills while insulting Masayasu, only to be interrupted by a young girl, Chiyo, who insisted that Masayasu was a hero who had protected their village from harm.

An annoyed Hanzō grabbed Chiyo and threatened her by saying that, if they were on the battlefield, he would not hesitate to kill her, as it was not uncommon for innocents to perish during wartime. Terrified, Chiyo began to cry, which motivated Masayasu to come to her aid. Using underhanded tactics, he managed to defeat Hanzō, impressing Sandayu, who decided to train Masayasu as a shinobi.

Joining the Assassins

In time, Hanzō, alongside Momochi Sandayu and Fujibayashi Masayasu—by now known as Fujibayashi Nagato—came to join the Kakushiba ikki, a league founded by Alvaro Catarribera and Tsuyu, whose primary objective was safeguarding the three Imperial Regalia.

Fight for the Sword

The Assassins eventually formed an alliance with Ieyasu, and together they formed a plan to retrieve the Sword of Eden and aid Ieyasu in conquering the land. Hanzō worked closely with Chaya Shirōjirō Kiyonobu, who often acted as a contact on Ieyasu's behalf.

In 1571, on Ieyasu's orders, Hanzō assassinated the daimyō Mōri Motonari, a strong opponent of Ieyasu's ally Oda Nobunaga, in order to allow Nobunaga to conquer the Mōri clan's lands. Two years later, after the Tokugawa and Oda forces fought the Takeda clan at the Battle of Mikatagahara, Hanzō and Ieyasu's vassal Honda Tadakatsu entered Takeda Shingen's camp. Shingen was killed during the ordeal, and Hanzō retrieved the Sword of Eden from him.

Five years later, on 19 April 1578, Hanzō assassinated another rival daimyō, the Templar Uesugi Kenshin. In June 1582, word reached the Tokugawa that Akechi Mitsuhide planned to betray his lord Nobunaga, who possessed the Sword of Eden. Hanzō stayed with Ieyasu to ensure his lord's safety, and tasked another Assassin, the monk Yamauchi Taka, to travel to Honnō-ji and retrieve the Sword from Nobunaga. Taka succeeded in his mission and brought the Sword to the Chinese Assassin Liu Yan, who took it with her to China.

Later life

"I bemoan the fact that our relation has come to an end, just when it was becoming profitable for me. Enjoy what little remains of your life, ninja."

―Kiyonobu to Hanzō, 1590s.

After Nobunaga's death, his vassal Toyotomi Hideyoshi became his master's successor. Hideyoshi later defeated Ieyasu, who then pledged loyalty to the Toyotomi. Kiyonobu tried to secretly set up a trade route to bring supplies to Ieyasu, a task which Hanzō aided by eliminating one of the patrolling Toyotomi kashira.

In the 1590s, Hanzō was tasked with assassinating the Japanese Templar Mochizuki Chiyome, a female ninja who had formerly worked for Shingen. Based on intel retrieved from Kiyonobu, Hanzō tracked her down to her residence in Shinano, where he assassinated her.

Hanzō was ultimately killed in a fire by his rival Fūma Kotarō in 1596, in the Tokugawa capital of Edo.

Behind the scenes

Hanzō, 半蔵, is a Japanese name combining the characters 半 (han, meaning "half, middle, odd number, part-, semi-") with 蔵 (zou, meaning "own, possess, storehouse"). Hattori, 服部, is a common Japanese surname meaning "clothing guild".

Although the cards in Assassin's Creed: Memories say Hanzō died in 1596, historically, he succumbed to an unspecified illness on 2 January 1597. The discrepancy may arise from the fact that the 22-volume Kansei Chōshū Shokafu (寛政重修諸家譜), a genealogical record of important samurai commissioned by the Tokugawa clan in 1812, records his death date as 4 November 1596, which differs from what is written on his gravestone at the Buddhist temple Sainen-ji and accepted by the Hattori clan, as the contemporary lunar calendar used then notes his death was on the 14th day of the 11th month of the Keichō era, or, 2 January 1597 CE using the Gregorian calendar.

Gallery

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  Full body art of Hanzo
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  Hanzō in his ninja attire
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  Hanzō without his hood
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  Portrait of Hanzō
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  Hanzō using a spear
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  Hanzō close-up
• Hanzō as he appears in Assassin's Creed: Shadows
  Hanzō as he appears in Assassin's Creed: Shadows
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  A young Hanzō in Iga no Monogatari

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Memories (first appearance)
• Echoes of History – Shadows (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Shadows
• Assassin's Creed: Shadows – Iga no Monogatari