Ogasawara-ryu (Archery, Riding and Etiquette)
小笠原流Ogasawara family school of archery, mounted archery and etiquette. It places its origin in 1187 with Minamoto no Yoritomo, historians date the documented shogun's teacher only to 1430.
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About Ogasawara-ryu (Archery, Riding and Etiquette)
Ogasawara-ryu is the Ogasawara family school combining archery, mounted archery and etiquette. Nihon Kobudo Kyokai states it was founded in the Kamakura period by Ogasawara Nagakiyo, who in 1187, aged 26, became teacher to Minamoto no Yoritomo and with his father Kagami Tomomitsu compiled new warrior ceremonies, including yabusame. The dictionaries Daijisen and Nikkoku name Nagakiyo founder of the school of archery and riding, and Nikkoku adds that his descendant Sadamune perfected it. However, the Heibonsha encyclopedia states in Futaki Ken'ichi's article that the traditions of Nagakiyo as Yoritomo's teacher and of Sadamune as teacher of Emperor Go-Daigo come from the Edo-period Ogasawara family and are historically doubtful, and Nipponica adds in Ihara Kesao's article that according to Azuma kagami Yoritomo only had family traditions recorded, and that the first documented archery teacher of a shogun from the family was Mochinaga of the Kyoto branch in 1430.
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According to Nipponica, the Kyoto branch continued as teachers of the Ashikaga shoguns and its collateral line served the Tokugawa as bannermen with the office of archery ceremony teacher, while today's school derives from the house of Heibei, which according to Nipponica came from Kai province and served the bakufu as archery commander. Ogasawara Kiyotada, the school head, states in a 2006 study that in 1562 his house took over the tradition from the family's main line and that Tokugawa Ieyasu invited his ancestor to Edo, where he became Hidetada's teacher. Under the eighth shogun Yoshimune, according to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the twentieth head Sadamasa was appointed teacher and supervisor of mounted archery and, according to family documents, established a new yabusame, Heibonsha states that he directed the archery and riding ceremonies of the shogunate. In the Meiji period, according to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the school opened a teaching hall in Kanda, Tokyo, with the permission of the shogun's family, and in 1880 performed yabusame before the emperor, and koryu.com and Ogasawara Kiyotada both speak of opening teaching to the public. According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the school requires mastery of three things, the etiquette reiho, the archery kyujutsu and the mounted archery kyubajutsu, and it is the only archery school among members of both Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai. Nipponica notes that in the Tokugawa period it spread as a teaching of etiquette and that in 1941 the Ministry of Education took Ogasawara etiquette into its etiquette regulation. Today, according to Nipponica, there are two lines: Ogasawara Kiyotada, a descendant of the bannermen family, calls himself thirty-first head of the school, and separately a descendant of the former lords of Kokura founded in 1980 in Tokyo an institute for etiquette research, which according to the Japanese Wikipedia teaches only etiquette without archery and riding.
History
Nihon Kobudo Kyokai states the school was founded in the Kamakura period by Ogasawara Nagakiyo, born according to Nipponica in 1162 and died in 1242, who in 1187, aged 26, became teacher to Minamoto no Yoritomo and with his father Kagami Tomomitsu compiled new warrior ceremonies, including yabusame and the order of the visit to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman shrine. The dictionaries Daijisen, Nikkoku and Britannica name Nagakiyo founder of the school of archery and riding, Nikkoku adds that his descendant Sadamune perfected it, and Daijisen states that the ceremonial etiquette of warriors was set in the Muromachi period by Ogasawara Nagahide, a vassal of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. Dave Lowry writes on koryu.com that around 1380 Nagahide wrote the first full text on etiquette, Sangi itto, with the three arts etiquette, riding and archery.
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The Heibonsha encyclopedia states in Futaki Ken'ichi's article that the traditions of Nagakiyo as teacher of Yoritomo and Yoriie, of Sadamune as teacher of Emperor Go-Daigo and of other ancestors as shogun teachers have been proclaimed by the Ogasawara family since the Edo period and are historically doubtful: according to reliable sources, the shogun's teacher post settled only with Mochinaga under shogun Yoshinori. Nipponica adds in Ihara Kesao's article that according to Azuma kagami Yoritomo only had family traditions recorded, that yabusame and kasagake passed to the Hojo family, and that the first evidence is the year 1430, when Mochinaga of the Kyoto branch became Yoshinori's archer, per the diary Mansai jugo nikki. According to Nipponica the Kyoto branch continued as teachers of the Ashikaga shoguns and its collateral line served the Tokugawa as bannermen with the office of archery ceremony teacher, and at the end of the bakufu taught archery at the military school Kobusho. Today's school derives from the house of Heibei, which according to Nipponica came from Kai province and served the bakufu as commander of archers and marksmen. Ogasawara Kiyotada states in a 2006 study that in 1562 his house took over the tradition from the family's main line and that Tokugawa Ieyasu invited his ancestor to Edo, gave him a residence and made him Hidetada's teacher. Under the eighth shogun Yoshimune, according to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the twentieth head Sadamasa was appointed teacher and supervisor of mounted archery and, according to family documents, established a new yabusame, Heibonsha states that Sadamasa directed the archery and riding ceremonies of the bakufu and that since then the name Ogasawara has survived to this day as that of a family of ceremonies. The twenty-eighth head Kiyomu devised, according to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, a mounted combat training method for the fifteenth shogun Yoshinobu, in the Meiji period the school opened teaching in Kanda to the public, and in 1880 it performed yabusame before the emperor. Ohkuma Hiroaki states in his introduction to a 2006 symposium that according to research by Imamura Yoshio, Ogasawara-ryu created a school earlier than any other Japanese martial art.
How it differs
The dictionary Daijisen distinguishes three different things under the name Ogasawara-ryu: the ceremonial etiquette of warriors set by Ogasawara Nagahide, the school of archery and riding from Nagakiyo, and the school of military science founded by Ogasawara Ujitaka. The Japanese Wikipedia counts six different traditions with this name, including a school of sencha tea and the tea ceremony of the family from Kokura. According to Nipponica there are two lines today: Ogasawara Kiyotada, a descendant of the bannermen family, calls himself thirty-first head of the school, and a descendant of the former lords of Kokura founded an institute of etiquette in Tokyo in 1980, Dave Lowry states in the sixties of the twentieth century a descendant of Sadamune claimed leadership of only one third of the school, etiquette, and the dispute was never finally resolved. From Heki-ryu, which Nipponica and Heibonsha call a school of shooting on foot, Ogasawara-ryu differs by stressing customs, and Heibonsha adds that Otsubo-ryu, unlike Ogasawara-ryu, specialized only in riding. According to Britannica the rules of yabusame are passed on besides Ogasawara also by the Takeda and Miura schools.
Technique
Nihon Kobudo Kyokai states the Ogasawara family is known as a family of etiquette, but originally it was a martial art of archery and riding, and etiquette arose by condensing the basic movements of the family art into the social conduct of warriors. The guide koryu.com lists bajutsu, kyujutsu and yabusame disciplines for the school, and Guy Buyens on koryu.com describes mounted shooting kisha, which began as mounted archery and later became a ceremony, yabusame as a ceremony in which riders in the full hunting dress of the Kamakura period gallop and shoot at three targets along a straight track, and shooting on foot hosha. Dave Lowry states the school teaches nine separate ways of bowing from a seated position. The Japanese Wikipedia states that as an archery school it differs from Heki-ryu by raising the bow in front of the body, derived from mounted shooting, whereas Heki-ryu raises it diagonally, and that it belongs to the ceremonial current of archery.
Training
According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai the school requires mastery of three things, etiquette reiho, archery kyujutsu and mounted archery kyubajutsu, and stresses the course of training. Ogasawara Kiyotada described in a 2005 paper that after the basics of etiquette the student learns archery and then mounted archery, starting with yabusame. According to him the school does not call its training places dojo, as by its view the way is not taught but walked, and technique is taught. Kiyotada also writes that archery and mounted archery in his school are not contests in hitting the target and that he values the process of practice most. According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai the school practices mounted archery at the shrines Tsurugaoka Hachimangu in Kamakura, Omiya Hachimangu in Suginami, Shimogamo in Kyoto and Kasuga Taisha in Nara and an equestrian club in Nikko, and shooting on foot is led by local student associations. Highlighting Japan states the school always passed skills on to one child.
Today
Ogasawara-ryu kyubajutsu reiho is the only archery and riding school among members of both Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai, headed by thirty-first head Ogasawara Kiyotada. According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai it serves with shooting on foot and from horseback at shrine ceremonies across Japan, the yabusame ceremony at Tadasu no mori at the Shimogamo shrine in Kyoto is registered as an intangible cultural property of Kyoto Prefecture, every year on 3 May students from all over the country gather in Kyoto, the school has branches in Australia and Great Britain, and in 2008 it founded a nonprofit organization to support its tradition. The school's website gives its seat in the Tokyo district of Setagaya, the guide koryu.com in Fujisawa. Nipponica states that the rules of yabusame revived under Yoshimune and passed to the Ogasawara family are registered as an intangible cultural property of the Tokyo ward of Shinjuku. According to the Japanese Wikipedia the school performs ceremonies of shooting on foot and from horseback at the shrines Meiji Jingu, Atsuta Jingu, Ise Jingu, Yasukuni and Tsurugaoka Hachimangu. According to Nipponica Ogasawara etiquette spread in the Meiji period as a manual for girls' schools and in 1941 the Ministry of Education took it into its etiquette regulation.
Did you know
Nihon Kobudo Kyokai's presentation of the school lists, in its section on transmitted scrolls, titles of another school evidently unrelated to archery. Dave Lowry writes that for centuries the school's etiquette was taught only to nobles and samurai and that only in the Edo period, when merchants grew wealthy, the school began teaching non-warriors. The school's website speaks of 850 years of tradition, Nihon Kobudo Kyokai of over eight hundred. Japanese Wikipedia says Tokugawa Yoshimune did not call the revived mounted shooting yabusame because the equipment was insufficiently documented, and set it as a new method.
Frequently asked questions
When did Ogasawara-ryu arise?
The school places its origin in 1187, when according to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai Ogasawara Nagakiyo became teacher to Minamoto no Yoritomo. Heibonsha considers this tradition late and doubtful, and Nipponica places the first documented shogun's teacher from the family in 1430.
What does Ogasawara-ryu teach?
Three things: etiquette reiho, archery kyujutsu and mounted archery kyubajutsu. According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, etiquette condenses the basic movements of the family art of bow and horse into warrior conduct.
Where can Ogasawara school yabusame be seen today?
According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai the school practices mounted archery at shrines Tsurugaoka Hachimangu in Kamakura, Omiya Hachimangu, Shimogamo in Kyoto and Kasuga Taisha in Nara, and the Tadasu no mori ceremony at the Shimogamo shrine is a Kyoto Prefecture cultural property.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.