Katori Shinto-ryu
Overview and History
Overview
Katori Shinto-ryu (香取神道流) is Japan’s first comprehensive martial arts school, founded in the mid-15th century Muromachi period by Iizasa Choisai Ienao (飯篠長威斉家直). Its formal name is “Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu (天真正伝香取神道流).”
• Founding Background: Ienao, who spent his life as a professional soldier, is said to have founded the school after secluding himself at Katori Shrine in Chiba Prefecture and praying for 1,000 days.
• Systematic Instruction: He was the first to introduce the “kata (forms)” system into swordsmanship, which until then had remained a simple fighting technique, and he established a master-disciple lineage and teaching system that became the foundation of modern Japanese budo.
• Key Transmission: Its original form has been preserved for over 600 years to this day, and it has had a profound influence on many martial artists, including Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of modern Aikido.
Katori Shrine in Chiba Prefecture
History
Founded in the mid-Muromachi period by Iizasa Choisai Ienao (飯篠長威斉家直), who spent half his life as a professional soldier. Katori Shinto-ryu states 1447 as its founding year, but some scholars argue it should be dated to around 1480.
According to legend handed down within the school, when Ienao turned 60, he prayed day and night for 1,000 days at Katori Shrine, and Futsunushi (経津主神), the deity enshrined there, is said to have descended in a dream and transmitted secret teachings to him. Katori Shrine was originally renowned for its connection to the martial arts, so the school was named Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu, meaning “the school of Katori Shrine, truly and correctly transmitted by Heaven.” In its early days the name changed several times — at its founding it was called Tenshin Shoden Shinto-ryu (天真正伝神道流), later changed to Shinryo Shinto-ryu (神慮神道流) or Tenshin Shoden Shinto-ryu (天真正伝神刀流), among others — before settling on Katori Shinto-ryu (天真正伝香取神道流), named after Katori Shrine (Chiba Prefecture), during the 19th head family’s generation.
This swordsmanship is so renowned that Chiba Prefecture designated Katori Shinto-ryu an Intangible Cultural Property in 1960. Its reputation can be gauged from the fact that it is said to have been studied by Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami (松本備前守), founder of Kashima Shinryu (鹿島神流); Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami Nobutsuna (上泉伊勢守信綱), founder of Shinkage-ryu (新陰流); and Tsukahara Bokuden (塚原卜伝), founder of Kashima Shinto-ryu (鹿島新当流). There is also a story that Yamazaki Susumu of the Shinsengumi trained in Katori Shinto-ryu.
It continues to be passed down today. Unusually, unlike other schools where the head family teaches directly, Katori Shinto-ryu has a separate “shihanke” (instructor family), and the shihan of that shihanke plays the central role of teaching and preserving the martial art. Although a descendant of the founder exists (the 20th head of the family, Iizasa Yasusada (飯篠快貞)), he mainly carries on the bloodline and protects the family, and rarely gets involved in outside activities.
It covers not only swordsmanship, iaido, jujutsu, staff techniques, spear techniques, and naginata techniques, but its curriculum also incorporates feng shui and fortification, shuriken techniques, ninjutsu, and even Shinto occult practices. At this point, it should be regarded not as an ordinary martial arts manual but as a field manual for warfare.
At a time when swordsmanship began to be emphasized above all, this school stressed that all weapons should be mastered equally, and it assumes that every martial movement is performed while wearing a yoroi (Japanese armor) weighing around 35 kg, on uneven, rugged terrain such as an open battlefield. As a result, many techniques target the “suki” (gaps) in an opponent’s armor that the armor cannot cover — such as the carotid artery between the helmet and breastplate, or the inner leg — thrusting weapons through these openings. On the other hand, because the decorations on the kabuto (helmet) make it awkward to raise a sword overhead, the school also includes powerful, forceful downward cuts for situations when targeting a gap in the armor is difficult. In many ways, it is clearly a comprehensive martial art built for warriors fighting on the battlefield.
Source: Namu Wiki
Choisai Ienao
