Embu: Taisha ryu

[Fred27]

A good clip of a Taisha ryu embu from the same YouTube uploader as the negishi ryu clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ5uYF0zf44&feature=channel_page

[skuggvarg]

Thanks for the clip. Very interesting footwork...

Regards / Skuggvarg

[badname]

Me being a novice, was the teacher in the red armor? He was alright, does it take that much movement in armor? The last part when he was cutting the mats the first one went with ease the second not quite what he was looking for I think :(

My humble opinion.

[Fred27]

Me being a novice, was the teacher in the red armor? He was alright, does it take that much movement in armor? The last part when he was cutting the mats the first one went with ease the second not quite what he was looking for I think :(

My humble opinion.


I dont know who that man is, but I do know even master teachers make mistakes from time to time.

[Max Chouinard]

Indeed, I would be hesitant to judge from a small video capture of an art I've practically never seen before and even less practiced. That said good job Mr. Hall!

[drosera99]

Did anyone else find the technique around 3:20 a bit... odd?

Certainly an interesting video.

Thank you, Mr. Hall.

[bushikan]

Did anyone else find the technique around 3:20 a bit... odd?

Certainly an interesting video.

Thank you, Mr. Hall.

That is form is called Gyakuaku from their Kumitachi. The shidachi and uchidachi are walking past eachother when the uchidachi turns and strikes for the shidachi's leg. The shidachi responds by kicking up his leg drawinging his blade upwards in a reverse grip. After cutting the uchidachi the shidachi then finishes him off with a reverse grip kesa (I guess you could call it that). I have never seen it preformed alone but I guess because he was wearing armor (which is the first) and the fact he was used a shinken is probably the reason for him doing it solo.

hope this helps

[Kendoguy9]

Hello all,

The katas make a lot more sense when there are two people doing them. Please see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNADXZRi2zU

Best regards,

[drosera99]

That is form is called Gyakuaku from their Kumitachi. The shidachi and uchidachi are walking past eachother when the uchidachi turns and strikes for the shidachi's leg. The shidachi responds by kicking up his leg drawinging his blade upwards in a reverse grip. After cutting the uchidachi the shidachi then finishes him off with a reverse grip kesa (I guess you could call it that). I have never seen it preformed alone but I guess because he was wearing armor (which is the first) and the fact he was used a shinken is probably the reason for him doing it solo.

hope this helps

Thanks. I knew I must be missing something. The second video was very helpful.

[Fred27]

That is form is called Gyakuaku from their Kumitachi. The shidachi and uchidachi are walking past eachother when the uchidachi turns and strikes for the shidachi's leg. The shidachi responds by kicking up his leg drawinging his blade upwards in a reverse grip. After cutting the uchidachi the shidachi then finishes him off with a reverse grip kesa (I guess you could call it that). I have never seen it preformed alone but I guess because he was wearing armor (which is the first) and the fact he was used a shinken is probably the reason for him doing it solo.

hope this helps

Taisha ryu seems to have a fair amount of weaponry & skills in their curriculum. Armoured swordsmanship, spear, short-sword (according to that second clip), batto.
Did anyone else catch that extra-long sword he used in the tameshigiri?

[bushikan]

Taisha ryu seems to have a fair amount of weaponry & skills in their curriculum. Armoured swordsmanship, spear, short-sword (according to that second clip), batto.
Did anyone else catch that extra-long sword he used in the tameshigiri?

There is alot more to Taisha Ryu than that. There is: Kenpo (Omote, Ura, Kage, maybe more), Iai, Kumitachi (normally done with habiki), Yari, Naginata, Teppo-Ai-Jutsu (or gunnary), Shuriken, Bajutsu (horsemanship), Mikyo (estrotic or mystical practices), and Ninjutsu (supposivly).

The normal formula for a Taisha Ryu Enbu is: Iai, Omote followed by Kodachi, then they end off with their Kumitachi. They very rarely show anything else in public so to see that they still practice with the yari makes me happy. What I have listed above is what Yamakita (the curent soke *soon to retire unfortunately*) listed in an article several years ago, but no one has seen them do it. So there are many questions as to what Taisha Ryu still preserves today, but If Yamakita says that is what they do...... then that is what the do.

hope this helps

(p.s. they also have some really cool shuriken ;) )

(p.p.s. Yamakita did not own up to the ninjutsu part it was in historical records concerning the replacement of Iga Ryu bodyguards under the command of Hatori Hanzo's son Masanari. Masanari was apparently a sadist normally brutalizing his own men (who happened to guard the shogun). His personality left room for Taisha Ryu's second soke Den Rinbo (a Chinese national) to step in. Taisha Ryu supposivly has some ninja-ish tactics where they attack in a group of three to kill an opponent, which is a tactic normally used by ninja in assasination (or so I have been told). It was with these tactics, skills, and reputation that Taisha Ryu swordsmen acted as the inner or hidden guards the Shogun until the Meiji period (or so it has been said). So that is why I added Ninjutsu in there.

[drosera99]

There is alot more to Taisha Ryu than that. There is: Kenpo (Omote, Ura, Kage, maybe more), Iai, Kumitachi (normally done with habiki), Yari, Naginata, Teppo-Ai-Jutsu (or gunnary), Shuriken, Bajutsu (horsemanship), Mikyo (estrotic or mystical practices), and Ninjutsu (supposivly)....

(p.p.s. Yamakita did not own up to the ninjutsu part it was in historical records concerning the replacement of Iga Ryu bodyguards under the command of Hatori Hanzo's son Masanari. Masanari was apparently a sadist normally brutalizing his own men (who happened to guard the shogun). His personality left room for Taisha Ryu's second soke Den Rinbo (a Chinese national) to step in. Taisha Ryu supposivly has some ninja-ish tactics where they attack in a group of three to kill an opponent, which is a tactic normally used by ninja in assasination (or so I have been told). It was with these tactics, skills, and reputation that Taisha Ryu swordsmen acted as the inner or hidden guards the Shogun until the Meiji period (or so it has been said). So that is why I added Ninjutsu in there.

Do you know of any English language sources you can recommend that deal with any of this or with Taisha-ryu generally? This all sounds very interesting!

Many thanks.

[bushikan]

Do you know of any English language sources you can recommend that deal with any of this or with Taisha-ryu generally? This all sounds very interesting!

Many thanks.

Unfortunately there is not much avalable on Taisha Ryu in Japanese let alone English. If you look on the internet you will find a few posts about Taisha Ryu on different forums like E-budo. Other than that there is no real publication of the style in english and only a handful in Japanese. Most of the Japanese articles don't really get into the history of the style, however it talks about some of the curriculim and of course the personality that was Marume Kurando-no-suke.

Hope this helps