Nito Seiho

Quick Facts

About the kata

Nito Seiho is a set of five kata of the Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu school, in which the practitioner defends with two swords at once: a long sword in the right hand, a short in the left. The kata are named after the five stances: Chudan, Jodan, Gedan, Hidari Waki Gamae, and Migi Waki Gamae. They are practiced in pairs, with the uchidachi attacking with a single long sword. The Dutch school hyohonitenichiryu.nl sees the heart of the set in the simultaneous use of both weapons, which demands precise coordination of hands, arms, footwork, and posture. It holds that the shidachi also has the advantage in spirit, forcing the attacker into defense, with each kata built around this role reversal. Genshinkai's Tokyo branch gives the set's task as learning the sword's way: the path along which the sword drops, rises, moves sideways, and returns. In the school's curriculum, the five two-sword kata stand alongside twelve kata with the long sword and seven with the short sword. The Dutch school writes that this whole material looks modest and simple, but appearances deceive.

Meaning of the name

The name is written 二刀勢法. Nito means two swords; alongside the school name Niten Ichi, "two heavens as one," the English Wikipedia gives the spelling Nito Ichi, "two swords as one." Genshinkai explains the word seiho with the Japanese 型, that is, kata. The same school also calls the set 勢法五法之太刀 or 五つの表.

Creator and history

According to the Japanese Wikipedia, late in life Miyamoto Musashi summed up his art in five patterns with two swords, large in the right hand and small in the left. The English Wikipedia links the set to the Book of Water in the Gorin no sho, where Musashi writes that the two-sword stances are only these five, that right and left stances suit spots tight from above or to one side, and that all of it must be trained sword in hand. The style was preserved to the twentieth century by the eighth soke, Aoki Kikuo, who died in 1967. Seibukan Budo says he passed the material to Gosho Motoharu and Kiyonaga Tadanao, ninth soke.

Differences between styles

The English Wikipedia writes that the Gosho-ha branch preserves the kata's original form as taught by the eighth soke, while the Imai line merged and simplified the techniques. The Japanese Wikipedia says the Santo-ha branch from Higo hands down the five two-sword kata along with twelve long-sword and seven short-sword kata. How the branches differ in execution of the set's kata, we have not been able to document.