Yagyu Shingan-ryu Taijutsu
柳生心眼流体術A Japanese old school of fighting in armour. Despite the name it is not a branch of Yagyu Shinkage-ryu, which trains the sword; this one trains grips and throws.
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About Yagyu Shingan-ryu Taijutsu
Yagyu Shingan-ryu is a Japanese old school focused on bodily combat, that is taijutsu. It arose at the beginning of the seventeenth century and its founding is linked to Takenaga Hayato Hisayoshi, a warrior from the Sendai region. The name Yagyu points to the fact that Takenaga is said to have studied under Yagyu Munenori, but a common error must be forestalled: the school is not identical with Yagyu Shinkage-ryu and is not a branch of it either. Shinkage-ryu is a school of the sword, whereas Shingan-ryu deals chiefly with close combat and combat in armour, that is yoroi kumiuchi. Armour is precisely what explains why the art looks as it does. Against an armoured opponent there is no point in striking with the flat of the fist or aiming at places covered by plate, and so the work is with gripping, with breaking balance, with throws and with strikes to the places armour does not protect. The stances are low and heavy, the movement short and deliberately forceful, because in armour one cannot spring aside. A peculiarity of the school is a demanding preparatory set that the student performs alone and that serves to strengthen the trunk, the hips and the grip; it is often described as one of the hardest in the Japanese old schools. Weapons work belongs to the curriculum as well. Today Yagyu Shingan-ryu is transmitted in two main branches, the Sendai and the Edo line, whose content differs in detail. Details of the founder's life diverge between the lines and are not reliably documented.
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