Iizasa Ienao

Iizasa Chōisai Ienao

Iizasa Chōisai Ienao ( Japanese飯 篠 長 威 斎 家 直; * 1387 ; † 1488 ) was the son of a well-known Goshi ( Landsamurai ) from Iizasa, today's Tako-machi in Chiba Prefecture . He is the founder of the Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū .

Life

In his youth he devoted himself intensively to the study of kenjutsu (sword fighting) and sojutsu (spear fighting ). Especially among the followers of the Chiba clan, his liege lords, he was held in high regard as an indomitable warrior . In his youth he fought in many duels on the battlefield and was never defeated, so that his fame spread nationwide.

After the fall of the Chiba, Iizasa Ienao separated from his own family in order to withdraw from worldly life. He lived in seclusion in a place called Umekiyama near the Katori Shrine ( Jingū ) Okunomiya, the most secret district of Katori-jingū , after donating 1,000 Koku rice and the Shintokusan Shimpuku-ji, a Buddhist temple in Miyamoto- ura, Otsuki.

During this time Ienao organized his life according to a strictly regulated daily routine. One day it happened that one of his students was washing a horse at the spring near the shrine. A short time later the horse suffered severe pain and died. Ienao was impressed by the far-reaching divine powers of Futsu-nushi-no-mikoto, the deity ( Kami ) worshiped in Katori-jingū , and suspected a connection between the death of the horse and his person. It is said that through this incident Ienao gained spiritual insight.

At the age of sixty, Ienao undertook to hold daily prayer ceremonies at the Katori-jingū for a period of a thousand days and nights. During this time he performed extensive purification ceremonies and gave himself up to a strictly ordered martial arts training:

• At the hour of the cow (1:30 am in the morning) he went to the shrine to read the Norito . With this he asked the gods for peace in the world.
• At the hour of the tiger (2:30 in the morning) he returned to his hut to recite the Buddhist Bishamon-kyō.
• In the early morning he went back to the shrine and greeted the gods by clapping his hands several times. Then he devoted himself to intensive martial arts training.

One day, it is said, the god Futsu-nushi-no-mikoto appeared to him in a dream. It was in the form of a boy sitting on the branch of a plum tree, near which Ienao trained daily. In this dream, the deity gave Ienao a book called Mokuroku Heiho no Shinsho. This is a treatise on Bugei ( martial arts ) and Heiho (combat strategy), which, according to legend, was written by a divine hand.

In this vision Ienao was also prophesied that he would become one of the most important sword masters in Japan. After this experience, Ienao founded his own Bujutsu-ryu (martial arts tradition) and put the phrase “Tenshin-Shoden” in front of the formal name of the style, Katori Shinto-ryu , which means something like: “Under the protection and through the Divine grace conveyed by Futsu-nushi-no-mikoto ”- or literally translated,“ actually and really taught from heaven ”.

At the age of seventy, Ienao reached the highest level of technical ability. He was in a state where his mind and Futsu-nushi-no-mikoto became one. During this time he compiled several hundred Heiho principles .

Finally he built a dojo across from the Shimpuku Temple and began to pass on his art to many students. Master Iizasa Ienao died at the very old age of 102 for his time. As it is still today in Japan z. T. is practiced, he got a posthumous Buddhist name after his death, which is: Taiganin-den-taira-no-ason-iga-no-kami-raiodo-hon-dai-koji. He was buried in close proximity to the Katori-jingū.

literature

• Sugino, Yoshio & Ito, Kikue (1977). Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu Budo Kyohan; First edition 1941.
• Draeger, Donn F. The Martial Arts and Ways of Japan series, 3 volumes.
• Otake, Risuke (1977). The Deity and the Sword - Katori Shinto-ryu Vol. 1, Japan, Japan Publications Trading Co. ISBN 0-87040-378-8 (The Japanese original title for all three volumes is: Mukei Bunkazai Katori Shinto-ryu )
• Otake, Risuke (1977). The Deity and the Sword - Katori Shinto-ryu Vol. 2, Japan, Japan Publications Trading Co. ISBN 0-87040-405-9
• Otake, Risuke (1977). The Deity and the Sword - Katori Shinto-ryu Vol. 3, Japan, Japan Publications Trading Co. ISBN 0-87040-406-7
• Warner, Gordon & Draeger, Donn F. (1982). Japanese Swordsmanship: Technique And Practice, ISBN 0-8348-0236-8
• Watatani, Kiyoshi (1967). (Zusetsu) Kobudōshi, Tokyo

Web link

• Katorishintoryu

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Iizasa is the family name, Ienao the first name.