Shibukawa-ryu Jujutsu
渋川流柔術Jujutsu school of Shibukawa Bangoro Yoshikata (1652-1704), pupil of Sekiguchi-ryu's second head, dojo in Edo. Main house extinct, Hiroshima line alive in Osaka, Nihon Kobudo Kyokai member.
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About Shibukawa-ryu Jujutsu
Shibukawa-ryu is a Japanese jujutsu school from the early Edo period. According to Nipponica, Daijisen and the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai it was founded by Shibukawa Bangoro Yoshikata (reading per Nipponica, the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai writes his name with other characters without a reading), a native of Wakayama in Kii province who at sixteen joined Sekiguchi Ujinari, the second head of Sekiguchi-ryu, and at 29, in 1680, received the license of full transmission. Nipponica gives his dates as 1652 to 1704, and Heibonsha adds that Yamato province is also given as his birthplace. According to Nipponica, on his teacher's recommendation he entered the service of the lord of Matsushiro in Shinshu, later came to Edo, opened the Bugido dojo in Shiba and took the name Shibukawa-ryu. Yamamoto 1981 in the Tenri University journal dates a half-year stay in Matsushiro and the opening of the Edo dojo to 1681 and a new dojo to 1698, and Nipponica gives a thousand pupils. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai writes that some daimyo reportedly wanted to study with him, but he did not enter a lord's service and devoted himself to training pupils. No source gives the school's founding year.
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According to Nipponica, the technical content was mostly a reworked Sekiguchi-ryu, but the school became famous for stressing on inner work of the mind and a firm stance, and Osano 1991 in a peer-reviewed journal adds that the founder declared the school new but taught the old way of Sekiguchi-ryu, and the main house used the name Sekiguchi seito Shibukawa-ryu. Yamamoto 1981 sums up the school's features as yawara, not capturing, renouncing showy techniques, and the same emphasis on spear, iai and swordsmanship as on jujutsu, and divides the curriculum into eight groups, from seated forms without a weapon through forms against an armed opponent and grappling to iai, swordsmanship and spear. According to Nipponica the fourth head, Shibukawa Bangoro Tokihide (1720 to 1797), completed the school in theory and system, Heibonsha calls him its restorer, and Green quotes the founder on jujutsu founded on the teaching of the Book of Changes. According to Osano 1991 the main house in Edo inherited the name Bangoro, and Osano further writes that its tradition and the branch in Kai province died out in the Taisho period, while Yamamoto 1981 mentions a ninth head born in 1900 who stopped teaching after 1945. A line lives on that, according to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, was passed down by a retainer of the Hiroshima domain and was brought to Osaka in the Meiji period by one of its teachers, where its twelfth teacher now works as a member of the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, and Osano 1991 confirms that the Hiroshima tradition continues to the present. In Hiroshima the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists Shibukawa Ichi-ryu as a separate school, which according to Morimoto 2015 was founded at the end of the shogunate by Shuto Kuranoshin Mitsutoki from three schools including Shibukawa-ryu.
History
The founder Shibukawa Bangoro Yoshikata (reading per Nipponica) was born, according to Nipponica and Daijisen, in 1652 in Wakayama in Kii province, Heibonsha also gives Yamato province as a possible birthplace, and Yamamoto 1981 in the Tenri University journal writes that a writing on the founder has him born on 8 July 1652 in Kii into the Shidara family. At sixteen he joined the second head of Sekiguchi-ryu, Sekiguchi Ujinari (Yamamoto: in 1667), and at 29, in 1680, received the license of full transmission. According to the Kodansha biographical dictionary he opened a dojo in Wakayama and in the Tenna era left for Edo. Nipponica states that on his teacher's recommendation he entered the service of the lord of Matsushiro in Shinshu, later returned to Edo, opened the Bugido dojo in Shiba and took the name Shibukawa-ryu, Yamamoto dates to 1681 a half-year stay in Matsushiro and then the Edo dojo opening, service with another lord from 1685, refuge with a pupil after the great fire of Edo in 1695 and a new dojo in Shiba in 1698, Nipponica speaks of a thousand pupils. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai writes that some daimyo reportedly wanted to study with him, but he did not enter service. He died on 7 May 1704 at 53 and, according to Yamamoto, was buried at Sengaku-ji temple. Osano 1991 in a peer-reviewed journal writes that the founder declared the school new but taught the old way of Sekiguchi-ryu, and a writing from 1714 still places him, according to Yamamoto, in Sekiguchi-ryu. No source gives the school's founding year.
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The founder had no son of his own and adopted a pupil, later Shibukawa Tomoemon Tanechika (reading per Nipponica), the second head, Osano 1991 gives the influential view that they were two persons. In 1711, according to Yamamoto, pupils took part in a bout with another school and the second head was taken into custody for it, and Yamamoto judges that a ban on bouts with other schools arose from this, and in the Kyoho era the second head was invited to Kurume to teach Sekiguchi-ryu. The third head, Shibukawa Bangoro Sukenori (reading per Kodansha, 1690 to 1763), an adopted son, studied the military science of Naganuma-ryu, had according to Nipponica many pupils among the daimyo, wrote a text on jujutsu and moved the dojo to Azabu. The fourth head, Shibukawa Bangoro Tokihide (1720 to 1797), was according to Yamamoto 1981 invited as an instructor to the Kurume domain, left writings on jujutsu and according to Nipponica completed the school in theory and system, Heibonsha calls him its restorer. Yamamoto further names the fifth to ninth heads, the eighth received the title of hanshi in judo in 1924, the ninth, born in 1900, took over the leadership afterwards, had no successor and after 1945 stopped practicing and teaching because, reportedly, the age of jujutsu was over, but before that had the family scrolls copied and in 1934 had one of the writings included in a compendium on budo. Osano 1991 writes that the tradition of the main house and the branch in Kai province, which a pupil of the founder serving in Kofu brought there in the Kyoho era, died out in the Taisho period. According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the Hiroshima line was passed on by a retainer of the Hiroshima domain who trained repeatedly under the founder, but Morimoto 2004 in a peer-reviewed journal shows that this man resigned in 1800, so he cannot have been a pupil of the first or second head and his teacher was probably the third head, and states that Shibukawa-ryu was a comparatively strong school in the Hiroshima domain with teachers paid in rice, and Morimoto 2015 adds that townspeople also learned it in Hiroshima. In the Meiji period, per the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, one of the Hiroshima teachers came to Osaka and opened the Seishinkan dojo in the Kunijima district, from which the school sprouted in Osaka, and after five further generations the eleventh teacher took over the leadership, the present twelfth teacher is named in the header of the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai site. Japanese Wikipedia adds that after the war, under an occupation-administration order, training was forbidden and the ninth head of the Osaka line trained secretly at night with his wife. Yamamoto 1981 points out that the first jujutsu instructor of the Tokyo police in the early Meiji used the name Sekiguchi-ryu (Japanese Wikipedia names him as a pupil of the seventh head of the Shibukawa family) and explains this by the school being taught outside the main house under the name Sekiguchi-ryu.
How it differs
According to Nipponica, Shibukawa-ryu differs from its parent Sekiguchi-ryu only in part, most of the content being a reworked Sekiguchi-ryu and the school standing out for stressing work of the mind and a firm stance, Osano 1991 writes that the founder taught in the old way of Sekiguchi-ryu and the main house used the name Sekiguchi seito Shibukawa-ryu, Yamamoto 1981 adds that outside the main house it was taught under the name Sekiguchi-ryu, and Japanese Wikipedia writes that Shibukawa-ryu tends to be confused with the parent school. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists Shibukawa Ichi-ryu as a separate school in Hiroshima: according to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and Morimoto 2015 it was founded at the end of the shogunate by Shuto Kuranoshin Mitsutoki (reading per Morimoto, 1809 to 1897) from three schools, Shibukawa-ryu, Namba Ippo-ryu and Asayama Ichiden-ryu, by oral tradition the name arose by shortening the names of all three schools, and Morimoto calls it a school distinct from Shibukawa-ryu. The Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai lists only Shibukawa Ichi-ryu. Green counts Shibukawa among the still existing and popular jujutsu schools alongside Takenouchi, Kito, Sekiguchi and Oguri.
Technique
Nipponica states that the school's technical content was mostly a reworked Sekiguchi-ryu, but the school became famous for stressing work of the mind and a firm stance. Yamamoto 1981 sums up, by his own judgment, the technical features: the school is yawara, not capturing, renounces showy techniques, stresses practical teaching and, with real combat in mind, stresses spear, iai and swordsmanship as much as jujutsu. From the list of techniques that Sekiguchi Ujinari gave the founder in 1680, Yamamoto divides the technique into 20 forms of the introductory set, 16 seated forms against an armed opponent, 7 holding forms, 6 standing forms, 10 forms of grappling, 11 forms of iai and 10 forms of swordsmanship, plus supplementary exercises, and sums up the technical system in eight groups: seated forms without a weapon, seated holds, seated forms against an opponent with a sharp weapon, standing forms including walking forms, grappling and, from the viewpoint of battle, iai, swordsmanship and spear. Besides the forms, the same source describes a series of competitive exercises, for example chest pushing or belt pulling, which supplement what the form lacks or test whether one can overpower the opponent. According to Yamamoto, the fourth head's writing divides the jujutsu curriculum into three parts and names as main principles of training three for practice and three for daily effort.
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Osano 1991 describes the list of forms of the Kai province branch with fifteen numbered sets, from 16 introductory forms through 10 kogusoku forms, 14 inner forms, 25 practice forms and 13 swordsmanship forms to 20 forms of the secret teaching and throwing blades, and a kenpo scroll with 70 techniques that according to him the founder himself handed down. Morimoto 2004 reports four Hiroshima family scrolls with names of forms, a picture of the human body with vital points, incantation formulas and principles for jujutsu, swordsmanship and staff. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai quotes a principle of today's Osaka line that jujutsu is the mother of all martial arts with weapons, and shows a form with a short sword, kusarigama and throws in free practice, and Japanese Wikipedia adds that the Osaka line developed independently under other Hiroshima schools' influence and besides jujutsu carries binding, staff, swordsmanship including two swords, iai, naginata, short sword, jutte, iron fan and kusarigama. Green quotes the founder that a change of strength depends on softness and yielding and that the school stands on the teaching of the Book of Changes.
Training
Yamamoto 1981 judges that pupils first learned the 20 forms of the introductory set without a weapon, practiced them repeatedly and only then, depending on progress, were taught forms against an armed opponent and the rest. According to a writing on his sayings, the founder defined training as a five-year path: year one to remove faults, year two to calm the movements of the spirit, year three to firm up the bones, year four that no evil force harm the whole body and year five to be bold. Yamamoto also quotes a writing by a pupil of the second head, according to which only six or seven of many hundreds of fellow pupils grasped the school's core, because they learned to endure and not be overcome, not how to win, and most gave up halfway. According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, today's Osaka line trains every Sunday morning and afternoon in Osaka, visits a shrine in the Kunijima district each year at the start of training as the place of the Osaka transmission and takes part in demonstrations in Osaka and Hiroshima, and the school's website says it does not teach high school students and younger.
Ranks and progression
According to Nipponica the founder received the license of full transmission of Sekiguchi-ryu at 29, and Yamamoto 1981 names a list of jujutsu techniques and a gokui kaiden license as evidence of transmission. Osano 1991 describes for the Kai province branch a list of forms and a kenpo scroll, and that in 1855 the main house sent its pupil to Kai and he learned all the forms there in seven days except the twenty forms of the secret teaching. Morimoto 2004 names Hiroshima family scrolls from 1910 with incantation formulas and a picture of the body and vital points, a list of forms from 1911 and a scroll of principles from 1915. Japanese Wikipedia gives the Osaka line a system of seven scrolls, from half transmission through lists of techniques to the secret teaching and full transmission.
Today
According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, a living Shibukawa-ryu line is active in Osaka, led by its twelfth teacher at the Seishinkan dojo, with training every Sunday and demonstrations of the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai in Osaka and Hiroshima. Osano 1991 confirms that the Hiroshima tradition and the Kumamoto line tradition continue today, and Japanese Wikipedia lists in Osaka besides the Seishinkan an association founded by a full transmission license holder. Osano says the traditions of the Edo main house and the Kai province branch died out in the Taisho period. The Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai has no separate listing for Shibukawa-ryu, only for the Hiroshima Shibukawa Ichi-ryu, whose representative teaches at the Kan'okan dojo in Hatsukaichi. Kotobank under the older spelling of the name, the koryu.com guide and English Wikipedia have no article on the school.
Did you know
Yamamoto 1981 quotes a writing by a pupil of the founder, according to which five strong men, chosen to test the founder and standing beside him, fell over as soon as he waved his arms, and a stone seven sun thick, which the pupils could not break with a fist, the founder took in his hands, twisted it and the stone crumbled. Japanese Wikipedia states that the founder reportedly stood 6 shaku 2 sun, clearly above the average of his time. Heibonsha writes that whoever took over the school adopted the name Bangoro, and Yamamoto 1981 states that in 1711 pupils took part in a bout with another school, for which the second head was taken into custody, and judges that a ban on matches with other schools arose from this. Yamamoto says the founder is buried at Sengaku-ji temple, known from the story of the loyal samurai of Ako.
Frequently asked questions
Does Shibukawa-ryu still exist?
Yes, but not the Edo main house, which according to Osano 1991 died out in the Taisho period and whose ninth head, per Yamamoto 1981, stopped teaching after 1945. The Hiroshima line, brought to Osaka in the Meiji period, lives on, listed by the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai as a member with its twelfth teacher.
How does Shibukawa-ryu differ from Sekiguchi-ryu?
Little. The founder studied under the second head of Sekiguchi-ryu, Nipponica says most of the content is a reworked Sekiguchi-ryu, and Osano 1991 writes that the main house used the name Sekiguchi seito Shibukawa-ryu. Nipponica adds that the school stood out for stressing work of the mind and a firm stance.
Is Shibukawa Ichi-ryu the same as Shibukawa-ryu?
No. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists Shibukawa Ichi-ryu as a separate school in Hiroshima, which according to Morimoto 2015 was founded at the end of the shogunate by Shuto Kuranoshin Mitsutoki from three schools, Shibukawa-ryu, Namba Ippo-ryu and Asayama Ichiden-ryu. The Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai lists only it.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.