History of Shintō Musō-ryū Jodo
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Shintō Musō-ryū, or Shindō Musō-ryū1,(神道夢想流) most commonly known as Jodo (杖道), is a koryu (old school) of jojutsu, teaching the art of handling the Japanese quarterstaff jo. The purpose of the art on a purely technical level is to teach how to defeat a swordsman in combat using the jo and a vareity of weapons with emphasize on the proper distance, timing and concentration.
The art was founded by samurai Musō Gonnosuke Katsuyoshi (夢想權之助勝吉) in the early 1600s and, according to legend, first put to use in a duel with Miyamoto Musashi. The original art created by Muso Gonnosuke has evolved and been added upon ever since its inception and up to modern times. The art was successfully brought outside of its original domain in Fukuoka and outside of Japan itself in the 19th and 20th century. The spreading of Shinto Muso-ryu beyond Japan was largely the effort of Shimizu Takaji, considered the 25th 8 Shihanke, and with the assistance of his own students who helped spread the art further in the world partially through the cooperation with the Kendo community first initiated by Shimizu Takaji.
[edit] Muso Gonnosuke - Founder
The Sengoku Jidai period, the Age of War between 1467-1615, that had scarred Japan for almost 150 years came to an end with the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, or Tokugawa Bakufu (徳川幕府), which in turn ushered in an era of peace that would last for over 260 years and ended with the overthrow of the Shogunate in 1867. The relatively peaceful Edo period, sometimes referred to as the Pax Tokugawa, took away the means of the samurai to fully develop and test their skills in actual battlefield combat. The role of the Samurai would eventually change from being warriors, fighting battles for their liege lord almost constantly, into the role of providing internal security and doing increasingly more bureaucratic duties. Instead of fighting the frequent wars and battles of the old days, with the exception of the Osaka Campaign of 1615 and the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637, many samurai resorted to duelling other samurai and some would go on the road as a wandering swordsman to test their skills against other swordsmen, such as bandits and ronin, and train in far away schools to hone their skill.
One of the men who went on such a warrior pilgrimage was Muso Gonnosuke, a samurai who had trained in the Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū and Kashima-Shinryu,[1] two renowned schools of swordsmanship both of which are active to this day. His experiences, which would climax in his duels with the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, led him to create a set of techniques for the jo which would eventually be named Shintō Musō-ryū. Gonnosuke used his training in kenjutsu, naginatajutsu, sojutsu and bojutsu, which he acquired from Katori Shinto-ryu and Kashima-Shinryu (or Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū depending on source), in order to develop new techniques for the jo. Gonnosuke developed several techniques for the jo that were to be used against an opponent armed with a sword, partially by using the jo's superior length to keep the swordman at distance and thus at a disadvantage. The legend states that Muso Gonnosuke fought two duels with Miyamoto Musashi and was defeated in the first but victorious in the second, using his newly developed jojutsu techniques to either defeat Musashi or force the duel into a draw. One of several legends says that while resting near a fire in a certain temple, Gonnosuke heard a voice say "Be mindful of Suigetsu". Supposedly that was his inspiration to develop his new techniques and go fight Musashi a second time.
After the creation of his jo techniques and his establishment as a skilled jojtusu practitioner he was invited by the Kuroda clan of Fukuoka, northern Kyūshū, to teach his jojutsu to their warriors. Gonnosuke accepted the invitation and settled down, and in the course of his life Gonnosuke would award teaching licenses (Menkyo) to more than ten of these warriors.
[edit] The Kuroda period 1614 -1871
After Gonnosuke's death, his jojutsu would become a closely guarded secret by the Kuroda clan, or oteme-waza, and forbidden to be taught anywhere but within its halls and only to specially selected people. This was not an unusual practice in the Edo period. One example is the Kage-ryu battojutsu 2, in which the swords used were longer than the length permitted by the new Tokugawa shogunate and thus technically outlawed. Kage-ryu went "underground" 3but was kept active in strict secrecy until the Meiji restoration.
The main students of Gonnosukes jojutsu were the men charged with policing5 the Kuroda domain. With the third or fourth headmaster of SMR, additional ryu were added to the "True Path" (Shinto)[1] Muso-ryu-system. The art of the police-weapon Jutte, and the art of restraining a man with rope Hojojutsu were officially added to the main SMR-system in this period and taught alongside jojutsu.
Over time there would arise seven known different lineages from the main Muso-ryu system. These are collectively known as Kuroda no Jô - "the Stick of Kuroda". Of these seven known styles of Gonnosuke-jojutsu, only two would survive the fall of the Shogunate in 1867 and the Meiji-restoration to be merged into a single line that is today the modern Shinto Muso-ryu-system.
The first split in the SMR occurred after the death of the fourth Shihanke Higuchi Han'emon. The split was the result of one of his menkyo students, Harada Heizo Nobusada, breaking away to establish the New just Muso-ryu (later informally known as Kansai-ryu), while another menkyo of Higuchi Han'emon continued the original True path Muso-ryu line (later Moroki-ryu).[1]
For several years these two separate lines existed side-by-side. The New Just Muso-ryu line was upheld until after the death of its headmaster, Nagatomi Koshiro Hisatomo (d.1772), and the New Just were split off into two separate branches. The main reason for this split, even though indirectly, was the result of a restructoring of the living & training quarters of the warriors at the Chikuzen castle. The ashigaru (low-ranking foot soldiers) and the kashi (junior officers) were relocated to two separate areas, partially due to the difference in the social status of the two groups. Each group would create new centres of training in their respective areas. The result was that two jojutsu training linages began forming, (out of practical necessity), under their own respective head instructor. The new conditions caused "New Just" to branch off into two separate branches, now called Haruyoshi, led by Ono Kyusaku, and Jigyo, led by Komori Seibei. The two branches were named after the two respective areas of the castle[1] in which they trained. Although the two branches would become more unique to each other as time passed it was essentially still the same tradition as the "New Just".
The two new branches of Jigyo and Haruyoshi were a reality by the early 1800s, but even though separate, all three lines appear to have been very similar in terms of techniques. This was best demonstrated when the Jigyo line was broken with the death of its head instructor Fujimoto Heikichi (d.1815). Without a successor from within its own organisation the line would have died out. But Hatae Kyuhei, who was trained in the Haruyoshi line, would eventually revive[1] the Jigyo ´branch and it continued into the Meiji era (1868-1912).
The True Path had also fallen onto hard times as the line died out with the death of Inoue Ryosuke (d.1831). Again the similarities between the various lines of Kuroda-no-jo are made obvious when the same above mentioned Hatae Kyuhei reestablishes the True Puth. The True Path would, however, die out for good in the Bakumatsu era (1850-1867)[1]
It was not until the 1872 that the ban of teaching outside the Kuroda-han was lifted and the Kuroda period of Shinto Muso-ryu history ended. At that time there were only two dojos teaching Shinto Muso-ryu in all of Japan.
During this period the art of the "Kuroda no Jo" was taught to both samurai and ashigaru, the latter being the foot soldier that made up the bulk of the samurai armies. The auxiliary arts, such as Juttejutsu, hojojutsu were also taught as a way to assist the individiuals charged with guard and Police duties.
[edit] Post Kuroda period and Shiraishi Hanjiro - 1871-1927
With the abolishment of the shogunate and easing of bureaucratic restrictions, Shinto Muso-ryu (and many more martial arts) was allowed to be taught outside the traditional family lands. It also meant that the numerous benefits of the traditional clan system was abolished along with it, and the numerous menkyo holders of SMR, who had lived, worked and trained with the financial support of the Daimyo (aristocratic landowners), would scatter, and many stopped teaching all together. By the end of the Meiji era, (1912), only Shiraishi Hanjiro Shigeaki was still active as a fully qualified of the last two remaining Kuroda Jo lineages and dedicated SMR teacher.[1] His peer, Uchida Ryogoro, was selected to travel to Tokyo and teach and expand the art there while Shiraishi stayed in the designated Shinto Muso-ryu headquarters in Fukuoka. Shiraishi's dojo was located in Hakata, a city that was merged with Fukuoka. Shiraishi would teach Shinto Muso-ryu in there until his death in 1927.
In the early 1900s Ryogoro arrived in Tokyo and set up shop, teaching jojutsu to such notable students as Nakayama Hakudo, founder of Muso Shinden-ryu and Komita Takayoshi, founder of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai. It was during this time that Jigoro Kano were first invited to Fukuoka to observe SMR which would herald the cooperation between the two arts in Tokyo. Uchida Ryogoro also taught at the Naval Officers Club and later at the Shiba Koen park. Ryogoro's son, Uchida Ryôhei, joined him in Tokyo and studied under his father there and was instrumental in developing his father's Tanjojutsu art into a working set of techniques. Uchida Ryogoro died in 1921.
[edit] Shinto Muso-ryu and Shimizu Takaji - 1927-1978
Shimizu Takaji was born in 1897 and came from humble origins, his family descending from a line of village headmen and minor officials. In the aftermath of the abolishment of the samurai caste, Shimizu's father would manage a small general store while Shimizu, after graduating from elementary school, took employment in a small factory at Hakata, where the Shiraishi Dojo operated. Shimizu started his training at the age of 17 under Shiraishi and quickly rose in the ranks, receiving the mokuroku scroll in 1918 and the license of full transmission (Menkyo kaiden) in 1920 at the age of 23. Of the many students of Shiraishi there were three who became prominent in the aftermath of Shiraishi's leadership. Shimizu Takaji, Takayama Kiroku' and Otofuji Ichizo.
After the death of Shiraishi Hanjiro, Takayama Kiroku opened a dojo in Fukuoka around the year 1929[1] and was named Shihan with Shimizu named fuku-shihan or "assistant master". Shimizu by this time, however, was on his way to Tokyo in order to teach jodo. Takayama died within a few years after the opening of the Fukuoka dojo and Otofuji Ichizo would take over as the new headmaster of the dojo and of the Fukuoka-jo, a responsibility he held until his death in the 1990s.
In the early 1920's Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, witnessed a demonstration of SMR and invited Shimizi Takaji to come to Tokyo and teach SMR there. In 1927, after a further demonstration of SMR-Jo in front of the Tokyo Police Force technical commission, a decision was made to incorporate elements of SMR-Jo for police-use.[1] The new system was named keijo-jutsu and intended for use with the special police unit tokubetsu keibitai. Shimizu started training the new unit in 1931. Now a Tokyo-resident, Shimizu opened up his own dojo, the Mumon (No Gate) Dojo.
During the 1930s Shimizu decided that the old way of instructing were not enough to satisfy the modern demands and the increasing number of students. He took inspiration from Jigoro Kanos new Judo organisation and training-methods in order to, among other things, develop the twelve basic techniques kihon which would make SMR more appealing and approachable to the beginner-student. In 1940 times the ryu was renamed from Shinto Muso-ryu Jojutsu to Shinto Muso-ryu Jodo by Shimizu who at the same time became the head of the Dai Nihon Jodokai (Greater Japan Jodo Association).
With the end of the second world war in 1945, many martial arts were banned by the new government for fear that they might be used by ultra-nationalistic groups as a way to cause civil unrest. The police-jo taught by Shimizu to the Tokyo Police force was one of the few exceptions and many practitioners from before the war went to Shimizus dojo in Tokyo for training. The police-jo were further developed in the 1960s when it was adapted for use in crowd-control with the Tokyo Riot police.
Shimizu, as had Shiraishi before him, has been described as a SMR Headmaster due to their intitiative and major contributions to SMR, although neither Shiraishi or Shimizu received official appointment to such a position. Shimizu would complete Shinto Muso-ryu's transition from a localized bugei ryu to a national martial art and become the art's greatest popularizer.
[edit] Shinto Muso-ryu post-Shimizu period 1978 to the present
After Shimizu's death, Kaminoda Tsunemori, one of Shimizu's top-students and Menkyo Kaiden of Shinto Muso-ryu, took over as head-instructor of the Zoshokan Temple Dojo which would also become the new headquarters of the latters Nihon Jodokai organisation.
[edit] Shinto Muso-ryu lineage to the present
| Original Tradition - Founded early 1600's |
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| The "New Just" Muso-ryu tradition |
Moriki-ryu - "True Path" Muso-ryu tradition |
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| Haruyoshi branch |
Jigyo branch |
Moriki-ryu - The "True Path" Muso-ryu tradition |
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Modern Shinto Muso-ryu - late 19th century to present time
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Notes
- At a later point in history the lineage was pushed back[1] to the founder of Katori Shinto-ryu Iizasa Ienao, a ryu in which Muso Gonnosuke had trained in. The actual founding of the Jojutsu-tradition was by Muso Gonnosuke.
- Menkyo=A holder of a license of total transmission with complete authority to teach and/or modify the existing system.
- Two other jojutsu-traditions existed but have not been included in the article: "Ten'ami-ryu Heijo" and the Shin Chigiriki-ryu".
[edit] Footnotes
- Note 1: The names Shinto and Shindo, as used in Shinto Muso-ryu, are both equally correct. Different SMR-groups use the name Shinto or Shindo depending on their own tradition, no sort of consensus has been made as to which name should be used.
- Note 2: Kage-ryu Battojutsu did survive the Meiji-restoration and is still active today.
- Note 3: A more modern example of martial arts going underground and being secretly taught can be found in the post-World War II ban on Japanese martial arts by the US during its occupation. Shinto Muso-ryu Jodo, like many other ryu such as Katori Shinto-ryu, was temporary banned and forbidden to be taught. The occupation forces were weary of the nationalistic overtunes of some of these ryu and feared it would be used as a political tool for extreme-right nationalists. Jodo, or rather elements of Jodo, got a special reprive once the occupation forces decided it was useful in the new administration of Japan, more specifically in the Tokyo riot-police department.
- Note 8: The number of Shihanke or Headmaster is counted by combining all the known Shihanke of all the branches of Shinto Muso-ryu Jodo including the founder of Katori Shinto-ryu, the latter which the founder of SMR also held a Menkyo Kaiden.
[edit] See also
- Bujutsu/Budo - The "Way of War" or the "Way of the warrior".
- Daimyo - The feudal landowner of feudal Japan. Employed samurai as warriors in a vassal/lord relationship to both protect and expand the Daimyos domains before and during the Sengoku Jidai period. The Daimyo as a position lasted until the Meiji restoration and abolishment of the feudal system.
- Iaido/Iaijutsu - Martial Art - The art of drawing the Japanese sword.
- Koryu - A term used to describe Japanese martial arts created before the 1868 Meiji restoration. Any art created that was created post-1868, such as Judo, Karate, Aikido, Taido, are considered to be Gendai Budo. Karate, although preceding 1868, does not qualify as koryu due to the fact it did not evolve in Japan but on the Ryūkyū Islands (modern Okinawa Prefecture) which did not become a part of Japan until the 17th century.
- Samurai - The warrior elite of feudal Japan. The Samurai caste was abolished in the Meiji restoration's aftermath.
- Seitei Jodo - Modern, compact version of SMR with 12 kata taught in the Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Matsui, Kenji . 1993. The History of Shindo Muso Ryu Jojutsu, translated by Hunter Armstrong (Kamuela, HI: International Hoplological Society) #1
- "A Brief History of ZNKR Jodo"
- Entry on SMR at koryu.com
- "Evolution of classical Jojutsu" by Dave Lowry
- Jodo Kai Australia
- KampaiBudokai article on SMR
- "Muso Gonnosuke and the Shinto Muso-ryu Jo" by Wayne Muromoto
- "Nishioka Tsuneo and the Pure Flow of the Jo" by Wayne Muromoto
- Pascal Krieger: Jodô - la voie du bâton / The way of the stick (bilingual French/English), Geneva (CH) 1989, ISBN 2-9503214-0-2
- Stockholm Jodokai with featured list of known Shinto Muso-ryu kata including assimilated arts.
- USA Jodo Federation (history-section)
