Yagyu Shinkage-ryu
Yagyu Shinkage-ryu, one of the leading schools of swordsmanship in Japan for over 450 years, was started in the early 16th century by master swordsman Kamiizumi Ise no Kami.
Kamiizumi Ise no Kami created Yagyu Shinkage-ryu’s most distinctive concept, that of katsunin-ken, or the life-giving sword. This approach forces one’s opponent to move and then utilizes that movement to defeat him. This was a complete departure from previous methods of attack, which used strength or speed to overwhelm opponents. In this way it expresses Yagyu Shinkage-ryu’s core principle of marobashi, the philosophy of individual change in response to changes in nature.