Toda-ha Buko-ryu Naginatajutsu
戸田派武甲流薙刀術Old Japanese naginata school derived from Toda-ryu. Women have led it since the 14th generation, and it now exists in two lines.
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About Toda-ha Buko-ryu Naginatajutsu
Toda-ha Buko-ryu is an old Japanese school whose main discipline is the naginata. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists it as member number 057 and names as founder Toda Seigen, a warrior serving the daimyo Asakura Yoshikage of Echizen, who took over the main line of Chujo-ryu and named it Toda-ryu.
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Sources write the founder's name with different characters, and his identity is uncertain. The dictionary Jinmei daijiten gives no dates for his life and mentions a theory that he is the same person as Tomita Seigen, a short-sword master of Chujo-ryu. The dictionary Daijisen, however, lists two other schools under the name Toda-ryu. Japanese Wikipedia states that besides this naginata branch, Toda-ryu kenjutsu and bojutsu also survive in Aomori. According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai and an article by Meik Skoss, the school passed to Hojo Ujikuni and his wife Daifuku Gozen, then to the Suneya family. The thirteenth head, Suneya Ryosuke Takeyuki (1795–1875), gave it the name Toda-ha Buko-ryu. Women have led the school since the fourteenth generation. According to Skoss, the curriculum contains 51 techniques in which the naginata faces the naginata, sword, spear and kusarigama, and at the highest level the kagitsuki naginata, a naginata with a transverse spike below the blade. Training consists exclusively of pre-arranged kata. Today there are two lines. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists the 21st head in Odawara, while the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai and the guide koryu.com list the school as Tenshin Buko-ryu with the deputy head Kenta Sorensen.
History
The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai names as founder Toda Seigen, a warrior serving the daimyo Asakura Yoshikage of Echizen, who took over the main line of Chujo-ryu and named it Toda-ryu. Meik Skoss writes that Seigen was known for his mastery of the short sword, went blind from an eye disease and handed leadership to his younger brother. Toda-ryu, he says, began as sogo bujutsu, a comprehensive system from which other schools later separated.
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The founder's identity is uncertain. The dictionary Jinmei daijiten gives no dates for his life and lists three theories: that he is the same person as Tomita Seigen, that he was his pupil, or that he was a younger brother of Kanemaki Jisai. The dictionary Daijisen lists two other schools under the name Toda-ryu, a sword school whose founder was a vassal of the Maeda family and a naginata school from the years 1848 to 1854. Japanese Wikipedia states that Toda-ryu kenjutsu and bojutsu survive in Aomori. Toward the end of the 16th century, according to Skoss, the school was taught in the Kanto region. The second head was Hojo Ujikuni, lord of Hachigata Castle, and his wife Daifuku Gozen became the first woman to head the school. According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the school then passed to the Suneya family. According to Skoss, the thirteenth head, Suneya Ryosuke Takeyuki (1795–1875), settled at the foot of Mount Buko in Saitama and renamed the school Toda-ha Buko-ryu. According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, women have led the school since the fourteenth generation. The Nipponica encyclopedia states that in the Taisho period the school's instructors Murakami Hideo and Kobayashi Sei spread the naginata. Green, in the article on Ellis Amdur, lists Murakami Hideo as the 17th head and Nitta Suzuyo as the 19th successor.
How it differs
During the Second World War, according to Green, the Ministry of Education created unified naginata kata for schoolgirls, adopted in 1943 and focused on naginata against naginata. Nitta Suzuyo of Toda-ha Buko-ryu taught these kata, but her teacher Kobayashi Seiko did not want to teach them and preferred traditional forms. According to Skoss, the school differs from other naginata schools in its larger and heavier weapons, and according to Japanese Wikipedia the Odawara line also in the kagitsuki naginata. The Odawara line claims on its website that other schools lack techniques with it.
Technique
According to Meik Skoss, the curriculum has 51 techniques, 36 in hon mokuroku and 15 in betsu mokuroku. Hon mokuroku pits the naginata against naginata, sword, spear and kusarigama and at the highest level includes the kagitsuki naginata, a naginata with a transverse spike below the blade, against sword and spear. Betsu mokuroku teaches facing rokushaku bo staff, kusarigama and nagamaki weapon with the naginata. Skoss gives takagasumi as a typical stance, blade above the head and point at the opponent's eyes. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists 11 naginata kata against naginata, 5 each against sword, spear and kusarigama, and 5 kagitsuki naginata kata against sword and spear. The Odawara line describes the art on its website as fighting in armor of the Warring States period, aimed at unprotected parts of the body.
Training
According to Meik Skoss, training consists exclusively of pre-arranged kata practiced at high speed. The kata were designed for foot warriors in armor, and some teach fighting against a rider, on a boat or in an enclosed space. Students begin with the naginata against the naginata and first learn the role of shidachi, later the role of ukedachi. According to Skoss, the practice weapons are made of white oak or loquat and are larger and heavier than the weapons of later naginata schools. Advanced students, under supervision, take the kata apart and try variations of timing, distance and targets. According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the Odawara line trains every Saturday or Sunday in Odawara.
Ranks and progression
According to Meik Skoss, the technical licenses are shoden, chuden and okuden, followed by mokuroku and betsu mokuroku. The teaching licenses are shihan-dai and shihan. Green, in the article on Ellis Amdur, states that Murakami Hideo received the highest license, menkyo kaiden, while still in her twenties.
Today
The school exists today in two lines. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists the 21st head in Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture under the name Toda-ha Buko-ryu naginatajutsu. According to the website of this line, the head is Tateiri Hisayo and her predecessor was the 20th head, Nakamura Yoichi. The Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai and the guide koryu.com list the school under the name Tenshin Buko-ryu and name Kenta Sorensen as deputy head. English Wikipedia states that the school adopted this name in 2022 and also has dojo in France, the USA, Canada and Australia.
Did you know
According to Meik Skoss, women at the head of the school are written with characters usually used for male names. Nitta Suzuyo is therefore listed in official documents as Suzuo, and the genealogy at the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai is written the same way. Green, in the article on Ellis Amdur, writes of Murakami Hideo that she was born in 1863 on Shikoku, could neither read nor write, and that there are no reports of her ever losing a duel with a kusarigama or naginata. According to the same source, the 16th head, Yazawa Isako, wrote in 1916 that the main weapon of most women in times of war was not the naginata but the kaiken dagger.
Frequently asked questions
What is a kagitsuki naginata?
It is a naginata with a small transverse spike below the blade that can catch and pull away the opponent's weapon. Meik Skoss says its techniques belong to the highest level of the Toda-ha Buko-ryu curriculum.
Since when have women led Toda-ha Buko-ryu?
According to the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, women have led the school since the fourteenth generation. Meik Skoss says the first woman at its head was already Daifuku Gozen, wife of Hojo Ujikuni in the 16th century.
How are Toda-ha Buko-ryu and Tenshin Buko-ryu related?
Both derive from Toda-ryu. The Nihon Kobudo Kyokai lists Toda-ha Buko-ryu with a head in Odawara, while the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai and koryu.com list Tenshin Buko-ryu with the deputy head Kenta Sorensen.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.