Hanzō's reputation as a samurai leader who commanded a 200-men strong unit of Iga warriors has grown to legendary proportions. Tales of Hattori's exploits often attributed various supernatural abilities, such as teleportation, psychokinesis, and precognition.

After his death in 1597, Hattori Hanzō was succeeded by his son, whose name was also Masanari (third Hanzō), though written with different kanji (正就 instead of 正成). He was given the title Iwami no Kami (石見守) and his Iga men would act as guards of Edo Castle, the headquarters of the government of united Japan. "Hanzō" is actually a name passed down through the leaders of the Hattori family, meaning his father was also called Hanzō and so was his successor. Indeed, there were at least five people known as Hattori Hanzō throughout history.

To this day, artefacts of Hanzō's legacy remain. Tokyo Imperial Palace (formerly the shōgun's palace) still has a gate called Hanzō's Gate (Hanzōmon), and the Hanzōmon subway line which runs from Hanzōmon Station in central Tokyo to the southwestern suburbs is named after the gate, where his house was once located. The neighbourhood outside Hanzō's Gate is known as Wakaba, but before 1943 was named Iga-chō ("Iga Town"). Hanzō's remains now rest in the Sainen-ji temple cemetery in Yotsuya, Tokyo. The temple also holds his favourite spear and ceremonial battle helmet. The spear, originally 14 shaku (424 cm) long, 7.5 kg in weight, and given to him by Ieyasu, was donated to the temple by Hanzō as a votive offering, but was damaged during the bombing of Tokyo in 1945. Some of his other belongings are still in relatively good condition and can be viewed, but most other weapons, armour, and letters of commendation were lost due to a fire in Edo castle in 1606 that burned down his former quarters, the removal of his son from military command, and the chaos of the Siege of Osaka.
As a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hanzō was more popularly known in modern era as archetypical ninja figure and is featured in many fictional works. However, Hanzō was not featured in the first ninja boom of the Taishō era (1912-1926), as during that era, the ninja archetype figure in fictional works were more dominated by Sarutobi Sasuke and Kirigakure Saizō. Hanzō only started to gain his acknowledgement as legendary ninja in fictional works in the 1950s in various mediums such as novels, manga, anime, Japanese television drama, movies, and theatre of Japan. Important works in the process of creating "Ninja Hattori Hanzo" reputation include Shibata Renzaburo's "Akai Kageboshi" (1960) and Yamada Futaro's short story "Ninja Hattori Hanzo" (1964). The former portrays Hanzō as a central character who is deeply involved with the protagonist and runs through the story. The latter is a work that shows that "Hattori Hanzo" does not refer to a specific person, but is a n…

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• Fūma Kotarō

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