yaygu shinkage ryu

[jezah81]

Hi guys,

Does the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu favor unusually larger swords for training, like some MJER dojos, or shorter swords such as the Tenshin Katori ryu? Or is any blade length useable in a Yagyu Shinkage ryu dojo?


Kind regards,

Jeremy Hagop

[Chris deMonch]

The Tokugawa Shogunate had rather strict guidelines as to the sizing of swords (no bigger than 1 shaku 3 sun or something like that), and as the Shinkage Ryu and the Yagyu family were patronized by the Tokugawa they in particular were likely subject to these guidelines. When I first started in my dojo I used a Hanwei Musashi, and being 5'8 that sword and its tsuka were a bit oversized for the requirements of the ryu. Over a couple years my technique evolved to the point that I use the Hanwei Shinto and am most comfortable using swords of similar size to that. I was once told that Empi was originally done with nodachi (though it's commonly done with katana sized swords now), but as I've only seen the Owari Yagyu's version and don't know ours (I belong to the Edo branch), I can't say one way or the other.

In my dojo, the rule of thumb seems to be to hold the sword with it pointed straight down. If you can swing the sword without cutting off your toes it's a good length. So the short of it is no, in my experience longer swords are not preferred in Yagyu Shinkage Ryu unless you happen to be a bigger person.

[Fred27]

I think the max-length was more like 2 shaku 8 sun wasn't it?
*edit*

Comparison: About 2 shaku 4 sun is the average these days and were prolly less in the Edo-period.

[hyaku]

I think the max-length was more like 2 shaku 8 sun wasn't it?
*edit*

Comparison: About 2 shaku 4 sun is the average these days and were prolly less in the Edo-period.

Ni Shaku Sanzun

[Chris deMonch]

Haha, I didn't notice the typo. I'd meant to say 2 shaku, 3 sun, but there you go. I've also heard the standard referred to as Josun, but for the life of me I can't remember where I read that.

[Fred27]

So was the absolute maximum length allowed 2 shaku 3 sun?

[ZealUK]

So was the absolute maximum length allowed 2 shaku 3 sun?

The max blade length was supposed to be 2 shaku 3 sun 5 bu.

From looking at many surviving Satsuma koshirae it appears that the ruling was totally ignored in Satsuma.

[Chris deMonch]

Way I've heard Satsuma didn't really have a nice relation with the Edo Bakufu and went out of their way to flout their authority with stuff like that. I'd also heard that since Muramasa blades were considered bad luck by the Tokugawa, people who disliked them would go out of their way to procure those swords or fake signatures saying they were using Muramasa.