Description
Since it was first published in Japan in 1965, the Secrets of Itto-ryu (Itto-ryu Gokui) has served as the essential text of Itto-ryu, one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of samurai strategy and swordsmanship in Japan. Readers unfamiliar with this school and its history will be surprised by how much it influenced the techniques and philosophy of the modern martial arts of kendo, aikido, and others.
The author, Sasamori Junzo, was born into a samurai family a little over a decade after the warrior class was abolished. Well-known in the west as an expert in the sport of kendo, he was also the headmaster of three traditional schools of Japanese martial arts, chief among them Ono-ha Itto-ryu. This book, Secrets of Itto-ryu, distills his over seventy years of practice and painstaking study of not only the physical techniques but also the philosophical background and history of this 400-year-old school of fencing.
This book, the first in a series, covers:
§ An overview of Sasamori Junzo’s remarkable life and legacy.
§ The history of Itto-ryu, from its roots in the Chujo-ryu to the present day, to include a lineage chart of its mainline, branches, and factions.
§ Details about the lives, adventures, and duels of Ito Ittosai Kagehisa and his successor, Ono Jiroemon Tadaaki.
§ A who’s-who of Japanese historical figures related to the school, including shoguns, samurai, sword masters, philosophers, strategists, statesmen, and other luminaries such as: Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Kanemaki Jisai, Obata Kagenori, Yamaga Soko, Yamaoka Tesshu, and others.
§ Ono-ha Itto-ryu’s influence on the development of modern kendo.
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