Kamiizumi Nobutsuna
上泉信綱
16th-century Japanese swordsman, founder of the Shinkage-ryu school and inventor of the fukuro-shinai practice sword, teacher of both Yagyu Munetoshi and Hozoin In'ei.
Quick Facts
JapanBiography
Kamiizumi Nobutsuna was born around 1508 in the village of Kaigayago Kamiizumi in Kozuke Province, in the area of present-day Maebashi in Gunma Prefecture. He was born Kamiizumi Hidetsuna and used the titles Ise-no-kami and Musashi-no-kami. Sources disagree on his year of death, giving 1572, 1577 or 1582; the last documented mention of his activity is from 1577, when he took part in founding the Seirinji temple.
He studied kenjutsu under Aizu Ikosai at the Kage-ryu school and received full transmission from him after about 23 years. His teachers also included Tsukahara Bokuden. By combining the teachings of the Nen-ryu, Shinto-ryu and Kage-ryu schools, he founded the Shinkage-ryu school.
In 1555 he surrendered Ogo Castle to the warlord Hojo Ujiyasu without a fight. In 1564 he came to Kyoto with a retinue of about 84 students, and in 1565 he granted Yagyu Munetoshi the transmission license for Shinkage-ryu; another source places the transmission already in 1564. His students also included Marume Nagayoshi, founder of Taisha-ryu, Hozoin In'ei, founder of the spear school Hozoin-ryu sojutsu, Hikita Kagekane, and Komagawa Tarozaemon Kuniyoshi. He invented the fukuro-shinai, a leather-covered bamboo practice sword that allowed training at full speed without injury.
A legend from the work Honcho Bugei Shoden tells how, at the Myokoji temple, he overcame an armed madman holding a child by using rice balls. The motif was later used by director Akira Kurosawa in the film Seven Samurai.