Hikita Kagekane
Japanese swordsman of the 16th century, one of the main pupils of Kamiizumi Nobutsuna and founder of the Hikita Kage-ryu school, focused on the sword and spear.
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Hikita Kagekane, usually called Bungoro, was a Japanese swordsman, one of the main pupils of Kamiizumi Nobutsuna and the founder of the Hikita Kage-ryu school. The encyclopedia Nihon jinmei daijiten Plus gives 1537 (with a question mark) to 1605. The Japanese Wikipedia finds both dates uncertain, since his transmission certificates issued after 1605 survive. Tradition places his birth in Kaga Province and says his mother was the sister of Kamiizumi.
According to the Japanese Wikipedia he served with Kamiizumi the Nagano clan in battles against the Takeda and Hojo clans, and after the fall of the Nagano clan he travelled with him. Kotobank ranks him among the main pupils of Kamiizumi and calls his school Hikita Shinkage-ryu.
The school focuses on the sword and spear and also includes the naginata and kusarigama. According to the Japanese Wikipedia he taught Oda Nobutada, Toyotomi Hidetsugu and Kuroda Nagamasa and served the Hosokawa clan in Tango Province. Tokugawa Ieyasu reportedly called his swordsmanship that of common people. According to Wikipedia his pupil Yamada Fugetsusai organised the school, while the work Honcho bugei shoden from 1714 lists Terasawa Hanpei as the main pupil. The fight with the Yagyu family in 1563 or 1564 exists in several versions, which differ even on who fought.
In 1595, according to the Japanese Wikipedia, he gave up service, shaved his head, wandered for six years and left the oral transmission to Yagyu Shinjiro. Later he returned to the service of the Hosokawa family, and his place of death is uncertain. The lineage at the Hosokawa passed to Ueno Kageyo and came with the family to Kumamoto.