Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu
新夢想林崎流A sword-drawing school founded by Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu, according to Nipponica one of the sources of modern iai. Today it is practiced in Tokyo with Ono-ha Itto-ryu.
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About Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu
Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu is a sword-drawing school that the Nipponica encyclopedia describes as one of the sources of modern iai. Its founder is Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu. The dictionary Nihon Jinmei Daijiten Plus places his birth in 1542 and gives no year of death, while the koryu.com guide gives roughly 1542 to 1621. Nipponica writes that his later fate is unknown.
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According to the tradition reported by the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, in 1559 Hayashizaki vowed to spend a hundred days praying at a shrine, and when it ended a deity passed on to him in a dream a secret drawing technique. According to the same source he then traveled, trained in Kashima and Katori, and received the highest secrets of Kashima Shinto-ryu from Tsukahara Bokuden. Nipponica states that from 1592 to 1624 he traveled around the country and spread his art. We have not found the year the school was founded in the sources. According to Nipponica, the schools Tamiya-ryu, Ichinomiya-ryu and Hoki-ryu, among others, arose from Hayashizaki's students. A 2020 study from Sendai University states that the 14th holder joined the school to Ono-ha Itto-ryu and possibly unified its various names into today's Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu. Today, according to the same study, it is led by the 16th holder and is practiced in Tokyo together with Ono-ha Itto-ryu. The koryu.com guide names Sasamori Takemi, who holds a menkyo kaiden license, as a representative. Under a related name the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists a line from Yamagata Prefecture, which according to the study apparently died out after the death of its 17th holder.
History
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai reports a tradition according to which Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu vowed in 1559 to spend a hundred days praying at a shrine and trained day and night in drawing the family's long sword. After he fulfilled the vow, a deity passed on to him in a dream a secret drawing technique. He then traveled, trained in Kashima and Katori, and received the highest secrets of Kashima Shinto-ryu from Tsukahara Bokuden. According to the same source, during the Kan'ei years the 4th holder and his student became vassals of the Shinjo domain, and the school developed there. The encyclopedia Nipponica states that Hayashizaki, by general opinion, came from Oshu, devised his art of drawing after a hundred days of prayer at a shrine in Tateoka in today's city of Murayama in Yamagata Prefecture, and from 1592 to 1624 spread it around the country. According to it, his later fate is unknown. The dictionary Nihon Jinmei Daijiten Plus places his birth in 1542 and states that he used a long sword with a long hilt. Japanese Wikipedia also gives the birth years 1544 and 1548. A 2020 study from Sendai University traces the school's lineage. According to it, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th holders later founded schools of their own, the 6th was taken into service by the lord of the Hirosaki domain, and the 14th holder joined the school to Ono-ha Itto-ryu and possibly unified its various names.
How it differs
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists Hayashizaki as the first holder in the lineage of Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu. A 2020 study from Sendai University states that Eishin-ryu separated from the Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu line in the fourth generation. Japanese Wikipedia ranks Tamiya-ryu, Sekiguchi-ryu, Suio-ryu, Eishin-ryu and others among the offshoots of the school. The author of the Sendai study states that, according to his information, Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu is the only school that to this day preserves the old form of the long sword against the short one.
Technique
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai says training always involves an opponent and drawing happens in a single instant. A draw in which the practitioner does not perceive the enemy is, it says, a dead sword and not a martial art. By the same source, the life of iai lies in swiftness and its peak is the unity of sword and zen. The koryu.com guide says the school teaches iaijutsu with the odachi and kodachi. A 2020 study from Sendai University says the school preserves an old form in which a long-sword practitioner faces an opponent with a short sword and stops his thrust.
Training
A 2020 study from Sendai University says that in Hirosaki the school was handed down with the local swordsmanship school and that the 13th and 14th holders taught it with Ono-ha Itto-ryu. It says the present holder trains daily in Tokyo with Ono-ha Itto-ryu. According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the Yamagata Prefecture line taught interested people, besides iai, shuriken techniques, the staff and other old disciplines.
Ranks and progression
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists among the papers of the Yamagata Prefecture line the first-mokuroku certificates and the middle and great mokuroku licenses. The koryu.com guide says the school's representative holds a menkyo kaiden license. We have not found the full order of licenses in the sources.
Today
The Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai lists the school under the name Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu with a representative in Tokyo, and separately a group continuing the legacy of the 14th holder. The koryu.com guide names Sasamori Takemi as a representative, according to the Sendai study the 15th holder, after whom the 16th holder took over the school. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists a related line with a dojo in Yamagata Prefecture, which the Sendai study says apparently died out after its 17th holder's death. We have not found the school among cultural properties.
Did you know
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists as cultural properties Hayashizaki's legacy: his long sword, short sword and the war deity that he carried with him, a picture, and a gourd he had on his travels. Japanese Wikipedia states that in Hayashizaki's birthplace, the town of Murayama, stands a shrine that venerates him.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu?
Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu. The dictionary Nihon Jinmei Daijiten Plus places his birth in 1542, and the encyclopedia Nipponica states that his later fate is unknown.
Is Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu the predecessor of Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu?
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists Hayashizaki as the first holder of the Eishin-ryu lineage. A study from Sendai University states that Eishin-ryu separated from the Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu line in the fourth generation.
When was Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu founded?
We have not found the year of founding. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai gives 1559 as the year of Hayashizaki's vow and revelation, and the encyclopedia Nipponica the years 1592 to 1624, when he spread his art.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.