Jikishinkage-ryu Naginatajutsu


Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu is a koryū which claims to have descended from Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū. Despite this claim, Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu does not appear to have any of the original rituals, esoteric teachings, body and weapon movements of Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū..
Sometime during the 1860s, Satake Kanryūsai and his wife, Satake Shigeo developed a new naginata school which came to be known as Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu. In the Bugei Ryūha Daijiten, the name of this school is also rendered as Jikishin yanagi kage-ryū
. It is usually claimed that Satake Kanryūsai was an exponent of Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū and Yanagikage-ryū
. However it is believed by some that Ryūgō-ryū was the main influence of Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu, as Ryūgō-ryū was famous for using very long shinai as well as attacks to the lower legs, a technique which Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu itself became famous for. Additionally, the way the naginata is held in Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu appears to resemble that of a sword rather than a heavy pole weapon.
The school's main curriculum consists of twenty-five naginata kata and ten tantō kata. In addition, there are five secret naginata gokui-waza and four kata forming the reiken-shihō-kiri. Ten kusarigama kata from Chokuyūshin-ryū is also transmitted together with the naginata kata.
Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu and Tendō-ryū are the two main classical schools of naginatajutsu which the modern practice atarashii naginata is derived from.