What's Shindo munen ryu kenjyutsu??

[Musha]

I'm trying to take a year in Japan soon and was wondering about starting some kind of kenjyutsu and kendo if I can afford it. I still enjoy doing Kata-geiko though kendo is not as dedicated to that side.

I was doing some research on Nakayama hakudo who was one of the famous kendo ka around pre war. He practised kendo and other martial arts, joining the Yushin-kan situated in Meguro Tokyo quite near where I might stay.

http://www.yushinkan.net/

The Yushin Kan dojyo says they do 'Shindo yuso ryu Jyojutsu (Jyodo), Shinmu kenjyutsu, musoshinden ryu iaijyutsu (Iaido/kenjyutsu)
and Shindo munen ryu kenjyutsu (Kenjyutsu)'.

All I can find is Shindo muso ryu kenjyutsu, not sure why...

P.s Sorry if my translation is wrong :).

[hamish]

See the latest issue's koryu feature in Tradition and Transmission, we cover the history of the style in detail. (and Nakayama Hakudo)

I don't know where you found Shindo Muso-ryu kenjutsu on that site, as a perfunctory look didn't turn up anything by that name, the only kenjutsu was Shindo Munen-ryu.

Hamish

[Musha]

Thanks for your reply Hamish,
Sorry, I mean I can't find much information on Shindo munen ryu only Shindo muso ryu on the web. I check Koryu.com? and couldn't find any information on it there eather.

Do you have a link to the Koryu article or isn't it online? :).

[sjp]

Thanks for your reply Hamish,

Do you have a link to the Koryu article or isn't it online? :).

Eric
I think Hamish might be subtley saying 'Subscribe to KW magazine' :wink:

[Musha]

Why would I need to do that? :D

[sjp]

Why would I need to do that? :D


Hamish....
See the latest issue's koryu feature in Tradition and Transmission, we cover the history of the style in detail. (and Nakayama Hakudo)
..............

[Musha]

Thanks for the replies guys!! :D

[satoshi]

According to the book I have, Shinto Munen Ryu is a kenjutsu school based in Tokyo. It was founded in the late 18th century and was counted as one of the 4 great kenjutsu schools in Edo.

Shinto Muso Ryu is a jodo school based in Fukuoka. I don't think the two are related but not sure.

[Aden]

Shinto Muso Ryu, while a Jodo school, also incorporates a number of other weapons, there are 12 (? hmm brain failure) forms in SMR Kenjutsu that are part of the curriculum.

Aden

[Charles Mahan]

I can't contribute a lot, but if I'm not mistaken the Shindo Munen Ryu curriculum consists of only about 10 or 12 waza. It's not a very big school, which is probably why you're having trouble finding a lot of info on it. I know there are Shindo Munen Ryu practitioners that are members of the Zen Nippon Iaido Renmei, but that's about the sum total of my knowledge on this ryu-ha. You can probably learn a great deal more from the previously mentioned article.

[Saitama Steve]

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to view a special demonstration of Shindo Munen ryu (Yushinkan dojo) leb by the soke, Ogawa Takeshi at one of the yearly the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai Kobudo enbutaikai at the Taito riverside sports centre.

If I remember correctly from the lecture, there are 27 kumitachi techniques and quite a few iaijutsu kata. After the main lecture, they also performed the ZNKR Kendo kata, Shinto Muso ryu jojutsu and Muso Shinden ryu iai, since the Yushinkan preserves all of the arts that Nakayama Hakudo taught.

As Satoshi mentioned earlier, Shinto Muso ryu and Shindo Munen ryu aren't related, but they were and still are taught at the Yushinkan.

The Yushinkan have a Japanese only website here (http://www.yushinkan.net/)

[Charles Mahan]

Learn something new...

[Musha]

Thanks Steve,
I think I better stay with annoying kendo for now but a more kobudo style does seem interesting to me. On the web site you gave me it says you can visit the dojyo to see what they do if you phone in advance, so maybe I will do that if I get time in Japan :D.

[Saitama Steve]

Well, you better have some top notch Japanese first mate. :)

[Musha]

I did A level Japanese at college and passed A grade :). Was just watching a Japanese anime with no subs a minute ago, but that's one of the reasons I want to go because I need to get much better :(.

[Saitama Steve]

If you want to train with these people, you had better be prepared to study at the dojo for at least a decade. Anything less and you will be wasting their time as well as your own.

Plan ahead and contemplate what you want before starting a koryu. Kengaku is one thing, nyumon, that's another.

Read this essay (http://www.koryu.com/library/dskoss3.html)

And this one (http://www.koryu.com/library/mskoss6.html)

Ooh and you might want to have a crack at this one too. (http://www.koryu.com/library/mskoss4.html)

Cheers mate. :evolved:

[Musha]

wow thanks Saitama one of the first real helpful posts since I join KWF :D.

P.s Can I ask why you are called Saitama?

[Musha]

Since I did Akido I liked bokken and more of a koryu style but I feel that if I did start I would be giving up on kendo. I remember what the teacher in Japan said to the class when I visited 'Kendo ha issho kenmei desu' (Kendo is for life).

There are many nice looking martial arts and I would hate to do some thing on a whim...I'll just see what happens, but I'm still interested

[Charles Mahan]

The Japanese are indeed very serious about their hobbies. That said it is not at all uncommon for aging kendoka to transition into koryu arts, particularly iai arts. They tend to be lower impact and are easier on an aging body than kendo. Let's face it, kendo's hard on you. Iaido is hard, but does not require the same level of cardiovascular fitness. Apparently there are a lot of old Kendo folks that are now top level ZNIR iai folks. What I'm saying is that it is not uncommon.

[Saitama Steve]

wow thanks Saitama one of the first real helpful posts since I join KWF :D.

P.s Can I ask why you are called Saitama?

No worries, happy to help.

Oh and my handle. I lived in Saitama prefecture for 5 years before moving to Chiba and I can't change it. I should just start a new account like I have with e-budo and just have it as "Steve Delaney". Ah well! :rolleyes:

[KevinF]

Steve,

It's sad you moved to Chiba - the current head of the Shido munen ryu school of iai is Togasaki-sensei (ZKNR - 7 dan Kyoushi) who usually practices kendo at the Kuki Kenyuukai in Saitama (on the JR Tobu-Isesaki sen). If you ever wanted to stop by there (on Wednesdays or Saturdays), every there is fantastic and most of the older members do iai as well (Namiki, Tanaka, Aoki, etc.).

They always tried to push me to do it - but I had too much on my plate when I lived there. To my knowledge, SMNryu is one of the big 4 ryuhas of iaido, but its the least performed, and the smallest of the 4.

[Charles Mahan]

Sooner or later I'll get out to Chiba. Hopefully next year around Golden Week.

[bushikan]

shindo munen ryu (shindou munen ryu) is a 300 hundered year old liniage. founded by fukui hyoeimon. the art came from shin shinkage ichiden ryu. it has absolutly no ties to itto ryu in anyway except that like hokushin itto ryu it was consitered to be one of the 4 great sword schools of the bakamatsu period. with students like nagoro shimpachi (2 squad leader of the shinsengumi) kastura kagoro (leader of chosu clan) and most notablely nakayama hakudo (reorgnisor of shinnamura ha hassegawa eishin ryu now muso shinden ryu). there are only a few people who practice shindo munen ryu including myself. I am the only foirener training in the art. i currently live in tokyo and have been studing only a month however there are many misconceptions about shindo munen ryu most people who have trained in muso shinden ryu under mitsuzuka takashi hanshi were taught shindo munen ryu battojutsu it consists of 12 iai forms however those are not the iai forms of shindo munen ryu. the iai forms are very diffrent and unique compared to mitsuzuka forms while the yonbammae of the curiculim, utsusenmi (shindo munen ryu batojutsu) is unique it is not the same as the forms i have seen the jo-menyoko and menyokos preform. and i have not seen them preform utsusenmi once. shindo munen ryu kenjustu is very powerful and unique style the kenjutsu, and footwork are very diffrent from muso shinden ryu and sport kendo which is what they teach in the states. that is all im going to say for now. i do not want to say anything since i just began and the art likes to be unknown and have a small group training base filled with people who are deticated to the art and the teachings of nakayama hakudo. i probally wont be responding again good luck with your studies and if you wish to truly see what swordsmanship is all about learn japanese save up your money and come here. again good