Hokushin Ittô-Ryû Hyôhô - Shichiseikai Keikojô Basel

Hokushin Ittō-ryū Hyōhō (北辰一刀流兵法) is a koryū (古流) which was founded in the late Edo period (1820’s) by Chiba Shusaku Narimasa (千葉周作成政, 1794- 1856). Curriculum and Characteristics:

The curriculum of the ryūha contains mainly Kenjutsu, Battōjutsu and Naginatajutsu. But the main weapons used are the long sword and short sword (Katana and Wakizashi). The Hokushin Ittō-ryū is a very intense dueling style, which focuses on simple and fast techniques where no unnecessary movements are made. Controlling the enemy’s center line with the Kiri-Otoshi and dominating him with extremely fast tsuki-waza are the signature techniques of this ryūha. The principles of this style are that a perfect technique should contain defence and offense in one action. Characteristic for the training is the use of Onigote (heavily padded gloves) like in its ancestor styles Ono-ha Ittō-ryū and Nakanishi-ha Ittō-ryū which are used in several Kumitachi-Kata (two person practice). This style is also one of the few remaining ryūha which is still training Kumitachi with Shinken (real swords). One has in order to become Shihan, master every technique with Shinken (Kumitachi and Battōjutsu). This is a very dangerous training method but guarantees, that the quality of those masters is held on a very high level. Famous Swordsmen:

At the end of the Bakumatsu period (1853-1867), the Hokushin Ittō-ryū was one of the three biggest and most famous ryūha all over Japan. Swordsmen of the Hokushin Ittō-ryū had a strong influence on the development of modern Kendō in the late 19th century. Also many famous and politically influential people were masters of this swordsmanship school. Some of the most prominent names:

-Sakamoto Ryōma (famous revolutionary)
-Itō Kash*tarō (military advisor of the Shinsengumi)
-Yamaoka Tesshū (founder of the Ittō Shōden Mutō-ryū)
-Chiba Sana (daughter of the 1st Chiba-dōjō headmaster)
-Yamanami Keisuke (vice commander of the Shinsengumi)
-Tōdō Heisuke (captain of the 8th squad of the Shinsengumi)
-Yoshimura Kanichirō (Kenjutsu instructor of the Shinsengumi)
-Naito Takaharu (A key developer of modern Kendo)
-Takano Sasaburo (A key developer of modern Kendo)
-Monna Tadashi (A key developer of modern Kendo)


Ranking System:
The Hokushin Ittō-ryū has three teaching steps:

-Shoden 初伝 (entry-transmission)
-Chūden 中伝 (middle-transmission)
-Okuden 奥伝 (inner-transmission)


Like many other koryū, the Hokushin Ittō-ryū traditionally awards makimono-scrolls and/ or inka-jō. There is no modern Dan system in the school. The traditional five scrolls of Hokushin Ittō-ryū are:

1.Kirigami 剪紙
2.Hatsumokuroku 初目録
3.Kajōmokuroku / Seigandenju 箇条目録 / 星眼伝授
4.Chūmokuroku / Menkyo 中目録 / 免許 (full transmission of all techniques)
5.Daimokuroku / Menkyo-Kaiden 大目録 / 免許皆伝 (full transmission of the ryūha)


Lineage:

Old Main lines:

The two main lines were that of the Kaiso Chiba Shusaku Narimasa and his Edo-Genbukan, the other was that of his brother Chiba Sadakichi Masamichi with the Chiba-Dôjô. In the mid Taisho period, the line of the Edo-Genbukan disappeared soon after the Dojo was destroyed in the big Kanto earthquake in 1923. The Chiba-Dojo was also destroyed at that time, but this line, unlike that of the Edo-Genbukan, has survived until today with Otsuka Yoichiro Masanori as the 6th Soke. Edo-Genbukan:

1st Chiba Shusaku Narimasa
2nd Chiba Kisotaro Takatane
3rd Chiba Eijiro Nariyuki
4th Chiba Michisaburo Mitsutane
5th Chiba Shunosuke Koretane (restored the Edo-Genbukan with the help of Yamaoka Tesshu and Inoue Hachiro in 1883/ last Edo-Genbukan Headmaster)

Chiba-Dojo:

1st Chiba Sadakichi Masamichi
2nd Chiba Jutaro Kazutane
3rd Chiba To-ichiro Kiyomitsu
4th Chiba Tsukane
5th Chiba Hiroshi Masatane
6th Otsuka Yoichiro Masanori

On July 1st 2013 the Chiba family head of the line of Chiba Sadakichi, gave the title of the 6th Soke of the Hokushin Itto-ryu Hyoho Chiba-Dojo to Otsuka Yoichiro Masanori in order to preserve the old Chiba line of the ryuha. Side lines:

At the middle of the Meiji-period there were many side branches, founded by pupils of the two main lines. One of the most famous was the Tobukan in Mito. It was established by Ozawa Torakichi, a student of the Edo-Genbukan. The Ozawa family is still preserving the teachings of its first headmaster. Mito-Tobukan:

1st Ozawa Torakichi
2nd Ozawa Ichiro
3rd Ozawa Toyokichi
4th Ozawa Takeshi
5th Ozawa Kiyoko
6th Ozawa Tadahiko
7th Ozawa Satoshi


Otaru-Genbukan:
(This Dojo is not to be mistaken with the Edo-Genbukan)

1st Noda Shiro (He opened the Otaru Genbukan)
2nd Kobayashi Yoshikatsu
3rd Konishi Shigejiro (Moved the Dojo to Tokyo and named it Suginami Genbukan.)
4th Konishi Shinen Kazuyuki

There may be more side lines, due to the amount of teaching licenses issued during the Edo period. www.hokushinittoryu.jp
www.hokushinittoryu.com
www.hokushinittoryu-schweiz.com