or Second Hanzō, nicknamed ,
He became known as the Second Hanzō. He would later earn the nickname
Biography
Hattori Hanzō was born the son of , the First Hanzō, a minor samurai in the service of the Matsudaira (later Tokugawa) clan. His real name was . Despite being born in Mikawa Province (now Iga-chō, Okazaki, Aichi), he often paid visits to Iga Province, home of the Hattori clan. At the age of 15, his first battle was a nighttime attack during the siege of Uto castle in 1557.
In 1563, a major incident occurred which involved Hanzō. The Ikkō-ikki followers had rebelled in Mikawa and fought against Ieyasu. Moreover, the majority of the Tokugawa clan's vassals were followers of the Ikko sect. Honda Masanobu and most of the vassals joined the Ikko Ikki and began to take hostile action against Ieyasu. During that time, Hanzō, who was also a follower of the Ikkō-ikki, instead kept his loyalty to the Tokugawa clan and supported Ieyasu to fight the rebels.
In 1569, Hanzō went on to lay siege to Kakegawa castle against the Imagawa clan.
From 1570 to 1573, Hanzō served with distinction at the battles of Anegawa and Mikatagahara respectively;
In 1575, he married the daughter of fellow military commander Nagasaka Nobumasa. His son would be born around a year later.
In 1579, after Matsudaira Nobuyasu was accused of treason and conspiracy by Oda Nobunaga and was ordered to commit seppuku by his father, Ieyasu, Hanzō was called in to act as an official to assist the seppuku procession, but he refused to take the sword on the blood of his own lord. Ieyasu valued his loyalty after hearing of Hanzō's ordeal and was noted to have said "Even a demon can shed tears".
In 1580, another incident involving Hanzō and the Hattori clan occurred. During that time, a military commander of the Oda clan was staying in Hamamatsu Castle in preparation to assist the Oda-Tokugawa alliance to attack Takatenjin Castle, which belonged to the Takeda clan's forces. However, a friction happened between the commander of the castle with a Tokugawa retainer over a trivial matter. Hanzō was trying to resolve the matter. However, the Ōgaki clan's retainers who were on the side of the castle commander attacked Hanzō, which caused the members of Hattori clan to fight them back, resulting in casualties on both sides. As a result of this incident, the Ōgaki clan demanded Hanzō to be held responsible and executed. Ieyasu then managed to trick the Oda clan by pretending to arrest Hanzō at first. Then as Ieyasu allowed Hanzō to escape from his prison in Hamamatsu castle along with his wife and children. After that, Ieyasu deceived the Ōgaki clan by presenting them with a head of someone else, while claiming it was Hanzō's head.
Journey through Iga province
In the middle of June 1582, after the Honnō-ji incident, Tokugawa Ieyasu escaped from Sakai to return into Mikawa, in order to prevent capture from Akechi Mitsuhide and his troops. Ieyasu had only 34 companions with him, including Hanzō. The journey they took was particularly dangerous due to the existence of Ochimusha-gari, or "samurai hunting" gangs