Flashing Steel

[Cryozombie]

I recently picked up "Flashing Steel: Mastering Eishin-Ryu Swordmanship" and was reading thru it.

Interesting stuff, can anyone give me a little background on Eishin ryu? Thanks!

 

[GarethB]

It's full name is Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu (MJER). It's a koryu (traditional style) which means it was established during the time when samurai really did fight each other to the death with swords (some styles taught today such as the All Japan Kendo Federation's Seitei Gata style are not a purely traditional style). I don't know exactly how old MJER is, but it has a documented history going back approx 500 years. Today MJER is the most popular of the traditional Japanese sword styles with accredited instructors for it all over the world.

MJER is not like modern kendo, there is no freestyle sparring, you don't get to actually hit someone and win "matches". It is mostly practiced through solo and sometimes paired waza/forms. There is also some tameshigiri (test cutting of straw matting) with sharp swords, but that varies between individual instructors (some teach tameshigiri, some don't).

MJER has "time in service" requirements for different dan grades (no matter how good you are, you have to train for a set number of years before reaching a particular dan grade). This is not unique to MJER, many other koryu and gendai (modern) sword styles also have "time in service" requirements for their dan grades. Since MJER is koryu and the coloured belt system of kyu grades is a gendai (modern) practice, MJER does not normally use coloured belts for grades below Shodan (1st dan). You're a white belt until you earn your black belt (some individual instructors may use a limited number of grades below Shodan, but such things are much less important in koryu styles compared to the modern versions of styles like karate and judo).

http://www.koryu.com/guide/eishin.html

 

[Charles Mahan]

MJER is kinda hard to talk about in general terms. There is one large branch and several smaller branches. The book you mention was written by a member of one of the smaller branches. Why multiple branches? Politics. Egos. Who knows. Doesn't really matter.

The Seitokai branch, which is the larger branch led by Ikeda-soke is a bit different especially in the ranking area. To my knowledge there are no hard and fast rules on "time in grade" such as there are in some other branches. There are some general guidelines, but everything is pretty much at soke's discretion. There are also no kyu ranks. The only branch I know of that uses kyu ranks is the Jikishinkai led by Miura-sensei.

The history in the book you have is pretty much true for Seitokai right up to the point in the lineage chart where you find Oe-Masamichi. I believe that's where the author's branch split from the seitokai line. Of course, I'm not a history buff, so I could be off on the accuracy of the information in the history sections.

If you are interested in checking them out, there is a Jikishinkai dojo in Chicago.

 

[Tom Duffy]

Hello Mr. Technopunck lol. If I had your real name I would properly use it. As far as history Mr. Mahan and Mr. Gareth had some great info for you.
Also Shimabukuro Sensei's book which you picked up has a terrific history lesson about our Eishin ryu as well as info on the history of Iaido itself. The JKI is a very fast growing organization all around the world and gets bigger each year. We have had some wonderful seminars and plan to have many more.
The information before the kata chapters in your book are much more important for a first look at the JKI and what Iai is. Please feel free to contact the JKI from their website http://www.jikishin-kai.com/index.htm Sensei Shimabukuro is located on the west coast. My teacher is the chief instructor for the East coast under Sensei Shimabukuro. His name is Sensei Carl Long and his email is clong@jikishin-kai.com he is located in PA.
Also here in RI we started a little forum between our two dojos so feel free to chime in anytime, or to see when any seminars are coming to your area.
Just go to my website www.risword.com and go to the links for the student forum. There is a posting of Shimabukuro's seminar dates, Including Eishin-ryu and other traditional arts in the JKI. Thank you again sir for your interest in our teacher's book and the art!
Respects, Tom Duffy

 

[Cryozombie]

Thank you for the information guys.

:asian: