The Mystery of Araki Buzaemon: Araki Shin-ryu & Araki-ryu Gunyo Kogusoku

NOTE: The following essay owes a tremendous amount to my consultation with Stephen Delaney of the Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku. I take full responsibility, however, for everything – both history and speculation – within this essay.

 Araki Buzaemon and his immediate successors

Two different martial traditions, Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku and Araki Shin-ryu, are associated with Araki Buzaemon Hisakatsu, a man otherwise unknown, but believed by these ryuha to be related to Araki Mujinsai (AKA Muninsai) Minamoto Hidetsuna, the founder of Araki-ryu torite-kogusoku.

These two schools are profoundly different, but both have the same anomaly in their lineage: after Araki Mujinsai, both Araki Shin-ryu and, until recently, Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku then listed the next two generations blank, followed by Araki Buzaemon in the fourth generation. Such blanks in the lineage are not unusual in Japanese ryuha. For example, Miura Yoshin-ryu has a gap between the alleged founder, Nakamura Sakyodayu Yoshikuni (Miura Yoshin) and the sixth, Abe Kanryu. Generally speaking, such a gap implies that the person after the gap, in this case Buzaemon, created a new ryu inspired somehow by Mujinsai, but separated by a few generations.

How could this be?

• At ‘worst,’ the revelation came to him in a dream: rather than a mountain demon or shrine deity, however, the founder of the ryu receives a revelation from an ancestral warrior. In other words, the person claimed as the founder was, in fact, an inspiration.
• Another very plausible alternative is that Buzaemon (or in the other cited case, Abe Kanryu) revived a tradition that was partially lost. For example, let us say that it is true that Buzaemon was a descendent of Mujinsai. There were tales or records of Araki-ryu in his area. Perhaps there were even one or more older men who had studied a portion of the ryuha, but none of whom who were menkyo-kaiden. Buzaemon possibly gathered together what he could and then, perhaps with other studies from unknown sources, made his own ryu.

Although either of their alternatives are plausible, and both common enough in the history of Japanese martial traditions, little else is known about Araki Buzaemon. No one knows whether he referred to what he taught as either Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku, Araki Shin-ryu or something else entirely. No one knows when these two ryuha, emanating from the same source, acquired their specific names. All we know is that the two ryuha claim the same founder and, at least at one point, had the same paradox within their lineage.

One of the few sources for information about Araki Buzaemon is the family of Sato Kinbei. Sato was kind of a ‘Zelig’ figure in 20th century Japanese martial arts, seemingly everywhere at once. He claimed menkyo kaiden in a rather astonishing number of Japanese koryu. Among his teachers was Takamatsu Toshitsugu, later the teacher of Hatsumi Masaaki of Bujinkan fame. Sato was also one of the very first postwar Japanese to study any Chinese martial art in depth–he studied several.

Among the many ryuha he claimed to have mastered, Sato claimed a menkyo-kaiden in Araki Shin-ryu. He asserted that Araki Buzaemon lived in Bushu, Nakano Mura, (now Hachioji, in present day Saitama prefecture), and that he founded Araki Shin-ryu in 1626, a little more than half a century after the founding of the original Araki-ryu. The Sato family stated on a website dedicated to Sato Kimbei that “it was rumored that Buzaemon was related to Mujinsai, but this is really not established.” If this founding date is accurate, it is not impossible that Buzaemon as a very young man studied with Mujinsai as a very old man, but it highly unlikely–the gap between the known life of Araki Mujinsai and this founding date is just too large. Furthermore, Mujinsai is believed to lived near Settsu, in the Osaka-Kyoto area, far from Bushu.

Araki Shin-ryu

Buzaemon’s Araki Shin-ryu was a school of eighty-one yawara (grappling/locking) and bojutsu. The techniques are arranged in nine groups of nine, associated with the kujikiri of Shingon mikkyo. Not one of the names in the curriculum bears any relationship to any name in Araki-ryu torite-kogusoku (or Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku, for that matter) nor is there any similarity in the organization and arrangement of the mokuroku.

The history of this school is rather sparse. According to Watatani Kyoshi in the Bugei Ryuha Daijiten, a 14th generation shihan, Hattori Kojiro, was active in the Meiji period in Echigo, Shin Hotta. Also a menkyo in Jikishinkage-ryu, he refused to accept the end of the era of the bushi and was described as ‘training like a demon.’ Notwithstanding this ferocious reputation, he was a primary school teacher.

His successor, Sakamoto Kingo, moved to Tokyo and opened up a jujutsu dojo called the Kobukan. Also a 2nd generation shihan of Shizen-ryu suijutsu (military swimming), he died in 1945.

Another 15th generation shihan was Sugiura Juugou, whose student was Okura Chugo. I found one reference on a Japanese website that states that Okura Chugo lost most of the documents of the ryuha in Manchuria, during his escape at the end of the Second World War. Sato Kinbei claimed to have studied from Okura.

Sato Kinbei reportedly integrated some level of information he’d acquired in Araki Shin-ryu into his syncretic martial arts system called Daiwado. An individual acquainted with the Sato family asked on my behalf if Araki Shin-ryu remained as an art practiced within their school or family. The answer I received from current practitioners is that they can only identify one kata in their curriculum as Araki Shin-ryu, and they do not possess any densho or other records of the school. I receive a similar answer from a member of the Genbukan, the organization of Tanemura Shoto, who studied for some period of time with Sato Kinbei. (NOTE: Tanemura is a cousin of the aforementioned Hatsumi Masaaki. He founded his own organization, after a many year membership in Hatsumi’s Bujinkan).

Lineage of Araki Shin-ryu (荒木新流)

1. Araki Mujinsai Minamoto Hidetsuna (荒木夢仁斎源秀縄) – (founder of 荒木流捕手小具足)
2.  ◊
3.  ◊
4. Araki Buzaemon Hisakatsu (荒木武左衛門久勝)
5. Shiono Shigezaemon Yasuyuki (塩野茂左衛門泰行)
6. Akabane Kazumata Minamoto no Shinrin (羽一間多源信隣)
7. Tsuji Rokuzaemon I Koretada (辻六左衛門尉是忠)
8. Hata Gonbei Tomiyasu (畑権平富保)
9. Fukui Ichirozaemon Masayoshi (福井市郎左衛門尉正義)
10. Fukui Ichirozaemon Masanobu (福井市郎左衛門尉正脩)
11. Fukui Ichirozaemon Masakuni (福井市郎左衛門尉正邦)
12. Iida Shimetaro (飯田志免太郎) [Dojo in Shin-Hatta, Echigo Province]
13. Oukawara Shoemon (河原松右衛門) [Great-grandfather of Sato Kinbei]
14. Hattori Kojiro (服部広次郎)
15. Sugiura Juugou ( 杉浦重剛), Sakamoto Kingo (坂本謹吾)
16. Okura Chugo (大倉忠吾)
17. Sato Kinbei (佐藤金兵)

Araki-ryu gunyo kogusoku (荒木流軍用小具足)

Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku also traces its lineage from Araki Mujinsai through Araki Buzaemon Hisakatsu.[i]

The Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku oral tradition reveals a significant anomaly in this lineage. As with the lineage of Araki Shin-ryu, Buzaemon was followed by Shiono Yasuyuki, and then Akabane Kazumata Minamoto no Shinrin. However, Akabane is known to have lived in the early 1800’s. It beggars the imagination that there would be only three generations spanning a period of close to 200 years between Buzaemon and Akabane. This suggests the strong possibility that there was a second, considerable gap in the lineage of both schools, either between Araki Buzaemon and his putative successors, or between Shiono and Akabane.

The general public usually views Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku as an iaijutsu and sojutsu school, as these are the areas of the curriculum most commonly presented in public. The iaijutsu sets are usually presented as solo forms—within the dojo, however, they are trained as two person sets, thereby making them a kind of iai-kenjutsu. Quite unusually, this ryuha also trains in gyaku-nito (kodachi in the right hand and tachi in the left) in both their iaijutsu and kenjutsu. Additionally, extensive usage of the kodachi for close quarters is advocated in a number of kata. Sōjutsu, too, is usually presented solo, but within the dojo, spear forms, too, are paired, two-person forms.

The curriculum of this ryuha also includes many sections, rarely presented in public, that show a surprising overlap with the mainline Araki-ryu that descended through the 2^nd generation headmaster, Mori Kasuminosuke Katsushige (森霞之助勝重). Araki-ryu has a tremendous number of offshoots; however, any branch line emanating from Mori Kasuminosuke have the same core curriculum. The kata names are almost always identical as is the arrangement of the kata within different sections.[NOTE: I will refer to lines emanating from Mori Kasumi as ‘mainline Araki-ryu,’ because almost all lines of Araki-ryu descend from this man. I am not implying that the ‘mainline’ is superior.]

Beyond that, there are  kata within their weapons curriculum that are specifically associated with the Kozuke Araki-ryu of the Isezaki area of Gunma, Japan. Kozuke Araki-ryu has unique features that are not found elsewhere.  Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku is the only offshoot branch not connected to Mori Kasuminosuke that has elements of this core curriculum and the only offshoot branch  outside Isezaki that has any of the idiosyncratic features associated with Kozuke Araki-ryu. 

The arrangement of kata within the Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku makimono, however, have a rather ‘synthetic’ quality. What I mean is that mainline Araki-ryu, in disparate geographical areas hundreds, even thousands of miles apart, and separated by divisions hundreds of years old, had a curriculum arranged in almost identical fashion. Furthermore, this curriculum was arranged in a particular order—not only was there a set of tactical goals within each section, the arrangement of the different sets fostered the acquisition of specific skill sets that build one each other. The order of the various techniques and kata sets is quite different within the Araki-ryu gunyo kogusoku. From one outside the school, the arrangement of some sets seems arbitrary, with what in Araki-ryu torite-kogusoku are considered advanced sets preceding others which are quite basic. Nonetheless, there are so many similarities that it is sure that the two branches are deeply connected.

Connections between Kozuke Araki-ryu and Araki-ryu guny-kogusoku #1 – Hitoshichi no Dan

 Mainstream Araki-ryu had two sets of five kata each: one called Hitoshichi no Dan (compendium of prisoner/hostage taking) and Hoben no Dan (compendium of expedient —last ditch—techniques). The first set concerns response to blade attacks while grappling, and the second set concerns response to the most desperate situations, among them responding with a blade to one’s throat while attacked from behind, or while an enemy is stabbing you in the throat while you are flat on your back. For unknown reasons, the Kozuke line took these ten techniques and ‘mixed’ them up between two sets they called Hitoshichi no dan (omote) and Hitoshichi no dan (kogusoku). This re-arrangement is known to be unique to this branch.

The Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku also has a set called Hitoshichi no Dan. Three of the five kata have names unique to Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku. However, one kata, named Kanken no Nesame, shares the same name as mainline Araki-ryu, albeit using different characters in the name. Another kata in the Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku set is called Fukai no Shinshitsu. It is only in Kozuke that these two kata are in the Hitoshichi no Dan set. In every other Araki-ryu faction, they were included in the Hoben no Dan.

Connections between Kozuke Araki-ryu and Araki-ryu guny-kogusoku #2 – Ryogu no Dan

Within mainline Araki-ryu is a set called Ryogu no Dan. It is a compendium of eight techniques: short sword against long sword in grappling situations. Each kata name, arranged vertically in the makimono, are two characters each. If one reads the first character of the name of each kata right to left, it spells out the name of the primordial shrine of Araki-ryu, Atago-yama-dai-gon-gen-shu-go. The last two kata in this sequence are named 守留 Shuro and 護變 Gohen. However, in Kozuke Araki-ryu, Ryogu no dan only  has seven kata—the last two characters in the above sequence are combined to form a single seventh kata, 守護 Shugo.

Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku also has a set entitled Ryogu no Dan, but the ten kata within that set have totally different names.[ii] However, Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku also has a set called Shingi no dan, and the kata in this set are, character for character, the same as the seven kata in Kozuke Araki-ryu Ryogu no Dan (and also feature the same pairing of short-sword against long-sword in grappling sequences). As this is unique to this particular line, this proves that the Kozuke line and the Araki-ryu gunyo-koguosku are deeply connected.

Connections between Kozuke Araki-ryu and Araki-ryu guny-kogusoku #3 – Sankyoku no Dan & Happo no Dan

Right in the middle of the curriculum of Araki-ryu gunyo-koguosku are two sets: Sankyoku no Dan and Happo no Dan. In every other line, these two sets are invariably the very first sets. As they are generally considered the linchpin kata of the ryu, their presence in the middle of the curriculum is unusual, but, order aside, this establishes yet another connection.

Connections between Kozuke Araki-ryu and Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku #4 – The Question of Weaponry

It is among the weapons sets that we find another surprising link between Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku and Kozuke Araki-ryu. Three of the latter’s most characteristic weapons, unique to this branch, the nagamaki, the chigiriki and the kusarigama, are also included in the curriculum of the Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku. Both ryu also share bojutsu kata. As the chained weapons, in particular, are unique to Kozuke Araki-ryu, this further suggests a connection.

According to Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku lore, the chained weapons were incorporated into the ryu by Akabane Kazumata. Furthermore, the oldest makimono in the possession of the Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku is that of Akabane, from the early 1800’s, and it does include tachi, iai, bo, nagamaki, kusarigama, chigiriki, nawa and torite. All of this is so remarkably close to that of Kozuke Araki-ryu that it is hard to imagine any other explanation than that Akabane established a relationship with one or more shihan of either the Kozuke Araki-ryu or a similar Araki-ryu line in geographically closer Bushu (several lines of Bushu Araki-ryu are known to have existed – but we do not yet know what their curriculum was).

A Possible Connection to Kiraku-ryu

Kiraku-ryu was another prominent ryuha in the Kozuke area. They had a faction in Bushu, near the area where Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku was located, as well as in Isezaki, the center of Kozuke Araki-ryu. The latter Kiraku-ryu served the same feudal domain and shared family members, cousins, even siblings, most notably those named Kikuchi, Arai and Suzuki. Although rivals, there was considerable cross-fertilization between them. They shared weaponry, even kata. The chigiriki of Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku is a ‘sleeved’ weapon, where the chain is kept inside a metal tube at the end of the shaft. This is unique to Kiraku-ryu, reportedly invented in the mid-1800’s. It is possible, then, that at least at least one shihan of Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku also trained or observed the Kiraku-ryu, and adopted their style of this chained weapon.

The ‘sixth/eighth’ generation headmaster of Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku, Matsuo Sakuzaemon Yasunobu owned a sleeved chigiriki, easily over 120 years old, which is still in the Matsuo family’s possession. Given that Kozuke Araki-ryu uses a chigiriki with a simple swivel, rather than the sleeved version used by Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku, it is possible that Akabane learned the simpler weapon, and a later shihan converted to the sleeved form, when it was subsequently developed in the Bakamatsu-period by the Kiraku-ryu. In other words, such cross-training may not have been a one-time event.

Speculative Theories of the Origins of the two martial traditions associated with Araki Buzaemon

Based on the timeline and speculative history we have outlined, it would have made complete sense for Araki Buzaemon to have originally named his school Araki Shin-ryu. Forty or fifty years after Araki Mujinsai or his successors established Araki-ryu, Buzaemon would be stating that he was creating a ‘new’ Araki-ryu.

It is my theory that Akabane Kazumata was already an expert at Araki Shin-ryu, and even had successor students. (As mentioned above, it is also possible that he or his teacher Shiono Yasuyuki was the real founder of Araki Shin-ryu, sometime at the end of the 18^th century), and both of the Araki’s—Mujinsai and Buzaemon—were the kind of ‘legendary-historical’ antecedents so common within Japanese martial arts history. It is likely that Akabane had licensed his successor within the Araki Shin-ryu lineage, Tsuji Rokuzaemon I Koretada.

It is my belief that Akabane made a relatively short trip to another area of Bushu or even to Kozuke, and audited or formally studied with a practitioner of Kozuke Araki-ryu. At that time, there were probably thousands of members and many dozens of shihan in Araki-ryu. If I am correct, why is Akabane’s name not listed within any known mainline Araki-ryu lineage? Araki-ryu gunyo-koguosku was probably the product of his musha-shugyo, so to speak, that journey that an ‘almost finished’ warrior takes to complete himself. It is very possible that Akabane and whomever he met treated each other as equals, exchanging techniques and priniciples. It should be noted that many of the Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku weapons kata are totally different from that of Kozuke Araki-ryu. The spear and sword forms are both powerful and powerfully different. This could have preceded Akabane, or been developed by him or his successors. In addition, despite the shared weaponry I have described above, not everything is the same. For example, nagamaki of the Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku, is of a different morphology than that of Kozuke Araki-ryu, using the ‘sword-like’ form, with a four shaku ovoid shaft and a blade about two shaku, seven sun. Kozuke Araki-ryu uses what could also be termed an o-naginata, similar to that of Kashima Shinto-ryu.
After he returned home, it is my theory that Akabane either used some of the kata names and reworked and remixed them with his own Araki Shin-ryu. It is also conceivable that in that process, particularly if he never received an actual mokuroku from his informants in Kozuke, he simply jumbled some of the names of the kata and teaching order over time.
As for Araki Shin-ryu, I speculate that it continued, passed down by his earlier students whom he taught in his younger years. (Perhaps some will find this last point seem unlikely, asking “Why wouldn’t his earlier students come back and learn his new material.” I can state from personal experience that there are many reasons why this might not have happened—once an adult has been given a menkyo-kaiden, they are free to follow their own path, at least in most ryu. One is no longer a student—of course, some individuals might return, realizing that they have something new, perhaps wonderful to learn from their former teacher. But some have made their own way forward, and for them, there is no going back.

Returning to Akabane, what is the significance of the name of his ‘newer’ ryu?  Gunyo-kogusoku is a rather unusual appellation – it essentially means, “military use close-quarter grappling.” Given that Araki Shin-ryu appears to have been a typical Edo period jujutsu school, I suggest that Akabane found the new information he learned in Kozuke to be revolutionary. Therefore, he chose a new name, ‘military grappling’ to distinguish it from the more ‘civilian-type’ jujutsu he had previously learned and taught. In adding all sorts of weapons and old-school torite kata, Akabane would be ‘making a statement’ in calling his system “gunyo” —a rather modern word that I’ve never seen applied to any other ryu, that, nonetheless, attempts to designate something old.
This speculation is supported by oral tradition within Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku. Akabane’s is the oldest densho held by Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku. They credit him with augmenting the syllabus of the ryuha with chain and polearm weapons in Bunka year 5 (1808). In fact, Akabane has been referred to as the chuko no so (initiator of a renaissance) of the ryu, but beyond that, in some texts and oral tradition, he is credited with introducing everything.

Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku – Modern Times

Matsuo Hiroshi (Kenpū), the remarkable ‘eighth/tenth’ generation shihan of Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku, was born in Fukuoka, Kyūshū. historically the realm of the Kuroda-han. His father, Matsuo Sakuzaemon Yasunobu, was kenjutsu shinan-yaku to the Kuroda domain for a number of years before the Meiji Restoration. This leads to one more historical puzzle as Akabane and Shiono seem to have lived in Bushu – where Araki Shin-ryu remained. How and when did the Matsuo family become associated with a Kyushu domain, half a country away? At this point, I have no answer to that question.

Matsuo Kenpū learned Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku from his grandfather (and probably from Katsuno Akio, who precedes him in the lineage of the school). He was also well known for his ability in sumo. studied Shindo Muso-ryu jo under Shiraishi Hanjiro in the first two decades of the 20th century. He moved to the Kanto area sometime in his mid-twenties, and started studying Muso Shinden-ryu Iaido under Nakayama Hakudo, also continuing his jo studies with him. (His association with Nakayama was lifelong—after WWII, Nakayama awarded him Kongen no Maki and a 9th dan in Muso Shinden-ryu).

Like many martial artists of this time, he was an associate of political activists, many of whom who were quite prominent in Kyushu, such as Toyama Mitsuru, Uchida Ryogoro and Uchida Ryohei of the Genyosha and Kokuryukai. He was a contemporary and friend of Sugino Yoshiō of Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū. He later became an officer in the Imperial Japanese army, ending WWII as a colonel. He was also a mentor to Nakamura Taisaburō of Toyama-ryū/Nakamura-ryū battōdō.  He eventually opened an inn and his dojo, the Shinkenkan, in Yokohama.

Matsuo Kenpū died in 1986 without formally designating a successor. His teaching was carried on by his closest associate, Yaguchi Tamotsu, but he, too, died in 2003, leaving authority in the ryu spread among a number of senior practitioners. A number of them have learned the entire mokuroku, but among them, one or another man is considered the most expert at various portions of the curriculum.

Personal note: I saw Matsuo Kenpū in the early 1980’s. He was a remarkable character, quite unlike anyone else I’d ever seen in koryu. He did a straight-forward iai demonstration followed by something out of a medicine show – with his arms tied tightly, he somehow drew a 5 1/2 foot sword from his waist, claiming that this secret technique was practiced by samurai to prepare for a being taken prisoner. That a samurai would have such a huge sword on his waist was unrealistic enough, but that it would be left in his belt as a prisoner was even more so – but that he actually could draw it was incredible.

Lineage

1. Araki Mujinsai Minamoto Hidetsuna (荒木夢仁斎源秀縄) – (founder of 荒木流捕手小具足)
2. ◊
3. ◊
4. Araki Buzaemon Hisakatsu (荒木武左衛門久勝)
5. Shiono Yasuyuki (塩野茂左衛門泰行)
6. Akabane Kazumata Minamoto no Shinrin (羽一間多源信隣) (Date of Menkyo – 1808年)
7. Komatsu Kizaburo (小松廣三郎) (Date of Menkyo – １８４５年)
8. Matsuo Sakuzaemon Yasunobu (松尾作左衛門安信) (Date of Menkyo – １８６２年)
9. Katsuno Akio (勝野秋雄) (Date of Menkyo – １９０２年)
10. Matsuo Kenpū (松尾剣風) (Date of Menkyo – circa 1930, d. 1986)

[i] It should be noted that Araki-ryu gunyo-kogusoku has an oral tradition that the school ultimately descends from the Muromachi period warlord, Araki Murashige. This claim is not uncommon among lines of Araki-ryu, as this daimyo, one of the most important in the Sengoku period, lived in (generally) the same geographical area as Mujinsai and at roughly the same time period. This subject would take us too far afield—suffice it to say that there is no concrete evidence whatsoever of a connection between Murashige and Mujinsai, just this rather persistent oral tradition.

[ii] One kata, Futonaganomoto, has a name very close to that of Ounaganomoto, universally, the fifth kata of Goho no Dan within all other lines of Araki-ryu.

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