Suio Ryu Iai Kenpo classes in St. George, Utah.

The Suio Ryu is one of the few extant koryu, or ancient systems of martial arts, practiced today. It was founded around 1600 by Mima Yoichizaemon Kagenobu, and has followed the traditional method of oral transmission. Today, the head of the Suio Ryu is Katsuse Yoshimitsu Kagehiro, who lives and teaches in Shizuoka City (formerly Shimizu city) in Shizuoka prefecture in Japan.

It encompasses a broad variety of techniques from pure iai-jutsu drawing techniques, to semi-armored grappling techniques called kogusoku. Amongst the waza, or techniques, of the Suio Ryu are jojutsu, paired sword forms called kumi-iai, naginata-jutsu, pure kenpo sword forms, and wakizashi techniques. The emphasis of the Suio Ryu is practical application; although kata practice is the norm, every technique is intended to be delivered with full strength and intent, as if one were actually cutting against a live opponent. In many ways, this is part of what makes the Suio Ryu unique, for most of the techniques that comprise a kata are meant to be paired against techniques from other waza so that their applications can be both understood and tested.

The Suio Ryu was brought to America thanks to the efforts of Kiyoshi Yamazaki, who met with Katsuse-sensei and arranged for several of his students to begin training in the Suio Ryu. Since then, they have trained diligently under Katsuse-sensei's direction, and were allowed to join the Suio Ryu family as a full branch organization. Today, there are several dojo in America that are officially permitted to teach Suio-ryu, including Anaheim and Irvine in Southern California, San Francisco, Rhode Island, Ohio, St. George, Utah and Washington.

The St. George Shibu has been established and holds practices on Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00 pm -10:00 pm at:

St. George Recreation Center
285 S 400 E, St George,
UT 84770

Contact:
info@suioryu-usa.org

Best regards,

Britt Nichols