Sakakibara Kenkichi

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Sakakibara Kenkichi
Takeda Sokaku
Notable school(s)Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū
In this Japanese name, the surname is Sakakibara.

Sakakibara Kenkichi (

shōguns
.

After the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate Sakakibara was instrumental in preserving traditional Japanese sword techniques in the early Meiji Era. Despite his eventual opposition to the practice of sword fighting for sport, his work during this period laid the foundations for the modern sport of kendo. In his later years he taught a number of noted martial artists, and was honoured by the All Japan Kendo Federation after his death.

Early life

Sakakibara was born on the fifth day of the eleventh month of Bunsei (December 19, 1830) into the Sakakibara clan; his given name at birth was Tomoyoshi (友善). His family lived in the village of Otsuwa near modern-day Tokyo.[1] He started studying Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū with Otani Nobutomo in 1843. He proved proficient in that style, and was granted a menkyo kaiden (licence of mastery) by Otani in 1856, despite his family being too poor to pay for it.[1][2] He was later to become the fourteenth headmaster of the school. As a talented swordsman, he once duelled with Yamaoka Tesshū; the two men faced off for over forty minutes without moving, before sheathing their swords with neither striking a blow.[3]

Edo period

Sakakibara Kenkichi wandering in the mountains, Kawanabe Kyōsai, c. 1874

In 1856 Sakakibara was appointed as a professor at the

Matsuoka Katsunosuke was temporarily placed in charge of the school.[4]

By 1863, Sakakibara was a head keeper at

Ueno).[1][5]

Meiji period

Despite his connections to the shogunate, at the Battle of Ueno in 1868 Sakakibara did not participate in the fighting between the pro-shogunate and Imperial forces, considering it to be his duty to guard the Kan'ei-ji temple. He did, in fact, rescue the Imperial Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa (who was at the time the abbot of Kan'ei-ji) from the Shōgitai, physically carrying him away from the combat.[1] Sakakibara subsequently returned to the service of the Tokugawa family as Captain of the Guard under Tokugawa Iesato, whom he served until 1870.[1] After the Meiji Restoration Sakakibara was offered a position with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, which he refused out of loyalty to Iemochi.[6] He was, however, part of the group of fencers who created the forms for the Keishichō-ryū (警視庁流), the style of sword fighting created in 1868 for use by the police,[7] and he worked briefly as a prison guard at the police headquarters.[2]

The new Meiji Government had banned the carrying of swords and in 1876 banned the practice of duelling, and so traditional swordsmanship was no longer popular. Sakakibara tried to find new ways of promoting kenjutsu. His motives may have been financial, as without a sponsor he, like many other martial artists of the era, was suffering from penury – his poverty was such that he had to accept help from his wife's uncle Katsu Kaishū in constructing a residence.[1] He began organising gekiken kogyo (撃剣興行, "sword combat performances"— see the Japanese art of sword dancing Kenshibu), feeling that such public competitions would instil an appreciation for the art of the swordsman in their audiences. He started an organisation called the Gekken Kaisha (撃剣会社, "Fencing Society"), which, inspired by the popularity of sumo wrestling, organised these contests. The first public kogyo organised by Sakakibara's group took place in April 1873, and lasted for over a week.[8][9] Other martial artists, witnessing the success of the Gekken Kaisha, followed suit.[6]

As part of his public performances Sakakibara occasionally demonstrated a tameshigiri technique called kabuto wari (兜割り, "helmet breaking"), which involved slicing through a steel helmet with a single stroke of the sword.[2] In 1887 he performed this before the Emperor Meiji, as part of a demonstration organised by one of the Emperor's relatives. Of the three sword masters present who attempted this cut, Sakakibara was the only one to succeed in cutting the helmet, despite the fact that he had been unable to make the cut in practice attempts.[10][11]

Despite the success of the gekiken kogyo performances, in his later years Sakakibara regretted their development. In his view, the rules and strictures of gekiken were perverting kenjutsu into new forms that were no longer relevant to battlefield combat.[12] He disdained the point-scoring swordsmanship of other kendoka of his era, ignoring light touches by his opponents in order to deliver his own powerful strikes.[13] Nonetheless, the gekiken kogyo practices which he began created an interest in fencing which led ultimately to the development of modern kendo.[14][15]

Later life

In his later years Sakakibara returned to coach and train in his dojo in Kurumazaka, after trying his hand unsuccessfully at running a

Japanese Imperial Family. Takeda Sōkaku, the founder of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, also studied with Sakakibara at Kurumazaka.[1][13][16]

On New Year's Day of 1894, Sakakibara passed on the Jikishinkage headmastership to his disciple

Kendo Hall of Fame (剣道殿堂).[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Hiiragi, Takefumi. "Famous Swordsmen of Japan (1): Kenkichi Sakakibara". Aikido Journal. Archived from the original on October 31, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4629-0834-9
    .
  3. ISBN 978-0-8348-2829-2
    .
  4. ^ Threadgill, Toby; Ohgami, Shingo. "Takamura-ha Shindo Yoshin-ryu Jujutsu: History and Technique". Koryu.com. Koryu Books. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  5. ^ "Sakakibara, Kenkichi". Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures. National Diet Library of Japan. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8248-2464-8
    .
  7. ^ Kenjutsu Kyohan Shokai 剣術教範詳解 [A Detailed Fencing Manual] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Toyama Army Academy. 1941. p. 499.
  8. ISBN 978-1-84545-966-6
    .
  9. ISBN 978-1-59884-244-9
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0-8348-2488-1
    .
  11. ISBN 978-1-59030-949-0
    .
  12. ISSN 0277-3066
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8348-0099-1
    .
  14. ISBN 978-0-8048-1607-6
    .
  15. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5
    .
  16. ^ Zenyu Nagao. "Swordsmanship of Aizu: Onoha Itto-ryu Kenjutsu Mugenshinto-ryu Iaijutsu". Rakushinkan Aikido. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  17. ^ Jidai wo Tsunagu Ken no Michi 時代を繋ぐ剣の道 [Sword methods through the ages] (DVD) (in Japanese). Japan: All Japan Kendo Federation. April 1, 2003.
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