Hokushin Ittō-ryū


Hokushin Ittō-ryū Hyōhō is a koryū which was founded in the late Edo period by Chiba Shusaku Narimasa. He was one of the last masters who was called a Kensei.

Curriculum and Characteristics

The curriculum of the ryūha contains mainly kenjutsu, iaijutsu and naginatajutsu, but the main weapons used are the long and short swords.
Hokushin Ittō-ryū is a very intense duelling style which focuses on simple and fast techniques where no unnecessary movements are made.
Controlling the enemy's centre line with the kiri-otoshi and dominating him with extremely fast tsuki-waza are the signature techniques of this ryūha.
The principles of this style are that a perfect technique should contain defence and offence in one action.
Characteristic of the training is the use of onigote like in its ancestor styles Ono-ha Ittō-ryū and Nakanishi-ha Ittō-ryū which are used in several kumitachi-kata. This kind of training became more and more obsolete towards the end of the Edo-period with the spread of gekiken and the use of bogu and shinai.
Hokushin Ittō-ryū is also one of the remaining ryūha which still practices kumitachi with bokuto. The Habiki kata is practiced using habiki.
Hokushin Ittō-ryū also has Iaijutsu. Now only some teachers know the techniques. Some techniques are depicted in old papers in the Kumamoto prefectural library.
It is a very simple iaijutsu, with 4 kata for sitting, 4 kata for standing, and 3 kata for hiki-waza.
In Noda-Konishi's line, some kata have been added to Gogyō-no-kata and Battōjutsu.
Gogyō-no-kata has 5 kumitachi and 3 kodachigumi which looks very similar to Koshi-Gogyō-no-kata, which was Nakanishi-ha's kata revised by Takano Sasaburo in 1908.
In 1932, Noda Wasaburo and Kobayashi Sadayuki demonstrated 7 Kumitachi and 3 Kodachi-gumi as Hokushin Ittō-ryū at Kyoto-Butokuden . The number of kumitachi kata is 2 more than that in Gogyō-no-kata.
Battōjutsu is not the Chiba family's Hokushin-ryū iai. The katas' names and techniques were introduced by Konishi Shigejiro, but the techniques and the katas' names differ from the Edo-Meiji period's densho texts. For example, Unryū-ken, Hien-gaeshi and Taihō-ken.

Famous swordsmen

Towards the end of the Bakumatsu period, the Hokushin Ittō-ryū was one of the three biggest and most famous ryūha all over Japan.
Swordsmen of the Hokushin Ittō-ryū had a strong influence on the development of modern kendō in the late 19th century.
Also many famous and politically influential people were masters of this swordsmanship school.
Some of the most prominent figures are:
The Hokushin Ittō-ryū has three teaching steps:
Like many other koryū, Hokushin Ittō-ryū traditionally awards makimono-scrolls and/or inka-jō. There is no modern dan/kyū system in this school.
The traditional five scrolls of Hokushin Ittō-ryū are:
  1. Kirigami 剪紙
  2. Hatsumokuroku 初目録
  3. Kajōmokuroku / Seigandenju 箇条目録 / 星眼伝授
  4. Chūmokuroku / Menkyo 中目録 / 免許
  5. Daimokuroku / Menkyo-Kaiden 大目録 / 免許皆伝
The so-called Naginata Mokuroku 長刀目録 also exists and is normally issued together with the Menkyo. It certifies the mastery of all naginatajutsu techniques of the school.
Some names of the naginata kata are the same as those in the Hokushin Musō-ryū densho.
In Tottori-han, the Sadakichi line also awards Hon-mokuroku like Ono-ha Ittō-ryū. However, the Shusaku line has only three Mokuroku, which are the Hatsu-Mokuroku, the Chu-Mokuroku-Menkyo and the Dai-Mokuroku-Kaiden, written in "Kenpo Hiketsu" by Chiba Shusaku.
During the Bakumatsu period, Hokushin Ittō-ryū was very popular due to the decreased number of mokuroku to 3 from 8, the Ono-ha Ittō-ryū's pass number.
In all Bujutsu ryūha, students have to pay money or send gifts to the instructor when issued with a mokuroku, therefore Hokushin Ittō-ryū was a more accessible ryūha for poor farmers and bushi. Also, a part of the students joined in the coup of the Edo Bakufu with other new ryūha students, such as those from Shinto Munen-ryū).

Lineage

Old main lines

The two main lines were that of the founder Chiba Shusaku Narimasa at the Edo-Genbukan, and that of the founder's younger brother Chiba Sadakichi Masamichi at the Chiba-Dōjō.
Towards the end of the Meiji period, the line of the Edo-Genbukan became extinct. The Chiba-Dōjō line, unlike that of the Edo-Genbukan has survived until today. Currently the Hokushin Ittō-ryū Hyōhō is headed by Ōtsuka Ryūnosuke Masatomo, the 7th Soke.

Edo-Genbukan (extinct)

Chiba Shūnosuke Koretane restored the Edo-Genbukan in 1883 with the help of Inoue Hachirō and Yamaoka Tesshū. The Edo-Genbukan was closed between the 20th – 30th year of the Meiji-period. The exact date is unknown.

Chiba family Seiden (revived, Ryūgasaki 龍ヶ崎)

This Hokushin Ittō-ryū line ended with the 3rd generation headmaster, Chiba Michisaburo. However Shiina Kazue managed to find Chiba Michisaburo’s progeny, Chiba Yoshitane, who did not practice Hokushin Ittō-ryū. Shiina Kazue became Sōke in 2013.

Chiba-Dōjō (Revived, Ōtsuka-ha 大塚派)

The Chiba-Dōjō of Chiba Sadakichi Masamichi became one of the most famous Dōjō all over Japan after its founding in the late 1840s. The teaching-line of the Edo-Genbukan disappeared soon after the Dōjō was closed at the end of the Meiji period. The Chiba-Dōjō was also closed at the beginning of the Taisho period. The Chiba family, which did not practice the school but owned the family documents has survived until today. The 5th generation head of the family, Chiba Hiroshi, did not practice or train in the school, nor was there anyone actively practicing under him. Therefore he renounced his family's claims and documents to Ōtsuka Yōichirō Masanori, the 6th Sōke who trained under Konishi Shigejirō of the Noda-ha Hokushin Ittō-ryū. Ōtsuka recreated the Chiba-line in 2013, and was then succeeded by a German citizen named Markus Lösch, who later changed his name to Ōtsuka Ryūnosuke when he became Menkyo-Kaiden in 2014. He later was appointed the 7th Sōke in March 2016.

Regional Lines

At the middle of the Meiji-period there were many side branches, founded by pupils of the two main lines.
One of the most famous was the Tobukan in Mito.
It was established by Kozawa Torakichi, a student of the Edo-Genbukan.
Kozawa Torakichi was also an instructor at the Kodokan, the official clan school of the Mito-clan.
After the Meiji-restoration and the abolishment of the traditional clan system the Kodokan was closed, so in order to continue teaching, Kozawa Torakichi opened his own Dōjō, the Tobukan. There he taught Hokushin Ittō-ryū together with Shin Tamiya-ryū and Suifu-ryū . This Hokushin Ittō-ryū line is also the line of the school which is a member of the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai. Up until today, the Kozawa family is still preserving the teachings of its first headmaster at the Tobukan in Mito.

Mito-Tobukan 水戸東武館

In the Tobukan there is no Hokushin Ittō-ryū "Sōke". Instead there exists a Hokushin Ittō-ryū "representative".
The family name "Kozawa" of the 3rd generation, Toyokichi, and the 4th generation, Takeshi are son-in-law taken into family with Ichiro's daughter.

Kobayashi Seijiro 小林誠次郎 who is granted the Inka-jo from Chiba Michisaburo 千葉道三郎, opened Shisei-kan 至誠館 Dōjō in Tokyo. He did not have son, so accepted Katsuura Shiro 勝浦四郎 as adopted child. Shiro is granted Hokushin Ittō-ryū menkyo. Then he went to Otaru 小樽, Hokkaido for Musha-shugyo. The master of Otaru Nanburo 小樽南部楼, Noda Wasaburo 野田和三郎 loved his kenjutsu and personality. His daughter Haru はる and Shiro is married, and Shiro become son-in-law taken into family, Noda Shiro 野田四郎. In 1913, Otaru Genbukan 小樽玄武館 is constructed in the Nanburo. Chiba Katsutaro 千葉勝太郎 give permission of use the name Genbukan.
In 1933, Konishi Shigejiro 小西重治郎 become a disciple of Otaru Genbukan. In 1937, he becomes assistant instructor. In 1938, Shigejiro went to the War. In 1944, Noda Shiro dead. After the war, Shigejiro concede inheritance of the line to senior disciple Miura Yoshikatsu 三浦義勝. and Shigejiro inherited from Yoshikatsu.
In 1950, Shigejiro opened outdoor Dōjō in Zenpukuji temple 善福寺 park, Suginami-ku, Tokyo, and in the autumn, constructed true Dōjō. He used the name Genbukan. After 60 years, Shigejiro died in 2009.
Chiba-Dōjō 6th Sōke Ōtsuka Yōichirō is the student of Konishi Shigejiro.

Hokushin Ittoryu Koto-kan 北辰一刀流　虎韜館 https://kotoukan.jimdo.com

The student of Konishi Shigejiro,Tukada yashikazu, Takano sanetora 高野眞虎 （Hokushin Ittoryu Originator）teaches in this Dōjō Koto-kan in Nagano.
they are training in gymnasiums and Monbu Gakko 文武学校.

Sakurada Hokushin Ittō-ryū 櫻田北辰一刀流

Sakurada Sakuramaro 櫻田櫻麿 in Sendai-han is the instructor of the Hokushin Ittō-ryū in Edo period.
And he started Chuwa-Ittō-ryū 中和一刀流 in Sendai.
In 20th century, Tsumura Keiji said that he has inherited the Sakurada Sakuramaro's Hokushin Ittō-ryū.
And posted the inherit tree on his own web page.
The inherit tree contains several strange points. In any case, he and his students are training Ittō-ryū kumitachi kata.
They are now training in Shushin Budokai.