Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū
天神真楊流One of the two jujutsu schools from which Jigoro Kano assembled judo. Its hallmark is atemi — a strike meant not to injure but to break the balance.
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What the style is built from
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About Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū
Tenjin Shin''yō-ryū is a Japanese school of jujutsu and one of the two traditions from which Jigoro Kano assembled judo — the other being Kitō-ryū. That alone places it among the most important schools in the whole history of Japanese grappling. It was founded by Iso Mataemon Ryūkansai Minamoto no Masatari (1787–1863) by merging two older schools: Yōshin-ryū, which he learned under Hitotsuyanagi Oribe, and Shin no Shintō-ryū under Homma Jouemon. No year of founding is given here, because the sources disagree — some speak of around 1800, others of the 1830s. The school''s hallmark is atemi. The strike here does not serve to injure the opponent but to unsettle his balance for a moment and open the way to a throw or a lock. Tradition connects this with an episode in which Iso had to face a large number of attackers at once and satisfied himself that without the strike there is no way out of being outnumbered. Jigoro Kano trained at the school under Fukuda Hachinosuke and then under Iso Mataemon Masatomo, its third headmaster. The trace is still visible in judo: seoi nage, harai goshi and osoto gari all have their roots here. Kano dropped strikes to vital points from the working syllabus and kept them only in the forms — and it is precisely that step which separates judo from the jujutsu it came out of.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.