![]() The level of respect Fujita commanded among his contemporaries is evidenced in the fact that prominent martial artists directed their most promising students to train with Fujita. Two of these students in particular, Inoue Motokatsu and Iwata Manzo, would become grandmasters in their own right, and their experiences are vital in instructing us as to the level of regard in which Fujita's abilities were held by his contemporaries. Additionally, their training under Fujita provides us with evidence of Fujita's intentions regarding the preservation and transmission of his various martial arts systems, with particular focus on his Koga Ryu Wada Ha. It is from this perspective that Fujita's association with prominent martial artists and his training of Inoue and Iwata are especially instructive to us, particularly as relates to the fate of his Koga Ryu Wada Ha. That Fujita was the legitimate inheritor of the Koga Ryu Wada Ha was accepted by his contemporaries, and by the Bugei Ryuha Daijiten, both of which provide credible support for Fujita's claim that he inherited a legitimate and unbroken Ninjutsu lineage. Additionally, Fujita, as early as 1936, had written a book called Ninjutsu Hiroku, (Ninjutsu In depth) which demonstrates that at least 30 years before his death, and decades before Japan's own ninja boom, Fujita was claiming to have inherited the Koga Ryu Wada Ha system as its 14th soke. Moreover, in light of his death on 4th January 1966, the relevance of the debate as to whether Fujita truly inherited a legitimate Ninjutsu lineage becomes moot, unless it can be demonstrated that Fujita designated a successor. The relevant question then becomes whether the historical record supports the claim of Koga Ryu Wada Ha's inheritance by anyone of the numerous individuals who have concurrently claimed to be Fujita's lineal successor. |