Katori History

The Katori God's Way

The oldest recorded style of swordsmanship is Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu Heiho which translated means "heavenly truth, correct tradition, Katori god's way style warrior's law". If we extrapolate, we can determine that the style was created sometime in the middle of the 15th century (around 1460).

History

According to the recorded history of the style, the founder was a warrior named Iizasa Ienao (changed later to Choisai Ienao) who in his youth had a liking for spear and sword arts and studied earnestly. Born into a samurai family, he went to fight many times on the battlefield. According to one account, later as lord, he went against the shogun and due to this state of affairs, six whole villages and their inhabitants in his domain were destroyed in the ensuing battle. Due to his grief and remorse, he went up to the Katori Shrine and prayed for enlightenment. This was when he was 64. He locked himself inside for 1000 days and nights. Everyday, he prayed to the gods, he practiced and polished, he read religious works. According to legend, one night, he was visited by a "great god" who said to him: "you will be a teacher of every sword" and gave him the secret of the warrior's law.

Major Figures

There have been many excellent swordsmen produced by this school throughout its illustrious history but two major figures stand out.

Tsukahara Bokuden was perhaps the most famous product of this school. He has been hailed as the greatest swordsman in Japanese history and as folklore goes, the one that is born only once every 500 years. He has been documented as participating in 37 battles (his specialty was singling out enemy commanders and slaying them) and more than 100 duels. He eventually created his own style, Kashima Shinto Ryu.

Kamiizumi Nobutsuna was another legendary pupil of this school. He was an excellent soldier and leader of the famed "16 Spears of Nagano". He gave up military life to research and form his own style of swordsmanship which he named, Shinkage Ryu. He is best known as the progenitor of the Yagyu school.

Originally, Katori Shinto Ryu was created from the standpoint of fighting on the battlefield. The weapons used, techniques and philosophy of the style reflect this orientation. It is a battlefield art, created at a time when the country was embroiled in civil war. Weapons studied include: sword, spear, staff, halberd, and shuriken among others. There is an unarmed aspect to the art as well as a ninjutsu (espionage) section and there are also even more purely military studies such as encampment and field fortification strategies. The overall philosophy seems to revolve around the concept of producing well rounded and balanced soldiers, proficient in a variety of battlefield weapons. In this sense, Katori Shinto Ryu is a military art.

This style is also heavily influenced by Buddhist concepts and thought. It is the most religious of the major styles. It is a well balanced style due to the study of a diversity of weapons and the tactics involved with each different weapon. The major technical philosophy of the style is that to know and be able to use the sword well, one must also understand the use of other related weapons.

This school has produced many exceptional swordsmen. Sword masters such as Tsukuhara Bokuden and Kamiizumi Nobutsuna went on to create their own styles. But these styles have part of their roots in the concepts taught in this school. So, in this way, Katori Shinto Ryu came to influence many of the major styles which were developed later.