Toyama-ryu Battojutsu
戸山流抜刀術An army method of handling the military sword, compiled from 1925 by the Army Toyama School in Tokyo. According to the ZNTIR federation, it was named Toyama-ryu only after 1952.
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About Toyama-ryu Battojutsu
Toyama-ryu battojutsu is an army method of handling the military sword, compiled by the Army Toyama School (Rikugun Toyama Gakko) in Tokyo. The federation Zen Nihon Toyama-ryu Iaido Renmei states that the forms cannot be attributed to one person, because they emerged over about twenty years with the participation of several masters. According to the same federation, Lieutenant Colonel Kiyoshi Morinaga adopted in 1925 five standing forms derived from iai, which Nakayama Hakudo adjusted, and the school's chronology compiled by Hideaki Kinoshita (2019) also has an entry for 1925.
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Takeo Kubo and Tokao Tajima (1987) state that the army adopted two-handed handling of the military sword through a revision of the regulation of 1915. In November 1940, according to the preface of its later manual, the school published the method in the journal Kaikosha kiji so that it would spread among officers who carried a sword. The manual Gunto no soho shizan from 1944 already lists seven forms and a separate chapter on test cutting. English Wikipedia states that Toyama-ryu is practiced entirely standing. According to the federation Zen Nihon Toyama-ryu Iaido Renmei, the school ceased to exist with the end of the war in 1945, and martial arts were banned until 1952. After the peace treaty came into force, Kiyoshi Morinaga, Yuki Yamaguchi, Taizaburo Nakamura and others, according to it, began to call the swordsmanship derived from this method Toyama-ryu. English Wikipedia today distinguishes three main lineages, Morinaga-ha, Nakamura-ha and Yamaguchi-ha.
History
Takeo Kubo and Tokao Tajima (1987) state that the army fencing regulation Kenjutsu kyohan was issued in 1889, 1894, 1907, 1915 and 1934. According to them, the first version was entirely a translation of a French regulation, and the military sword was wielded with one hand in it. Two-handed wielding of the sword came only with the 1915 revision, and Hideaki Kinoshita (2019) adds that its implementation took ten years. The foreword of the manual Gunto no soho shizan states that the school published the method in November 1940 in the journal Kaikosha kiji and in January 1942 issued a crash course in training with the military sword. In 1944 both texts were merged into a manual, published by Kokubo Budo Kyokai in Tokyo in 85 pages, whose foreword was signed by the school's commander Naonobu Uzawa. The Zen Nihon Toyama-ryu Iaido Renmei federation states that Tasaburo Tokutomi and Taizaburo Nakamura founded the association Toyamaryu Shinko-kai, later renamed to its present name. According to the International Batto-Do Federation (IBF), the federation's predecessor was founded in 1976 and renamed in April 1979, while Kakuseikai gives the year 1977.
How it differs
English Wikipedia states that, unlike many koryu schools, Toyama-ryu is practiced entirely standing. Japanese Wikipedia adds that it places greater emphasis on test cutting than other iaido schools. Takeo Kubo and Tokao Tajima (1987) summarize that army regulations measured the sword only by its military usefulness and, unlike civilian kendo, did not include the cultivation of virtues. A manual from 1944 itself calls the method so-called iai and battojutsu, and the main postwar federation has iaido in its name. Zen Nihon Battodo Renmei and Japanese Wikipedia, by contrast, classify battodo as a separate art with its own federation.
Technique
The 1944 manual lists seven forms: ipponme mae-teki, nihonme migi-teki, sanbonme hidari-teki, yonhonme ushiro-teki, gohonme totsugeki, ropponme zengo-teki and nanahonme sayu-teki. They are preceded by chapters on purpose, method overview, special warnings, the bow, the preparatory stance, and drawing and sheathing the sword. Japanese Wikipedia states that the five forms of 1925 were standing, with no seated form among them, and that in 1942 techniques of cutting while running were added for offensive combat. According to the Zen Nihon Toyama-ryu Iaido Renmei federation, in 1940 the school expanded the forms to seven, which became the basis of today's kata. After the war, by its own account, the federation changed the first step from the left foot to the right, added chiburi, and added Itomagoi as the eighth kata. The Czech Toyama Ryu Federation states that the Morinaga-ha line practises Hon Iai with eight kata and the Nakamura-ha line eight kata including Suemonogiri for test cutting.
Training
The foreword of the 1944 manual prescribes first practising the crash course and only after mastering it the forms. According to the manual, the January 1942 crash course was meant for people with little or no swordsmanship experience, to learn the basic cut and thrust with the military sword in a short time. The foreword also warns that practising only with a bamboo sword leads to a technique unusable in combat and to cuts without a correct edge path, so it regards test cutting as necessary. The manual's chapter on test cutting states that the method is practised without a real opponent or object, so it supplements it with cutting at a target. Takeo Kubo and Tokao Tajima (1987) state that the 1934 regulation emphasised the basic cut to the head, the thrust and a series of cuts, and introduced the command Men o kire. The illustrations in the 1944 manual show trainees in military uniform with a cap and a sword at the waist, not in hakama.
Competition
We have not found competitions in forms or in cutting from the army period in the sources. Takeo Kubo and Tokao Tajima (1987) mention only fencing bouts (shiai) in army kenjutsu, and today's competitions are documented only by federation websites. Zen Nihon Toyama-ryu Iaido Renmei states that it has its own rules for tournament judges, but these are available to members only. The Czech Toyama Ryu Federation states that it held the first championship of the Czech Republic in 2018. According to the same federation, its team won silver in Tokyo in 2019 and bronze in 2025 in team tameshigiri at the world championship, but the federation does not name the organizer of the championship.
Today
English Wikipedia lists three main present-day lineages: Morinaga-ha, Nakamura-ha and Yamaguchi-ha. Japanese Wikipedia divides the organizations into lineages derived from Nakayama Hakudo or Kiyoshi Morinaga and lineages from Yuki Yamaguchi or Taizaburo Nakamura. Zen Nihon Toyama-ryu Iaido Renmei states about itself that it is a nonprofit organization under Japanese law with branches in the USA, Hong Kong, Beijing, Spain, Germany, Latvia and, since 2014, Taiwan. According to its site, since 2013 it has provided foreign members with the export of tatami omote mats for test cutting. The Czech Toyama Ryu Federation, based in Prague, lists Toyama-ryu Iai Batto Do Renmei and Zen Nihon Battodo Renmei as partners and states membership in the IMAF. According to it, grades range from kihon 10th kyu to okuden 8th dan, 9th dan is exceptionally rare and 10th dan is no longer awarded.
Frequently asked questions
Is Toyama-ryu a family school with a single founder?
No. It is an army method of the Army Toyama School, and the federation Zen Nihon Toyama-ryu Iaido Renmei states that the forms emerged over about twenty years with several masters.
How many forms did the method have in 1925?
According to the federation Zen Nihon Toyama-ryu Iaido Renmei, the school adopted five standing forms in 1925. The manual of the Army Toyama School from 1944 already lists seven forms.
When did the method receive the name Toyama-ryu?
According to the federation Zen Nihon Toyama-ryu Iaido Renmei, Kiyoshi Morinaga, Yuki Yamaguchi, Taizaburo Nakamura and others began to call it that only after the peace treaty came into force in 1952.
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