Kukishin-ryu Bojutsu
九鬼神流棒術Japanese old school of staff fighting, listed by the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai together with Takagi-ryu jujutsu under number 014. Traditions of its origin differ.
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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 Kukishin-ryu Bojutsu
About Kukishin-ryu Bojutsu
Kukishin-ryu bojutsu is a Japanese old school of staff fighting. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists it under number 014 together with Takagi-ryu jujutsu and states that Takagi-ryu passes it on with its own teaching from its third bearer. The association gives his name only in Japanese script, while koryu.com transcribes the same man as Okuni Kihei Shigenobu and ranks him as the fourth soke of Hontai Yoshin-ryu. Guy Buyens writes on koryu.com that Kukishin-ryu is by origin the bojutsu of Hontai Yoshin-ryu. According to him, Gennoshin, the third soke of Hontai Yoshin-ryu, faced Okuni Kihei Shigenobu of Kukishin-ryu. Gennoshin won the unarmed fight and Okuni the staff fight, and they exchanged techniques. After Gennoshin's death, Okuni became the fourth soke of Hontai Yoshin-ryu. English Wikipedia gives a different tradition: the school was supposedly founded in the 14th century by Kuki Yakushimaru Ryushin, whose legend is linked to the rescue of Emperor Go-Daigo in 1336. We have not found this version in scholarly sources.
History
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai gives a succession of eighteen bearers of Takagi-ryu, in which Kukishin-ryu bojutsu is passed on from the third of them, and a current 19th soke with an address in Amagasaki in Hyogo Prefecture. Guy Buyens writes on koryu.com that Okuni Kihei Shigenobu also studied the naginatajutsu of Tendo-ryu, which in the author's view influenced the development of Kukishin-ryu. The Sekai daihyakka jiten encyclopedia from Heibonsha states that bojutsu schools were handed down as part of kenjutsu, sojutsu and jujutsu schools, and names Kukishin-ryu among the main ones. Japanese Wikipedia places the school's origin in the early Edo period and itself calls the story of a duel between Okuni and Takagi Gennoshin a legend, because the two lived in different eras. English Wikipedia describes a legend in which Kuki Yakushimaru Ryushin freed the captive Emperor Go-Daigo in 1336, fled with him to Yoshino, and the emperor changed his surname from Fujiwara to Kuki. The Genbukan website gives the name Yakushimaru Kurando Takamasa, the date 28 August 1336, and the granting of the surname only in 1337. According to English Wikipedia, the Kuki family scrolls were made accessible by Miura Ichiro in 1941, and Ago Kiyotaka published the book Kukishinden Zensho about them in 1983.
How it differs
Meik Skoss states that Hontai Yoshin-ryu, a jujutsu school now centered in the Kansai area, has one line of Kukishin-ryu bojutsu in its curriculum, and he also speaks of other lines of Kukishin-ryu. English Wikipedia writes that the Kuki family holds a line called Kukamishin-ryu, until 2016 Kukishin-ryu Tenshin Hyoho, and that Kukishinden Tenshin Hyoho is a different line with a similar name. The Genbukan website distinguishes Kukishin Ryu Bo-jutsu from Kukishinden Tenshin Hyoho and states that Takamatsu Toshitsugu passed the Kukishinden Menkyo Kaiden to Kimura Masaji, who passed it on to Tanemura Shoto on 10 November 1991. Neither the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai nor koryu.com mentions Kukishinden.
Technique
Meik Skoss writes on koryu.com that Kukishin-ryu uses the full long staff and the shorter hanbo and is known for effective technique. According to him, short staff techniques focus on defense against unarmed attack, long staff techniques usually face a sword. Guy Buyens states that staff, spear and naginata techniques from Kukishin-ryu are taught together with those of Hontai Yoshin Takagi-ryu. English Wikipedia, citing the Kuki Shinden organization's website, lists six disciplines, taijutsu, bojutsu, kenpo, naginatajutsu, hanbojutsu and sojutsu, plus heiho. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists the school only as bojutsu. Japanese Wikipedia names the rokushaku-bo and hanbo.
Training
Meik Skoss quotes an unnamed senior teacher, according to whom it is advisable to practice short staff techniques for at most about half an hour twice a week, because training to the edge damages both body and spirit. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai names eight transmitted scrolls of Takagi-ryu and many secret writings.
Today
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists a training hall in Kobe and a branch in eastern Japan, foreign branches in Australia and the United Kingdom, and its own website takagiryu.com. According to the association, the school has no cultural property designation and is demonstrated at shrines and at gatherings of old martial arts. According to Guy Buyens in 2008, Hontai Yoshin-ryu is a member of the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, and its soke at that time was Inoue Kyoichi Munenori, whose favorite weapon is the hanbo. English Wikipedia names Fumon Tanaka as the 19th soke of a separate Kukishin Ryu Bojutsu branch, and Kusuhara Juhei as 19th soke of Takagi-ryu.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Kukishin-ryu?
Sources differ. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and koryu.com link the school with Okuni Kihei Shigenobu, English Wikipedia, following tradition, with Kuki Yakushimaru Ryushin of the 14th century.
What is the relationship between Kukishin-ryu and Takagi-ryu?
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists them under one number, 014. According to the association, Kukishin-ryu bojutsu is passed on together with Takagi-ryu jujutsu from its third bearer.
What is the difference between Kukishin-ryu and Kukishinden-ryu?
English Wikipedia and the Genbukan website present them as two different lines with a similar name. According to Genbukan, Takamatsu Toshitsugu passed on Kukishinden, while the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai does not mention Kukishinden.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.