Mugai Ryu Iai Hyodo

Our Koryu is Mugai Ryu Iai Hyodo. Mugai Ryu was founded my Tsuji Gettan Sukemochi in the late 1600's in Edo, Japan. Tsiji Gettan Sensei was born in Koga, Omi no Kuni [Present day Shiga-Ken] in 1649. When he was 13, he went to study Yamaguchi Ryu Kenjutsu in Kyoto, with Yamaguchi Bokushinsai. When he was 26 he moved to Edo [Tokyo] to set up his own dojo after receiving a Menkyo kaiden of Yamaguchi-Ryu. After this time he started to practice Zen ant the Azabu Kyokuji temple under master Sekitan Zenshi. He achieved satori, and started Mugai-Ryu after that. The name Mugai comes from this Zen poem:

一法実無外

乾坤得一貞

吹毛方納密

動着則光清

 

Which is read: “ippo ha jitsu ni hoka nashi (mugai), kenkon ni ittei wo eru, suimo masa ni hisoka ni osamu, dochaku sureba sunawachi hikari kiyoshi.

This poem discusses the nature of truth, and the fact that such that is truth has no exceptions to it, and that the one who understands this fact will become endowed with a power sharper than the greatest sword.

After founding his Mugai-ryu, Tsuji Gettan found that his dojo became more and more popular. By the time he was 60, his students included several Daimyo and hundreds of samurai of various rank and position. The name of Tsuji Gettan and of Mugai-ryu was very famous throughout Japan at the time.

The lineage of Mugai-ryu has continued from Soke to Soke starting from Tsuji Gettan himself. Because, at the time Mugai-ryu was in such high demand from Daimyo all over Japan wanting to train their Samurai in this most effective style of kenjutsu,  Tsuji Gettan was getting on in age, so he sent his best deshi [disciples] in his place to teach. As such, in modern day Japan now there are at least 4 different branches of Mugai-ryu and some other small groups who are on their own according to the various politics surrounding them…  True to the spirit of Zen, each group is taking the basic teachings, principles, spirit and framework of the kata and adapting [kufu suru] according to their own experiences, interpretation, etc.

I think there is a certain element of acceptance in Mugai-ryu that is missing from other ryu-ha. There are many stories of Tsuji Gettan accepting people of various position in society as an element of what he sees as his stage of enlightenment. Zen is a major part of Mugai-ryu, Tsuji Gettan refused to accept into his dojo anyone who wasn’t first studying and making progress in Zen, but at the same time he would accept people of a lower social rank, which definitely wasn’t usual in those days. You can see this Zen-ness in the atmosphere of Mugai-ryu dojos and in the “aura” of the Mugai-ryu kenshi. There is an overall calmness and benevolence and it sometimes comes as a shock to see how efficiently lethal the Mugai-ryu kata actually are...

Mugai-ryu Iai Hyodo contains several kata sets, but not all branches and dojos do the same set of kata sets. At our dojo we do the Goyo, Goka, Go'o, Hashirikakari, Naiden and Kumitachi kata sets. Goyo and Goka are sitting kata of 5 kata in each set. Goyo means 5 uses and covers basic techniques. Goka means 5 items and introduces the idea of winning without killing and offering compassion to your attacker. Go'o means 5 responses and these are standing kata which includes Gyoko which has become Nuki'uchi in the Seitei kata. Hashirikakari is a running kata set, where you react to a perceived threat and run through the the crowd to disperse them before killing your attacker. The Naiden are the highest level kata and are only taught to the very highest level students. All the Naiden kata are non-killing kata. To be taught the naiden you have to have a very good understanding and practice of the philosophy and Reigi surrounding Iaido and Mugai-ryu.