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Gyokushin ryū ninpō – article translation

bujinshugyoAugust 8, 2012

玉心流忍法
骨指術の流れを汲み、佐々木王郎右衛門暉頼が創始した。忍法の流派の特徴は使う武器の種類にある。玉心流は投縄が秀れている。

Gyokushin ryū ninpō
Drawing from the transmission of kosshijutsu, Sasaki Ōrōemon Teruyori is the founder. A speciality of the ninpō schools is their weapon of choice, for Gyokushin ryū this is the nagenawa.

玉心 Gyokushin – jeweled heart, treasured spirit, precious centre or core, to treasure that held in the heart – all interchangeable and viable interpretations. Jeweled heart is the most frequently quoted, but doesn’t really do justice to the name as is a simplistic reading of individual kanji.

暉頼 Teruyori – shining trust – also written as Akiyari and Teruyoshi in various translations.

投縄 Nagenawa – throwing rope or lasso – though I dislike the use of lasso as this translation often brings to mind the American cowboy – possible better functional terms are looped rope, catching rope, thrown rope, snare or restraining rope.

Gyokushin ryū is one of the 4 styles attributed to Gyokkan, who learnt the Gyokko ryū of Hachidō Nyūdō through Tozawa Hyakuunsai Kaneuji. Gyokushin ryū is passed down to Toda Shinryūken Masamitsu and Takamatsu Toshitsugu to arrive at Hatsumi Masaaki.

Kumogakure Ryū Ninpō – article translation

bujinshugyoJuly 31, 2012

From Wanderings in Budo by bujinshugyo

雲隠流忍法
伊賀流忍法の始祖といわれる伊賀平内左衛門家長(雲隠法師)の流れを組み、戸田左源田信房を経て、戸田家に伝られる。

Kumogakure ryū ninpō
Iga Heinaizaeimon Ienage (Kumogakure Hōshi) is said to be the founder of Iga ryū ninpō, this flow was brought together by Toda Sagenta Nobufusa and thereafter transmitted to the Toda family.

雲隠 Kumogakure – hiding in the clouds, hidden cloud, cloud hiding
法師 Hōshi – Buddhist priest
平内左衛門 Heinaizaeimon – peaceful house on the left side of the defensive gate
家長 Ienage – family head, patriarch
信房 Nobufusa – trusted house, faithful follower

Another descendant of Hachidō Nyūdō’s Gyokko ryū, Kumogakure ryū is seen as the creation of Toda Sagenta Nobufusa based on the Iga ryū of Iga Heinaizaeimon Ienage. Through the Toda family it then finds its way to Takamatsu Toshitusgu and Hatsumi Masaaki.

Iga Heinaizaeimon Ienage – looking at this name you can see ‘the patriarch of the family that resided in the peaceful house to the the left of the gate in Iga’ and so indicates a person of prominent position. He is also referred to as Kumogakure Hōshi, or a Buddhist priest hidden in the clouds, as noted with Togakure ryū this links the person with the nature of the Iga region and mountain asceticism. So is the style named by Toda Sagenta Nobufusa (the trusted follower) as Kumogakure ryū the taking of his teachers name or named after the location associated with the person?

The description for Kumogakure ryū is brief and the same is true for the two following styles, Gyokushin ryū and Gikan ryū. To reiterate my purpose here is just to present a translation of the text and some comments on the names/kanji, I am trying to avoid any interpretation, explanation or information based on my experience of training with Soke or the Shihan in Japan (though I had to remind myself not to add a load on Kotō ryū from Senō-sensei last time…).

Kotō Ryū Koppōjutsu – article translation

bujinshugyoJuly 23, 2012

From Wanderings in Budo by bujinshugyo

虎倒流骨法術
骨法といっても、今はやりの喧嘩芸との関係は無い。玉虎流を僧玉観から学んだ戸田左京一心斎が16世紀中頃に創始した。もともと骨法とは古代中国から伝わった技で、強法とも呼ばれ、隠し武器を使うのが特長だという。戸隠流とともに伊賀忍者から戸田家に伝えられ、やはり百地三太夫も学んでいる。初見氏によれば骨はの技コツに通じるという。

Kotō ryū koppōjutsu
Present day fighting techniques bear no relationship to what one might call koppo…
Toda Sakyō Isshinsai learned the Gyokko ryū of Sō Gyokkan and founded (this school) in the mid 16th Century. The technique of koppō was originally introduced from ancient China, also known as Gōhō (strong method), its speciality is to make use of hidden weapons. Transmitted to the Toda family along with Togakure ryū by the Iga ninja. Momochi Sandayū also learned this. According to Mr Hatsumi there is the ‘knack’ to understanding the technique of using the skeleton/bones.

虎倒 Kotō – tiger knocking down, tiger defeating, to fell a tiger.
僧玉観 Sō Gyokkan – a (Buddhist) monk, jewelled appearance. Looking at the Chinese for 玉観 you could also see the name as suggesting that this person is a treasured (possibly imperial) advisor or observer.
強法 Gōhō – strong or powerful method. Pronunciation as gōhō is indicated by furigana alongside kanji in the text.

The first line was particularly vexing to translate into something that made sense in English, after trying out several different versions I am currently happy with the one written above. Similarly with the last line there are various ways to phrase it in English, and thus subtly altering the meaning.

As with Togakure ryū in the genealogy chart, Kotō ryū is descended from the Gyokko ryū of Hachidō Nyūdō, but through Tozawa Hyakuunsai Kaneuji to Gyokkan who is seen as the source of four styles. Kotō ryū is passed on to Hatsumi Masaaki, as with Togakure ryū, through Momochi Sandayū, the Toda family, Toda Shinryūken Masamitsu and Takamatsu Toshitsugu.

Togakure Ryū Ninpō – article translation

bujinshugyoJuly 15, 2012

From Wanderings in Budo by bujinshugyo

戸隠流忍法
木曽義仲の家臣だった戸隠大助が、12世紀の始め頃、戦いに敗れて伊賀に身を隠し、叔父の霞隠道士から骨指術や剣術を始めとする様々な武術を学んで開いた。最初は戸隠流八法秘剣と呼ばれ、時代によって名称は様々に変化した。伊賀忍者の百地三太夫などが学び、紀州藩の取名家を経は、17世紀頃から戸田家に伝わった。戸隠流は、手甲、施盤投げ、手裏剣、水遁の術に使う四尺のしの竹などに特長がある。戸隠流忍法体術は、骨指術からの分家である。

Togakure Ryū Ninpō
Togakure Daisuke was a vassal of Kiso Yoshinaka in the early 12th century, he hid in Iga after losing a battle, from his uncle Kagakure Dōshi he was taught a variety of martial arts beginning with kosshijutsu and kenjutsu. Though the name was changed depending on the period it was first referred to as Togakure ryū happō biken. In the 17th century the Toda family took over the school. Iga ninja such as Momochi Sandayū learnt from the distinguished family when it moved to Kishū province. Specialities of the Togakure ryū are shuko, senban throwing, shuriken and water evasion techniques including the use of a 4 shaku bamboo tube. Togakure ryū ninpō taijutsu is a branch of kosshijutsu.

霞隠 Kagakure – mist hiding, hiding in the mist – also read as Kain.
雲隠 Kumogakure – cloud hiding, hiding in the clouds
道士 Dōshi – a moral person or Taoist
Kagakure and Kumogakure are used interchangeably, both can be seen as coming form the from the homeland of Togakure ryū – the mist sheathed mountain slopes of Iga – as well as the use of smoke to escape that is synonymous with the legend of the Ninja. So you can see Kagakure Dōshi as a religious person who is able to hide in the mists and clouds – this also brings to mind the 修験道 Shugendō idea of being able to subsist through eating mist.

百地三太夫 Momochi Sandayū – a famous ninja who’s exploits appears in many stories.

手甲 Shuko – hand spikes. But also be read as Tekko – hand armour or armoured sleeves.
施盤投げ Senban nage – rotating plate throwing. Although the first character used in the text is 施 which refers to begging or alms so reads ‘begging bowl throwing’ bringing to mind the idea of disguise as a beggar in espionage. The characters for rotating plate are 旋盤.
手裏剣 Shuriken – blade inside the hand, small throwing blade
四尺のしの竹 Yonshaku no Shinodake – 4 length or measure bamboo tube. A shaku is 30.3 cm so the breathing tube is around 1.2 meters.

The genealogy chart shows Togakure ryū as coming from the Gyokko ryū of Hachidō Nyūdō through Kagakure Dōshi to Togakure Daisuke. It then passes on though Momochi Sandayū to the Toda family, to Toda Shinryūken Masamitsu, Takamatsu Toshitsugu then Hatsumi Masaaki.

Gyokko ryū – Togakure Ryū – article translation

bujinshugyoJuly 9, 2012

From Wanderings in Budo by bujinshugyo

Gyokko Ryū Kosshijutsu

玉虎流骨指術
8世紀頃に異匂という唐人が日本に伝えたと言われているが、初見氏によると異国の某とも解釈でき、つまりはっきり誰とはわからないが、唐の拳法が元になっていることを示しているのではないかということだ。骨指術とは指一本で敵を倒せるという意味もあるがむしろ武道の骨子に通ずる。この玉虎流が伊賀の様々な武道のもとになった。

Gyokko ryū kosshijutsu
It is said that a Chinese person called Ibou in the 8th Century brought this to Japan, according to Mr Hatsumi it is correct to interpret that the person was a foreigner, although we don’t know who clearly, there is a clear indication of it’s origin in the martial arts of T’ang China (618-907). To defeat the enemy with one finger is kosshijutsu, it also means to have a better understanding of the essence or essentials of martial arts. This Gyokko ryū of Iga was the source of a variety of martial arts.

In the genealogy chart the characters used are 異匄 Ikai – something like an ‘unusual beggar’, whereas in the Gyokko description 異匂 Ibou is used – which could be translated to something like ‘curious fragrance’ (Furigana, small pronunciation hiragana, are used to indicate the reading as Ibou/Ibō).

八道入道 Hachidō Nyūdō is shown as a successor of Ikai/Ibou in the chart with and Gyokko ryū listed under his name. 八道 Hachidō can mean the 8 feudal districts of Japan, and 入道 Nyūdō is a monk – possibly indicating that he was a widely traveled or itinerant monk.