Kukishin-ryu Happo Bikenjutsu
九鬼神流八法秘剣術A Japanese comprehensive school covering eight weapon sections. Several independent lines now bear the name, so one must always establish which is meant.
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About Kukishin-ryu Happo Bikenjutsu
Kukishin-ryu is a Japanese comprehensive martial tradition, a sogo bujutsu, which trains not one weapon but the whole set of them. The subtitle happo bikenjutsu means eight methods and the secret sword, and points precisely to that breadth. The curriculum contains bojutsu, work with the long staff, together with the naginata, the spear, the sword, unarmed fighting and further sections; the most thoroughly preserved part is the staff work. Tradition places the origin of the school in the fourteenth century and links it to Yakushimaru Kurando, who is said to have earned the name Kuki by serving Emperor Go-Daigo in the era of the divided courts. That account cannot be documented; the written sources that record the school with certainty are centuries younger, and the older part of the lineage is therefore family tradition, not history. There is a further practical problem. The name Kukishin-ryu is today borne by several mutually independent lines, passed on separately and differing in technical content. One branch continues in the Kuki family and is listed among the recognised koryu; another is transmitted in the circle of schools descending from Takamatsu Toshitsugu and is usually called Kukishinden-ryu. Anyone meeting the name should therefore always establish which line is meant; the name alone determines neither the curriculum nor the origin. The school is practised in Japan and in Europe, mostly in circles connected with modern ninjutsu.
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