Yakumaru Jigen-ryū
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| Yakumaru Jigen-ryū (薬丸自顕流) | |
|---|---|
| Ko-ryū | |
 | |
| Foundation | |
| Founder | Yakumaru Kanenori 薬丸 兼陳 |
| Period founded | 17th century |
| Arts taught | |
| Art | Description |
| Kenjutsu | Swordsmanship |
| Ancestor schools | |
| Jigen-ryū | |
Yakumaru Jigen-ryū (薬丸自顕流) is a traditional school (koryū) of Japanese swordsmanship founded in the 17th century by Satsuma retainer Yakumaru Kanenori as a branch of high-speed Jigen-ryū. It integrates the Yakumaru family's nodachi techniques into Jigen-ryū.[1]
Okuda Saneo has asserted that the original name of the school was Nodachi Jigen-ryū (野太刀自顕流) because that is the name used in a training manual written by Yakumaru Kaneyoshi in 1864. However, the name "Yakumaru Jigen-ryū" became widely used in the late 19th century and is today the standard.[2]
Yakumaru Kanenori's grandfather, Yakumaru Kaneshige, was a retainer of Shimazu Yoshihiro, master swordsman, and veteran of the Japanese invasions of Korea.[3] Out of more than 1000 Shimazu samurai who died at the Battle of Sekigahara, Kaneshige was one of roughly 80 who escaped Tokugawa Ieyasu's encirclement by charging straight through the Tokugawa lines alongside Yoshihiro.
Like its parent school Jigen-ryū, Yakumaru Jigen-ryū is characterized by the repetition of a simple, powerful strike with the sword toward the opponent's head from hassō stance accompanied by a high-pitched battle cry. Yakumaru Jigen-ryū is the simplest of all schools of kenjutsu, containing no moral or philosophical theories and even fewer techniques than Jigen-ryū. It includes no defensive techniques.
The battle cry uttered during the strikes is called the Enkyō (猿叫; lit. 'monkey's scream') and has been compared to "the sound of a chicken being strangled" (鶏の絞められる声). Because of this, those unfamiliar with the Yakumaru school sometimes find demonstrations of the technique disconcerting to witness. Upon observing a Yakumaru practice session, Shimazu Narioki is said to have remarked, "This is nothing but the swordsmanship of a madman" (まるでキチガイ剣術じゃ) and left the room.
The main lineage of Yakumaru Jigen-ryū became extinct when Lt. Col. Yakumaru Kanenori died at the Battle of Okinawa.[4]