Yagyu Shinkage-ryu Style
The 'Yagyū New Shadow School' of swordsmanship founded by Kamiizumi and the Yagyū.
Yagyū Shinkage-ryū is one of the oldest Japanese schools of swordsmanship. Its primary founder, Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, called it Shinkage-ryū; in 1565 he bequeathed the school to his greatest student, Yagyū Munetoshi, who added his family name to it. The name roughly means Yagyū New Shadow School.
Quick Facts
- Founder
- Kamiizumi Nobutsuna
- Passed to
- Yagyū Munetoshi (1565)
- Meaning
- Yagyū New Shadow School
Facts from the source article.
Background
Nobutsuna raised the very low stances of earlier schools, changed how the sword was held, shortened the blade, and is credited with creating the fukuro shinai, a practice sword of bamboo strips in a leather pouch that let students strike quickly without the wounds a wooden sword caused. He favoured light armour in training and a freer style suited to duels and brawls rather than mass battle, aiming at the sword of an accomplished expert rather than the earlier killing-sword schools built on winning at any price. The school's strategy weighs terrain and timing; its technique empi, the "swallow takes flight", belongs to a secret level of study, and "move with the mind, in order to move with the body" is a central tenet. Munetoshi began the mutō techniques of facing a sword bare-handed, and his son Yagyū Munenori carried the school on.
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