Kashima Shinto-ryu
鹿島神道流An old sword school founded by Tsukahara Bokuden. The Yoshikawa family of Kashima transmits it, and it is listed as an intangible cultural property of Ibaraki Prefecture.
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About Kashima Shinto-ryu
Kashima Shinto-ryu is an old sword school from Kashima in Hitachi Province, today Ibaraki Prefecture. The Nipponica encyclopedia lists it as one of the old sword schools of the Muromachi period and names Tsukahara Bokuden Takamoto (1489–1571) as its founder. The Daijisen dictionary and Nipponica also call it Shinto-ryu or Bokuden-ryu. According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, Bokuden learned the Kashima school from his father and Katori Shinto-ryu from his adoptive father. After a thousand-day stay at the Kashima shrine he renamed the school Kashima Shinto-ryu and handed it to the family he came from. The Britannica encyclopedia states that he devised the technique ichi no tachi at the Kashima shrine. Nipponica notes that Bokuden's biography is full of folk tales and unclear. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai describes the school as an old practical system of fighting in armor, aimed at the weak points of armor, for example the wrists, neck and throat. The koryu.com guide lists both the long and the short sword in its syllabus. According to both the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai, the school is today headed by the 65th holder from the Yoshikawa family in Kashima. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai states that the school has been an intangible cultural property of the city of Kashima since 1977 and of Ibaraki Prefecture since 1989.
History
According to the Jinmei daijiten dictionary, Tsukahara Bokuden was born in February 1489 and died on 11 February 1571 at the age of 83. The Kokugo daijiten dictionary states that he was the son of Urabe Kakuken, a priest of the Kashima shrine, and was adopted by Tsukahara Tosa no kami Yasumoto. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai writes that he learned the Kashima school from his birth father and Katori Shinto-ryu from his adoptive father. After a thousand-day stay at the Kashima shrine he renamed the school Kashima Shinto-ryu and handed it to the Urabe Yoshikawa family, from which he came and which serves the shrine. The Heibonsha encyclopedia states that Bokuden traveled the provinces with many pupils and is credited with taking part in 39 battles and 19 real duels, in which he never lost. Nipponica notes that his biography is full of folk tales, and according to the chronicle Koyo gunkan he traveled with about eighty followers. According to Nipponica, he died in the house of his pupil. The Mypedia encyclopedia (Heibonsha) states that he was a teacher of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru. Besides the main line, the Japanese Wikipedia lists the Nedamita-ha branch, which it says derives from a samurai from Matsumae, a pupil of the 59th holder, murdered in 1841.
How it differs
The koryu.com guide lists Kashima Shinto-ryu, Kashima Shin-ryu and Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryu as three separate schools. The Japanese Wikipedia gives the Kashima school and Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu as sources of the school and, according to it, Kamiizumi listed Shinto-ryu among the schools he drew on when founding Shinkage-ryu. The English Wikipedia counts Yamaguchi-ryu and Tennen Rishin-ryu among the school's descendants.
Technique
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai describes the school as an old practical system of fighting in armor, striking at weak points of armor such as the wrists, neck, throat and the area above the belt. The koryu.com guide lists kenjutsu with odachi and kodachi in the syllabus, and the English Wikipedia adds the staff, spear and naginata and says sword-drawing techniques were lost over time. According to the Japanese Wikipedia, the teaching has three levels: omote no tachi, chu gokui and dai gokui. It says omote no tachi has twelve forms. The Britannica encyclopedia links the school with the technique ichi no tachi, which it says Bokuden devised at the Kashima shrine. Sakai's 2009 article analyzes ichi no tachi from Yoshikawa family writings and, according to the abstract, it includes a mental and a physical component and is connected with the god Takemikazuchi.
Training
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai states that the school ceremonially opens training each year on 7 January and holds a month-long winter course from 8 January. It trains regularly on Thursday evenings from 8 to 10 p.m. According to the association, the school's dojo from 1887 stands in Miyanaka in Kashima. The sources mention no competitive form. We have not found a licensing system in them.
Today
Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai name the 65th Yoshikawa family holder as representative, with an address in Miyanaka, Kashima. According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the school has been an intangible cultural property of Kashima city since 20 October 1977 and of Ibaraki Prefecture since 27 September 1989. According to the association, it performs yearly on the second Sunday of June at the Kashima shrine martial arts demonstration. In June 2008 a commemorative demonstration marked Bokuden's birth anniversary.
Did you know
The Jinmei daijiten dictionary states that Bokuden gave rise, for later generations, to stories of winning without a fight. The Japanese Wikipedia states, according to the foreword to the Book of Five Rings, that Miyamoto Musashi's first recorded duel, at the age of 13 in 1596, was against a Shinto-ryu practitioner.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Tsukahara Bokuden?
A swordsman who, according to the Nipponica encyclopedia, lived from 1489 to 1571 and founded Kashima Shinto-ryu. Nipponica notes that his biography is full of folk tales.
Is Kashima Shinto-ryu a cultural property?
Yes. According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, it has been an intangible cultural property of the city of Kashima since 1977 and of Ibaraki Prefecture since 1989.
What is ichi no tachi?
A technique which, according to the Britannica encyclopedia, Tsukahara Bokuden devised at the Kashima shrine. The Japanese Wikipedia links it with the tradition that Bokuden passed it on to only one successor.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.