Heiho Niten Ichi Ryu Kenjutsu - Kajiya Takanori - 42nd All Japan Kobudo Demonstration

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School: Heihō Niten Ichi Ryū Kenjutsu
Event: 42nd All Japan Kobudo Demonstration
Date: 03/02/2019
Venue: Nippon Budōkan, Tokyo
Founder: Miyamoto Musashi Fujiwara Harunobu
Current representative: Kajiya Takanori (Sōke 12th generation)
-- PRESENTATION: HEIHŌ NITEN ICHI RYŪ KENJUTSU --
The founder of Niten Ichi Ryū is Miyamoto Musashi Fujiwara Harunobu. From a very young age he was drawn to the way of the sword and he devoted his whole life to the training of this art. After taking part in more than sixty duels, he never knew defeat, not even once. However, after reaching the age of thirty, he looked back on his practice of the sword and reflected, with a rare self-awareness: “It is not completely thank to my art of combat that I was always victorious” (Book of Five Rings, Scroll of Earth). He then started to look for a deeper truth by studying day and night. At the age of fifty, he found the true principle of the art of combat, and founded Niten Ichi Ryū.
Miyamoto Musashi is known for his two-swords techniques, using a pair of short and long swords at the same time: a Daitō (Katana) and a Shōtō (Wakizashi). The meaning of “Heihō”, the art of combat (also pronounced Hyōhō sometimes) in this school is the “training of the heart/spirit”, a way to achieve enlightenment. Without that, there cannot be victory.
What is characteristic of its techniques is to “know the opponent’s sword without seeing it”; in other words, to be able to anticipate and get the better of him by seizing the moment to strike before his sword has even moved.
-- CREDITS --
Footage by Seido Co., Ltd.
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-- MUSIC --
“Deep Dark Jungle” by Rhythm Scott (www.soundstripe.com)
#HeihoNitenIchiRyuKenjutsu #BudoDemonstration #Kobudo

[@edge6441]

This is Miyamoto mushasi's style of swordsmanship in present day i am thrilled..!

[@feanororonar5037]

I am wondering if anyone can tell me why after reading 4 different translations of the go rin no sho i see only the fourth form wit two swords in the video match the description in the text... What am i missing... Why is the attacker hitting air most of the time and why is there so much extra movement which seems to make the movement so inefficient... I would love to understand... How am i suppose to believe that they still do what musashi came to realize if nearly nothing matches the text... Please notice that i do realize that many of the things might just be done for practice and preservation of techniques and since i dont know the oral traditions it might just be my ignorance speaking here and after explanation all will make sense. Still i cant wrap my head around why the texts and the video deviate so much from eachother. Greetings and thank you🙏🏻

[@smrsevenstarstradingco.241]

Does this Ryu engage in any free swordplay, or is the sword work limited to set drills as seen here?

[@drako1251]

Most (if not all, not sure) koryu don't engage in free sparring due to tradition. It's a real shame though, would love to see more experienced practitioners going at it.

[@TheWasteOfTime]

In many cases, yes-ish, but likely not in the way yer thinking. After a certain level these kata are trained more like sparring drills with increasing levels of speed and intent to pressure test them to make sure people can make them work. I'm not a member of the Seito line of Niten Ichi Ryu, but I've been told that Kajiya's predecessor Iwami Sensei was very intense to be on the other side of and would regularly cut very hard and very fast, often splintering apart bokuto. However, this is an embu. Very few styles will do anything resembling shiai for a demonstration. In most cases it's a set of kata done in a very regimented fashion. Training int he dojo would naturally be different.

[@jamesmiller9823]

I am good with a sword, but would die so fast against these masters.

[@cyruskhalvati]

Hes good but still he is sloppy, if these were real swords he would have simply bleed out after killing his opponent. 6:43 he would have suffered a femoral artery cut if his opponent intended to bring him down along with him. Very sloppy. Not that i could do better but the fact is hes willing to take a hit for a point because hes used to not worrying about getting cut and bleeding out, and if an opponent had any fight iq, in a real death match, both would end up dead.

[@cyruskhalvati]

There are many more examples of his reckless behavior that would have got him seriously disabled if not eventually kill him. Has it completely become a sport?

[@pedrocoelho5435]

As a practicioner of Nitoken I must say these are Kata. Their purpose is to show the mastery and control over the sword with dificult to perform techniques, they are not meant to be techniques you use in a fight, although some may be appliable in actual combat. Today they are mainly used for dan advancement exams where you are asked to perform a number of these kata and the examiners will judge your proficiency in these techniques, they are preceded or succeded by a shiai (combat) where you demonstrate actual combat techniques against an opponent.

[@cyruskhalvati]

Pedro Coelho you should still be able to maintain proper distance from your opponent even in katas.

[@pedrocoelho5435]

​@@cyruskhalvati Not quite. As I've said before, Kata are not meant to be used in combat, and we practitioners know this. They are simply a choreography meant to be hard to perform so as to test your control over the sword and body. In my experience you will barely ever meet a scenario where these are useful in combat, with the exceptions of a couple of movements here and there. They don't need to be realistic, none of these are meant for that, they are meant to be hard not only to perform but also memorize. So no, you don't need to maintain "proper" distance from your opponent in katas. Also in that situation in 6:43 the guy wouldn't really have had a chance to do anything. His sword was lowered to the left side so it indicates he lost control over his sword as he was put in a position he where he can't lift the sword to make a strike. His arms were extended meaning he lost the ability to exert strength upon the sword. He had already suffered a strike to his neck, so he quite literally lost his head. So, in conclusion, there were actually no faults there, you could argue he could twist his torso to create momentum for a strike to the leg, but he had barely any space between the leg and the sword and he had his torso facing forward, meaning he couldn't generate enough force to make anything more than a superficial cut, assuming he could still do anything after losing his head.

[@cyruskhalvati]

Pedro Coelho dude, the art was meant for literal war. It was meant to kill people. It has devolved into stances where you don’t care about distance. Also just because you land a critical strike on someone does not mean their momentum suddenly disappears. When they get hit they stop where as in real life their momentum would not stop if they had already been critically struck. If musashi did something as stupid as 6:43 he would have never created this legacy, if that scenario was to play out in a real duel, both people would end up dead, one guy from a nick to the carotid artery and another from being ran through with a sword, both of whom will eventually bleed out. Kata is not just supposed to be hard to preform, its supposed to be the way you master the techniques alone. They were 100% intended for battle when they were thought of by musashi. The movements are still the same. They are just not threatened by the loss of their life so they become relaxed.