Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryu
直心影流剣術An old sword school tracing itself to Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami and Kashima. Dictionaries regard Yamada Mitsunori as its founder. Teaching rests on the hojo kata.
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About Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryu
Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryu is an old sword school. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists it as member number 026, and its lineage begins with Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami, continues through Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami and names Yamada Ippusai Mitsunori as the seventh holder, under whom the school took the name Jikishinkage-ryu. The koryu.com guide gives Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami Naokatsu (1467–1524) as the founder. Encyclopedias and dictionaries on kotobank, by contrast, regard Yamada Mitsunori as the founder of Jikishinkage-ryu. The Daijisen dictionary places its origin in the years 1688 to 1704, Britannica around 1640. Sakai and Karukome state in a 2015 article that Matsumoto is first named as founder only in a text by the eighth holder, Naganuma Shirozaemon Kunisato, and that the epithet Kashima Shinden appears only after it. According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the core of the teaching is the five kata hojo, which the association says were created by Kamiizumi together with the founder. They are practised with wooden swords and include breathing, kiai, distance and footwork. Further series were added by the fourth and fifth holders. Today the school is led, according to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai, by the third head of the main dojo in Tokyo. The koryu.com guide states that there is no single recognised holder.
History
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai traces the school's lineage from Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami as founder through Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami as the second holder. According to it, the sixth holder led the school as Jikishin Seito-ryu and the seventh, Yamada Ippusai Mitsunori, named it Jikishinkage-ryu. The eighth and ninth holders from the Naganuma family follow, then the 13th holder Odani Seiichiro and the 15th holder Yamada Jirokichi. According to the association, the line was broken after the 15th holder and later revived.
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Encyclopedias and dictionaries on kotobank regard Yamada Mitsunori as the founder of Jikishinkage-ryu. The Daijisen dictionary places its origin in the Genroku years, 1688 to 1704, Britannica around 1640, and Nipponica states that the school began to establish itself from 1716 to 1736. The Heibonsha encyclopedia describes him as a retainer of the Nagai family of the Takatsuki domain. The Kokugo daijiten dictionary states that he was a student of a swordsman of the Jikishin-ryu. Sakai and Karukome state in a 2015 article that Yamada called himself the second holder of Jikishin Seito-ryu and that the renaming came only after the eighth holder, Naganuma Shirozaemon Kunisato. In their view his text is the first source to name Matsumoto as founder. The koryu.com guide gives Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami Naokatsu (1467–1524) and an origin around 1570, and the Jinmei daijiten dictionary gives Matsumoto (1468–1524) as the founder of Kashima Shin-ryu.
How it differs
The koryu.com guide lists Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryu and Kashima Shin-ryu as two separate schools, though both trace themselves to Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami. According to the Japanese Wikipedia, the head of one line of Kashima Shin-ryu claims that the two traditions merged in the twelfth generation. According to a 2013 article by Karukome and Sakai, practice differed between the school's own branches. The Naganuma branch used mainly jodan in sparring and practised eight kata, while in the Odani branch jodan was not used and the school moved to seigan. The English Wikipedia states that, unlike in modern kendo, both feet remain on the ground.
Technique
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai states that Kamiizumi created the five kata hojo with the founder as the basic Kashima sword art. They are practised with wooden swords and include breathing, kiai, grip, distance, footwork and control of ki. The association gives habiki as the counterpart of hojo with a sharp sword. The fourth holder added fourteen kata of to no kata with the fukuro shinai and the fifth six kata with the kodachi. The Japanese Wikipedia states that the school today preserves five series of kata and that hojo has four forms, performed to the breath of the four seasons. Its highest series, it says, is marubashi. Sakai and Karukome state in a 2013 article that the prototype of the four kata hojo arose in Jikishin-ryu.
Training
According to a 2013 article by Karukome and Sakai, hojo is practised in the first and second stage, with sparring forbidden in the first, because contemporary writings say the desire to win hinders learning. They describe the correct paths of the vertical and horizontal cut. According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the seventh and eighth holders developed sparring in protective gear alongside kata. The English Wikipedia says that in to no kata the partners synchronise deep breathing. The Japanese Wikipedia says hojo is practised for three to four years with a thick wooden sword, with steps matched to the breath and a large cut from above.
Ranks and progression
The Seito-ha branch's licence system is described by the English Wikipedia. According to it, the grades shomokuroku, jomokuroku, reikenden, kyuri-no-maki and goku-i match in turn the series hojo, to, kodachi, habiki and marubashi, and the top licence is menkyo, entitling to the title shihan.
Today
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai name the third head of the main dojo, based in Setagaya in Tokyo, as the representative. According to the association, the school performs every year in May at the rice-planting ceremony at the Kashima shrine and in November at the Meiji shrine and in Kyoto. The koryu.com guide states that there is no single recognised holder and names Iwasa Masaru as representative of the Odani-ha branch. The English Wikipedia lists several lines in Japan, Europe and the USA.
Did you know
The Japanese Wikipedia states that in the Edo period the school was among the first to use bamboo swords and protective gear for practising strikes, and became the most widespread school of the late Edo. According to the same source, the Naganuma line had about two thousand students in the late Edo. According to the Japanese Wikipedia, Yamada Jirokichi's line says it has no holder today because the scrolls were destroyed in the great Kanto earthquake.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryu?
Sources differ. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and koryu.com name Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami, while encyclopedias and dictionaries on kotobank name Yamada Mitsunori, who appears in the lineage as its seventh holder.
What is hojo no kata?
The school's basic series of kata, created according to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai by Kamiizumi together with the founder. It is practised with wooden swords and includes breathing, kiai, distance and footwork.
How does it relate to Kashima Shin-ryu?
Both schools trace themselves to Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami, but the koryu.com guide lists them as two separate schools.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.