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| History of Ju Jutsu 4 |
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| Ken Jutsu and Zen influences of Ju Jutsu |
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Relationship between Ju Jutsu and Ken Jutsu (Sword Art)
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What ever we might say about how Japanese Ju Jutsu has influenced Karate, Ju Jutsu has not been free of influences itself. Ju Jutsu was rarely taught as an unarmed combative system in isolation from other combative means, namely weapons. In fact in many sword schools there would be a set of empty handed techniques for use when a weapon was lost or broken, the Ju Jutsu curriculum of some such schools may be composed of as few as 10 techniques or as many as a hundred or more. The main weapons of the warrior were the Kyu (Bow), Yari (Spear) and Ken (Sword). Out of these three weapons the one that is used for the closest quarter combat is the sword (Ken), it is therefore reasonable to suppose that the closest relationship exists between Ken Jutsu and Ju Jutsu. It should be noted that the art of Ken Jutsu includes blades of three lengths: Tanto (Dagger), Wakazashi (Represented by Shoto) and the Katana (Represented by Bokken).
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Miyamato Musashi's Satsujin Ken
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When one mentions the art of Ken Jutsu; Japanese swordsmanship. Many people think of Miyamato Musashi, the author of the Go Rin No Sho, known to us in the west as the Book of Five Rings.
Miyamoto Musashi is said to have lived the Samurai life style in all its fullness, wandering Japan with a Bokuto (wooden practice sword similar to a Bokken) used in Ken Jutsu practice today, taking on all comers.
Musashi`s style the Nitten Ichi Ryu has been described as adhering to the principle of the Death dealing blade which is said to represent the steely resolve of the Samurai in which a strong body like a rock is built and there is a calm acceptance of death. This sword style is regarded as being active and therefore Yo (Yang).
However as all things exist in a dynamic equilibrium between In (Yin) and Yo (Yang) as pairs of opposites into which all phenomena may be divided. We may contrast Musashi`s Nitten Ichi Ryu ha`s death dealing blade, known as Satsujin Ken To with the life giving sword of the Shin Kage Ryu known in Hidetsuna Kamiizumi`s time as the Katsujin Ken.
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Shin Kage Ryu's Katsujinken
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The Life giving sword of the Shin Kage Ryu in the Heiho Kaden Sho (Family transmitted book of swordsmanship) of the Shinkage Ryu lineage named Shin Myo Ken or Divine sword, its motion is passive and receptive and from this the principle of Yin can be seen to emerge.
The attacker who practices the life taking sword or death dealing blade (Setsunin To) exercises his movements in an unenlightened state and is therefore filled with delusion and lacks control of the self and falls upon the Shin Myo Ken. This interpretation of sword play in accordance with the canon of Takuan`s Zen is similiar to the way in which the Zen Master strikes the young neo-phyte on the head with his stick in order that he may have that realisation that leads to enlightenment.
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Philosophical Basis
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The Heiho Kaden Sho; family transmitted book of swordsmanship, completed by Yagyu Muneyoshi`s son, Munenori is the secret transmission scroll passed from Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, the founder of Shin Kage Ryu to Munenori`s father, which on some accounts occured at the Hozo In temple in Nara in 1567.
Appended to this work, by Munenori himself is the Fudo Chi Shin Myo Ruku (Divine Record of Immovable Wisdom), written by Yagyu Munenori`s Zen teacher Takuan Soho.
Takuan's text is heavily influenced by Chinese philosophy and emphasises the five virtues of Confucianism: humanity, loyalty, Courtesy, Wisdom and Trust.
Where as the sword style itself according to Munenori`s own writings is expressed in what are clearly Taoist philosophical terms, for example the blade is described as a Yin blade and the posture posturelessness, as such its principle of sword usage may be seem to accord with the Taoist philosophical principle of Wu Wei, or non intervention.
In its ultimate form this Yin principle of the Shin Myo Ken, is that of Mu To (no sword), which has its origin with Munenori`s father Muneyoshi. Thus we find that Munenori has not changed the teachnings of Shin Kage Ryu but has through the medium of Zen stated them more explicitly by drawing out the original principles.
The original secret transmission scroll that Kamiizumi Nobutsuna passed to Yagyu Muneyoshi depicts the images of two Shinto gods of creation Izanagi and Izanami, which are male and female.
The male principle, that which is seen as active is often spoken of in Taoism in terms of Yang, the Japanese call this Yo and the female principle which is passive known of as Yin, is called In.
Together Izanagi, who is Yang/Yo and Izanami who is Yin/In are known as Wago no Kami, which means Gods of harmony, they are often depicted as holding up the Sun (Yang) and the Moon (Yin). This harmony may be spoken of as the balance between the dynamic equilibrium between Yin (In) and Yang (Yo). Each state or principle contains an element of its opposite within itself. This principle is practised in our Kata Izanami No Natsu Kata.
In our practice of Ken Jutsu, which begins with Nippon Me Bu No Mai (Two Man Sword Dance) the attacker Uchi Deshi may be said to be engaging in the active principle of Yang, the death dealing blade which aims to cut Shih Deshi down.
Shih Deshi however engages in the Yin principle of the Shin Myo Ken and yields (Ju) to Uchi Deshi`s attack, allowing for him to fall on Shih Deshi`s blade (Go No Sen). In its ultimate form the practice results in Mu To where by the action of Uchi Deshi blade leads to his own undoing even when Shih Deshi is unarmed.
Here we see a clear movement from the use of sword to that of no sword by an unarmed advesary against an armed one.
This provides the basis for the some of the traditional Ju Jutsu schools that stem from Shin Kage Ryu and the modern Budo form of Aikido which is in part based upon Yagyu Gotto Ryu Ju Jutsu and Yagyu Shin Kage Ryu swordsmanship from which Aikido Kamae (postures) and sword exercises are borrowed, although in a slightly modified form.
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| Nihon Go Shin Kage Ryu & Hakuda Ryu Kempo Jutsu
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| Sensei983@yahoo.com
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Page Updated Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:08pm EST
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