Martial Arts Dynasties Part 4.

Yagyu clan kenjutsu.

In this part:

· Iemoto, family traditions passed on.

· The Yagyu school of swordmasters.

Iemoto.

There is a thing in older Japanese culture and the Arts called, ‘Iemoto’ 家元. It means, ‘family foundation’. It is/was to be found in the tea ceremony, calligraphy and traditional music. But, critics say that it suffers terribly from, rigidity, nepotism (clearly; because you are inclined to prioritise family connections over ability); as well as authoritarianism and a lack of a democratic process.

Well, maybe the last two are the most contentious ones. Particularly ‘democratic process’? Democracy is often described as ‘the best of a whole load of bad ideas’. Churchill said, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter”. In current UK politics, he had a point.

You could also make an argument that ‘genes do not maketh the man’, but who is qualified to comment? Certainly not me.

And then there is the idea of a hierarchy of competence based on merit. It’s a tricky one. Have a look at French and Raven’s ‘Bases of Power’, particularly ‘Legitimate Power’ and match it off against ‘Expert Power’. It is unusual for any head of an organisation to not claim that their authority comes from the idea that they are the definitive expert in their field.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Raven%27s_bases_of_power

The Yagyu clan. Mid 16^th century to the modern age.

In this deep dive into dynasties, it would be negligent of me to miss out the Yagyu clan of sword masters.

According to the common understanding, currently the Yagyu have taught their system for thirteen generations.

Let me put that in perspective; a sword school that came out of a very practical life or death world, that somehow managed to survive into the current age, when really, through pressure from the modern world, the Japanese abandoned the sword in the 1860’s. How did that happen?

Let me return briefly to Part 1 and the world of Domenico Angelo in 18^th century London. Although, in Europe, the firearm had subsumed the sword as preferred weapon, the Angelo’s (over time) allowed fencing to be turned into a sporting art form where blood was never really drawn.

Whereas, in Japan, the martial arts became almost institutionalised, and despite its antiquated radically conservative image it’s still around, even the Old Schools, the Koryu. In part, it survived into the modern age because of sportification and that there were moves to slap a preservation order on some of the Koryu.

This certainly seemed to happen to the Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū school of Bujutsu, of which the teachings of the school were designated an ‘Intangible Cultural Asset of Chiba Prefecture’ in 1960. I accept that for the modern Japanese that kind of martial arts, even though it is a national treasure, is not really hip and trendy; but, amazingly, it’s still hanging on.

The Yagyu.

The story of the Yagyu clan seems very hit and miss; it looks like their fortunes yoyoed and were dependent in lucky alliances.

The beginnings – First generation; Yagyu Munetoshi (1527 – 1606).

Although genealogically the Yagyu clan were well-connected, Munetoshi’s father was a minor landed lord.

Munetoshi, himself, rose to prominence as a military man through a series of unstable alliances before coming to the notice of an up-and-coming clan leader called Tokugawa Ieyasu. By the time that encounter had happened Munetoshi had put away his ambitions to be a warlord and retired to his fiefdom to refine and teach sword skills. You see, in his developing years as a martial artist, Munetoshi had experienced some lightbulb moments through encounters with other skilled swordsmen, notably, Kamiizumi Nobutsuna master of the Shinkage Ryu school of swordsmanship, an experience that both humbled and enlightened him; thus, we see the birth of Yagyu Shinkage Ryu.

The summons from Tokugawa Ieyasu came very late in Munetoshi’s career, but not so late that he was to prove the supremacy of his style by taking Tokugawa Ieyasu’s bokken off him (while unarmed) and knocking him on his ass.

The humbled Tokugawa was smart enough to recognise Munetoshi as an asset and a deal was established where Munetoshi’s son, Munenori, (second generation) was to become hereditary sword teacher to the newly emerging Tokugawa clan and its supremacy as Shogun in Japan.

Development across the generations.

As mentioned above, 13 generations and still around. But, it was not without its bumps in the road. It’s all too complicated to go into here but not all of the Yagyu successors and the various branchings-off seemed to be as skilled politically and socially as their earlier forebears. The clan/school branches did spread out which created a kind of Yagyu Shinkage monopoly, resting in part upon their reputation as sword teachers to the Shogun. But also, that the branches spread beyond the capital of Edo.

Sprinkled among the Yagyu teachers were some big hitters, who became almost mythical and their stories developed into legends and seeped into popular fiction as romantic heroes.

Overall, this is a solid combination that other generational martial arts families could learn from.

You can get a feel of it by having a look at this video showing Yagyu Shinkage Ryu (set subtitles to your preferred language).

Conclusion.

You have to respect the Yagyu clan for its ability to navigate troubling times. Clearly, the actual product (if I dare use that word) had real substance, in a time when the insubstantial was being winnowed away in the most extreme Darwinian environment.

Their position at the top of the tree, enabled by the elite warrior classes, meant that the early generations were tested to the extreme.

It’s ironic really, when you look at the rhetoric of modern martial artists, with their talk of ‘the warrior mentality’ and ‘warrior training’ as if they were the new samurai, it is beyond contempt to try and draw any kind of parallel, with the Yagyu and the other warriors of the 16^th and 17^th centuries. In the modern age, we are all just playing at it.

To return to the ‘three-generation rule’, I doubt if anyone is qualified to unpick the Yagyu lineage dynamics and chart their person-to-person chemistry, because it is all so long ago. All we can do is make assumptions and exercise a little guesswork.

Perhaps, something of the measure of the ‘product’ as it passed through so many hands could only be attempted by real Koryu experts who are able to pick apart the technicalities that have been handed down, and the things that have been lost along the way, if that is even possible? I have no idea – the fact is that already I am way out of my depth on this subject.

To be continued.

In the next instalment:

Aikido, Shorinji Kempo, Wado Ryu and other more recent traditions.

Header image: ‘Actor dressed as a samurai warrior’, courtesy, Met Museum, Public Domain.