Kyushin ryu

[upstart180]

Hello,

I would like to request some assistance on obtaining information pertaining to the Kyushin Ryu ?

Through several sources I have read many different things. In Secerets of the Samurai by Ratti & Westbrook, they have identified this school in two seperate sections as being a close combat specialty school, then in another "Members of the kyushin Ryu, a school of ninjutsu, became noted for their unorthodox meathods of using a spear". In A Dictionary of the Martial Arts, by Frederic, Kyushin Ryu is defined:" An ancient Japanese school of defense against lance(yari) attacks, halberd (Hoko) or naginata."

We are certain that Kyushin Ryu was one of the influential ryu of kodakan and in the famous photo showing Kano with all the jujutsu masters, there are two men from Kyushin Ryu. First and foremost would be Yozo Eguchi of Kumamoto who was involved in kodakan kata formulation. Also in the photo is Hidemi Tozuka of Chiba. All history of Judo mentions Kyushin ryu, but none mention any information regarding the influence or sytem style of Kyushin ryu.

I've also heard that Kyushin ryu is a branch group of the Takeda line and that there are Kyushin ryu Aikijututsu schools.

Could anybody steer me in the right direction on how I could obtain some valid information regarding this ryu. Thank you.

Adam Mitchell

[Joseph Svinth]

My own area of expertise is 20th century, so you might ask the same question in the Koryu thread.

Koryu.com lists nothing, but of course there are hundreds of styles and they only document a few dozen.

There is an aiki jujutsu club in Brewster, New York that teaches what it calls Kyushin ryu taijutsu. See http://www.bcma.8m.com . Presumably this is your club.

Meanwhile, from browsing what turns up at Google, there may have been a yari school of this name during the Edo Period. No further information is given.

There was apparently a jujutsu school of this name during Meiji; Yazo Eguchi of Kumamoto is the name associated with it. I have no idea whether this was related to the yari school.

Until 1993, there was a club called Kyushin-Do in England; this was an offshoot of Abe Kenshiro's teachings. For some background, see http://www.cuk.ac.kr/~rupert . The club name has apparently been reactivated: see http://www.drew1.freeuk.com/Jitsu.htm .

Kyushin-Ryu meanwhile is an English jujutsu association; see http://www.kyushin-ryu.demon.co.uk/index.htm

Ah. Here we go. I make no guarantees of its accuracy, but the story suggests that you need the kanji, preferably from an eighteenth century Japanese source: http://website.lineone.net/~backwell.judo/judo/judo2/html/concinfo.html

QUOTE

The Yoshin-Ryu was also known by the name "Kyushin-Ryu", forming a nomenclature link with the kyushindo style and philosophy of Abbe Sensei.

END QUOTE

Sorry I can't be of more help; good luck!

[Edited by Joseph Svinth on 02-03-2001 at 11:18 PM]

[upstart180]

Hi Joe,

Thank you for your help. I will post this on the koryu thread.

Adam Mitchell