Togakure-ryu Ninjutsu
戸隠流忍術A ninjutsu school now carried by Bujinkan. Tradition traces it to Togakure Daisuke of the 12th century, and we have not found evidence of an old lineage in independent sources.
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Training
Who It Suits
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What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
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About Togakure-ryu Ninjutsu
Togakure-ryu is a ninjutsu school that Green (2001) counts among the nine schools of Bujinkan and calls the oldest unbroken lineage after Gyokko-ryu. According to Green, its founder was supposedly Togakure Daisuke, a vassal of Kiso Yoshinaka, defeated in a rebellion against the Heike clan. English Wikipedia places the school's origin in 1161 to 1162, while Japanese Wikipedia gives 1161 and adds that it is not documented. The city of Noda and nippon.com list Takamatsu Toshitsugu as the 33rd and Hatsumi Masaaki as the 34th soke. Japanese Wikipedia cites the dictionary Bugei Ryuha Daijiten, according to which the school's history and transmission before the modern era are embellished. On the ninja tradition of Iga and Koga in general, Turnbull writes in a peer-reviewed article from 2015 that only one reliable account of secret warfare is known from before 1581. Togakure-ryu is not in the list of member schools of the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai association. According to the Japanese magazine Otakuma, the actor Tsutsui Takumi announced on his blog in December 2019 that he had been appointed 35th soke.
History
Japanese Wikipedia names Togakure Daisuke of the late Heian period as the historical founder and the Chinese exile Iko as the legendary source of the teaching. English Wikipedia cites the dictionary Bugei Ryuha Daijiten, according to which the Togakure-ryu genealogy at Takamatsu Toshitsugu contains embellishments and its persons are given as older than they were. According to it, the genealogy was probably recompiled by Takamatsu's teacher Toda Shinryuken around the end of the shogunate. It gives Takamatsu the years 1889 to 1972. The Nipponica encyclopedia lists Togakure-ryu among the ninjutsu schools alongside Iga-ryu and Koka-ryu, but gives neither a founder nor dates. The city of Noda writes of a lineage of about a thousand years, nippon.com of nine hundred years, and both figures repeat the school's tradition.
Technique
Green (2001) states that Togakure-ryu includes unconventional weapons and tactics: disguise, explosive eggs, claws and various weapons made of rope, chain and wood. In combat, according to him, trips and arm locks predominate, together with some strikes to the nerves. According to Green, the school was developed for bringing down people in armor with two swords, so the movements are deep and low and escapes are often made by a jump or a roll. Japanese Wikipedia states that the school presents itself with eighteen disciplines on the model of bugei juhappan, among them sword, staff, shuriken, spear, horse riding, swimming, gunpowder, espionage and disguises. Yamada Yuji, vice-chairman of the International Ninja Research Center at Mie University, states in an interview for nippon.com that the use of shuriken by ninja is not documented.
Today
According to Green, Togakure-ryu is one of the nine schools of Bujinkan. Genbukan lists Togakure Ryu on its website among the schools its foundations derive from. According to the Japanese magazine Otakuma, the actor Tsutsui Takumi announced on his blog on 5 December 2019 that he was appointed 35th soke of Togakure-ryu, and we have not found confirmation from Bujinkan. The school is not on the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai list of member schools.
Did you know
Green (2001) writes that the American Stephen Hayes, as a 1st dan holder, began publishing practical manuals of Togakure-ryu techniques in the eighties and, according to the article's author Glenn J. Morris, thereby unintentionally set off the ninja craze. According to Green, the ninja boom had earlier been set off by Shinobi no mono films in the sixties.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Togakure-ryu?
According to Green (2001), the school was supposedly founded by Togakure Daisuke, a vassal of Kiso Yoshinaka. English Wikipedia places its origin in 1161 to 1162, while Japanese Wikipedia states that the year 1161 is not documented.
Which soke of Togakure-ryu was Hatsumi Masaaki?
According to the city of Noda and nippon.com the 34th, after Takamatsu Toshitsugu as the 33rd. According to the magazine Otakuma, the actor Tsutsui Takumi announced in 2019 that he had been named the 35th soke.
Did the ninja use shuriken?
Yamada Yuji of the International Ninja Research Center at Mie University states in an interview for nippon.com that this is not documented. Japanese Wikipedia lists shuriken among the eighteen disciplines with which Togakure-ryu presents itself.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.