Hozoin Kakuzenbo In'ei
宝蔵院 覚禅房 胤栄
Buddhist monk of the Kofuku-ji temple in Nara who around 1560 founded the spear school Hozoin-ryu and developed the cross-bladed spear jumonji-yari.
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Hozoin Kakuzenbo In'ei (宝蔵院 覚禅房 胤栄) was a Buddhist monk of the Kofuku-ji temple in Nara and the founder of the spear-fighting school Hozoin-ryu, founded around 1560. He was born in 1521 and died in 1607.
In swordsmanship he was trained and mentored by the spear master Daizendayu Moritada. Kamiizumi Nobutsuna was also among his teachers.
He developed the jumonji-yari, a spear with a cross-shaped blade, which became central to the school's training; Japanese sources state that the style used it together with naginata techniques. According to tradition, he was inspired to it one evening by the reflection of the crescent moon on the surface of the Sarusawa pond by the Kofuku-ji temple; this is a traditional story, not a documented fact. He taught directly at the Kofuku-ji temple and, according to Japanese sources, the warrior Kani Yoshinaga, a retainer of Fukushima Masanori, reportedly sought his advice.
After him the school was led by a monastic line of successors: Hozoin Inshun (1589–1648), Hozoin Insei (1624–1689), Hozoin Infu and Hozoin Inken. Alongside it a secular line arose, founded by Nakamura Naomasa and Takada Matabei Yoshitsugu; it is called Takada-ha after Takada, and its students spread the art in Edo. Japanese sources state that only the Edo Takada tradition with the spear kata survived, while the naginata forms died out. The school returned to Nara in 1976, its 21st head is Junzo Ichiya, and since 2017 it has also accepted women.