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Shinden Fudō Ryū Dakentaijutsu – article translation

bujinshugyoAugust 30, 2012

神伝不動流打拳体術
出雲冠者義照の伝えた骨指術の流れを汲み、源八郎為義が12世紀の中頃に創始。構え自然体ひとつしかないのか特長。ただし、実際わ心の中で映像を作って構えている。

Shinden Fudō ryū dakentaijutsu
Legend has it that Izumo Kanja Yoshiteru was the first to understand the flow of koppojutsu, Minamoto Hachirō Tameyoshi was the founder in the 12th century. The principal feature is the natural body posture. However, in actual fact I have an image (of a posture) pictured in my mind.

神伝不動流打拳体術 Shinden Fudō ryū dakentaijutsu – Divine transmission of immovability style striking body-technique or art. Often referred to simply as Fudō ryū by teachers in Japan.

出雲冠者義照 Izumo Kanja Yoshiteru – Izumo (province), young man (coming of age), shining justice – A young man from Izumo.

In mythology the entrance to Yomi黄泉, the land of the dead, is to be found in Izumo province. An interesting link to the ‘natural hell methods’ of the Shizen Shigoku no Kata in Shinden Fudō ryū…

源八郎為義 Minamoto Hachirō Tameyoshi – Minamoto (clan), eighth son, source of justice. An eighth son of someone in the Minamoto clan, of which there were many…

In the 12th Century 3 major families/clans vying for supremacy were the Fujiwara 藤原, Minamoto (aka Genji 源氏 Gen clan) and Taira (aka Heike 平家 Hei family).

The genealogy for Shinden Fudō ryū is fairly straightforward – from Ikai to Izumo Kanja Yoshiteru, Minamoto Hachirō Tameyoshi founded the style that was passed down to Toda Shinryūken Masamitsu to be passed on to Takamatsu Toshitsugu and then Hatsumi Masaaki.

There is a historical Minamoto Tameyoshi 源為義 – also known as Mutsu Shirō 陸奥四郎 sixth (rank) of the interior, fourth-son, with the position of Rokujō (Hangan) 六条判官 sixth-rank judge (under the Ritsuryō system mentioned in a previous post).

Minamoto Tameyoshi became the head of the Minamoto clan and supported Fujiwara Yorinaga in trying to place Sutoku on the throne in 1156, opposing Go-Shirakawa who was supported by Fujiwara Tadamichi, Taira Kiyomori, Minamoto Yoshitomo (the son of Minamoto Tameyoshi) – a mix of both Minamoto and Taira. This became known as the Hōgen war or rebellion (保元の乱 Hōgen no ran). Go-Shirakawa’s faction was the victor, with Minamoto Tameyoshi becoming a monk and consequently executed by his son. This begins the struggle between the Minamoto and Taira (源平 Gempei), with the Taira initially gaining dominance to then be defeated by the Minamoto at the battle of Dan no ura no tataki 壇ノ浦の戦. Minamoto Yoritomo was to became the first Shōgun of Japan.

(This is just here for interest – in no way to indicate that this person is the same as the founder of Shinden Fudō ryū!)

Technical Difficulties

alexanderAugust 22, 2012

From Sweden Taikai 2012 by alexander

It would seem that the script responsible for sending the payment instructions have had a few behavioural issues. Please, can those of you that have NOT received an e-mail with a unique number and payment instructions contact me at [email protected] and I’ll get that sorted, thank you.

Gikan Ryū Koppōjutsu – article translation

bujinshugyoAugust 15, 2012

From Wanderings in Budo by bujinshugyo

義鑑流骨法術
骨指術の流れを汲んで、16世紀に河内の爪生判官義鑑房が創始した。
この骨法術から続く流れには、もうひとつ鈴木大膳太郎近政の本体玉心流という骨法があり、それが出雲の深尾角馬重義に伝わって出雲骨法となったが、初見氏にはその流れが伝わっていない。

Gikan ryū koppōjutsu

Drawing from the transmission of kosshijustsu, founded in the 16th century in Kawachi by Uryū Hangan Gikanbō.
From this koppōjutsu transmission there is another koppō school called Hontai Gyokushin ryū by Suzuki Daizentaro Chikamasa, passed on to Fukao Kakuma Shigeyoshi as Izumo koppō, this school was not transmitted to Hatsumi sensei (aka this is not the one that was passed to Hatsumi)

爪生判官義鑑房 Uryū Hangan Gikanbō

判官 Hangan, Zō – judge or magistrate, this term originates from the Ritsuryo 律令 system introduced to Japan from China in the 7^th Century – originally it indicated an administrator of the 3^rd or 4^th rank (out of 4).

義鑑 Gikan
Paragon of Justice

Most commonly Gikan ryū is referred to as the ‘Truth, Loyalry and Justice School’, this name being repeated throughout any site in English in relation to the Bujinkan (schools).

It may seem strange to many to point out this out, however Truth, Loyalty and Justice are differing meanings of the first character ‘Gi’ 義 – so really the ‘Truth, Loyalty and Justice School’ should be Gi ryū.

The more significant, and completely ignored, is the second character ‘kan’ 鑑, used to indicate several ideas from ‘to learn or take warning from’ or ‘a specimen or model’.

Gikan can be understood as the Example of Righteousness, Model of Honour, Paragon of Justice, Exemplar of Truth, To Take Heed of Morality.

Gikan ryū, to narrow it down in English parlance, can be the Paragon of Virtue or Paragon of Justice Style.

Gikan ryū is one of the 4 styles attributed to Gyokkan, who learnt the Gyokko ryū of Hachidō Nyūdō through Tozawa Hyakuunsai Kaneuji. Gikan ryū is passed though Ishitani Matsutarō Takakage and then on to Takamatsu Toshitsugu to arrive at Hatsumi Masaaki.

Gyokushin ryū ninpō – article translation

bujinshugyoAugust 8, 2012

From Wanderings in Budo by bujinshugyo

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…).