Yagyu Shinkage Ryu Heiho

The Tradition

Yagyū Shinkage Ryū (柳生新陰流) is one of the oldest schools of Japanese swordsmanship extant today. About 500 years ago, during Japan's Warring States Period, master swordsman,  Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami Fujiwara Hidetsuna (later Nobutsuna) from Jōshu province (Gunma Prefecture) created Shinkage Ryū, based on his knowledge of Kage Ryū, which he had studied from Aisu Ikosai. The name Shinkage Ryū literally translates as School of the New Shadow. In 1565, Kamiizumi bequeathed his school to Yagyū Munetoshi, who then added the Yagyū family name.

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Munetoshi and his fifth son, Munenori, demonstrated Shinkage Ryū before Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu, which led to the official appointment as sword instructor to the Tokugawa Shogunate. His son Munenori, went on to create the Edo Yagyū Shinkage Ryū, but this method later died out during the reign of Yoshikata, the great-grandson of Munenori. It is important to note that the late Muto Masao, through arduous research, and in collaboration with Ohtsubo Shiho, was able to reconstuct the Edo teachings. Today, they are studied alongside the Owari-line, which has remained fully intact. The term Owari-line Yagyū Shinkage Ryū stems from Yagyū Hyōgonosuke Toshitoshi, who succeeded Sekishūsai as the third headmaster of Yagyū Shinkage Ryū swordsmanship. Our lineage stems from Ohtsubo Shiho (Menkyo Kaiden), a disciple of both the 19th generation headmaster, Yagyū Sangorō Taira Toshichika, and 20th generation headmaster, Yagyū Kinji Taira Toshinaga.

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As the official school of swordsmanship adopted by the Tokugawa Shogunate (Supreme Military Ruler), Yagyu Shinkage Ryu's approach to combat can be described as thoughtful, sophisticated and graceful.