Early history of Ryushin Jigen ryu

There are a few different stories regarding the founding of the Jigen ryu. The most mystical of the stories goes as follows. Setoguchi Bizen no Kami, a samurai of the Satsuma domain, (modern Kagoshima prefecture), and also known as Togo Shigekata, spent 3 days and nights at the Itogaki shrine, under a waterfall to purify himself. A tengu (a creature of Buddhist lore), named Jigenbo, decided to teach him the secrets of swordsmanship. This would make for a great anime story, but it is far from the truth. Another story goes as follows. A samurai named Jigensai Itto Jichibo created the Hakugen ryu around 931 AD, that was inherited by Minamoto Yoshie and it was then called the Kamakura ryu hyoho. Then it was inherited by Setoguchi Bizen no Kami who named it Tenshinsho Jigen ryu and brought it to Satsuma. This story is more believable, however, it is impossible to confirm in any real way.

The real story, the one that can be confirmed historically, goes as follows. Hideyoshi Toyotomi defeated the Shimazu clan, the rulers of Satsuma, in 1587, at the Battle of Sendaigawa (Chidorigawa) and the Siege of Kagoshima. The Shimazu negotiated a peace with Hideyoshi and were allowed to continue their rule over Satsuma. Many of the samurai of the Shimazu clan felt that their defeat had been the result of the clan ryuha, the Taisha ryu. The Taisha ryu was founded by Marume Kurando no Suke Nagayoshi. Nagayoshi had learned the Shinkage ryu from Kamizumi Ise no Kami (also known as Kamizumi Nobutsuna), who also taught the famous Yagyu Sekishusai, whose family became the official swordsmanship instructors of the Tokugawa shoguns. Nagayoshi then renamed his line of the Shinkage ryu to the Taisha ryu. Togo Shigekata, a student of Marume Nagayoshi, was one of the samurai who felt that the Taisha ryu was lacking, and that another ryuha was needed for Satsuma.

In 1588, the head of the Shimazu, lord Yoshihisa, went to Kyoto to demonstrate his loyalty to Hideyoshi. Togo Shigekata was chosen to be his lord’s attendant, and went to Kyoto with him. While in Kyoto, Shigekata began to study Zen Buddhism at Tennei-ji temple. It was there that Shigekata met the Zen priest Zenkichi, (Zankitsu by some accounts), who was a master of the Tenshinsho Jigen ryu. The Tenshinsho Jigen ryu was a style that had derived from Iizasa Choisai Ienao’s Tenshinsho-den Katori Shinto ryu, the oldest ryu known. Zenkichi taught Shigekata the Jigen ryu, and then Shigekata desired to bring the Jigen ryu back to Satsuma.

However, Shigekata would not get an opportunity to return to Satsuma until 1601, when Iehisa became the head of the Shimazu and the daimyo of Satsuma. It was shortly after Shigekata arrived in Satsuma, that lord Iehisa offered him an opportunity to prove the superiority of the Jigen ryu. That opportunity came in the form of a taryu jiai, a contest between ryuha. Shigekata fought against To Shinnojo, who would represent the Taisha ryu, and a son of a teacher of Shigekata’s. Shigekata won the duel against Shinnojo and secured the Jigen ryu as the official ryuha of the Shimazu clan, and by extension, the Satsuma domain. Shigekata became the Shimazu clan’s official swordsmanship instructor, and continued to win a total of 46 duels. The Jigen ryu continued to be Satsuma’s official ryuha into the modern age. There are different variations, including the Yakumaru Jigen ryu, popular among the goshi (the lower ranks of samurai), and the Tenshinsho Jigen ryu, which our style, the Ryushin Jigen ryu, comes from.