Katori Shintō-ryū (香取神道流)

Katori Shintō-ryū (香取神道流) or in full:Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū (天真正伝香取神道流) is one of the oldest extant Japanese martial arts, and an exemplar of koryū bujutsu.

The Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū was founded by Iizasa Ienao, who lived near the Katori Shrine. The ryū includes

• Kenjutsu (long sword)
• Ryōtōjutsu (two swords)
• Kodachi (short sword)
• Bōjutsu (staff)
• Naginatajutsu (hellbeard)
• Sōjutsu (spear)

and several other skills in its curriculum.

The ryū was founded by 1447. Katori Shintō-ryū was popularized in the west by the writings of late Donn F. Draeger.

Iizasa Ienao (飯篠 長威斎 家直) was a respected spearman and swordsman whose daimyo was deposed, encouraging him to relinquish control of his household to conduct purification rituals and study martial arts in isolation. During his youth he had been in the service of the shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436-1490).

Legend says at the age of 60 he spent 1000 days in Katori Shrine practising martial techniques day and night, until the kami of the shrine, Futsunushi no Mikoto (経津主之命), appeared to him in a dream and handed down the secrets of martial strategy in a scroll named Mokuroku Heiho no Shinsho. Ienao died in 1488 at the age of 102.

The current, twentieth generation headmaster, is Iizasa Yasusada (飯篠 修理亮 快貞). The representative, and head instructor on behalf of the headmaster is Otake Risuke.

Tetsutaka Sugawara is a previous senior student and holder of an instructor license issued in 1986 by Otake Risuke. He teaches Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū at the Sugawara Martial Arts Institute in Tokyo, Japan.

The son of the late Sugino Yoshio (杉野 嘉男), Sugino Yukihiro is also teaching Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū at Yuishinkan Sugino Dojo in Kawasaki, Japan.

The previous long-term head instructor under the late Sugino Yoshio, Hatakeyama Goro, is also independently teaching Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū in his Kamakura Dojo in Kanagawa, Japan.

Because of the split (Otake-dojo and Sugino-dojo), the weapons found in the different dojo, can be slightly different. Sugino Yoshio had a small posture and used a light, thin bo. Furthermore, in Sugino-dojo a smaller naginata is used (215 cm), compared to the longer o-naginata used in Otake-dojo (245 cm). Finally at Katori Jingu (the Katori Shrine) slightly longer bokken are sold compared to Otake and Sugino bokken. Also, the tip of these bokken are like "standard" aikido/kenjutsu-bokken.

Koryu Bokken has origional weapons from the Shrine of Katori, the dojo of Otake Ritsuke and the dojo of Sugino Yoshio. We actually have 30 year old bokken, kodachi, bo and naginata from Sugino-dojo. We used all these weapons as an example for our bokken-expert Petar.

Links:

• All Katori Shintō-ryū weapons in our shop
• Wikipedia page on Katori Shintō-ryū