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Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu History, Iai page 2 |
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(Photo: Students in Kyoto perform the kata Yaegaki under the eyes of Ohmori sensei and Fujii sensei, c. 1998.) Note: Much of the information in the following comes from the handout: Uno Mataji Sensei Den Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu Iai, Volume 1, published by the Kyoto Eishinkai. The
Meaning of the Ryu’s Name
The characters (read left to right): Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu Iai. Origins
and Lineage He was supposed to have received a divine inspiration about iai, particularly the use of a longish handle (tsuka) after undergoing ritual austerities and training for 100 days. Most texts say that he received his inspiration from a vision he received at the Hayashizaki Myojin shrine in Tateoka, in Northern Japan. The Godaiki claims that the deity at the shrine was a manifestation of the god of Kashima. The Kashima shrine, along with the Katori shrine, were considered in the most ancient of days as sites for patron deities of northern warriors on their way to subdue northern tribes and rebellions. Hayashizaki Junsuke received an inspiration in a vision about his sword, and called it muso ken ("sword inspired by a vision"); thus the name of his style was first called the Hayashizaki Muso-ryu. Besides being called the "founder" of most iai schools, he also apparently developed a grappling system (kumi-uchi). He passed on this grappling system called the Muso Jikiden Yawara to Iizasa Ienao, the seventh lord of the Iizasayama castle, who was the founder of the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu. It seems that Junsuke's grappling techniques were passed down in the iai schools that he founded. The 19th master, Hasegawa Eishin, was also noted for his grappling techniques ("yawara hyakute") (from the Bugei Ryuha Daijiten) Popular legends abound about Junsuke's family origins and later personal history, although many of these are obscure and/or unverifiable. One popular myth is that his father was killed by another samurai who fled the province he was living in. Junsuke then devoted himself to avenging his father's death, training incessantly as a youth, until his training culminated in a vision at the Hayashizaki Myojin shrine. He then fulfilled his vendetta by killing his father's murderer in the streets of Kyoto. It's a colorful story, but one that most Japanese researchers discount as legend. Junsuke traveled around the country after developing his style, and his students therefore are from different regions of Japan. Many of them started their own systems, which is why he is considered not so much as the "father" of all iai, but the person who most popularized this art and was the proselytizer and inspiration for a great many current iai systems. Lineage
of the Eishin-ryu 1.
Founder: Hayashizaki Jinsuke (or Junsuke) Shigenobu (noted in the Honcho
Bugei Shoden): Muso Hayashizaki-ryu; Junshin-ryu From the 12th generation, the system divides into two related styles, the Tanimura-ha ("ha" means "faction") and the Shimomura-ha. The Tanimura-ha eventually develops into the Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu, while the Shimomura-ha becomes the Muso Shinden-ryu. Eishin-ryu
line: The Kansai area Eishin line takes after Oe sensei with Uno Mataji, who taught several people without himself claiming to be a "soke" or headmaster, of the school. After Oe sensei, many Kansai Eishin-ryu schools developed on their own, following Uno sensei, without following a soke system.Similarly, many in the Muso Shinden-ryu do not adhere to a headmaster after Nakayama Hakudo, who formulated the Shinden-ryu as it currently exists. I believe the thinking was that for the Shinden-ryu and Eishin-ryu in the 20th Century, a more contemporary, less centralized system should be developed. Much of this was probably influenced by the structure of the All Japan Kendo Federation, whose members incorporated iai training into its training regime. Others claim the lineage continued in this way: 18.
Hogiyama (Okiyama) Namio Shinden-ryu
line: Our
Club’s Lineage Oei sensei standardized the kata forms and number. He took Omori-ryu and Hasegawa-ryu forms and put them in logical sequences as the Seiza No Bu and the Tatehiza No Bu sections. Oei sensei’s students included Ehiyama Namio, Yamanouchi Toyotake, Nakanishi Toyotake, Masaoka Ichimi, Yamamoto Harusuke, Koda Morio, Fukui Harumasa and Uno Masamichi. Yamanouchi Toyotake sensei was the grandson of Yamanouchi Yodo, the last daimyo of Tosa Province, formerly located in Shikoku. From the mid-1920s, Yamanouchi sensei lived in Kyoto for about ten years before moving to Tokyo. He died of an illness in Gifu Prefecture in 1947. While in Kyoto, Yamanouchi sensei taught a number of students. Uno
sensei learned the Eishin-ryu from Oei sensei and from Yamanouchi sensei.
A group photo taken at the Kyoto Budo Center, June 2003: (Left to right): Fujii sensei, Ohmori Masao sensei, Wayne Muromoto and Rev. Clark Zenkyu Watanabe.
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Muso
Jikiden Eishin-ryu (1)
