The Negoro-shū (根来衆) were an order of Sōhei residing in Negoro-ji temple in Kii Province, Japan. Like their Ikko-Ikki contemporaries in Ishiyama Hongan-ji, the Negoro-shū monks were famed for their effectiveness with firearms and the naginata, the traditional weapon of the Sōhei. Followers of the Shingi sect of Shingon Buddhism, they nonetheless maintained amicable relations with other Sōhei orders, even coming to aid in the defence of Hongan-ji.
Their own stronghold came under siege in 1585, with most of the inhabitants fleeing to Ōta castle, the home of the Saika branch of the Ikko-Ikki. Twenty-five survivors of the siege joined the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu, becoming the elite core of his arquebus regiments. The temple was visited by the missionary Father Gaspar Vilela, a Portuguese Jesuit. He noted similarities between the monks and the Knights of Rhodes, although he mentioned how the monks often did not take monastic vows, instead focusing on martial skills. Not only were the monks skilled users of arquebuses, but were highly talented gunsmiths as well as master fletchers. Unlike the monastic orders of Europe, the Negoro-shū monks lived a far less ascetic life often indulging in the "sinful" acts of sex, alcohol and song.