Suio-ryu Iai Kenpo
水鴎流居合剣法Old Japanese sword-drawing school from Shizuoka, founded by Mima Yoichizaemon Kagenobu. Besides iai it teaches swordsmanship, staff, naginata and Masaki-ryu kusarigama.
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About Suio-ryu Iai Kenpo
Suio-ryu Iai Kenpo is an old Japanese school centered on sword drawing. According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, it also includes swordsmanship, the jo staff, naginata, kogusoku and kusarigama. It was founded by Mima Yoichizaemon Kagenobu. Nihon Kobudo Kyokai says he was born in the fifth year of the Tensho era as the son of a shrine priest in Uzen province and founded the school between the Tensho and Genna eras. English Wikipedia places his birth in 1577. The Daijisen Plus dictionary reads his surname as Mitsuma and places his origin in Echigo province, and the koryu.com guide dates the founding to around 1615.
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According to the tradition Nihon Kobudo Kyokai reports, the founder trained for twenty years at a shrine, one night a sacred dream enlightened him, and he fixed twenty-eight forms of iai after the twenty-eight heavenly mansions. From them he derived naginata, staff and swordsmanship. English Wikipedia instead gives a vision of white gulls on the water and speaks of sixty-four basic techniques. According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the ninth holder added Masaki-ryu kusarigamajutsu to the school. After the Meiji Restoration, the 13th holder passed the school's secrets to the 14th, from the Katsuse family. Today the school is led by the 15th holder Katsuse Yoshimitsu Kagehiro, with the central dojo in Shizuoka. Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai leads it with Masaki-ryu kusarigamajutsu, of which he is the 12th holder.
History
Nihon Kobudo Kyokai says the founder Mima Yoichizaemon Kagenobu was born in the fifth year of the Tensho era as the son of a shrine priest in Uzen province and studied Bokuden-ryu swordsmanship and Hayashizaki-ryu iai. According to tradition, he then trained for twenty years at a shrine, one night a sacred dream enlightened him, and he set twenty-eight iai forms after the twenty-eight heavenly mansions. He traveled the provinces with his school, accepting students. Nihon Kobudo Kyokai also cites an old document on his duel with a swordsman of another school in Tsuyama. According to it, the document appeared in the Tenpo era, while Japanese Wikipedia gives 1790.
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English Wikipedia relates that at eighteen the founder was defeated by a friend of his father using Hayashizaki-ryu techniques, who became his teacher. In the twentieth year of his effort he had a vision of white gulls on the water. Japanese Wikipedia mentions a 1740 school document preserved in the city of Ako that matches the present school on the founder's name and time of origin, but not on the origin story and names of the forms. The same encyclopedia, citing no source, questions the link between today's school and the original. According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the ninth holder added Masaki-ryu kusarigamajutsu to the school. It reached Edo and at the end of the shogunate was taken over by the 13th holder, who became a pilgrim ascetic after the Meiji Restoration and passed the secrets to the 14th, from the Katsuse family. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai genealogy has fifteen generations.
How it differs
Both Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai list Masaki-ryu kusarigamajutsu as a separate school handed down together with Suio-ryu. The Nipponica encyclopedia names Suio-ryu among the well-known iai schools and adds that at the end of the Edo period there were over two hundred iai schools. A study from Sendai University from 2020 states that when Zen Nihon Iaido Renmei compiled the common forms in 1955 and 1956, a holder of Suio-ryu sat on the committee, and one of the five common forms, performed standing, comes from Suio-ryu.
Technique
Nihon Kobudo Kyokai describes Suio-ryu as a comprehensive martial art aimed at battlefield fighting, including iai, swordsmanship, staff, naginata, kogusoku and kusarigama. According to the same source, the forms handed down from the founder are strictly observed, and the peak is a state without thoughts and desires, in the unity of man with the deity. The koryu.com guide splits teaching into iai solo and in pairs, kenpo with odachi, kodachi, tanto and kaiken, naginata, jo and tanjo, and kogusoku sude and wakizashi. The koryu.com list lacks kusarigama.
Training
According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, training is always with a partner. Its page about the school says that at the central dojo iai, staff and other old disciplines are practiced three times a week and kendo twice a week, and that students range from school age to seventy-five years. English Wikipedia lists form sets: five attack and five defense techniques from seiza, nine techniques from standing, nine advanced techniques from seiza, nine forms in pairs, twenty-seven counter-techniques and techniques in the dark.
Ranks and progression
English Wikipedia lists the licenses from the lowest: shoden, chuden, sho mokuroku, chu mokuroku, dai mokuroku, sho menkyo, menkyo kaiden and inka. It says only the successor receives the inka license. We have not found the order of licenses in Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai sources.
Today
According to Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai and koryu.com, the school is led by the 15th holder Katsuse Yoshimitsu Kagehiro, with the central dojo in Shizuoka. Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists an annual gathering of the school's old martial arts and branches in Shizuoka prefecture, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi and Shiga prefectures, and France, the USA and Brazil. We have not found any registration among cultural properties of Shizuoka prefecture or city.
Did you know
Japanese Wikipedia says the hero of the manga Lone Wolf and Cub studied Suio-ryu swordsmanship, but calls it a coincidence of names. English Wikipedia links the school's name, water gull, to the founder's vision.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Suio-ryu?
Mima Yoichizaemon Kagenobu. Nihon Kobudo Kyokai places the founding between the Tensho and Genna eras. The Daijisen Plus dictionary reads his surname Mitsuma and gives his origin as Echigo province.
How many forms does Suio-ryu have?
Nihon Kobudo Kyokai states twenty-eight forms of iai fixed after the twenty-eight heavenly mansions. English Wikipedia speaks of sixty-four basic techniques.
Where does the name Suio-ryu come from?
English Wikipedia links it to the founder's vision of white gulls on the water in the twentieth year of training. Nihon Kobudo Kyokai does not explain the origin of the name.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.