Inugami Nagakatsu
犬上左近将監永勝
Samurai from the Hikone area and guard of the imperial palace in Kyoto who in the Eiroku era (1558–1570) founded the Kyushin-ryu jujutsu school, focused on strikes and resuscitation.
Quick Facts
JapanBiography
Inugami Nagakatsu, by his full name Inugami Sakon-no-shokan Nagakatsu (犬上左近将監永勝), is the founder of the Kyushin-ryu school. He came from a samurai family of the Hikone area in Omi Province, in the domain of the Ii clan, and served as a guard of the imperial palace in Kyoto. We have not been able to verify his dates of birth and death.
According to the source, he received a “spirit sword” (reiken) from his father Inugami Hyoganosuke Nagatsugu. The menkyo license concerning combat with weapons he received from his teacher Hayamizu Nagakado-no-kami Enshin.
He founded the Kyushin-ryu school in the Eiroku era (1558–1570). It is a classical jujutsu system of strikes, throws and grappling that arose among the samurai for unarmed combat against armored opponents. He focused it on atemi-waza, strikes aimed at gaps in armor, and on katsu-waza, or kappo, techniques of resuscitation and first aid. His son Inugami Gunbei (Kyushinsai) Nagatomo expanded the curriculum and settled the school on Kyushu. The source names as a further developer his grandson Inugami Gunbei Nagayasu (1701–1771), who is also sometimes considered one of the founders.
The most important modern master of the school is said to be Eguchi Yoshinori (Yazo, 1845–1924) from Kumamoto Prefecture, who according to the source worked with Kano Jigoro in shaping judo and taught Edward William Barton-Wright, founder of Bartitsu. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police adopted Kyushin-ryu techniques for training police officers. The source places the only surviving authentic line in Australia; it was founded by Ray Stevens and Arthur John Ross and led by Jim Stackpoole (1947–2022).