Yamanni-ryu Bojutsu
山根流棒術An Okinawan staff-fighting school recognizable by its flexible, swing-driven staff movement, used instead of fixed, stopped blocking positions.
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About Yamanni-ryu Bojutsu
Yamanni-ryū is an Okinawan school of bōjutsu, meaning fighting with the long staff. It differs from other Okinawan schools in the way the staff itself is handled: instead of fixed blocks and stopped positions, it works with a flexible, rebounding motion in which the end of the staff continues moving onward with the swing, so that momentum carries over into the next strike rather than fresh force being applied each time. This feature is what defines the school, and it is attributed to Chinen Sanda, who lived from 1842 to 1925. The naming of this particular school is unusually tangled, and it is worth understanding clearly. Tradition traces the lineage back to Sakugawa Kanga from the end of the eighteenth century, who, according to what has been passed down, transmitted it to the Chinen family beginning with Chinen Umikana. Sanda was the one who brought that flexible, rebounding movement into the tradition, but the school only received its actual name later, from his grandson, Chinen Masami, who lived from 1898 to 1976 — and who named it after his own grandfather. This is also the reason the school is known under several different names: Yamanni-ryū, Yamane-ryū, and also Yamanni-Chinen-ryū. No founding year is documented, and the catalog leaves that field blank rather than guessing. Among the students of Chinen Masami were Higa Seitoku, who is said to be the only student to have received an official bōjutsu license directly from the founder's grandson, and Kishaba Chogi; today the school is taught outside Japan, for example by Oshiro Toshihiro.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.