I did Takenouchi ryu (Bichu-den) all throughout my university career, but there isn't a dojo or training group in the Bay Area so I've been looking for another style to dip my feet into so I can keep those skills breathing.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I want to learn about sword arts from around the world. While I primarily study HEMA, I also look at Olympic fencing and Kendo to see what I can learn that isn't taught/emphasized in what I usually do. However, whereas as HEMA, Kendo, and Olympic fencing all have mountains of free resources online, Kenjutsu have barely anything.

From reading the comments here, there seems to still exist an expectation to not show techniques to outsiders. It made sense back in the days, but why so secretive today? If I want to choose one to study, there isn't even enough to decipher which one is a good fit. Is it just that the schools want to ensure that learners go and pay them? But we already know that you can't learn well from online materials alone, so surely that's not a concern right? If anything, wouldn't putting some educational materials out there inspire more interest and more students?

https://youtu.be/8MsuDn9a6SQ

I was curious about the accuracy of this video (or just this channel in general). He claims that the idea that certain Japanese martial arts "came from the battlefield" is a myth because very few of injuries on the battlefield could be attributed to "those martial arts."

I am pretty new to the area of martial arts history so I was curious how you guys would receive this.

Suio-ryu Iai Kenpo Masaki-ryu Kusarigama-jutsu Meiji Jingu Dedicatory Performance November 3, 2024

https://youtu.be/DkuvTGv2eXo

Some videos of thsi years embu at Meiji Shrine were already uploaded:

https://youtube.com/@hitotsugu_takenouchiryu_bittyu?si=5RmNYC7_VuY6wzl8

Personally, one of the highlights was the embu of Bokuden-ryu Kenjutsu, which joined after 80 years again to demonstrate.

How are you all? Anyone here know a place to learn Japanese jujutsu or aikijujutsu around Nashville? I can drive 90 minutes maybe if worth, have a good weekend!

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Now we’re going to look at how Yagyū Shinkage Ryū is practiced, particularly in relation to levels of “aliveness.” The Yagyū Shinkage Ryū curriculum is broadly divided into two groups: the honden (original teachings) and the gaiden (supplemental teachings). The honden are the tachi devised and passed down by Kamiizumi Hidetsuna and Yagyū Munetoshi (including beginner’s versions of two of these forms devised by 5th soke Yagyū Renya and 6th soke Lord Tokugawa Mitsutomo). The gaiden are made up of the shiai-seihō devised by assistant instructor Nagaoka Fusashige, plus some unique forms developed by Renya.

Let’s say that a young man named Tarō has joined Yagyū Shinkage Ryū. His first couple of training sessions he learns the reihō, he learns (more or less) how walk with his shinai held overhead, how to do a straight cut with both feet, how to do a diagonal cut with his right foot (right to left), and then his left foot (left to right). Then he learns how to do gasshi. It’s the most essential gokui of Yagyū Shinkage Ryū, and the hardest thing to do right, so naturally it is the very first thing he learns how to do. Very quickly, he’s taught the five parts of Sangaku En no Tachi. This is a beginner’s version, with all exchanges happening from that shinai overhead position. As soon as he knows the basic shape of this, he’s moved on to the first shiai-seihō. This is Airaito Hasseihō: eight distinct seihō to teach fundamentals. These two kata are going to be pretty much all his training for the next sixth months. (Some other lines might include the beginner’s version of Kuka no Tachi at this stage, but the idea is still the same.) In the honden he will polish the mental/spiritual side (kurai) while practicing timing, and the subtle interaction of cutting lines. In the shiai-seihō, he will work on energetic, whole-body movement while honing his senses of timing and distance. Nagaoka wrote in his commentary of the shiai-seihō that, "I have included the rocks with the jewels, to encourage 博文約礼 hakubun-yakurei (correct behavior by broad learning)."

In this initial phase, Tarō’s practice is what we call torigai 鳥飼, which means “bird-handling.” Uchidachi’s shinai will never strike Tarō, but Tarō’s shinai will always strike the uchidachi. The idea here is to train a conditioned response. One might think that he is learning how to “do it right,” but “correctness” is less of a concern than doing it with whole body and spirit. Better to make a mistake doing it with all that you are than timidly and pedantically trying to “do it right.”

Eventually, as Tarō starts moving well, carrying himself with confidence and dignity, he learns the next shiai-seihō forms: fourteen with Tarō in seigan against an uchidachi with shinai overhead, and then another eight with Tarō in gedan against uchidachi with shinai overhead. In our line, this is where he learns the beginner’s form of Kuka no Tachi. At this point, his seniors start practicing with him in a way we call torigai higiri. Higiri can be written in two ways: 間斬り “cutting openings” or 非斬り “cutting what should not be.” Having gotten into the habit of doing things with all his body and mind, now Tarō starts working on getting the technical aspects right, because uchidachi’s shinai will strike him if the technique is not properly performed. The important distinction between this stage and later stages is that the uchidachi is not specifically trying to hit Tarō, other than in the sense of cutting to particular target. Rather, the hits could be considered “self-inflicted.” If Tarō did not do the technique wrong, he would not have been hit. His uchidachi is simply fully cutting to a particular target. Although Tarō begins to be struck on his hands or legs, it’s not especially painful and skin scrapes aside, it’s rarely injurious. Again, the goal is creating a further conditioned response: ignoring being struck, staying in the moment, and continuing the kata.

Tarō’s practice continues, and sometime after a year of regular training, he learns the standard version of Sangaku En no Tachi, with cuts starting from a chūdan or gedan position. He’s learned to make these kinds of cuts in the various shiai-seihō, so it is not a big jump to start doing the form in this way. Now his seniors start practicing in a way called higiri. Here Tarō’s uchidachi really start stress-testing him. Targets become variable. If his uchidachi see an opening, or they see Tarō starting to rely too much on the expected form of the kata, they may break the kata to strike where he has left himself open.

Tarō’s uchidachi begin altering timing and distance and making Tarō adjust. Particularly in the shiai-seihō, his uchidachi try to push Tarō out of his comfort zone, so that he can see where he needs to improve. And while being struck in earlier stages didn’t really hurt, being struck here hurts a lot. At this point, Tarō’s conditioned response has been trained enough so that even while his brain registers that a hit really smarts, he doesn’t even flinch.

The ability to properly watch his uchidachi and respond if they bend or even break the kata is important, because sometime 2 to 3 years after joining, Tarō starts learning how to do the uchidachi side. Initially, he will practice uchidachi with others of roughly the same level, and they are not as precise or controlled as the veterans he’s been practicing with until now. At the same time as he is learning uchidachi for the shiai-seihō he already knew, he’s also learning new shiai-seihō. These new shiai-seihō are especially helpful, as often they are set-up the opposite of the earlier shiai-seihō he learned: shidachi with shinai overhead against uchidachi in seigan or gedan. Essentially, he is learning, as shidachi, counters and responses to the techniques he’s receiving as uchidachi in the earlier shiai-seihō. But not in sense of “If A, then B,” but rather, “here are multiple possible ways of dealing with something A-like.”

Four to five years in, Tarō learns both the shidachi and uchidachi side of the standard version of Kuka no Tachi. This is significant because until now, his practice with his juniors has been under the watchful eye of a senior. But now he’s considered a shidosha, someone who can be trusted to practice with a junior on his own. At the same time, his practice with other shidosha now moves to the higiri-jiai stage. This means that both shidachi and uchidachi are on the look out for openings, and may break the kata if applicable. But in the case of the shiai-seihō, is it breaking the kata if one simply slips into another kata?

Let’s look at a practical example. In the 2nd seihō of Airaito Hasseihō, shidachi and uchidachi approach. Shortly before entering into cutting distance, shidachi surreptitiously slips their foot into range, and quickly strikes at uchidachi’s upraised forearm. Shidachi follows up by advancing a few steps, pushing uchidachi back. It is incumbent that shidachi stay in contact with uchidachi as uchidachi retreats and not get stuck in place or run out of steam. The reason why is demonstrated in a later shiai-seihō. In that later seihō, the set-up is exactly the same with shidachi striking first and driving uchidachi back. But in that seihō, uchidachi shoots back to create enough distance do a retreating cut at shidachi’s hands. Shidachi must now switch from driving uchidachi back, to cutting down this new attack. Between two veteran practitioners, familiar with these seihō, it is nothing for uchidachi to slip into the later seihō if he deems shidachi’s cut and advance is not sufficiently preventing him from doing so. Ideally, shidachi should be able to naturally respond to it, as trained. And that response may not necessarily be from the same seihō!

Practically, one may not see many such variations over the course of a practice. At that point, practitioners are so aware that it could happen that they practice so it doesn’t happen. Their practice is infused with the tension of this potentiality. The standard “shape” of the kata is not the goal of the practice, but simply the end result of both practitioners fulfilling the particular parameters of that kata. The infrequent, but not uncommon, variations are themselves entirely valid shapes.

It should also be noted that while these various stages have been clearly delineated through the example of Tarō’s practice above, in actuality the boundaries are not so distinct. From the beginning, Tarō’s been told to look out for openings in his uchidachi, and even to strike them if he sees them. Depending on his relationship and affinity with various seniors, as well as the particular thing being practiced, his torigai practice was leavened with torigai-higiri, or even straight higiri to illustrate a particular point, or to point out his own inattention/reliance on the expected shape of the kata.

And while it is ostensibly expected, and the ideal form of practice, higiri-jiai can be a fraught affair. Trust is needed, for both safety and for the maintenance of personal relationships, particularly among peers. There is a fine line between good-faith demonstration of an opening, and cheap-shotting someone. Some people, finding it a little too intense to do among their peers, or reluctant to do it with seniors, end up only doing a kind of torigai-higiri.

But with this framework, we can see how Yagyū Toshinaga saw another step to bridge higiri-jiai to full on shiai: you can set up shiai within particular shiai-seihō parameters—say, jodan vs chudan or jodan vs jodan—either open or with specified targets. And you can also see Nagaoka Fusashige’s goal: you can have entirely open shiai, where the strategies, targets, and techniques, are heavily informed by shapes vigorously trained in the shiai-seihō.

So, currently, entirely open shiai is not officially practiced in mainline Yagyū Shinkage Ryū. Should it be?

I don’t it think necessarily needs to be. For one, modern kendo is an outlet for people who really just want to engage is a kind of free practice, unbound by any parameters of kata-geiko.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that maintaining the integrity of the honden and gaiden requires intensive effort. I don’t know if it’s a manifestation of entropy, but even now, doing kata exclusively, in the manner described above, some people with the best of intentions have a tendency to do the kata in a mannered way, or, desiring to do the kata “right,” do not imbue it with the life it needs. I fear that, as Yagyū Toshimichi suggested, if we split our limited time between kata and shiai, that tendency would be increased, particularly if the shiai came to be seen as doing it “for real”. I go back to Nagaoka-sensei’s preface to the shiai-seihō, and note that even back then, shiai were enough of an issue that he actually created more kata.

In the meantime, higiri and higiri-jiai provide a degree of “aliveness” for feedback, particularly in the shiai-seihō. And finally, by diligently working to maintain the process described here, a framework exists to return to shiai if desired.

In conclusion, Yagyū Shinkage Ryū Heihō is a Sengoku era ryūha extant today with a focus exclusively on kata, but which has nevertheless been strongly associated with shiai in its practice since its beginning. Its dedicated use of the fukuroshinai allows it to create a spectrum of “aliveness” throughout the training process. It is probable that similar ryūha existed throughout the Edo period. Yagyū Shinkage Ryū can be seen as an exemplar of the type of ryū in the Meiji period that, when faced with the change of kendo from distinct “proprietary” styles to a more homogenized “open source” paradigm, chose to maintain a primary focus on its kata in order to preserve its particular character.

Home page claims a lineage going back as far as the 1600s, but honestly that doesn't say much. No Wikipedia article, seems like there is some connections to Mugai-ryu.

Is it some sort of new school?

Hello !
I've been practicing Japanese martial arts my whole life more or less.
I recently got interested in Hema and weapon martial arts.
What are you guys thoughts about Hema?
How would it compare to kenjutsu in general?

To be more precise, I haven't practiced Kenjutsu. I've done mostly Japanese & Okinawan karate.
I'm just interested in both Kenjutsu and Hema.

I'm no expert but I'd say the biggest difference is kenjutsu practice has been kept alive for centuries while Hema is more like a reconstructed martial art from books.
Hema is perhaps more modern and has a higher focus on sparring. Like traditional asian martial arts, Kenjutsu is more codified.

Thank you !

I looked into a list of Kenjutsu styles that existed in the late 1800s, and it seems like there were considerably more styles than what is known that may have lasted as recently as the 1960s. The 1930s and WW2 seems to have been something of a finishing blow for smaller ryuha that had been holding on and not absorbed into things like Kendo.

Hello,

I heard somewhere that some years ago there was some drama in the Suio-Ryu European community regarding Robert Rodriguez and how he (used to) led the school in Europe.

What happened? How does the school stand nowadays in Europe and in regards with him?

I've been wanting to get into Owari Kan Ryuu Soujutsu, which uses a special kind of yari that slides through a metal tube, called a kuda. Unfortunately, I have no idea on specifications for making one, nor a real life example to work with, and finding any information about kudayari online in either Japanese or English feels next-to-impossible. Are there any guides on how to make your own (I have plenty of metalworking experience, so that's not an issue for me), or anyone who is able to make them? TIA

My instinct would be that since Aikido is a pacifist style and Daito Ryu is for war that Daito Ryu would be a much more aggressive style. Perhaps more overlap with Judo, BJJ, or the grappling aspects of Goju Ryu?

For those that have done both, how much Daito Ryu is not found in Aikido?

Hello, I'm new to Koryu and don't know if it's rude to ask about someone here, so please accept my apologies if it is.

I'm planning to join a seminar of Takara Takanashi Sensei. The seminar information says it's about Niten Ichi-ryu. I don't know anything about him, and couldn't find much online.

I'd really appreciate if you can give me some information about him (like how legitimate he is, and his ranking etc). I'm going through very tough times financially, and joining a seminar in another city is something that i can barely afford.

I might slowly start to have savings to get a yoroi. My group practices in them every now and then (as in, doing kenjutsu and other kata but not randori or jujutsu), but given my size (mostly height) I have had hard time to wear any. Most of my peers seem to go for Iron Mountain armoury, but that is seemingly due to the price vs quality (perception of it at least). In addition, I know of Romance of Men and Marutake at least. Tozando also sells some, but I don’t know who the maker is.

I’m asking for help in getting experiences from others what they have found to be good, bad and the ugly with makers, and perhaps hint me about makers that would make custom sizes. Price is not really a concern - I am sure some may be way out of the budget, but I’ll worry about that later. Right now I’d love to know what’s available and how they rank regarding quality & historical accuracy.

Does the Mugai Ryu taught at the Tenshinkai dojo in Germany include kenjutsu in its curriculum? From which lineage of Mugai Ryu does it originate? Is daisho used in this dojo? Is there anyone in Poland representing this specific lineage?

Question: historically speaking, when did your school you belong to start using the term Soke? If they don't use this term, is there any reason why? What other term is being used? Thanks and regards

This might sound like a weird question but bear with me here.

So a few days ago me and a friend of mine had a discussion about the A-bombs that were deployed around the end of WW2, and the topic of Kyoto came up. The Kyoto Butokuden was there, the Budo Senmon Gakko was there, it was probably somewhat of a hub for martial arts. Kyoto was almost the target of the 1st nuclear bomb, until Secretary Harry Stimson ordered the city to be untouched for reasons not clear to this day.

But what if it *was* bombed, alt history is always weird due to the butterfly effects it may cause, but let's just say the Americans did blow the place up with a nuke. Are you aware of any famous martial artists or schools that were based in Kyoto, that might have been taken out by the bomb?

Recently been playing ghost of Tsushima, I really like the samurai style. I want to learn kenjutsu from a really high quality kenjutsu school in or near London, but don’t know how I can find one.

I have attempted to look online, however it overwhelms me so need some guidance.

Can anyone help?

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• Part 2
• Part 4

Later Historical Record of Yagyū Shinkage Ryū

There is little written about Yagyū Shinkage Ryū as it was in the 1700s. Renya’s nephew Toshinobu succeeded him as head of the family and instructor the Owari Tokugawa. He took the ryū into the 18th century and then passed it on to his son Toshitomo, who then passed it on to his son Toshiharu.

One of Toshiharu’s students was a man named Nagaoka Tōrei Fusashige. Nagaoka inherited from his father the position of shihan-hosa, assistant instructor to the sōke. Nagaoka’s official post in the Owari Domain was to train martial arts, particularly Shinkage Ryū, and to write about them. Toshiharu was succeeded by his son Toshiyuki, but Toshiyuki died at a relatively young age, and was succeeded by his teenage son, Toshihisa. But then Toshihisa also died at age 20, when his own son, Toshishige, was still a baby. Toshiharu’s younger brother, Toshimasa, together with Nagaoka, kept things together until Toshishige could come of age and grow into his role as sōke.

One thing Nagaoka noticed was that people were struggling in shiai. His solution was to devise more kata. He referred to these kata as seihō 勢法, to distinguish them from the original kata of the ryu, which are called tachi 太刀. The sei refers to ikioi, which means force and momentum, but also carries a nuance of the natural course of things. Hō refers to methods and principles. In the preface to his description of these seihō, Nagaoka wrote:

“There are many beginners who do not understand the way to achieve victory in shiai, and then go headlong down the wrong road. So I, Fusashige, have devised seihō in the broad outlines of shiai, with the teachings of the past masters, based on the forms of certain victory in the old [armored] style and new [unarmored] style, and give them to my fellows beginning their study.”[1]

Okay, so what are the shiai-seihō and what makes them different from the tachi so that they can aid the learner in shiai? Most of the tachi (Empi no Tachi being the notable exception) are split into distinct parts which are made up of one or two exchanges between the practitioners. The shiai-seihō typically feature 3 or 4 exchanges chained together, some even have 8 or 9, and some of them have effectively no upper limit, bound only by physical space and uchidachi’s wherewithal. They are also dynamic: within these multiple exchanges, attacks and responses come from high and low, from the left and the right, from far out and from close in, with both shidachi and uchidachi moving forward or moving back. After the new practitioner has learned the first three shiai-seihō, totalling 30 distinct sections, they have acquired the basic skill to respond to an attack from any angle, to any target on their body. Finally, they are highly permutable. Different seihō share similar parameters, so that one can flow into another, or the response in one might be used in a different, but similar seihō.

Nagaoka’s description of Gasshi, the very first part of the first shiai-seihō is also very interesting from the perspective of historic shiai. (Here is a description in case the link above should ever break; shidachi and uchidachi start standing roughly 30 feet apart, and with shinai held overhead, both approach the middle. They stop at a point with both just a little outside striking distance. Uchidachi takes a big step forward with their right foot, cutting straight. In response shidachi does the same, a big step forward with their right foot, cutting straight. The slight delay in shidachi’s response allows them cut over uchidachi’s cut, deflecting it to the side as shidachi’s shinai lands on uchidachi’s head. Both then step back, and do it again, this time cutting with the left foot.)

Nagaoka writes: “In the past, this was a type of higiri-jiai. Now we use the winning form of this shiai as a seihō.”[1]

I will talk about the meaning of higiri in the next part of this series, but there are three clear takeaways from these statements by Nagaoka. One is that shiai was a part of regular practice, and indeed that even beginners engaged in it. Two, we see issues with shiai being addressed with more kata. Third, with the statement “Gasshi is a type of shiai,” we can see that there are multiple parameters for shiai. It can be as open as a modern kendo shiai, or as limited as both practitioners in jōdan, both cutting straight against each other.

Moving on, young Toshishige eventually grew up and inherited the ryū and his hereditary position as heihō instructor. His son was Yagyū Sangorō Toshichika, the 19th sōke of Shinkage-ryū, and the last heihō instructor to the Owari Tokugawa. He oversaw the transition of the ryū from the Bakumatsu to the Meiji Era.

In 1868, Lord Yoshikatsu, the last lord of Owari and 18th sōke of Shinkage Ryū, opened the Meirindō, one of the early public schools of the Meiji era. As part of the school he also opened the Shidaibu Dojo, and invites practitioners of various ryūha to do uchikomi-jiai. Toshichika was appointed the dean of kenjutsu instruction for the dojo. According to Yagyū Toshinaga in his book Shōden Shinkage Ryū, the Shidaibu Dojo was devoted purely to shiai.[2]

The dojo project deteriorated after various edicts, such as the Haitorei, which ended the era of the bushi as warriors, and made the various ryūha ostensibly obsolete. In later years the Butokukai would be established to promote the training and transmission of classical and modern budo as a whole, but at that time Toshichika had decided to devote himself to purely passing down his family tradition of Shinkage Ryū.

I think what we have here is a major decision point for Shinkage Ryū. We can see the general trend towards shiai-centric practice, we can see the movement for involving multiple ryūha. Toshichika was intimately involved in that movement, at least as far as the Meirindō and Shidaibu Dojo were concerned. But either because of the experience, or in spite of it, Toshichika decided to step out of these movements, and focus on maintaining the essential character of Shinkage Ryū. We can imagine that had he chosen differently, Shinkage Ryū might have only survived in a few kata or pieces of kata in modern kendo.

On June 19th, 1885, Toshichika and his cousin Toshihiro traveled to Yagyū Village in Nara, and asked for a shiai with any of the former retainers of Yagyū Domain. I think it’s an interesting point that they did not offer to train or demonstrate kata, but that they wanted to see the vitality of the ryū in Yagyū Domain through a shiai.[2]

In 1913, Toshichika opened the Hekiyōkan Dōjō in Tokyo, and began teaching Shinkage-ryū to the Imperial Household Police. Toshichika’s son, Toshinaga, accompanied Toshichika to Tokyo, and was named sōke in 1922. He took over the Hekiyōkan after Toshichika retired back to Nagoya, and later opened the Kongōkan Dōjō, where he practiced until returning to Nagoya in 1935. While in Tokyo, he also taught kenjutsu to the Konoe Shidan (Imperial Guard).

In 1935, Yagyū Toshinaga gave a weeklong lecture series at Kokushikan University. These lectures were collected into a book called Kendō Hachikō, or “Eight Lectures on Kendo”. Kendo here is meant is the broadest possible sense as including modern kendo and classical schools. And here we can see Toshinaga’s image of ideal training, informed by his experience in Yagyū Shinkage Ryū.[3] I have already made a post about that lecture series, so in the interest of space, I will just provide a link to that.

Toshinaga shepherded Shinkage Ryū through the war and post-war years, eventually founding the Yagyūkai in 1955.

Toshinaga’s son, Nobuharu Toshimichi brought Shinkage-ryū to the 21st century, and accepted the first non-Japanese into the ryū that we know of. I want to wrap the historical examination by looking at his experience training during his teen years, as described in the book Dai-Sempai ni Kiku.

After practicing seihō they would don bōgu and try to actually strike each other with those techniques. About twenty primary school-age children would come to the dojo every Sunday, and [Toshimichi] was responsible for guiding them through basic practice.

He said, “There was a spirit of, ‘Let’s get some bōgu on and go at it freely, for real.’ Now I no longer have the old dojo, and time is limited, so we first work on the most important things.”[4]

The old Nagoya dojo, part of the Yagyū manor, burned down in the fire bombing of Nagoya in March of 1945, and the land was later appropriated by the city of Nagoya as part of the rezoning and reconstruction efforts. So it was at this point, after the war, roughly 400 years after the founding of the ryū, that Yagyū Shinkage Ryū moved to a kata-exclusive model.

Nevertheless, it maintains a path to shiai, both in the content of the shiai-seihō, and also in how all kata are practiced. I will explore this path in the next part.

[1] 新陰流兵法外伝 Shinkage Ryū Heihō Gaiden, “Shinkage Ryū Heihō Supplemental Teachings,” date unknown, by Nagaoka Fusashige, published in Shiryō Yagyū Shinkage Ryū, ed. Imamura Yoshio, revised edition 1995.

[2] 正伝新陰流 Shoden Shinkage Ryu, “True Transmission Shinkage Ryu,” 1957, by Yagyū Toshinaga.

[3] 剣道八講 Kendō Hachikō, “Eight Lectures of Kendo,” 1998, by Yagyū Toshinaga, ed. Yagyūkai.

[4] 大先輩に聞く Dai-sempai ni Kiku, “Listening to our Great Seniors,” 2005, by Taya Masatoshi.

32 years ago I used to go to Japan frequently, for work. Being an admirer of martial arts and Japanese traditions, and having read about the famous school, I decided to find it and visit, even not speaking a word in Japanese.

After some time looking and trying to find my way, I ended up at the Katori Shrine where I got written instructions on how to get to the dojo, which I showed around for getting pointed to the correct trains and buses, and finally to the dojo where I knocked.

Ultra polite as are the Japanese, the students brought me in and sat me on a cushion in the dojo. Ōtake Risuke arrived a few minutes later, I didn’t know how important he was but I could tell he was the Master. He sat beside me with a guest and a translator, and I got a three hour complete demonstration of the school’s skills, along with the Master’s explanation of how those translated to actual combat.

I was already feeling in the 16th century, but then the demonstration finished, the guest said goodbye, and I was taken to the dojo adjacent tea house where we had green tea, biscuits and strawberries. The Master asked about me, how I got there etc, with the eldest student and another student present, which I guess was the successor to be.

That experience marked me for life. Not just the Iaido with real swords, not all the skills and explanations, but the kindness and hospitality.

I am going to Japan in December with my family, and would love them to see a practice demonstration of that type (not the tourist things of course). Obviously I know I was incredibly lucky that time, but I wonder if there’s something authentic I could show my kids.

Title.

I do know that Hokushin Itto-ryu lost quite a lot of its curriculum quite recently, but the current Soke restored it.

The cringy samurai quotes is the bane of my existence, so in an attempt to deal with it, I had ChatGPT generate some motivational quotes "in the style of samurai". I must admit, this is just self-harming at this point.

Imo, cringy quotes are even worse than the hordes of youtube sharlatans "teaching kenjutsu". It's somehow even lazier than making up your own sword techniques because the real ones are too difficult. Idk how many knows this, but these quotes are all made by AI, and most of the replies are made by AI as well. I'm struggling to understand why they would both use bots to create the bullshit quotes and images as well as the replies to the posts (writing this, they probably get some sort of revenue from it). Either way, I hate it.

I'm kinda curious how many are able to detect which quotes are bullshit and which are not. I'm going to provide you with ten quotes, and it's up to you to determine which one was made by Musashi. +10 points if you can tell without looking up the quotes.

"Steel your heart, for in every battle, the mind is the sharpest blade."

"Honor is not bestowed; it is forged with every choice you make."

"A warrior’s path is not without hardship, but the storm strengthens the oak."

"Victory is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it."

"The samurai knows that patience is the silent weapon of the strong."

"One cut, one purpose: in life, every action must have its aim."

"The enemy within is stronger than any foe—conquer doubt, and no force can stand against you."

"A true warrior’s strength is not in his sword, but in his unwavering resolve."

"In stillness, find your center; in motion, find your purpose."

"The path of the warrior is not to seek perfection, but to be better today than you were yesterday."

https://preview.redd.it/0xz6madip0td1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=099500f97aff3cd46806ca173cafc2ab025ad466

• Part 1
• Part 3
• Part 4

Early Historical Record of Yagyū Shinkage Ryū

For this part, we’re going to look at mentions of shiai in the early historical record, stretching from the mid-1500s to the 1700s. One thing I didn’t want to do with this series was just appeal to my authority as a practitioner. So I have tried to as much as possible refer to primary sources. These are available in Japanese due to the work of the late Imamura Yoshio, professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Education. In particular, his mammoth two-volume work Shiryō Yagyū Shinkage Ryū (Historical Materials of Yagyū Shinkage Ryū), which provided transcriptions of a great number of historical documents related to Yagyū Shinkage Ryū.

 Kamiizumi Hidetsuna

We begin with Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami Hidetsuna, founder of Shinkage Ryū. It is often claimed that he invented the fukuro-shinai. Though based in Kōzuke Province, he made a number of trips to Kyoto in the late 1550s and 1560s to demonstrate Shinkage Ryū and meet with those interested in heihō. Per a Owari Yagyū record[1], in 1563 Kamiizumi visited Kitabatake Tomonori, Governor of Ise, and asked if he knew anyone who would like to test their skills in a shiai (仕相). Kitabatake suggested Yagyū Munetoshi, a minor lord and heihō enthusiast in Yamato Province. A meeting was arranged at Kōfuku Temple in Nara, not far from Yagyū Village.

They decided to hold the shiai between Munetoshi and Kamiizumi’s student, Suzuki Ihaku. Their match had three rounds, all of which Munetoshi lost. We know that the shiai used fukuro-shinai, because it is recorded that Munetoshi thought something was up, asked to compare shinai length and was surprised to find that Ihaku’s shinai was three inches shorter than his. This clearly takes the encounter out of the category of “duel” and clearly into the realm of shiai – a match to test their skills. Accordingly impressed by Kamiizumi’s art, Munetoshi asked to be taken on as a student. Kamiizumi and his students stayed in Yagyū Village for the better part of a year, training with Munetoshi and his family and retainers. We’ll come back to them in a bit.

 Around 1570, Kamiizumi sent a letter to Marume Kurando Nagayoshi. Marume became deshi of Kamiizumi in 1558; they demonstrated before Shōgun Ashikaga Toshiaki in 1564. Eventually Marume went to Kyushu, where he would initially teach Shinkage -ryū, and later founded Taisha ryū Hyōhō.

Kamiizumi’s letter contained the following lines mentioning shiai.

• 九州において、他流の兵法皆打払われた由を聞別し満足至り。“I am particularly pleased to hear that all other schools of heihō have been driven out of Kyushu.”
• 当月○○仕合停止せしむ可き旨、上意に候間、貴殿も仕合無用に候。“About shiai (仕合 ) being ceased on [unclear] of this month, as this is the desire of your lord, you have no need to do shiai .”[2]

Yagyū Munetoshi

Now let’s return to Yagyū Munetoshi. Munetoshi stayed involved in the various conflicts of the Sengoku Period for the next 10 years after meeting Kamiizumi., but eventually retired as general to devote himself to heihō. About 10 years after that, he wrote the Yagyū Kaken, or the Yagyū Family Constitution, in 1589. This document essentially laid out what he saw as the correct attitude to have one’s approach to his heihō.

Here Munetoshi writes of shiai in a negative fashion, but what is interesting is the implications those statements hold. Some selected lines (translated by me):

• “What is most lamentable is being ignorant of inner teachings, vain for glory in shiai, and not only bringing shame to oneself, but being known for a certain Way, and thus bringing difficulties to a teacher of a ryū of heihō; this is truly, truly the greatest of faults.”
• “First, in this ryū, there should be no need for shiai. To elaborate, the most important thing is to not abandon all other ryū, but to discipline oneself in the Way, attend to other ryū, and inquire into them.”
• “A man with one letter is the teacher of the man with none; do not overcome other ryū. Determine to overcome today the self of yesterday.”
• “The ways of my house must not be passed on to vain people, that do not diligently practice the Omotedachi*, but enjoy shiai, and deride the ways of other ryū.”[3]

 *“Omotedachi” refers to first three kata one learned at the time, the quintessential, most representative kata of Shinkage Ryū.

So, obviously what Kamiizumi’s letter and the Yagyū Kaken are referring to is what is commonly called taryū-jiai, that is, shiai between practitioners of different schools. And what can see here is a certain ambivalence to them. On one hand, both Kamiizumi and Munetoshi engaged in shiai with other schools; that’s how Munetoshi joined the school, and Kamiizumi praises Marume for his success in the same. At the same time, when Marume’s lord puts a moratorium on such shiai, Kamiizumi is completely fine with that. Munetoshi, perhaps due to some incalcitrant student, has a very negative view of such shiai, at least when paired with a negative attitude towards other schools.

Munetoshi’s lament, along with Marume’s lord barring such shiai points to a culture, or perhaps a subculture of shiai among late Sengoku bugeisha. I would go further to suggest that if you have shiai between ryūha, then you likely have shiai within ryūha, as well. Particularly when have the technology to make those feasible, such as fukuro-shinai.

Munetoshi’s note about not practicing the Omotedachi is particularly notable. In a kata-only tradition, doing the kata is training in the school. If the kata were the only training in Shinkage Ryū, then not training the Omotedachi would mean you are not training in Shinkage Ryū. It seems clear to me that Munetoshi is lamenting a bias in training, focusing on getting better at shiai at the expense of diligent practice of the kata.

In 1593, Munetoshi took lay orders and began using the name Sekishūsai. The same year, he wrote a collection of heihōka, poems about heihō. These are in the tanka short verse form, which is 31 syllables, in 5-7-5-7-7 meter. Here are three that I think are relevant to this discussion:

仕相して打たれて恥の兵法と心にたへずくふうしてよし “Consider it shameful heihō to be struck in shiai; constantly innovate in your heart.”

Now this could simply be referring to the same kind of sentiment expressed earlier in the Yagyū Kaken, that it is shameful to be caught up in the glory of shiai. But another, and I think more likely, way to read it is as an admonition to reflect on why one might lose in a training shiai, and work to overcome that. I believe the latter half recommending constant innovation in the heart suggests this reading.

The next two refer to using a kodachi (short sword).

無刀とるつもり位を稽古して小太刀のこころがんみ（玩味）して知れ “Train the spirit and distance of mutō-dori by savoring and knowing the spirit of kodachi.”

兵法のあらそひくらいは、小太刀にてたがひの弟子ぜひしくらべよ “For spirit in a contest of heihō; measure with a kodachi the good and bad of each of your students.”[4]

The received understanding of this last one is that one should test one’s students’ “spirit” (kurai) using a kodachi. What is significant here is that, at this time, there were no official kata in Shinkage Ryū that used kodachi. The first kodachi kata was added to the school by Sekishūsai’s great-grandson, and then this was expanded on in the mid-Edo period. That suggests that what Sekishūsai is talking about is shiai using a kodachi. This is reinforced by a story about the 3rd soke, Sekishūsai’s grandson Hyōgonosuke.

Yagyū Hyōgonosuke

Yagyū Hyōgonosuke Toshitoshi was the third 3rd sōke of Shinkage-ryū, and is considered Kaiso, or founder, of the Owari Yagyū family. He was the son of Sekishūsai’s eldest son, and learned Shinkage Ryū at his grandfather’s knee. He became the heihō instructor to the Owari Tokugawa, in Nagoya, in 1615.

Hyōgonosuke was primarily the instructor of Tokugawa Yoshinao. Yoshinao was the 9th son of Ieyasu, and the first lord of Owari Domain. He received inka from Hyōgonosuke and so is considered the 4th sōke of Shinkage Ryū.

 Kashima Dōen was a middle-aged doctor and student of Hyōgonosuke. He had trained in another ryūha in his youth, and so had some difficulty adjusting to the Shinkage Ryū way of doing things. As a result, he took copious notes about his training. As was the custom, he arranged for these notes, along with all documents related to his involvement in the ryū, to be collected and given to the Yagyū family after his death.

One of the entries in his training diary was as follows:

寛永五年戊辰六月十九日の朝、師小太刀にて、我道円中太刀にて、位を視るぞ。“The morning of July 20, 1628, my teacher (Hyōgonosuke) with a kodachi, and I, Dōen, with a regular tachi, (he said) “I’ll look at your kurai.”[5]

Kurai wo miru zo (I’ll look at your kurai) was Hyōgonosuke’s phrase for doing a shiai with his students. Again, we can be pretty sure this is a shiai because there were no kodachi kata in Hyōgonosuke’s day.

Another story of shiai in Hyōgonosuke’s day involves the grandson of Kamiizumi Hidetsuna, Kamiizumi Sonshirō Hideaki, who came to Nagoya serve the Owari Tokugawa. He asked Hyōgonosuke for a match, but first had to defeat Hyōgonosuke’s student Takada Sannojō. Sonshirō lost to Takada and became his student, also receiving training from Hyōgonosuke.[1]

Yagyū Renya

Finally, we have stories of Yagyū Renya Toshikane, Hyōgonosuke’s third son. In those days, a third son might be expected to marry into another family, or take orders to become a priest. But Hyōgonosuke’s oldest son, Kiyotoshi, was killed in the Shimabara Rebellion. Toshikata, his second son, and now heir, initially took over from Hyōgonosuke as heihō instructor, but Renya was so skilled at Shinkage Ryū that Toshikata stepped aside. Renya was the 5th sōke of Shinkage Ryū.

As Renya was famed in the Owari Yagyū family for his skill, there were a number of accounts about his skill that were told decades after his death. Not all of these are entirely reliable, but here are two that seem pretty solid.

It is related in Mukashibanashi (Stories of Old), a history of the Owari Domain, that at age 12 or 13, Renya would have shiai with the other children of Hyōgonosuke’s students, taking all of them at the same time. If any of other children struck him, he would give them money. He would come home with his arms swollen from welts, and when he struggled to tie his obi, his mother would turn away to hide her tears.[6]

Then, at age 18 (1643), Renya become heihō instructor to Lord Mitsutomo, the son and heir of Lord Yoshinao. Two different accounts relate that upon Renya’s arrival in Edo, Mitsutomo arranged a gauntlet of 30-some opponents who did Shinkage Ryū or Ittō Ryū. It is written that Renya went “2 or 3 rounds each” (二三本つゞ). This suggests something very much like the modern kendo scoring system. It should be noted, though, that the earliest of the two accounts of this gauntlet was written in 1739, nearly a hundred years after it supposedly took place. Though even that indicates that friendly shiai were considered normal and believable as far back as 1739.[6][7]

 This concludes the review of the early history of Shinkage Ryū. I wanted to present these accounts as neutrally as possible, so people can make up their own minds, but I should note here that there is no question within the Owari Yagyū family that shiai was a part of training at this time. When there is commentary that Shinkage Ryū was banned from engaging in shiai because it was patronized by the Tokugawa family, it should be understood that this applied to inter-ryū contests, and not to intra-ryū training.

In the next part, we will look at the more explicit use of training shiai in Shinkage Ryū in the 19th and 20th centuries.

References

[1] 柳生新陰流縁起 Yagyū Shinkage Ryū Engi, “Origin of Yagyū Shinkage Ryū” (editor’s title), excerpted from the 後悔記 Kokaiki “Record of Regret,” 1718, by Yagyū Toshinobu, published in Shiryō Yagyū Shinkage Ryū, ed. Imamura Yoshio, revised edition 1995.

[2] 正伝新陰流 Shoden Shinkage Ryū, “True Transmission Shinkage Ryū,” 1957, by Yagyu Toshinaga, quoting 劍道の發達 Kendō no Hattatsu, “The Development of Kendo,” 1921, by Shimokawa Ushio.

[3] 柳生家憲 Yagyū Kaken, “Yagyū Family Constitution,” 1589, by Yagyū Tajima-no-Kami Munetoshi, reprinted in Yagyūkai lecture materials.

[4] 兵法百首 Heihō Hyakushu, “100 Poems of Heihō,” 1593, by Yagyū Sekishūsai Songon, published in Shiryō Yagyū Shinkage Ryū, ed. Imamura Yoshio, revised edition 1995.

[5] 道円集 Dōenshu, “Collection of Dōen,” 1628, by Kashima Dōen, reprinted in Yagyūkai lecture materials.

[6] 昔咄 Mukashibanashi, “Stories of Old,” 1739, by Chikamatsu Shigenori, published in Shiryō Yagyū Shinkage Ryū, ed. Imamura Yoshio, revised edition 1995.

[7] 連也翁一代記 Renya-ō Ichidaiki, “Life of the Venerable Renya,” 1847, Iinuma Moriyoshi, published in Shiryō Yagyū Shinkage Ryū, ed. Imamura Yoshio, revised edition 1995.

Maybe discounting World War 2, when was the last time a head of a style engaged in armed melee combat with another trained swordsman? Did he modify his curriculum in light of his experiences?

I don't know which one to choose