Denkei (Formal Lineage) of Jikishinkage-ryū

12 June 2026

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Introduction

Jikishinkage-ryū is a lineage of Shinkage-ryū passed down by students of Ogasawara Genshinsai after his return from China upon the death of Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1616. He called his updated approach to swordsmanship Shin-no-shinkage Heihō and viewed himself as the founder of his art.

Similarly, his student Kamiya Denshinsai studied multiple approaches and was regarded as the founder of the line of succession up until the mid 18th century.

At that time, the art’s history was updated by Naganuma Kunisato (Naganuma Kunisato (長沼国郷), n.d.) to include early figures before Ogasawara, including Okuyama Kyūgasai and Kamiizumi Ise no Kami. Instead of viewing Kamiizumi’s Shinkage-ryū as an art with multiple influences, Naganuma settled on naming Matsumoto Bizen no Kami as the art’s founder. This may have been related to Edo period politics or a desire to align with the Shintō of Kashima Jingu rather than the formative experiences of Aisu Iko in Kyushu.

Major Branches

When Jikishinkage-ryū’s divisions are studied systematically, the taxonomy is consistently three lines (Hall 2013; Nakamura Tamio 1999; Iwasa Masaru 2005; Tominaga Kengo 1996):

Each faction descending typically speak in terms of a dōtō or keishō and not a sōke.

The orthodox Naganuma house is sometimes set apart as the trunk, historically. The Odani-ha embraced competitive matches and was involved with the Tokugawa Kōbusho. The main Naganuma-ha lineage ended with the banning of the wearing of swords during Meiji, but a small family branch under the Sakai family continues to this day. The Fujikawa-ha continued through early Meiji and was survived by merging into the Odani-ha to become Yamada Jirōkichi’s Seitō-ha. It is also claimed to have an influence on the Kashima Shin-ryū of Kunii Zen’ya.

Another faction, the Nomi-ha, ceased practice after WWII but produced publications detailing much of its densho. The Seitō-ha itself further fragmented after martial arts practice was resumed after the restrictions imposed during occupation (Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu (直心影流剣術), n.d.).

The main peer-reviewed treatment, Karukome Yoshitaka’s “A study of the branches of Jikishinkage-ryū,” analyzing the training and inter-school match characteristics of the Naganuma, Fujikawa and Odani groups (Budōgaku Kenkyū 46(1), 2013) (Karukome Katsutaka 2013), and the same author’s AJKF column, which states flatly that in the late early-modern period the school divided into those three branches (Karukome Katsutaka 2013; Karukome Katsutaka 2015; Karukome Katsutaka 2020).

Dōtō

We describe the orthodox dōtō (formal styles; dates where firm) leading to the Edo area Jikishinkage-ryū through the Odani-ha to the Seitō-ha today (Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū — lineage tabulations, n.d.).

Each name links to its fullest treatment on this site. The early founders, down through Naganuma Kunisato, are read entry-by-entry from the 1800 Kansei densho (“Jikishinkage-ryū Hōjō (直心影流法定) — Naganuma Tadasato; copied by Ogawa Yashichi” 1800); the later transmitters — from Fujikawa onward — each have their own biographical page hosted at innerdharma.org:

Heihō Denki

The biographical details below are drawn from:

〔于?〕寛政十二庚申春 於江戸見坂 長沼庄兵衛芝生宅ニテ傳授記之置 小川彌七 寿海

Kansei 12, kōshin year [1800], spring. At Edo-Mizaka, at Naganuma Shōbee’s Shiba residence, the transmission was recorded and set down (傳授記之置). — copied by Ogawa Yashichi [?]kai. Jukai (寿海) may be Ogawa’s artistic name appellation.

That document begins with Kashima Shinryū and then becomes Shinkage (神陰) to Shinkage (神影) to Shin-shinkage (真新陰) and then Shin-Jikishi (新直指) to Jikishin (直心) to Jikishin-Seitō (直心正統) to the Jikishinkage (直心影) that continues to today:

兵法傳記 異國ニハ兵子孫子七書等ヲ兵法ト云々。日本ニハ兵法書ヨリ初テ帶ハ太平記時代ヨリ初ニヨシ。鏡ハ太平記時代ヨリ初ニヨシ。

Record of the Transmission of Heihō (Martial Strategy). In foreign lands [China], works like the Bingzi, Sunzi and the Seven Military Classics are called heihō. In Japan, heihō writings begin [in earnest] from the era of the Taiheiki; the Kagami [chronicle tradition] likewise begins from the Taiheiki period.

This preamble distinguishes the textual tradition of Chinese strategic classics from a specifically Japanese heihō lineage rooted in the chronicle tradition. The point is to ground what follows — the kami-origin narrative — as a Japanese martial transmission, not a Chinese-derived one. It is interesting that this was necessary at that time period, which may have to do with politics of the mid Edo period — this is around the time the Kashima lineage story is added into Jikishinkage practice:

天照太神欲降天孫於豊葦原中國之時、遣經津主神。起於神代而其初、葦原中國之時遣經津主神。香取主神是也。又齊主神。天孫降臨者蓋准征伐之。健雷神是也。鹿嶋神令平。香取神是也。諸不順者矣而今以神職擬之、人職天孫降臨者蓋准征伐之。

When Amaterasu Ōmikami desired to have the Heavenly Grandson descend to the Toyo-Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni [the Land of Abundant Reed-Plains], she dispatched Futsunushi-no-Kami — this is the Master-Kami of Katori. He is also called Saishu-no-Kami (Iwainushi). The descent of the Heavenly Grandson is the precedent for [martial] subjugation. This is Takemikazuchi-no-Kami; the Kashima Kami who pacified [the land]; this is the Kami of Katori. Many were the unsubmissive ones — and now, by the office of the kami we model upon this; the descent of the Heavenly Grandson in the human office is also a precedent for subjugation.

The text conflates several mythic strands (Futsunushi as Katori deity; Takemikazuchi as Kashima deity; both as the pacifiers commissioned by Amaterasu). The substance is the standard kami-genealogy claim of Kashima and Katori-related lineages familiar to many practitioners today:

大將軍鹿嶋香取之兩神、准尊崇之武神也。代々以武事鎮坐於常陸國鹿嶋萬萬世。副將軍八百萬神悉神威而平伏之惡神也。其先親蒙、世者皆無不宗於是神矣。況乎吾家之兵法者、其先親蒙授。是以曰鹿嶋神流。其後嗣々相承、以異記大略如左。

The Great Generals — the two kami of Kashima and Katori — are venerated as martial deities. Generation upon generation, by means of martial affairs, they have been enshrined at Kashima in Hitachi Province for myriad ages. The Lieutenant-Generals: the eight million deities, all of divine majesty, are the suppressors of evil kami. Their predecessors first received [the favor of these kami]; in the world there is none who does not revere these kami. How much more so, then: as for our school’s heihō, its predecessors first received its transmission [from these kami]. For this reason it is called the Kashima Shinryū (鹿嶋神流, Kashima Divine School). Thereafter, generation by generation, the succession was made, and the general outline — gathered variously from different records — is as follows.

The densho then continues to provide an entry for each teacher in the lineage it represents, beginning with Matsumoto Bizen no Kami, referred to as Sugimoto:

Sugimoto

第一 鹿嶋神流之元祖、杉本備〔前/中〕守紀政元。住于常陸國日春、奉祈鹿嶋之廣前而蒙神慮、一夜夢授賜一卷之書。

First. The Originating Ancestor of the Kashima Shinryū: Sugimoto Bi[zen]-no-kami Ki-no-Masamoto. [He] resided at Hinatsu (?) in Hitachi Province, and praying before the broad shrine-precinct of Kashima, was visited by the kami’s consideration: in one night’s dream he was bestowed a single scroll of writing.”

There is an annotation in the densho that references Minamoto Kurō Yoshitsune as a related transmission source. This is an effort to back-date the school’s lineage to the Heian era, as many koryū have done.1

The character after 備 is unclear in the brush; Bizen-no-kami (備前守) is the more common attribution in published Jikishinkage-ryū histories, though Bicchū-no-kami (備中守) also appears.2

Matsumoto Bizen no Kami was recognized for his valor outside of Shinkage-ryū makimono. According to the Koyo Gunkan Massho Ketsuyobon, related in Chapter 5 of Takeda-ryū Gungaku Zensho Kankōkai (1935)(Takeda-ryū gungaku zensho (武田流軍学全書) 1935), he fought in combat with the spear 23 times in the battles of Kashima and Katori and claimed the heads of 25 officers and 76 ordinary soldiers.

Matsumoto was thought to be one of the senior students of Izasa Choisai, founder of Katori Shintō-ryū. He (or Tsukahara Bokuden) could well indeed have been Kamiizumi’s Shintō-ryū teacher. Karukome analyses early densho to determine that Naganuma Kunisato prepended him to the lineage.

Kamiizumi

第二 上泉伊勢守藤原秀綱者、杉本門下之正統而兵法之達人也。以鹿流應神字、改神陰而稱之曰神陰流。

Second. Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami Fujiwara Hidetsuna — orthodox successor under Sugimoto’s gate, and a master of heihō. Adapting the Kashima school’s [characters], he modified the character kami/shin (神; spirit/divine) [to express its hidden, “yin” aspect] and named [his school] Shin’in-ryū (神陰流, ‘Divine-Yin/Shadow School’).”

This lineage description de-emphasizes the influence of Aisu Kage-ryū, which we see continued in later narratives. The standard published form of Kamiizumi’s name is Nobutsuna (信綱) in later sources, but he used Hidetsuna (秀綱) earlier in his career, and this manuscript’s reading is consistent with the older usage.

Kamiizumi (上泉) is a family / village name, taken from Kamiizumi village in Kōzuke Province (上野国, modern Gunma). The Nagano clan (長野氏; Nagano clan) were lords of Minowa Castle in Kōzuke, and the Kamiizumi served under them. Kamiizumi is so famous due to the proliferation of schools coming from his teachings, it is not surprising there is not a great deal of marginal notes about this master swordsman, despite his importance historically to the art.

Kamiizumi trained in Shintō-ryū and then met Aisu Iko (or his son), from whom he learned Kage-ryū and founded his own Shinkage-ryū. The document ignores the Aisu Kage-ryū completely. Jikishinkage-ryū densho from Kunisato’s 1764 mokuroku kudensho onward place Matsumoto as the founder instead. This is an Edo period revision. Previously, each generation (Okuyama, Ogasawara, Kamiya) viewed themselves as the founder of their own unique approach. This is an example of martial traditions becoming more formalized in terms of lineage attestation during the Edo period.

Okuyama Kyūbasai

第三 奥山孫次郎平公重、後號休賀齋。考一流之家系、其先世奥平家之末裔也。継上泉伊勢守兵法之正統、而以住于三州奥山年尚矣。以夜詣至於奥山産神之社、祈願為兵法之津梁。或夜夢於神、記改神陰號神影。爾後舞剣如影形、警策且人以震感、風如影随。

Third. Okuyama Magojirō Taira Kimishige, later named Kyūbasai. Examining the lineage of this school: his forebears were descendants of the Okudaira house. He inherited the orthodox transmission of Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami’s heihō, and resided at Okuyama in Sanshū [Mikawa Province] for many years. By night he went to the shrine of Okuyama’s birth-kami and prayed that heihō should become a bridge of crossing [salvation]. In a certain night’s dream the kami [revealed] a record [in which] Shin’in (神陰) was changed to Shinkage (神影, with ‘kage’ as ‘reflection/shadow’). After this, his sword-dancing was like shadow-form: his sharp warnings made people tremble, and like the wind, [his strokes] shadow-followed.

Okuyama changes the name of the tradition from 神陰 to 神影.

There is an annotation on Okuyama’s family [ 奥山赤山氏奥平家末裔ノヨシ 今三州 ] describing him as being of the Akayama (赤山) clan, from the Okudaira (奥平) in Mikawa (三州).

Okudaira Nobumasa (奥平信昌, 1555–1615) was Tokugawa Ieyasu’s son-in-law — Ieyasu’s daughter Kamehime married Nobumasa. The Okudaira famously defended Nagashino Castle against Takeda Katsuyori in 1575, the battle that effectively established Ieyasu’s military credibility. After that, the Okudaira were retained as major Tokugawa allies and granted significant fiefs (Kanō, then Utsunomiya, eventually Nakatsu). Mikawa was where the Matsudaira/Tokugawa originated. Saying “Okuyama lived at Okuyama in Sanshū for many years” — as the main text does — and adding the marginal note that he came from an Okudaira cadet line, places him squarely inside the Tokugawa home-province network from before Sekigahara.

枝其蒙台命、以奉授兵法之奧。東照神君、至秀忠公、及御連枝、共蒙台命、以奉授兵法之奥。一篇無對其又者矣。

His branch [of the school] received the imperial command (taimei) and was charged with conveying the deepest teachings of heihō. The Tōshō Divine Lord [Tokugawa Ieyasu], up to Lord Hidetada and their related branches, were all granted this command, receiving the deepest teachings of heihō in turn. This was without parallel, none other matched it.

This is interesting in the regard that it claims Okuyama taught the first two Tokugawa shōgun: Tokugawa Ieyasu and his son Tokugawa Hidetada (徳川秀忠, 1579–1632) — a rather strong claim, but given the relationship of Okudaira to the Tokugawa, it becomes more plausible that Okuyama may have been a swordsmanship or strategy instructor to the Tokugawa. Whether this is factual, or an embellishment from 1800, remains unclear. Further research would require consulting the Kansei Chōshū Shokafu (寛政重修諸家譜) — the comprehensive 1799–1812 Tokugawa genealogy.

Ogasawara Genshinsai

第四 小笠原金左衛門尉源長治、後號源信齋。兵法熟練而入唐、更得妙術、還奥山一派之正統也。有故、改神影之名曰真新陰。百練精金、色轉鮮。

Fourth. Ogasawara Kinzaemon-no-jō Minamoto Nagaharu, later named Genshinsai. Having become accomplished in heihō, he crossed to China (Tō) and further obtained mystic techniques; returning, he was [confirmed as] the orthodox successor of the Okuyama lineage. For [these] reasons he changed the name from Shin’ei [神影] to Shin-Shin’in (真新陰, ‘True New Yin’). Like refined gold tested a hundred times, its color turned the more brilliant.

Here, despite the context setting of purely Shintō sources, Ogasawara is mentioned as receiving subtle teachings in China. There is a marginal note that provides some detail:

小笠原ノ御同家ハ本國信州ノ小笠原ニテ、二代ヲ初テ朝鮮ニテ、其後申子マテ大唐ヘ入ル。唐人ヲ歸サスト・・・[?]・・・歸ラス。朝鮮ハ歸ノ無シ、又其長短ヲ歸ノナシ 。早キノ二國ハ此後ノ正之、小笠原・・・

The same house of Ogasawara [Genshinsai’s lineage]: their home country is the Ogasawara of Shinshū [Shinano Province]. Beginning in the second generation, [he went] to Korea, and thereafter, until the shinshi/kanoe-saru year (?), entered the Great Tang [China]. The Tang [Chinese officials] would not let [him] return… [for some time] he did not return. From Korea there was no return [path] either, neither by the long or short route was there return. The two countries [Korea and China], earlier on, were thereafter [verified/orthodox], [and] Ogasawara…”

This works to establish that Ogasawara 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 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.

Kamiya Denshinsai

第五 神谷文左衛門平直光、後號傳心齋、最英靈也。改新陰曰新直指、而竟做流稱、則[直]心也。

Fifth. Kamiya Bunzaemon Taira Naomitsu, later named Denshinsai — the most outstanding spirit. He changed Shin’in to Shin-Jikishi (新直指, ‘New Direct-Pointing’), and ultimately, as the school’s appellation, this became [Jiki]shin (直心, ‘Direct Mind/Heart’).

The text here is somewhat vague at the end of the sentence. The “Direct-Pointing” terminology is borrowed from the Zen concept jikishi-ninshin (“直指人心). The marginal note is hard to read but may be 明徳 (“bright virtue”), a foundational term from the Daxue (大学) — “The way of great learning lies in illuminating bright virtue” (大學之道，在明明德). Kamiya’s renaming of the school to 直指 (“direct pointing”) imports a Zen vocabulary into the lineage; a marginal note pointing toward 明徳 would be glossing this with the parallel Confucian vocabulary, although this is speculative.

Takahashi Jikishinsai

第六 高橋彈正左衛門尉源重治、後號直心齋。寛永而至元祿、誘引門人、務兵法。數流派多端而混支流、故以直心正統爲當家之流。

Sixth. Takahashi Danjō-saemon-no-jō Minamoto Shigeharu, later named Jikishinsai. From the Kan’ei [1624–45] through the Genroku [1688–1704] eras, he attracted disciples and devoted himself to heihō. Because many [rival] schools and branches had become tangled and confused as off-streams, he established Jikishin Seitō (直心正統, ‘Jikishin Orthodox’) as the name of the school.

Yamada Heizaemon (Ippūsai)

第七 山田平左衛門尉藤原光德。隱遯而曰一風齋。重治于書直心正統、傳之印狀、以付屬于光徳。新傳於直心正統流無極之微意、思而顧後、以改流號曰直心影流而已。

Seventh. Yamada Heizaemon-no-jō Fujiwara Mitsunori. In retirement [or seclusion] he called himself Ippūsai. He attended to the writings of Jikishin Seitō [received from] Shigeharu, the transmission-seal was conferred upon Mitsunori [himself]. Newly transmitting in the Jikishin Seitō-ryū the subtle meaning of “no-extremes” (mukyoku), and reflecting on what would come after, he changed the school’s designation, calling it Jikishinkage-ryū (直心影流) — and so it has remained.

This is the founding moment of the school under its now-current name. The manuscript marginal annotation here mentions “Takahashi’s disciple [as] the deep root of Naganuma’s ancestral lineage” — anchoring the Naganuma line under Ippūsai. Ippūsai trained in Edo Yagyū Shinkage-ryū and under Takahashi (Jikishinsai), returning to this practice some time after becoming injured. He later developed what has become the bogu favored in kendō practice.

A substantial small-script annotation runs alongside the seventh-generation Yamada Mitsunori entry, partially extending toward the Naganuma entries, but it is difficult to read — it seems to establish Yamada’s relationship as the teacher of the Naganuma family.

Naganuma Kunisato

第八 長沼四郎左衛門尉藤原國鄕。光德之三子也。天性敏俊、劔術弱冠悟其薀奧。術過二兄父之業、傳其秘。只以真實之業、獨能育其才矣。

Eighth. Naganuma Shirōzaemon-no-jō Fujiwara Kunisato. The third son of Mitsunori. By nature keen and swift; in swordsmanship, in his youth (jakkan, age twenty) he awakened to its profound depths. His skill surpassed that of his two elder brothers and his father’s accomplishments, and he received its secrets. Only by true and sincere practice did he uniquely nurture his talent.

Naganuma Kunisato is the author of the mokuroku kudensho (1764; read through its 1768 copy, ke05_01032_0001) that I examine in my book, The Truth of the Calm Spirit. Kunisato updated the curriculum, adding several koto (matters) to the art, and expanded the lineage to name Matsumoto Bizen no Kami as its founder. His predecessors, Takahashi Danjozaemon and Yamada Heizaemon (Ippusai), regarded Kamiya Denshinsai as the originator of the art, and in writings by Heizaemon in 1708, no mention of Kashima-shinden is made.

The emphasis on Kashima-shinden was an Edo period innovation for that art and hides some of its earlier character. That change of emphasis has only increased in modern times with influences from state Shintō and militaristic Zen popular in the Meiji and Taishō periods.

Naganuma Tokugō

第九 長沼四郎左衛門尉藤原德郷。國郷子。能継箕裘之業、孳々不怠。年三十有六而卒。人皆悼楷。

Ninth. Naganuma Shirōzaemon-no-jō Fujiwara Tokugō. Son of Kunisato. Able to inherit the family vocation (kikyū, lit. ‘winnow and fur coat’ — the trade of the ancestors), diligent and never wearying. At the age of thirty-six he died. All people mourned him.

德郷 could also be read Norisato or Tokugō; the Jikishinkage-ryū Sho-Ke-Den (諸家伝) typically gives this generation as Tokushige (徳重) instead.

Analysis

The disparity between Okuyama (substantial marginal note), Ogasawara (substantial marginal note), Kamiya (brief or barely-present annotation) and Takahashi/Yamada (no marginal notes in the lineage section) is itself of note.

The marginal annotations cluster around generations where the historiographic claims are doing heavy lifting — claims that need additional support to be credible (Okuyama’s connection to Ieyasu via Okudaira; Ogasawara’s family background and nittō [ visit to China ] claim). The transmission from Kamiya through Takahashi to Yamada is, by contrast, less controversial and better-attested in the early-modern record. The Naganuma copyist in 1800 didn’t need to defend those generations the way he needed to defend the earlier ones.

[ This is the same pattern Karukome flagged in his 2020 monograph: the school’s historiographic effort concentrates on legitimizing the Sengoku-to-early-Tokugawa portion of its lineage, where transmission is contested or undocumented, while the mid-Tokugawa portion needs no such effort. ]

There are three distinct nominal traditions layered into one curriculum: classical Chinese strategic vocabulary for the named kata, yin-yang cosmology for the stance theory and Japanese densho convention for the principles. This lines up with the same trilingual-classical sensibility visible in the nittō / 得妙術 framing of the Ogasawara section, and the preamble mentioning Chinese military classics. The 1800 densho is doing more interpretive work in its choice of category labels than a flat list would suggest.

Edo Period Revision

Note that both load-bearing antiquity claims of the Kashima-shinden framing — the Sengoku founder Matsumoto and the divine Kashima descent — are documentary additions made by Naganuma Kunisato in the mid-eighteenth century, contemporaneous with the doctrinal cluster of later topics (相尺・留三段・切落・吟味, and the 十之形 龍尾–曲尺) being added to the mokuroku kuden-sho (“Jikishinkage-ryū mokuroku (直心影流目録), Meiwa 5 (1768)” 1768; “Jikishinkage-ryū mokuroku (直心影流兵法目録添状), Meiwa 5 (1768)” 1768) and absent from Yamada’s Heihō zakki (Yamada Mitsunori, n.d.).

Before this time, Ogasawara referred to himself as the founder of his art, citing his travels to China. Ogasawara’s 1673 menjō describes him as having found the art himself and cites a crossing abroad (異朝渡). This nittō motif is in the primary densho at the early 17th century Ogasawara stage, not a later gloss made in order to gain reputation by association with late-Ming dynasty. Kamiya similarly regarded himself as founding his own art, having studied fifteen ryūha.

Later masters regarded Kamiya as the art’s successor until Naganuma Kunisato revises the curriculum and rewrites its history, inserting Matsumoto (Sugimoto) Bizen-no-kami Masamoto (松本備前守政元) as ryūso in 1764 and likely invents the notion of divine revelation from Takemikazuchi-no-kami (“Ōga Ikken (大禾一件)” 1773).

I believe this is a witness to a transition of thinking from late Muromachi period practice of swordsmen who saw combat, developing unique experiences and insights, and later Edo-period professional swordsmanship instructors who institutionalized these earlier methods. The hinge from the personal to the institutional lies in Takahashi, who called his line Jikishin Seitō-ryū (直心正統流; orthodox transmission) (Takahashi Shigeharu 1686).

While Naganuma reaches back to Matsumoto, Kamiizumi likely learned his Shintō-ryū from Matsumoto or Bokuden (whose dates fit far better than Iizasa Chōisai’s) and maintained both the Aisu Kage-ryū content of Empi and Tengushō in his early teaching, as well as the Shintō-ryū gokui in the form of a set he called nanatachi as an important upper-level set, as well as his own Sangakuen and Kuka kata sets, and marobashi gokui teachings (“Jikishinkage-ryū Hisho Ichi (直心影流秘書一),” n.d.; Kawasaki Tōnojō Yoshioi 1789).

Naming Conventions

Historical names have several portions or variants:

  • gō (号; art-name / sobriquet)
  • imina (諱; true given name / “taboo name”)
  • tsūshō (通称; common name / by-name) — the everyday name plus any titular suffix, e.g. Shōbee-no-jō (庄兵衛尉).

The gō is a self-chosen style-name, usually ending in -sai (斎; abstinence/ritual purity), -an (庵) and the like; the master’s “studio name.” In this house, Katsuzensai (活然斎), Shinpansai (真帆斎), Seisai (静斎), Ittokusai (一徳斎).

The imina, the real personal name, used formally and posthumously but avoided in direct address in life (hence “taboo”). This is the element carrying the Naganuma generational character 郷 (sato): Kunisato (国郷), Tsunasato (綱郷), and so on.

The tsūshō is the common name, the everyday name plus any titular suffix, e.g. Shōbee-no-jō (庄兵衛尉).

A full name would read tsūshō + gō + uji + imina. For example, Naganuma Shōbee-no-jō (tsūshō) Katsuzensai (gō) Fujiwara Tsunasato (imina).

Other Influences

The flagship Sakai domain — Shōnai (Tsuruoka), with its han-school the Chidōkan — maintained a line of Jikishinkage-ryū. Onozaki Norio’s Shōnai-han no bujutsu (庄内藩の武術; Shōnai domain martial arts), compiled from the Chidōkan and the Tsuruoka/Sakata archives, lists the domain’s kenjutsu lines as Shinkyū-ryū, Okuyama-ryū, Santomi-ryū, Inazuma-ryū, Shinshin Yagyū-ryū, Tamiya-ryū and Jikishinkage-ryū.

Jikishinkage-ryū was also taught in other domains, besides Numata (Jikishinkage-ryū (直心影流), n.d.; Numata-shi Shi, Shiryō-hen 2: Kinsei (沼田市史 資料編2 近世) 1997). Fujikawa Seisai (1791–1862), after the 1853 arrival of the American ships, was invited by the Tōdō house (藤堂家; Tōdō family house) Tsu-han in Ise and the Yanagisawa to instruct their retainers. The Sakai family from Tsu-han continued a practice of Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu.

In the early 20th century, a family practice of Fujikawa-ha Jikishinkage-ryū served as part of the early education of Kunii Zen’ya, who later was regarded as “Shōwa no Imamusashi” (昭和の今武蔵; “the Musashi of the Shōwa era”) and whose Kashima Shin-ryū gained great acclaim.

Isezaki Araki-ryū’s central line, started by the 9th-generation shihan Komine Bundayū and his student Kurihara Ioji (Gomoji) Masashige, developed many of its weapon-on-weapon kata through exchange with the neighboring traditions of the area, most notably Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū and Kiraku-ryū.

References

The sources cited on this page are collected in the site source register.

End Notes

  1. Some contemporary Katori Shintō-ryū practitioners when interviewed mention Yoshitsune as an influence through Kuramadera, so one wonders if mention of Yoshitsune in this densho is a Shintō-ryū influence on the art. ↩

  2. The place name in the Matsumoto Bizen no Kami entry in the 1800 Densho as 日春 (Hinatsu/Hisharu) is uncertain — possibly 春日 reversed by the copyist. ↩