Tsubame Gaeshi - Ganryu Ryu - Sasaki Kojiro's school

I have not heard or read much about Sasaki Kojiro's school of kenjutsu. I know that he had a style patterned after a swallow's tail in flight, which was known to be almost unstoppable, and that he was a student of the Chujo school. Does anyone know of any good reading material on this school or style?

[ghp]

Angelus,

Sorry to disappoint you, but that is fiction from Eiji Yoshikawa's book Mushsah. I have heard -- although I wish I could cite the source -- that Yoshikawa stated he made up the tsubame-gaeshi technique.

Can anyone confirm/deny the hearsay remark?

Additionally, according to other accounts (Nakamura sensei heard it from a previous soke of Niten Ichi Ryu), Musashi was about 36 and Sasaki was about 70 when the duel happened.



Regards,
Guy

That makes sense seeing how I have looked all over the internet for some information on it. The only sources I found were from Yoshikawa's book and the Samurai trilogy. Was there not a Chujo school, though? I believe I read it was founded my Chujo Nagahide and he served the Ashikaga clan sometime around the end of the fourteenth century.

[ghp]

Angelus,

This is what I found on a quick Google search:

[note: just because these notes were culled from the internet, don't presume everything to be 100% true ... unless you read it on my site ]

Meik Skoss wrote: "The Toda-ha Buko-ryu is derived from another tradition, the Toda-ryu, which was founded by a man named Toda Seigen, during the Sengoku Jidai (Age of Warring States, a period of intense military and political conflict which lasted from about 1490 to 1600). Toda Seigen was a famous disciple of the Chujo-ryu and was noted for his short sword technique."

...Some ryu in this list, like the Chujo Ryu, are now extinct,....

In Italian:

Nascono nel Muromachi le prime scuole (ryu-ha) registrate, vengono schematizzate le relazioni tra insegnante e allievo e si distingue il combattimento militare in armatura con quello personale a corpo libero. Di questo periodo si ricorda Jion, Hyogonosuke Nagahide, fondatore del Chujo ryu

In French:

LA TRADITION CHUJO RYU
Le fondateur de la tradition Chujo Ryu fut Chujo Nagahide. On ignore les dates exactes de sa naissance et de sa mort. On s'accorde cependant à penser que son école fut fondée entre 1390 et 1430.

ITTO RYU sword school, founded by ITTO ITTOSAI. ITTO was born between 1550-1560. He studied CHUJO RYU under KANEMAKI JISSAI (he also founded the KANEMAKI RYU).

Scholars have identified five such regional traditions in existence around the 15th century: that of the Kashima-Katori area, known as the Shinto-ryu or
Kashima-no-tachi; that of the capital region, called the Kyoryu ("capital tradition") or Kyohachi-ryu ("8 styles of the capital"); that of Hyuga region in Kyushu, called the
Kage-ryu ("shadow style"); that of the Chujo family in the Kamakura area (the Chujo-ryu), and the Nen-ryu tradition of the northeast.

The names of great swordsmen, and the schools, or Ryu, that they founded, remain today. Chujo Nagahide, founder of the Chujo Ryu, became master swordsman to the Ashikaga clan at the end of the fourteenth century.

Also participating in the warfare was [Yagyu] Ieyoshi's son Muneyoshi, an especially gifted swordsman who, while still in his teens, undertook an intensive study of the Chujo-ryu of fencing. By the time he was 16 and fighting alongside his father's samurai, his abilities were already well known-so well known in fact, that they came to the attention of one of the country's most famous fencers at that time, Nobutsuna Kamizumi.

Chujo Ryu
Kenutsu
c. 1400
Founded by Chujo Nagahide.

KAMAKURA Period (1185-1331)

Under the Kamakura shogunate the country settled down to a relative peace, and feudalism was fully introduced. The naginata remained the chief polearm in common use, even if other types of spear were also employed. The schools of fencing that taught both the use of the spear and the sword to the bushi came into prominence in the latter part of this period. The Chujo-ryu was established at the time of the Hojo Regent Sadatoki (1270-1311), but this is not recognised as being properly organised until the beginning of the next period.

Regards,
Guy

Wow, thanks a lot, Guy! I guess I was just caught up in the wonderful story and movie. Besides, a style patterned after a swallow's tail in flight is interesting... I also found a picture of Francis Boyd's interpretation of Sasaki's Drying Pole. Beautiful work.

[ghp]

Angelus,

Glad to have helped. By the way ... were you aware that the movie "Samurai Trilogy" is based on Yoshikawa's novel, Musashi?

Regards,
Guy

[Earl Hartman]

The "Samurai" films were really bad, I think. Pretty to look at, but devoid of any real substance (just what most Americans think Japanese films are supposed to be like). Unless he was being directed by Kurosawa, Mifune seemed incapable of acting his way out of a wet paper bag. Besides, Inagaki Hiroshi, the director of the trilogy, was a fairly typical cherry-blossom-and-Mount-Fuji type of director; a lot of pretty imagery but generally pretty pedestrian. (I liked his version of Chushingura, though, since I like cherry blossoms and romantic stoicism as much as the next guy, and the actors who played Oishi and Kira were very good.)

There is another film about Musashi called, in English, "Sword of Fury". I can't remember when it was made (mid to late 70s, maybe) or who directed it (I'll have to go back and check my copy) but it stars Takashi Hideki as Musashi, Matsuzaka Keiko (hubba hubba!) as Otsu, and Kamiya Jiro as Sasaki Kojiro. A lot of good fighting and not so much soft focus romance and Musashi worship. The character of Takuan is especially well drawn in this film.

I have also heard of a couple of other films about Musashi starring Nakamura Kinnosuke and Mikuni Rentaro as Musashi, respectively. Does anyone know these films and whether or not they're available on video? I also saw a film a long time ago called Sasaki Kojiro, which concentrates on Sasaki and in which Musashi (Nakadai Tatsuya) is a very minor character, showing up near the end to finish Sasaki off. Anybody know this film?

Earl

[Walker]

Kojiro - the movie is by the same director as the Musashi X3 if I remember correctly, but I really like the way Mu is portrayed as a pre-verbal brute.
As for the other Musashi films, my local Japanese film geek hasn’t been able to find any of them in print.
If anyone knows different let us know.

[Ruediger]

2 1/2 years ago i bought "my" Musashi at the Toei Film Studios in Kyoto. It's a set of five videos (...the five rings in modern days...), but i don't know the names of the actors. I'm not pretty sure, but i think that one guy is the same actor as in "Yakuza" and "Black Rain". It's funny to watch the videos, because my japanese is so bad that i could understand just a few words.

Best Regards

Ruediger Meier

[Karl Friday]

Originally posted by ghp
Angelus,

Sorry to disappoint you, but that is fiction from Eiji Yoshikawa's book Musashi. I have heard -- although I wish I could cite the source -- that Yoshikawa stated he made up the tsubame-gaeshi technique.

Can anyone confirm/deny the hearsay remark?

It's entirely possible that Yoshikawa did in fact invent the name and the technique--or at least think that he did--but "tsubame-gaeshi" ("swallow return"; aka "enbiken" or "flying swallow sword")is a real technique, practiced by the Kashima-Shinryu, among other schools. The technique is referred to in Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami's "Tengu sho" scroll, so it's at least that old. I did a blow-by-blow breakdown of one KSR application of this technique for the "Discovery Magazine" episode "Secrets of the Samurai," which I believe first aired sometime last winter.

[ghp]

Dr. Friday,

Thanks for the clarification. It is nice to know there is a real name [enbiken] for the downward diagonal cut followed immediately by an upward diagonal cut (kesagiri & gyakukesagiri).

I'll file that fact in my "brain-housing group" for future reference.

Regards,
Guy

[Karl Friday]

Originally posted by ghp
Dr. Friday,

Thanks for the clarification. It is nice to know there is a real name [enbiken] for the downward diagonal cut followed immediately by an upward diagonal cut (kesagiri & gyakukesagiri).

Actually, that's not how KSR uses these terms. In KSR terminology, a kesagiri is a downward, left to right (from the perspective of the swordsman) diagonal cut, while a gyaku-gesa is a downward, right to left diagonal cut. An upward, left to right cut is a hiryuken ("flying dragon sword"); and an upward, right to left cut is a kasumi ("mist").

"Enbiken" and "tsubame-gaeshi" in KSR parlance refer to techniques that spin over and around the opponent's attack, block, or counter-attack. The application I demonstrated on "Discover Magazine" involves attacking with a gyaku-gesa, which the opponent attempts to strike down, and then slipping your sword around his blow, to finish with a vertical cut (menkiri) to his forehead. When you do this, your sword tip flits in a counter-clockwise spiral that looks very much like a swallow in flight--hence the name!

[Nathan Scott]

Prof. Friday,

Welcome back! It's nice to see you here on the board again.

In Shinkendo we also use the term Tsubamegaeshi using the cutting motion described by Guy-san. I was curious if other groups used the term differently or not. Kashima shin-ryu's usage is interesting.

In our group Tsubamegaeshi actually falls into a catagory of "kaeshi", which represents any cutting combination that reverses back on itself.

Thanks for the input!

[hyaku]

[quote]Originally posted by Nathan Scott
[b]Prof. Friday,

Welcome back! It's nice to see you here on the board again.

In Shinkendo we also use the term Tsubamegaeshi using the cutting motion described by Guy-san. I was curious if other groups used the term differently or not. Kashima shin-ryu's usage is interesting.

In our group Tsubamegaeshi actually falls into a catagory of "kaeshi", which represents any cutting combination that reverses back on itself.

Thanks for the input!
.....................

This technique is the kihon of the Kage Ryu. Techniques are split into groups the first group being Kaeshi waza to the front, sides, sides rear, leading with either right or left leg etc. Some of the names of the techniques are Kairoken, Kawaruken.

Basicaly the blade is turned over and drawn to cut the inside thigh,diagonal body, under arm, (depending upon the position of the opponent and how far he has drawn or is cutting. The returning downward cut is usually into the neck between 45 and 30 degrees.The kensaki almost touches the ground on the upward cut. The reversed action can be done in a number of ways. In a slighly eliptical path, or to Tsuka is caught on the outside edge of the forearm to reverse the power in the downward cut with the right hip already how should I say, "loaded"

I would have interpreted Gyaku-Kesa as an upward cut to the kesa and downward cuts as either hidari or Migi. Perhaps some other ryu use different terminology?

Hyakutake Colin

http://www.bunbun.ne.jp/~sword

A few updates made to Tosa Eishin Seiza-nobu and a short article entitled Yoin-Reverberation - Iwata Norikazu

[Nathan Scott]

Hello Mr. Colin,

Thanks for the comments.

Unfortunately, *every* sword art uses different terminology, and it drives everyone nuts trying to keep it all straight for the sake of discussions.

Maybe it's on purpose!

Regards,