Tokumeikan

“Shisei (posture)
Outdoor training is an excellent way to test your Shisei. The damp grass, the stones, the uneven ground and the slope will quickly contrive to modify your posture. This type of exercise will injure the aesthetics of your technique, to be sure, but it will help you to realize that in the priorities of Kobudo, the pursuit of aesthetics should never be at the expense of technical efficiency, but rather, should be complementary to it.

There is another aspect to the notion of Shisei that is at least as important as the first one: the mental attitude. This "inner posture" reflects dignity, uprightness and respect. It is demonstrated by behaviour which tolerates no rudeness, no misplaced gestures or dodges. Dignity in difficult times as well as at moments of joy reflects Shisei as much as an impeccable physical posture. It is hard to say which of the two aspects influences the other, but it is certain that a perfect Shisei can be achieved only when both the inner and the outer attitudes are in perfect harmony.”

Source: Pascal Krieger, Jodô - The way of the stick
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Website: https://katorivietnam.org
Instagram: Katori_shobukan_vietnam
Hotline:
- Shobukan Phu My Hung: 090 907 2742
- Shobukan Thao Dien: : 090 979 4624
Location:
- Shobukan Phu My Hung: D1.01 Riverside Residence block D, Tan My ward, Ho Chi Minh City.
https://shorturl.at/nFz5r
- Shobukan Thao Dien: 204/28 Nguyen Van Huong, An Khanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City.
https://shorturl.at/tEKQW

The Unscathed Demon of Sekigahara

October 21, 1600. Sekigahara, Japan.

Fog so thick you couldn't see your own feet. 160,000 samurai waiting in silence.

Then, a single horse breaks through the fog.

It's Honda Tadakatsu. 52 years old. By samurai standards, he should be retired. Drinking tea. Telling war stories.

Instead, he's wearing his famous helmet. The one with the giant deer antlers. He carries his legendary spear, Tonbokiri - the Dragonfly Cutter. Legend says it was so sharp, a dragonfly that landed on it was split in two.

This man fought 57 battles. Never wounded. Not once. His enemies thought he was immortal.

That morning, he rode for Tokugawa Ieyasu. East vs West. Winner takes all of Japan.

And the East was losing. The Western Army was breaking through. If the line snapped, Ieyasu would fall, and Japanese history would change forever.

Tadakatsu saw it.

No speech. No shouting.

He just kicked his horse, Mikuni-Guro, and charged straight into the gap. Right into Shimazu's men. Right into Ukita's camp.

Imagine being a foot soldier in that fog, and suddenly those giant antlers appear out of nowhere charging at you. Everyone knew that helmet. Everyone knew what it meant.

The enemy froze.

That one moment of hesitation was all Tokugawa's allies needed to regroup.

Hours later, the West broke and ran. Ieyasu won the battle, became Sh**un, and his clan would rule Japan for the next 250 years.

And Tadakatsu?

He cleaned his spear, bowed to his lord, and walked away.

Still not a scratch on him.

The demon who could not be cut. This is why they called Honda Tadakatsu immortal at Sekigahara.

A true turning point in Japanese history.

“Sword length
A sword must be considered an extension of one's body. As also introduced in the previous section on kodachi, a teaching conveying that "a one-handed cut offers a five-inch advantage can be found in our transmission scrolls. This is also a crucial teaching in iai, where the sword is drawn in the one hand.
In iai, the sword must be deftly handled in one hand as skilfully as if manipulating one's own fingers. The kensen must move as swiftly as the tail of a wagtail, and reach the opponent before they are able to evade. As I previously mentioned in the section on kenjutsu, there is no place for telegraphing that one is going to cut the enemy's head or forearm in the warrior arts.

In the Kamakura (1185-1333) and Nanbokucho (1334-1392) periods, long tachi swords were employed due to the frequency of mounted engagements. By the Edo period daimyo and their samurai wielded swords measuring around 2-shaku 1 or 2-sun (63.6-66.7cm), perhaps in order to make them easier to use even in one hand such as in iai. Yagyū Renyasai, one of the greatest swordsmen of the Shinkage-ryū, is said to have used increasingly short swords from when he was a young man, with his tachi measuring 1-shaku 9-sun 8-bu (60.0cm) and his shōtō 1-shaku 3-sun 3-bu (40.3cm). As discussed in the kodachi section, this length would have probably been sufficient for a master swordsman.”

Source: Risuke Otake, “Strategy and the art of peace”, Tokyo (Japan), Nippon Budokan 2016.
----------------------------------
Website: https://katorivietnam.org
Instagram: Katori_shobukan_vietnam
Hotline:
- Shobukan Phu My Hung: 090 907 2742
- Shobukan Thao Dien: : 090 979 4624
Location:
- Shobukan Phu My Hung: D1.01 Riverside Residence block D, Tan My ward, Ho Chi Minh City.
https://shorturl.at/nFz5r
- Shobukan Thao Dien: 204/28 Nguyen Van Huong, An Khanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City.
https://shorturl.at/tEKQW

My teacher in Katori Shinto-ryu.

Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu, koryu of koryus, this is the origin of the Japanese martial arts!
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/sug1de

God of military arts Katori grand shrine of below, venerable schools with unbroken serving as a history of 600 years plus years. Isenokami Kamiizumi, Tosanokami Tsukahara, Ippasai Morooka, Bizennokami Matsumoto ..., many of the genius of the swordsman, produced a strategist. The number is too numerous to mention.

Long violently, some of the slick and brilliant continuous form, Incorporating the work of many of offense and defense, carried out by hidden the extremely of deadly skills to the intention. Here is the source of the Japanese martial arts!

This work is simply not a recorded video that introduced the form and technique of style. Meiji, Showa and Heisei and, warriors who lived in turbulent martial arts world, and the way of life of Yuishinkan kancho Yoshio Sugino, those approaching to the heart of the extremely obtained tricks

★For more information on how to watch it on video on demand check
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/sug1de


Yoshio Sugino

1904 born in Chiba. 1918 Keio coated portion admission. Kendo is Saneatsu Shingu, judo learn to Kunisaburo Iizuka. Showa open the dojo two years in Kawasaki, after Jigoro Kano Katori Shinto-ryu by Ichizo Shiina by the life of, receive a teaching license learn aikido (Takemusu Aiki) by Morihei Ueshiba. Join the old martial arts for the Promotion of Science, which was established Showa 10 years, and demonstration at the dedication martial arts tournament in the hereafter all over the country, published the 1941 "Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu Budo Kyohan". Kobudo Hanshi than 1966 large-Butoku Nippon meet, is awarded kobudo 10-dan in International Budoin. Kurosawa film "Seven Samurai," "Yojimbo" and other TV, do the martial arts taught in such as Kabuki. He passed away in 1998.

★Official website
http://budojapan.com/
★Twitter
https://twitter.com/BudoJapan
★Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/user/budojapan
★Instagram
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My teacher in Ono-ha Itto ryu.

★A sword school that achieves certain victory in one beat

Ono-ha Itto-ryu Volume 1: Kiriotoshi
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/izt1d

Ono-ha Itto-ryu Volume 2: Hoshato
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/izt2d

Obstinacy, selfishness, egotism, fear...
First you cut down your own mind

Founded by Ito Ittosai,and being the school taught to the house of the Tokugawa Sh**un, Ono-ha Itto-ryu kenjutsu is a representative style of Japanese swordsmanship. The philosophy and techniques of this school, which is characterized by “Kiriotoshi”, a winning technique that emerges during a mutual strike, are carefully explained in a series of DVDs created with the full cooperation of Reigakudo, the official dojo of Ono-ha Itto-ryu.

Focusing on Kiriotoshi, the foundation of all the school’s techniques, the “Ono-ha Itto-ryu, Volume 1: Kiriotoshi”DVD explains the history and philosophy of Ono-ha Itto-ryu as well as the Kumitachi forms that are the core of its training.

[Related Kenjutsu&IAI VOD]
https://budojapan.com/vodcat/kenjutsu-iai/

★Official website
http://budojapan.com/
★Twitter
https://twitter.com/BudoJapan
★Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/user/budojapan
★Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/budojapan/

School #9 of 10 in KenjutsuWorld’s original series: The Lineages That Shaped the Sword.

He won a duel to the death to inherit the school. He then taught the rulers of Japan. Four centuries later, the school still meets in Tokyo under its 18th headmaster.

This is Ono-ha Itto-ryu - the oldest surviving branch of Itto-ryu, one of only two sword schools officially patronized by the Tokugawa sh**unate, and School #9 of 10 in our series on the lineages that shaped Japanese swordsmanship.

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The story begins with a man named Mikogami Tenzen. He was one of Ito Ittosai's two most advanced students. When Ittosai decided it was time to name a successor, he ordered the two men to fight each other to the death. Tenzen won. He was so grieved at killing his training partner that he took the dead man's family name out of tribute - becoming Ono Jiroemon Tadaaki. That moment of grief-driven renaming is where this school begins.

Tadaaki was appointed alongside Yagyu Munenori as one of only two official kenjutsu instructors to the Tokugawa sh**unate. It was said he was Munenori's superior in actual swordsmanship - but his uncompromising character made him less politically favored. The contrast is striking: Munenori wrote philosophical treatises; Tadaaki reportedly ripped away the carpet the sh**un was sitting on during a lesson, causing him to stumble, then said: "Sword techniques aren't about talking. You need to do them. You had an opening just now and were tumbled easily." Munenori became a daimyo. Tadaaki became a legend among swordsmen.

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The school's central teaching is itto sunawachi banto - "one sword is ten thousand swords." Mastery of a single principle - the decisive cut - contains within it the answer to any situation. This is embodied in the school's signature technique: kiriotoshi (cutting down), which simultaneously deflects the opponent's blade and delivers the decisive cut in a single motion. Rather than parrying, then counter-attacking, it collapses defense and offense into one movement. The debana waza that advanced kendo practitioners cultivate today traces its conceptual lineage directly to this approach.

The school continued serving the Tokugawa through Tadaaki's successors - the third headmaster served three more sh**uns. It survived the fall of the sh**unate, the Meiji transformation, two world wars, and the complete modernization of Japanese society. Today it meets in a Methodist church in Setagaya, Tokyo - the Reigakudo dojo, founded by the 16th headmaster Sasamori Junzo, an ordained Christian minister who also served in the Japanese Diet and in 1965 published the most comprehensive public documentation of any koryu school's technical system.

- X -
This is School #9 of 10 in our series: The Lineages That Shaped the Sword. Next week: Tennen Rishin-ryu - the sword school of the legendary Shinsengumi. Follow the page so you don't miss it. Full article at KenjutsuWorld.com



Photo:
Yamaoka Tesshū (1836–1888) — swordsman, Zen master, calligrapher, and Meiji statesman. A student of Ono-ha Ittō-ryū whose principles he synthesized into his own Ittō Shōden Mutō-ryū. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.