THIS IS KENJUTSU - Samurai Sword Documentary (2023)

This mini-documentary was produced by Antony Cummins and the Samurai and Ninja Historical Research Team. It was filmed and edited in Velencia by the European Bugei Society. It is a demonstration based on our translation of the document known as the Shinkage-Ryu Heiho Mokuroku no Koto (新陰流兵法目録事). This document goes by a verity of names as is shown in the documentary but is often simply known as the Yagyu Ryu picture scroll. It must be fully understood that this document was not written by a single person, it was an amalgamation of knowledge which was developed between the 16th and 18th centuries and therefore contains contradictions within its own text. Our team has analysed all the available related medieval scrolls to provide the most accurate translation we can, yet still, there is room for improvement. It could be said that this demonstration is 90% accurate but parts may change depending on new information or a better interpretation because much of the information needed is either lost or is kept in private collections. Japanese kenjutsu practitioners may notice that the skills shown in this documentary differ from the skills which are often shown in the modern version of Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, this is because those skills have changed over time and anyone who has read the original scrolls can confirm this. That being said, we are very proud of the project which has taken two years to complete. We hope that you enjoy it and that you would like to help our team continue to do research of a similar nature. Please follow the links below to take you on to the points mentioned in the documentary.
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[@AntonyCummins]

All the links you need are below: PayPal.Me/antonycummins Please follow the European Bugei Society on KZbin here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnevfIuCrcSDb6s Please see the European Bugei Society Website here: facebook.com/european.bugei/about/ Please get a copy of Antony’s books here www.amazon.com/stores/Antony-Cummins/author/B00AKFOIA8?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

[@EuropeanBugeiSociety]

[@Jiko-ryu]

Yagyuu Kenpou Kyojyou (Licence of the Yagyuu Scool of Swordmanship) mahoroba.lib.nara-wu.ac.jp/aic/gdb/mahoroba/y01/yagyu/index_eng.html

[@Jiko-ryu]

The best part of this video as well as this video ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3WpZGuVhLyhr9k ) is the fairly accurate interpretation of the section which is identified as Okugi-no-tachi, which shows what Matsudaira actually wrote rather than how modern videos of Shinkage-ryū show Okugi-no-tachi. Apart from the video link given above, this other video ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnXddKSpf5d-j7s ) effectively addresses the objections that the interpretation of the Okugi-no-tachi is inaccurate by showing the actual descriptions of Matsudaira and comparing it with the actual performance of the present Shinkage-ryū and the recreation. In particular, the video shows that the modern performance of the following Okugi techniques--Kōjō, Gokui, and Shinmyōken--differ radically from the description found in the e-mokuroku as written by Matsudaira, while the above reconstruction is arguably closer to the e-mokuroku. However, although this video has striven to interpret as accurately as possible the descriptions by Matsudaira Nobusada, the interpretations are not as accurate as they should be for two main reasons. First, the interpretation does not take into account the actual surviving kuden of Shinkage-ryū as preserved by the modern school and presented in the school's various videos. This is seen especially in the first kata, Ittō-ryōdan, which does not follow Matsudaira’s description at all. But most importantly, the interpretation seems to be reliant on a translation or translators who are unaware of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū's actual terminology, e.g., the translators are unaware that the stance in Yaegaki is indeed called Hasso, as what other schools call Hasso is called In-no-kurai in Shinkage-ryū, and Shinkage-ryū’s Kasumi-dachi looks way different from other schools’ Kasumi. Also, the Jōdan of Shinkage-ryū is actually a high “Chūdan” (i.e., Jōdan-no-seigan) wherein the kissaki points up, while what other schools call Jōdan is actually called Raitō, and so when in Usen-saten the text says “打太刀より上段の清眼に” the video above incorrectly shows the uchidachi raising his sword to Raitō. And there are many more instances like this. Also, there is the issue of how 十太刀 and 和卜 are transcribed as "Jūtachi" and "Waboku" respectively rather than the proper "Tōdachi" and "Kaboku" respectively, which seems to betray a reliance on the translation of Sato Hiroaki than independent translators who are familiar with how Shinkage-ryū terms are properly pronounced. But that being said, the above video is a better approximation of what the kata of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū appeared as at least in 1707 when Matsudaira wrote in the descriptions than to how Yagyū Shinkage-ryū does it in 2024, and I would argue that this video is closer to what Yagyū Sekishūsai intended in the e-mokuroku.

[@number10sparky]

PayPal you ? Why ? For a book which is all made up fictional stuff you claim you found as a historian and ninja warrior when you have never been to a dojo and bene graded your entire life as your a cheapskate who refuses to pay for lessons and make up Sensei names saying he trained me and gave me a black belt Yeah let’s buy his books everybody 😂😂😂

[@voxfiresb]

This doc was incredibly fascinating!

[@amur2506]

Something to take a long look and work on. Congratulations to you and your team for doing such a great job.

[@AntonyCummins]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@pazhy-_-nochance4107]

this is a wonderful informative video ty sm

[@AndSendMe]

Thank you for putting the work into this. Although I am convinced that practical Japanese swordsmanship is a lost art, and that the Edo period was mostly a period of abstraction and idealization of swordsmanship, and that most of what is taught today comes from more or less broken traditions (in teaching if not in lineage), your video is one of a few things going on lately that give me hope that we may begin to see the practical techniques rediscovered to enough of an extent to at least give us a sense of what we are missing.

[@blackswordshinobi]

kenjutsu have many line of family to and Mr cummins happy christmas to you and your family i am still studing i worte 5 densho what i was training in not easy get in all my rememry in pass years i did it

[@kenkyusha]

It is curious that you elected to work with a group of folks who have changed their origin story, arts, and nomenclature multiple times over the decades. Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. Also, the problem with trying to reinvent the wheel (especially when no one on your team has completed the full curriculum of a Ryu) is that one makes assumptions that don't track. The... rather different/eccentric/odd, modes of movement on display here seems to lack cohesion and consistency, two hallmarks of any reasonable combative system.

[@AntonyCummins]

I will do an afterthoughts video

[@KoRNeRd]

There is an aspect in the yagyu shinkage ryu, which is possible to explain most of the rapid change and differences. The adoption of the style in the tokugawa court faced them with the popularity of the ono-ha itto ryu which is primarily unarmored duel-based, while most of the shinkage ryu was based on armored battlefield combat. There is a large difference. One style has precise single cuts with linear movement (think kendo) with square footing, the other controlling structure-based, with lots of sidesteps and triangle footing (hanmi) for stability. I forgot who, but I am very sure that I heard this explanation, the yagyu shinkage ryu was modified to be used for unarmored, civilian combat. The sword on the battlefield is not a cutting weapon but a metal stick with which to control the opponents structure, cuts and thrusts are possible only in unprotected areas, the sword in an unarmored context is a large cutting laser. This is essential.

[@markhoward4999]

Hi Anthony, I am currently reading some of Dave Lowry's books , I'm sure I read he trained in Yagu Shinkage Ryu back in the 60's under Ryokichi Kotaro Sensei in the US.. He may be able to shed some additional 'information or insight ' from his personal training / Instruction.. Regards, Mark

[@AntonyCummins]

My general rule of thumb is ask a samurai from the 1600s. I’m missing half of one major scroll

[@tomomoto.86]

very interesting. more of that please ✌️

[@lovefunbeer]

Super 😎

[@warrennass24]

Hi Antony, a great Mini documentary mate. I thoroughly enjoyed it. You showed respect to all the existing branches and current training methodologies but stated your mission statement clearly and mentioned your sources. The demonstration team are well known and now well respected and they did a fantastic job of doing the best possible job they could to replicate the scrolls.

[@user-bs4mp8de3c]

Oh yeah Cummins it's all in the hanka!?🎉

[@davidnomad9750]

Yo I love your videos and I think you made ninja a lot more awesome. Ninjas are gangsters now .

[@AntonyCummins]

Glad you like them!

[@jasonfarmer5193]

Thanks for putting so much effort into this, great video!

[@AntonyCummins]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@stellanedvardsson2962]

Great work Antony! Well done!

[@AntonyCummins]

Thanks a lot!

[@patrickmodenesi2344]

Awesome!!! ❤ Please, continue

[@AntonyCummins]

Please donate 😂

[@Kurichan42069]

at 20:30 for gokui, what exactly is the attack, when the video slows down it looks like he's just waving the sword side to side. Theres dozens of other koryu videos, for shinkage ryu and for other systems and not a single practitioner from any style moves like how these guys are moving, surely they can't all be wrong and this completely different way of moving is how its "really" done

[@AntonyCummins]

Remember the attacker is not meant to be doing the same system as you. But in many of them it says come in in full charge, so it could be one strike, a flurry. The one on the right is Shinkage Ryu, the other is meant to be a stranger. But that specific one is difficult to translate, they are meant to be in full attack.

[@Kurichan42069]

@@AntonyCumminsright but why out of all the ways to attack would that be the interpretation, to pick. The attack itself isnt like any other style shinkage or not. Theres so many references out now that you could just use that as a base. Instead this guy is just waving the sword side to side charging straight in. Any good swordsman can look at that and go t"hats not how its done." Then you took that attack and formulated your "technique" around that interpretation its flawed from the get go.

[@TheWasteOfTime]

@@AntonyCummins Ye are factually in error here. In this set, each successive technique is a response to the one before it. This can be clearly seen in the drawings Muneyoshi made where Uchidachi is taking up Shidachi's stance from the previous technique. I'd need to check but I'd swear even Matsudaira says this in his descriptions. Ye could say it's quite specifically meant to be used against someone doing the same system.

[@Omegaures]

@@Kurichan42069 take the manual, get a buddy, make a video illustrating you interpretation, problem solved.

[@canadafree2087]

Like he said, he has NO teacher in this style, yet he is trying to teach it. learn from someone who has actually learned sword fighting.

[@SHINOBIStreetNinja]

You are the best Anthony!

[@AntonyCummins]

Glad you liked it

[@jeremysegal6444]

Fascinating research Antony I love everything you do. I have a quick question that perhaps you’ve already gone over in the video so forgive me for asking again: In this particular lineage of Yagyu Shinkage in Spain that they train, what is the reasoning for the more straight armed and leaning in kamae? I’ve seen other lineages of Yagyu Shinkage where they have the very commonly seen “kendo-esque” kamae with arms bent and relaxed in front of body and a more vertical posture. Is this as you mentioned a result of the lineage in Spain being a different one to those seen elsewhere? Kuroda Tetsuzan and his kenjutsu have the similar athletic wide footed and hollow bodied structure with the straighter arms that is more rarely seen. Thank you for the work you do!

[@AntonyCummins]

This is not a lineage. This is our translation and demonstration of the scroll. See heiho kadensho for the straight arms.

[@AntonyCummins]

I liked Kuroda

[@tochiro6902]

Very very nice, really good work, thank you very much.💪

[@AntonyCummins]

Glad you like it!

[@tochiro6902]

@@AntonyCummins This is also really good for training, thank you very much.

[@GHOSTofYOSHIMITSU]

​@@tochiro6902Hello tochiro. I don't know if I mentioned this to you already so forgive me if I repeated this message to you as I am letting everyone I see posting follow up replies that Antony doesn't receive notifications for replies to his replies he only receives notifications for new comments. Just want to ensure that all your messages are read by Antony.

[@bricktea3645]

Since u have first hand experience and contact with the correct Japanese people u should look into the ainu people,its very mysterious and quiet the rabbit hole. Among their various intriguing traditions its their genetic past thats most mysterious,there is indication that they are survivors of previous civilization. Its a wonderful rabbit hole u can look into.

[@serpnta1267]

Very nice documentary! Great watch!

[@patrickchitwood752]

I would love to see these scrolls translated into English

[@AntonyCummins]

It will happen. It’s a project which we will publish down the line.

[@eagleblack2032]

Namo Amita Budha!

[@-RONNIE]

Thanks for putting this video together

[@user-bs4mp8de3c]

That's the way to do it Cummins, document them all the koryu ryuha all of them. Even the bujinkan, I believe the secrets are all hidden, right in, every aspect, of the Shinobi art and the samurai. and all the koryu ryuha you just got to look deep enough.

[@user-bs4mp8de3c]

That's what's up bro...... Even like, the way of the butler and maid, good shit man with the books, just like that and others traditional Japanese.🥷🏼🐉🔥👍🏼🤩😍🥰😘 movement

[@mugenGRTC]

Is there currently any free, full contact swordplay practiced by this Ryu today? Or is practice limited to drills like those presented in this video?

[@AntonyCummins]

They do not even do these drills. We are the first to do it this way.

[@TheWasteOfTime]

Depending on the branch ye'll find kata geiko and shiai geiko, but even between those the line can get rather blurry. What ye see online is generally embu (demonstration) which should not be confused with keiko (training).

[@mugenGRTC]

@@AntonyCummins So in other words, no, there's no free swordplay.

[@TheWasteOfTime]

@@mugenGRTC not sure why yer asking him. Mr. Cummins is not a kenshi of Yagyu Shinkage Ryu and does not know or care how the Ryu trains. In answer to yer question, yes-ish. By which I mean yes, but probably not in the way yer thinking/looking for.

[@mugenGRTC]

@@TheWasteOfTime simply curious. It appears very few school of Japanese Swordsmanship actually actively practice any sort of free swordplay with or without contact. Was wondering if that was as it appears.

[@MongoPlant]

Miyamoto Musashi didn't invent dual wielding but obviously popularised that to some extent. 😎 Thank you for your effort and for this video! Really enjoyed and probably will get back to this from time to time. Have a good Christmas and Happy New Year which is so close these days. 👍

[@AntonyCummins]

Thank you too!

[@computron808]

That was awesome. Thank u.

[@Till-lc8lb]

Very nice!👍

[@AntonyCummins]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@daiaimaru5618]

Why isn’t there an active channel in KZbin that is dedicated in teaching historical ninjutsu techniques only? There is Nindo Channel but obviously not 100% historical.

[@AntonyCummins]

Mine does I hope

[@alittlepuertoricanboy1993]

Do you REALLY want a channel dedicated to breaking into private property, teaching people how to make arsenic, manipulating people, and making improvised hand grenades and landmines???

[@thehastingsdojo2332]

Great work thank you for sharing and inspiring, do you have any seminars we can come and learn from you in 2024 in England

[@AntonyCummins]

Email me and we can sort something

[@treyhopperiii2808]

TreyJUTSU

[@LesConn]

An excellent presentation. Thank you.

[@AntonyCummins]

Glad you enjoyed it Les it was a lot of work. I will do an afterthought videos

[@jbbushido]

Anthony Rules. This documentary is tremendous! Thank you for your hard work.

[@philipcrocker4835]

An excellent and informative video could not help noticing that an awful lot of these techniques are aimed at the attackers hands or arms which makes sense if you can cripple is sword arm you have got him bang to rights would i be right in this observation----- loved it all though

[@AntonyCummins]

I think that’s how they mainly fought

[@TheShurikenZone]

This was an excelent labor, Antony. Well done, to you and your collaborators, and I look forward to your future projects. As an aside... I loved seeing the shuriken technique, and really appreciated that the demonstrator actually threw (a very large) shuriken, to drive home the... point. 😉👍👍

[@AntonyCummins]

I love the pun great stuff

[@TheShurikenZone]

@@AntonyCummins Hah... I couldn't resist. I tried, though.

[@FunkyBukkyo]

This is a good and honest analysis of the old texts from a historical perspective

[@bricktea3645]

What separates a warrior monk from a samurai?

[@AntonyCummins]

One belongs to a monastic order one has land rights over agricultural land held by a lord.

[@alittlepuertoricanboy1993]

As an add-on, a good majority of sohei, warrior monks, essentially were samurai who were attached to the Buddhist temples and made some Buddhist vows as lay priests, but weren't fully ordained monks themselves.

[@alittlepuertoricanboy1993]

The Negoro-shu is a good example, they were all jizamurai and kokujin attached to the Negoro Temple in Kii, lead by the Tsuda clan, who were allied with the Saika-shu of the same province. Hideyoshi molly whopped the Negoro-shu and Saika-shu, but Tokugawa Ieyasu took the remaining Negoro-shu and hired them as direct retainers. Their descendants in the Edo period became a one hundred man rifle squad called the Negoro-gumi, and they worked alongside some of the descendants of the Iga and Koka samurai that moved to Edo too.

[@KamiSeiTo]

I really hope this develops, and these techniques can be tried with modern protections to test them in "unchoreographied" sparring... also versus "modern" kobudō (if you get what I mean by this oxymoron! ^^').

[@Naki728]

Though differing from my personal interpretation, I still appreciate the work, nice job guys

[@joaomanoel3197]

Muito bom

[@haffoc]

excellent documentary. I am curious about one point tho. At several points one or your guys changes from a right handed grip to a left handed one when going into hisso no kamae. I don't understand why you would do that. I see no advantage to it.

[@AntonyCummins]

It’s a trick it’s to confuse the enemy. It appears a few times in the school. That was from one of the secret scrolls we found.

[@TheWasteOfTime]

Well, ye said in the trailer to "judge for yourself on the 20th." Here we are and just... just dude... I'll admit that as someone who's been training in Yagyu Shinkage Ryu for over 20 years I expected to watch this and be offended. After all, the hubris it takes to be like "the living traditions have lost their way! But I, who do not speak or read Japanese, do not train in classical bugei, and have no context for what I'm looking at will use vague descriptions which weren't meant to be instructive to outsiders and all end with "this is an oral transmission" to do a better job and recreate the true Shinkage Ryu where these others have failed" is comedically absurd. However, this is not something I can take seriously enough to take umbrage with. The whole conceit behind this project speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding of how the classical bugei are trained and passed along. Shinkage Ryu in particular has a frustrating structure relative to other styles since its techniques tend to be grouped around concepts rather than weapons or technical considerations. Yagyu Shinkage Ryu aims to teach very particular lessons about how to move, approach and respond to things and the techniques are vehicles through which these principles are to be explored. By fixating on this attempt to recreate the mechanics (which again, without the context which the actual school could give one is something of a fool's errand) ye've missed the entire point of what things are trying to do. Whatever ye've got here, it isn't Yagyu Shinkage Ryu.

[@user-lq2yi8op7w]

👍👍😆

[@alittlepuertoricanboy1993]

At least your criticism matters. You train in the ryuha!

[@TheWasteOfTime]

​@@alittlepuertoricanboy1993heh, I'm glad someone thinks so! ;-P

[@henrikbjork5975]

I would have been nice if the butthurt practioners in the comments hade more substans. Maybe they could have put own links to what they think is a better representation. Insted of poor gatekeeping. As to you Anthony good work. Happy hollidays.

[@user-lq2yi8op7w]

Simple answer to your request... NO!!

[@AntonyCummins]

Agreed. I’ve put the text on screen for them. All they have to do is point out in Japanese why and where the problems are

[@user-lq2yi8op7w]

@@AntonyCummins 😆😆😆

[@TheWasteOfTime]

As the scrolls say "This is an oral transmission." If ye want Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, find a group and go train. There are branches for it all over the place.

[@TheWasteOfTime]

@@AntonyCummins Well for starters the te no uchi used by the gentlemen in the video is not what Yagyu Muneyoshi drew.

[@bricktea3645]

Plz look into kokyo ho japanese energy cleaning or qi/chi development, warrior neigong may clue u into into the important internal aspectl of qi.

[@user-lq2yi8op7w]

Another brilliant work of... fiction (as expected). I can only pity those, who think they have unraveled the mysteries of Shinkage Ryu with this video and who are now beginning to practice this in their own basement. Good luck, honestly 😆😆

[@AntonyCummins]

Please send all of your reasons for why it is incorrect along with the Japanese text which is on the screen for you at each skill. You can then point out to our translator where they are wrong

[@user-lq2yi8op7w]

@@AntonyCummins Mr. Cummins, you have not even bothered to contact the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu for consultation. Why oh why would an anonymous writer like me make a difference then. But I will tell you so much, anyone who believes it is enough to read some historical documents is gravely mistaken. These documents were meant for those already in the know, not for outsiders. Therefore it is not a matter of correct translation or correct understanding of the text. It is a matter of correct transmission of knowledge.

[@GHOSTofYOSHIMITSU]

​​@@user-lq2yi8op7wAntony doesn't receive notifications for replies to his replies.

[@alittlepuertoricanboy1993]

​@@user-lq2yi8op7wOne of the ladies that translates his material trains Shinkage ryu...

[@user-lq2yi8op7w]

@@alittlepuertoricanboy1993 But why would she even do that? I mean, Mr. Cummins has proven to the world once and for all that you only need information that's already in the public domain (e.g. the Heiho Mokuroku translated by William Scott Wilson) and then you're set to go and you can train the "authentic" Shinkage Ryu. No need to join a proper Yagyu dojo 😆😆

[@scorpzgca]

Wow great kenjutsu documentary

[@GHOSTofYOSHIMITSU]

First!

[@AntonyCummins]

Well done mate

[@jpkiwi8744]

If anyone really wants to understand about Japanese Kenjutsu read anything by Dr Alex Bennett..There is no one on earth that is not Japanese that could teach you more.

[@Kurichan42069]

This is just....just awful.

[@user-en2jm1zt2u]

The kenjutsu demonstration is terrible.

[@AntonyCummins]

Email me your version with explanations of how it compares to the text on screen

[@michael.waddell]

Explain? As a practitioner of a different koryu and studier of koryu kenjutsu in general I can safely say this is how kenjutsu is taught

[@Bourne246]

Says the burner account...

[@user-yn3op1zq1c]

В бою соперник не поддаётся и не застывает в ожидании.