無双直伝英真流居合兵法
無雙直傳英信流居合兵法
The name of this
ryu-ha in romanized form is Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iai Heiho, or Musou Jikiden Eishin Ryuu Iai Heihou. It translates, loosely, as 'The unparalleled, direct transmission (from the gods) martial methods of iai school of Eishin.' For the sake of brevity, it shall now be referred to as MJER.
History
MJER traces its roots to
Hayashizaki Jinsuke Minamoto Shigenobu, arguably the father of modern
iaido, circa 1590 during the end of the
Muromachi era. The ryu-ha, in its present form, was conceived by
Oe Masamichi in the late
19th early
20th century. Oe sensei had previously been the 15th
soke of
Shimomura-ha before he left and associated with the
Tanimura-ha as their 17th generation headmaster. He continued the tradition of
Omori Ryu and
Hasagawa Eishin Ryu within Tanimura-ha to create modern-day MJER. He is one of the last members of the ryu-ha to have seen actual combat with a sword during
Hamaguri Gomon no Ikusa (
The Clam Gate War).
The current lineage has split with multiple senior students, all recipients of the
Kongen no Maki (MJER's version of the
menkyo kaiden), claiming to be the headmaster. With multiple lineages, MJER is one of the most widely practiced
extant koryu bugei.
Muso Shinden Ryu (MSR) is another art that shares many simularities with MJER. MSR was formulated circa the reformulation of MJER by
Nakayama Hakudo, a man with connections to the Shimomura-ha tradition. They both contain Omori Ryu, Eishin Ryu, and the same
Okuden as well.
Omori Ryu
Omori Ryu is considered the
shoden or beginning set. It consists of eleven
kata and is referred to as
seiza no bu, the seated set.
Seiza is a traditional
Japanese sitting posture involving tucking the legs and sitting on the heels in an upright way.
Eishin Ryu
Eishin Ryu is the
chuden or middle set. It is known as
tate-hiza no bu and contains ten kata.
Tate-hiza is transliterated as 'standing knee' and is similar to seiza; assume seiza, then the right foot is placed next to the left knee so that the right knee is standing.
Okuden
This is the secret set, sometimes referred to as
Shigenobu Ryu, available to practitioners who have shown loyalty and perseverence in learning the entirety of the shoden and chuden sets. It is broken into
i waza and
tachi waza, seated (tate-hiza) and standing, respectively.
There also exists a set of three kata called
itomagoi. They are considered seiza no bu, and are cuts from variations of seated
bowing.
Paired Kata
The MJER tradition continues with paired kata that, though not quite considered
kenjutsu, are iai-derived forms. There are six sets of paired kata:
Tachiuchi no Kata (7 kata)
Tachiuchi no Kurai (10 kata)
Tsumeai no Kurai (11 kata)
Daisho Tsumeai no Kurai (8 kata)
Daisho Tachizume no Kurai (7 kata)
Daikentori (10 kata)
These sets include various kata with the swords sheathed, swords drawn, standing, kneeling, one standing-one kneeling, grappling and throws, and work with
kodachi, or short sword.
These forms exist to provide a more practical side for the school, with concerns of
ma ai and other combat related principles being drawn in.
In the past, Itabashi Ryu
Bojutsu and Natsubara Ryu
Yawara (
jujutsu) were subsumed in the MJER curriculum. Even in Japan, only tiny bits and pieces are currently known and the ryu-ha as a whole have vanished.