Jikishinkage-ryu Naginatajutsu explained

Nationality:Traditional Japanese martial art
School:Jikishinkage-ryū Naginatajutsu
(直心影流薙刀術)
Founder:Matsumoto Bizen no Kami (松本備前守)
Period Founded:Late Muromachi period
Date Founded:c. 1570
Headmaster:Ogiwara Haruko (荻原 晴子)
Art1:Naginatajutsu
Description1:Glaive art
Art2:Tantō
Description2:Dagger art
Ancestors:Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū
Descendants:None identified

is a naginatajutsu koryū which claims to have descended from Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū. Despite this claim, Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu does not appear to have any of the original rituals, esoteric teachings, body and weapon movements of Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū.[1]

Sometime during the 1860s, Satake Kanryūsai (佐竹鑑柳斎) and his wife, Satake Shigeo (佐竹茂雄) developed a new naginata style which eventually came to be known as Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu. In the Bugei Ryūha Daijiten (武芸流派大事典), the name of this school is also rendered as Jikishin-ryū-kage-ryū (直心柳影流).[2] [3] It is usually claimed that Satake Kanryūsai was an exponent of Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū (鹿島神傳直心影流) and Yanagikage-ryū (柳影流).[4] [5] However it is believed by some that Ryūgō-ryū (柳剛流) was instead the main influence of Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu,[6] as Ryūgō-ryū was famous for using very long shinai (120 - 183 cm in length) as well as attacks to the lower legs, a technique which Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu itself became famous for. Additionally, the way the naginata is held in Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu appears to resemble that of a sword rather than a heavy pole weapon.[7]

The school's main curriculum consists of twenty-five naginata kata and ten tantō kata. In addition, there are five secret naginata gokui-waza (極意技) and four kata forming the reiken-shihō-kiri (霊剣四方切). Ten kusarigama kata from Chokuyūshin-ryū (直猶心流) are also transmitted together with the naginata kata.[8]

Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu and Tendō-ryū are the two main classical schools of naginatajutsu which the modern practice atarashii naginata is mainly derived from.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Amdur , Ellis . Old School. Essays on Japanese Martial Traditions Expanded Edition. Freelance Academy Press, Inc.. 2013. 978-1-937439-16-3. 199.
  2. Book: 綿谷雪, 山田忠史 (Watatani Kiyoshi, Yamada Tadachika) . 武芸流派大事典 (Bugei Ryūha Daijiten). 東京コピイ出版部. 1978. B00J8GID4M. 336.
  3. Book: 加来耕三 (Kaku Kouzo) . 日本武術武道大事典 (Encyclopedia of Budo, the military arts of Japan). 勉誠出版. 2015. 978-4585200321. 272.
  4. Book: 横瀬 (Yokose) , 知之 (Tomoyuki) . 日本の古武道 (Nihon no Kobudō). 日本武道館 (Nippon Budōkan). 2001. 978-4583035864. 311.
  5. Book: 綿谷雪, 山田忠史 (Watatani Kiyoshi, Yamada Tadachika) . 武芸流派大事典 (Bugei Ryūha Daijiten). 東京コピイ出版部. 1978. B00J8GID4M. 336.
  6. Book: 日本古武道協会 (Nihon Kobudō Kyōkai) . 日本古武道総覧 (Nihon Kobudō Sōran). 島津書房. 1989. 978-4882180159. 130.
  7. Book: Amdur , Ellis . Old School. Essays on Japanese Martial Traditions Expanded Edition. Freelance Academy Press, Inc.. 2013. 978-1-937439-16-3. 199–200.
  8. Book: 横瀬 (Yokose) , 知之 (Tomoyuki) . 日本の古武道 (Nihon no Kobudō). 日本武道館 (Nippon Budōkan). 2001. 978-4583035864. 314, 316–322.
  9. Book: 日本武道館 (Nippon Budōkan) . BUDO THE MARTIAL WAYS OF JAPAN. ベースボール・マガジン社 (Baseball Magazine Company). 2011. 978-4990169459. 242–243.