Araki-ryu
荒木流捕手小具足An old Japanese school whose curriculum koryu.com opens with torite kogusoku. Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai lists it three times, in Gunma and Kanagawa.
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About Araki-ryu
Araki-ryu is an old Japanese school. The Daijisen dictionary lists it as a jujutsu school founded by Araki Mujinsai in the late Muromachi period, comprising kenpo, torite, iai and kogusoku. The Nipponica encyclopedia describes it as a kenpo school with kogusoku, torite, iai, the staff and kusarigama, also called Mujinsai-ryu. According to Nipponica, however, a horsemanship school and a swordsmanship school with other founders bear the same name. Koryu.com places its origin around 1573, and the Nihon Jinmei Daijiten Plus dictionary writes that the founder obtained the secret teaching in the Keicho era. We have not found the year of origin documented. The reading of the name also differs: Daijisen reads Hidetsuna, koryu.com Hidenawa, and English Wikipedia gives the form Muninsai. Koryu.com lists in the curriculum torite kogusoku, tojutsu, bojutsu, naginatajutsu with nagamaki, kusarigamajutsu, chigirikijutsu and ryofundojutsu. Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai has three listings: Araki-ryu Gunyo Kogusoku in Chigasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture and, twice, Araki-ryu Kenpo in Isesaki in Gunma Prefecture. Koryu.com names Kikuchi Kunimitsu, Arakawa Seishin and Suzuki Nobuo as representatives, based in Gunma and Saitama.
History
The Nihon Jinmei Daijiten Plus dictionary states that Araki Mujinsai obtained the secret teaching in the Keicho era through prayers on Mount Atago near Kyoto, that he was originally called Fujiwara, and that he also used other forms as an artistic name. English Wikipedia, following the school's own text on the rebirth of Araki-ryu, relates that the founder Fujiwara no Katsuzane reached enlightenment after a hundred days in a shrine on Mount Atago. Japanese Wikipedia writes that he received the secret teaching in a dream. Japanese Wikipedia adds that Toyotomi Hidetsugu is said to have praised his art. English Wikipedia cites the work Honcho bugei shoden from 1711 to 1715, according to which nobody knows where Araki Mujinsai came from, but his torite techniques were famous. According to English Wikipedia, almost all of the more than forty lines examined descend from the second holder, Mori Kasuminosuke. This source regards the line in Isesaki, begun by the ninth teacher Komine Bundayu, as the central one.
How it differs
The Nipponica encyclopedia distinguishes three Araki-ryu schools: equestrian, swordsmanship and the kenpo school of Araki Mujinsai, for which it also lists several branches. English Wikipedia lists as present-day currents two factions in Isesaki, Araki-ryu Gunyo Kogusoku and several iaido groups with no obvious technical connection to the others. Japanese Wikipedia writes that Gunma also had lines in Annaka and Maebashi and that in the Edo period it was probably the prefecture's largest martial school, but today only the line from the Isesaki area operates in an organized way. It places the Gunyo Kogusoku line in Saitama, while Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai lists it in Kanagawa.
Technique
Koryu.com describes torite kogusoku as close combat, grappling with and without a weapon, and lists with it tojutsu with odachi, kodachi, tanto and bokken, bojutsu, naginatajutsu with nagamaki, kusarigamajutsu, chigirikijutsu and ryofundojutsu. The Nipponica encyclopedia names kogusoku, torite, iai, the staff and kusarigama. Japanese Wikipedia states that the core is torite and kogusoku, to which belong kodachi, the sword, the staff, nagamaki, kusarigama, chigiriki and ryofundo, and that some lines passed the school on as swordsmanship or iaido. The website of Ellis Amdur's line divides the curriculum into torite, kogusoku and four groups of weapons, among them the spear.
Training
According to Japanese Wikipedia, a beginner in the Isesaki line first learns a set of three forms in which he offers the opponent a cup, and when the opponent reaches for it, he unexpectedly subdues him. The website of Ellis Amdur's line gives as its main method paired forms and solo practice, at more advanced stages forms that are broken at a suitable moment, semi-free drills and training weapons of hard wood. Amdur writes on koryu.com that the school uses the nagamaki and the large naginata in a dramatic and almost wild manner.
Today
Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai lists Araki-ryu Gunyo Kogusoku in Chigasaki in Kanagawa and two listings of Araki-ryu Kenpo in Isesaki in Gunma, one with the 17th soke holding a menkyo kaiden license, the other with a menkyo kaiden holder. Koryu.com names the 17th teacher Kikuchi Kunimitsu, the 18th teacher Arakawa Seishin and the 17th teacher Suzuki Nobuo. Nihon Kobudo Kyokai has two listings for the school, but their pages have no content. According to Japanese Wikipedia, students from Isesaki perform at the autumn festival of the local shrine and open a dance that is an intangible folk cultural property of Gunma Prefecture. English Wikipedia states that the city of Isesaki declared the school a cultural treasure in 1967. We have not found this confirmed in the city's documents.
Did you know
Japanese Wikipedia points out that the word kenpo in the name Araki-ryu Kenpo has nothing to do with Chinese martial arts. According to the same source, Negishi Shorei, founder of the shuriken-throwing school Negishi-ryu, was also born in Annaka. Ellis Amdur states on the website of his line that he studied under seven living teachers from Isesaki and that his line is independent of the other Araki-ryu organizations.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Araki-ryu?
The dictionaries on Kotobank and koryu.com name Araki Mujinsai. The reading of his name differs, Daijisen reads Hidetsuna, koryu.com Hidenawa.
What is torite kogusoku?
Koryu.com so names the first discipline in the school's curriculum, describing it as close combat and grappling with and without a weapon.
How many lines of Araki-ryu exist today?
Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai has three listings, two in Isesaki in Gunma and one in Kanagawa. English Wikipedia also mentions iaido groups of the same name.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.