More from Hanzo

I found the story about the death of Hattori Hanzo I referenced in the last post. Here is the story as it is recounted in Paul Richardson's Introductory History to the Schools of the Bujinkan...

"Some say that Hanzo Hattori met his death on 4th December 1596, while trying to bring the ninja of the Fuma Ryu to justice. The date must be wrong as Hanzo helped Ieyasu in the early 1600's. The story of his death says that the Fuma Kainin (he had two protruding teeth), and his Fuma Ryu originally came from Kanegawa. In small boats Hanzo and his men chased the Fuma out to sea. This was a mistake on the behalf of Hanzo as the Fuma were specialists in the use of water, and several swam under water, and began dismantling the rudders of the boats belonging to Hanzo. As their boats were now disabled Hanzo's men decided to jump overboard, and swam to the near by shore. When they entered the water, they discovered that the water was covered with oil. To which the Fuma Ryu Ninja set fire killing all of the Tokugawa Samurai and Ninja including Hattori Hanzo."

True? I have no way of knowing for sure. The Japanese have an odd relationship with their history. To them, often the essence of the truth is more important than the facts of the truth. It takes a long time to grasp the nature of this for non-Japanese.