Iga vs. Koga: Sponge-Sword Night Raid Event Announced — 5ch Says ‘The Koga Will Be Shamed, Verily’

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The story

Iga City (Mie Prefecture) and Koga City (Shiga Prefecture) will hold their first-ever “Shinobi Yo-uchi 2026: Iga vs. Koga — The First Reiwa Rebellion” on October 3 at Yono Park, a sponge-sword night-raid experience event. Modeled on the 1581 Tensho Iga War, it’s organized by the “Shinobi no Sato Iga-Koga Ninja Council,” a group formed by the tourism associations of both cities, and they’re recruiting people willing to pay an entry fee just to play a ninja for the day. On 5ch, the thread sprawled from arguments over the correct reading of “Koga” and whether Koga even had ninja clans historically, to the origins of the popular ninja image and generation-by-generation debates over ninja anime.

The Koga clan marches out on Oda Nobunaga’s orders, the Iga clan rises to meet them. Modeled on the 1581 (Tensho 9) Tensho Iga War, this event lets participants dress up as ninja and experience a night raid using sponge swords

“Shinobi Yo-uchi (Night Raid) 2026: Iga vs. Koga — The First Reiwa Rebellion” will be held for the first time on October 3 from 3:30 to 9:00 PM in Tsuge-cho, Iga City, Mie Prefecture, on the border with Koga City, Shiga Prefecture,

at Yono Park. The organizer — the “Shinobi no Sato Iga-Koga Ninja Council,” made up of Iga City, Koga City, and both cities’ tourism associations — is looking for people willing to pay an entry fee

Source: shinobi-youchi.xn--com)-863c8n.xn--n8j3b0csb8g2etwja9002fnxcoy5byz7aduvtu8at53bcr3b. / Original article here

What people said

4AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:15
The correct reading of "甲賀" is "Kōka" — the voiced "Kōga" is actually a mispronunciation
45AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:42
Re: #4
That reminds me — there was a pretty girl in my high school named Nakashima (中島) who once got called "Nakajima" by a teacher and snapped, "It's NA-KA-SHI-MA!💢" so hard the whole classroom froze. The memory just came back to me, along with how hard I decided to steer clear of her after that.
14AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:22
"Beloved one, prepare to die!" — is that the kind of event this is?
16AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:23
There were those who hated one another
Their corpses rot in the fields
Their souls soak into the earth
Their bond severed by the blade
26AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:29
My body is already iron, my heart is already void
Destroy the heavenly demons
27AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:29
Re: #1
Can we get some regular entertainment threads going too?

The entertainment/sports board has been seriously short on news lately.
28AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:30
The Koga will be shamed, verily
29AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:34
If they'd just signed up for this instead, they could've made the deadline —
their ancestors must be cursing their own descendants right about now.
30AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:34
Did Koga even have that kind of ninja to begin with?
Isn't it just an exclave of Iga, or pure fantasy?
34AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:36
Ton-toko-ton
Ton-toko-ton
Those bumbling Iga fools
Barbecued with a fire jutsu
35AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:37
Shuriken are way too dangerous.
Caltrops too.
The whole ninja scene is out of control.
37AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:39
I'm a descendant of Kirigakure Saizō and an Under Ninja (a nod to the manga "Under Ninja") — that cool?
40AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:40
Slipped on a mountain, fell in a valley
Collapsed right here in our town
There lay Hattori-kun…
(a riff on the Ninja Hattori-kun theme song)
41AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:40
Just throw in Lord Tengen and we'll win for sure.
47AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:43
Re: #41
You mean Tenzen.
Tengen is from Demon Slayer.
42AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:40
The Iga jōnin (upper-rank ninja) were made up of
the Hattori, Momochi, and Fujibayashi clans
46AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:42
Re: #42
I had upperclassmen back in school named Hattori and Fujibayashi.
44AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:41
Re: #1
Come to think of it, Tomokazu Sugita is in Basilisk too.
48AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:45
Why did my brain misread that as Suga Shikao (the musician)?
49AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:45
Whenever a coworker played the Basilisk slot machine, the "Wild Eyes" bonus would always hit past 10 PM, and he'd joke, "Can't clear it in time, pro move, lol." Then he said his luck felt off and switched to the Code Geass machine — hit two Geass bonus rounds between 10:00 and 10:30 and had to frantically clear them near tears, while I sat next to him cracking up.
50AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:46
Is it okay if I bring my German Shepherd, Shishimaru, along?
51AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:47
Huh, that sounds fun.
Forget participating, I just want to watch.
52AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:47
Heh… care to find out whether my ninja art, Rama-Butsu, works on me?
53AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:47
Sasuke! I will cut you down! (da-da-da~, da-da-da-da-da-da-da~)
55AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:49
> You can score points by lighting up the enemy camp's lamps or lights.

Both sides also have spies (traitors) planted among them, and exposing one scores points too. Whichever side has the higher total wins.

The supreme commander of each side is the mayor.
The losing mayor has to produce and release a PR video promoting the winning city.




They even planted spies — this is pretty hardcore.
56AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:49
Lord Tenzen has died again!
57AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:49
I had a classmate named Saiga.
His grandfather was a fisherman in Wakayama.
Has to be descended from the Saiga clan (famous mercenary gunner clan).
62AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:52
Using a mistaken ninja image invented by a Showa-era novelist to promote tourism.
73AnonymousSep 11, 2026 20:02
Re: #62
More than a Showa-era novelist,
it actually traces back to Edo-period war-tale kōdan storytelling and picture books.
75AnonymousSep 11, 2026 20:07
Name one ninja-themed manga or anime.
Your answer will reveal your generation.
79AnonymousSep 11, 2026 20:11
Re: #75
Nintama Rantarō
81AnonymousSep 11, 2026 20:12
Re: #75
Ninin ga Shinobuden
82AnonymousSep 11, 2026 20:13
Re: #75
Ninja Hattori-kun

Background and Points of Debate

The “Shinobi Yo-uchi” event is rooted in a real historical event: the 1581 Tensho Iga War, in which Oda Nobunaga attacked Iga. Neighboring Koga’s actual role at the time remains disputed, and surviving records are too thin to confirm what its ninja groups were really like. The thread split mainly over two points. One was the reading of “Koga” (甲賀) — locally, “Kōka” is considered the original reading, though the voiced “Kōga” has become the standard nationwide. The other was the origin of the classic ninja image — the black outfit, the shuriken — with posters split between a “Showa-era fiction” theory and an “Edo-period kōdan storytelling and picture-book” theory. In truth, the now-iconic ninja costume was largely shaped by modern novels and period dramas, though prototypes do appear in Edo-period kōdan as well, so neither side is simply wrong. One thing the article doesn’t mention but is worth noting: the event itself isn’t a historical reenactment — it’s an entertainment project aimed at tourism promotion.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “[Ninja] Night Raid with Sponge Swords, Iga vs. Koga: “Reiwa Showdown” — Seeking “Ninja” Volunteers.”

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