Koryu Bujutsu
古流武術An umbrella term for the Japanese combat schools founded before 1868. It is not a style but the dividing line between the old schools and modern ways such as judo or kendo.
Quick Facts
JapanCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Koryu Bujutsu
About Koryu Bujutsu
Koryu bujutsu is not a martial art but an umbrella term for the Japanese combat schools founded before 1868, that is before the end of the shogunate. The boundary is deliberate and sharp: what arose earlier is koryu, an old school; what came after belongs to gendai budo — the modern ways such as judo, kendo, aikido or karate in its Japanese form. The difference is not only one of date. Koryu schools were created for fighting and their content is correspondingly broad — one school will commonly teach sword, spear, glaive, staff, dagger, armoured combat and wrestling, because a warrior had to know everything. They are transmitted in prescribed paired kata, have no competitions and no sporting contest, and progression often follows traditional menkyo licences rather than belts and dan grades. Entry is usually bound to a written oath and a recommendation, so the schools stay small. How many exist cannot be said exactly; hundreds are claimed, but far fewer have a documented unbroken line. The Japanese kobudo association covers several dozen. The best known are Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu, Kashima Shin-ryu, Niten Ichi-ryu and Yagyu Shinkage-ryu. The umbrella bodies are the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai; both admit only schools with documented transmission, which is the main reason their lists run to dozens rather than hundreds.
Styles & Branches
Miyamoto Musashi's seventeenth-century school, teaching combat with two swords at once — the long in one hand, the short in the other.
The oldest surviving Japanese combat school with an unbroken line, assembled around 1447. It knows neither sporting contest nor sparring — only paired kata are practised.
A jujutsu school from 1830 in which Jigoro Kano trained. Judo took from it the close work, the strangles and locks, and the term randori itself.
One of the principal schools of iaido, with more than forty forms. It is named after Hasegawa Eishin, who around 1700 adapted the teaching to carrying the sword through the belt.
A sword school of the late eighteenth century made famous by three members of the Shinsengumi. It trains with an unusually heavy bokuto and bets on strength, not finesse.
The principal line of Itto-ryu and one of the two official sword schools of the Tokugawa shogunate. Its core is kiriotoshi — one's own cut along the very line of the opponent's.
A Japanese comprehensive old school from around 1600. Its unarmed part is the best preserved; the name is today borne by several separate lines.
A Japanese school of spear fighting from Nara. Its spear has a cross-shaped head with two side blades, so it not only thrusts but also catches and cuts.
A Japanese old school of the sword from the Kashima shrine. It teaches not a collection of techniques but principles of movement from which techniques derive.
A branch of Japanese jujutsu developed in the United States. Its founder deliberately kept it a small closed group, with no network of dojo.
A Japanese school of the sword associated with Tsukahara Bokuden. His best-known victory came without a weapon: he left his opponent on an islet and rowed off.
A Japanese old school focused on seizing and on fighting in light armour. It is not about beauty of movement but about controlling and leading an opponent away.
A Japanese old school of jujutsu from the 17th century, preserved unbroken. It also trains from kneeling and sitting, the ordinary postures of a Japanese house.
One of the oldest Edo-period jujutsu schools; its founder is credited with introducing the systematic practice of ukemi.
A Japanese school of 1591 kept alive by a single village for generations; it trained in protective gear long before kendo.
A sixteenth-century Japanese sword school of the Shinkage-ryu line; only the headmaster may teach, so the kata do not drift.
A Japanese classical naginata school with the hooked kagitsuki glaive; today a Dane heads it and an American is among its teachers.
A classical naginata school from the Higo domain; shaft and blade each measure about four feet, a proportion archaic even in the sixteenth century.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school specialized in heavy wooden staff combat.
Japanese mounted warfare of the samurai: combat from horseback, care of the animal and gear, increasingly ceremonial after 1600.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school famed for extra-long Shinai bamboo sword.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school teaching wrestling, chokes and shoulder locks.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school specialized in Naginata polearm combat.
A school of swordsmanship from Satsuma built on a single idea: the first strike must be enough. A second, by its doctrine, is not even to be considered.
The second of the two classical naginata schools. Created in the 1860s by the Satake husband and wife; modern naginata derives from it and Tendō-ryū.
Japanese art of fighting with the short iron rod jitte, with which Edo-period guards caught a sword blade and restrained an armed man without killing him.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school focused on uncompromising sword fencing and firm stance.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school known for fluid fencing and feints.
The Japanese art of restraining a prisoner with cord, part of official and police training in the Edo period. It has no competition or sparring.
A school of swordsmanship that cut its ranks from eight levels to three and opened training to the poorer. In 1853–1867 it was among Japan's three largest.
Notable samurai Hozoin-ryu branch specialized in crescent-bladed spear combat.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school specialized in sickle and chain Kusarigama combat.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school famed for heavy Suburi-to wooden sword and breath control.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school that historically first used the term Judo.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school famed for deceptive 'mist' fencing and parries.
The collective name for pre-modern Japanese combat archery. It differs from kyudo in purpose: hitting in battle, not form and inner discipline.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu sword fencing school from Mount Kurama.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school specialized in Yari long spear combat.
Jūjutsu from the mid-sixteenth century known for strikes to vulnerable points and resuscitation techniques. It left a mark on both judo and bartitsu.
The last surviving Japanese school for which blade-throwing is the main subject. The nail-shaped bō-shuriken is thrown in a straight flight without rotation.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school teaching sword fencing and armored Katchu wrestling.
Specialized samurai koryu bujutsu branch focused on lightning-fast longsword drawing.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school focused on joint locks and throws in clothing.
Founding samurai school of the art of sword drawing (Iaijutsu) from the 16th century.
The Japanese school of the jō staff and the main root of jōdō. It arose in the early Edo period; its founder's duel with Musashi is legend, not record.
Major samurai koryu bujutsu school that directly influenced the creation of Wado-ryu Karate.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school focused on vital point striking and joint locks.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school specialized in sword fencing and Iaijutsu.
A Japanese jujutsu school of the mid-seventeenth century holding unarmed and sword work together. It was originally called Futagami-ryū.
Japanese combat swimming of the samurai: swimming in armor and shooting a bow or matchlock while treading water.
A sword-drawing school from the end of the Sengoku period. To its sixty-four techniques it adds the staff, the naginata, and the sickle-and-chain.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school focused on unarmed close wrestling indoors.
Japanese sword test-cutting: originally a test of blade quality, today a measure of technique, on a tatami omote target.
A samurai school from the early sixteenth century where sword, spear, and staff share one curriculum, and in paired forms the sword always wins.
A classical Japanese naginata school from 1582. By tradition its founder established it after a hundred days of prayer; modern atarashii naginata derives from it.
One of the two jujutsu schools from which Jigoro Kano assembled judo. Its hallmark is atemi — a strike meant not to injure but to break the balance.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school focused on unarmed locks, throws and pins.
Traditional samurai school specialized in sword combat in tight crowds.
Japanese fighting art with the iron war fan tessen — a weapon a samurai could keep where he was forbidden to carry a sword.
Ancient samurai koryu bujutsu school famed for master short sword Kodachi combat.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school teaching throws, takedowns and elbow locks.
Traditional samurai koryu bujutsu school specialized in lightning-fast sword drawing.
The Sendai branch of a samurai school from around 1600. Armoured combat with sword and staff, and hard shoulder strikes in place of punches.
The most famous Japanese school of swordsmanship. It arose by adding a family name to Shinkage-ryū, and its Edo branch served the Tokugawa shogunate.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.