Ogasawara Genshinsai came from one of the most prestigious samurai houses: Ogasawara of Shinano Province (信州 / 信濃国) — based at Matsumoto Castle are the same Ogasawara who developed Ogasawara-ryū reishikei (etiquette) that formed the basis for samurai conduct.
The 1800 Naganuma densho attests that Ogasawara did go to China and there obtained e myō-jutsu (得妙術; dé miào shù, “marvelous technique”) through some type of training. Additionally, it maintains he went to China via a route that passed through Korea and could not return to Japan for some time.
Shin-no-shinkage heihō (真之心陰兵法) is the name Ogasawara Genshinsai used to describe his swordsmanship after his return from Beijing after the death of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ogasawara’s time spent in China during the beginning of the Edo period had a profound effect on his swordsmanship.
Two works survive by Ogasawara Genshinsai and can be found in the Odawara City Library collection. Regarding the rise of his tradition, Genshinsai wrote (Ogasawara Genshinsai (小笠原源信斎) 1670):
I am calm and composed. Although I have tried various streams, I have not yet reached the deepest level of the art. Because I have crossed the river differently, people are in harmony with each other and they are diligent in their studies. I am thinking about it with a sincere heart.
One explanation, from Karukome and Sakai (Karukome Katsutaka 2015), is as follows:
The content of this record roughly says that he has studied various schools since he was young, but was unable to reach their profound meaning. However, by traveling overseas and learning from others, he reached the profound meaning and after carefully thinking about these, he named it Shin-no-shinkage heihō.<p>The martial arts exchanges between China and Japan in the Ming Dynasty were certainly far more than the Kage-ryū crossing of the sea related to General Qi and the single-sword method related to Liu Yunfeng from Zhejiang. The example here can be called the second Kage-ryū crossing of the sea in terms of the inheritance of Kage-ryū.
The Quanzhen School (
is one of the two dominant denominations of Daoism in China. One of its founders was master Wang Chongyang (1113–1170). When the Mongols invaded China the Quanzhen Taoists exerted great effort in keeping the peace, thus saving most Han Chinese lives. Qiu Chuji, a major disciple of Wang, founded the Dragon Gate lineage (
龍門派 Lóngmén pài), along with the White Cloud Monastery in Beijing. This tradition remains one of the largest Taoist sects in China.
I think it is no accident Ogasawara returned from China using the character 真 to describe his heihō, given the strong influence Taoist concepts of yin and yang complementarity and five element theory continue to have on the practice, even over four hundred years later.
Early writings on the art by Ogasawara cite a number of esoteric Buddhist guardian deities instead of Takemikazuchi-no-kami, the patron deity of Kashima, as providing protection to its adherents, including: Fudō-o (Acalanatha;
無想法身虚実同体—不動経</k> (Musō-hō mi kyojitsu dōtai) The oneness of reality and emptiness — the Acalanatha Sutra.
The core Shinkage-ryū kata called empi, said to be the essence of Kamiizumi Ise no Kami’s Shinkage-ryū, is present in Ogasawara’s writing, using the homophone
Those kata, along with the set called kuka, are said to be the core of what Kamiizumi Ise no Kami received from Aisu Kage-ryū. Sangakuen, in contrast, which bears a resemblance to Hōjō (most clearly in the names of several of the kata within the set), is said to have been derived from enpi no tachi as a set of explanatory or introductory practices. The name Hōjō literally means “foundational practices” and derives from Sangakuen.
また，流儀を興した経緯について，源信斎は，「予 自リ レ若，雖モ レ試ルト 二諸流ヲ一，未ダレ至ラ 二其奥儀ニ一，異朝ニ渡ル故，人ニ相応ズル之旨叶ヒ，忩テ勤メレ之ヲ，倩々思レ之ヲ以テ真之心陰ト云 26）」（送り仮名，返り点，読点筆者）と述べている。[…] しかし，国郷以前の伝書に「鹿島神伝」と記されることはなかったようである。
Most lines of Jikishinkage-ryū no longer practice empi, kuka or tengu-sho. Ogasawara’s practice and the earlier teachings of Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami are clearly connected in this manner, the latter which credits Aisu Kage-ryū as its inspiration, as quoted above. Ogasawara is said to have learned spear techniques attributed to the Han dynasty general Zhang Liang and from them developed an insight called hassun no nobegane (八寸の延がね) that allowed him to defeat the famous master Hikita Bunguro in a match upon his return without attacking.
References
The sources cited on this page are collected in the site source register.
