[Japanese martial arts anecdotes] Forget about Aiki, have you heard of Kunai Yoshiya? (Down)

As mentioned last time, Kunai Yoshiya is known as the "Ima Musashi" of the Showa era, and his school Kashima Jinryu is also very prosperous. Today's Meiji Jingu Budokan Zhichengkan faction is a system passed down by Kunai disciples Shigeru Tanaka and Minoru Inaba. However, after Kunai's death, Zhichengkan did not join the Kashima Shenryu Martial Arts Alliance. Moreover, the Kashima Jinryu Martial Arts Alliance also emphasized on the official website that "this alliance is the only orthodox teaching organization of Kashima Jinryu [1] ".

After Kunai Yoshiya passed away, it was the teacher Guan Wenwei who conducted the discussion and production in Kashima Shinryu. Guan's book "The Origin of Japanese Budo: Kashima Shinryu" published in 1976 mentioned that the ancestor of Kashima Shinryu was Matsumoto Bizenshou, and the division between the master family and the master family only started from the second generation. The statement here seems to be different from the assertion of Guojing's [2] .

Judging from the discussion on today's official website, the Shifan family's statement seems to be moving closer to Zhixin Yingliu: "The biography of Kashima Shenliu's art of war handed down by the Guojing family ... has the same origin and the same origin as the biography of Xinyin Zhixinliu, but only in martial arts. The essence is not the same... The origin of the nickname of "Kashima Shenryu" is "Zhixinliu" because of the ancestor Matsumoto Bizenshou..." [3] In the text, Xinyin Zhixinliu is another name for Zhixinyingliu. The full name of Zhixin Yingliu is Kashima Shenzhuan Zhixin Yingliu, and Guan's 2009 book is called "Kashima Shenzhuan Wushu".

There is, of course, a reason for this turn. The authority of the Kashima Kamiyu is largely based on the undefeated record of "Ima Musashi". Shanya also maintains that the mystery of the Kashima sword inherited by the school has been passed down from generation to generation in the Kokui family since the fifth century Kokuma, and the orthodoxy of the genre is completely attributed to the Kokui family. So what about people outside the family?

According to the official statement of Kashima Shinryu, the division of the clan and the teachers was unified in the twelfth generation of the clan, the Guojing Dashan, and the Taoism has been passed down in the country since then. However, after Shan Mi's death, there was still a distinction between the Zong family and the normal family. Today's official website of Kashima Shinryu has introductions of genres, speeches by teachers, speeches by the general director of martial arts, and speeches by the general affairs director. But there is no page for the clan's speech.

The front page of the school's website reads: "The Kashima Shenryu Martial Arts Alliance is dominated by the 19th-generation teacher's family, Guan Wenwei, who is fully appointed by the 18th-generation clan family, Kunai Yoshiya, and the 19th-generation clan's family, Kunii Masatsugu..." "Kashima Shenryu®" is a registered trademark of the Contemporary Teachers School, which is used for the rank recognition and exemption of the alliance... Without the permission of the Contemporary Teachers, any lectures and teaching activities are prohibited... [4] "In addition, the alliance stipulates The application letter is to be signed by all beginners, and the object of the name is also a teacher [5] . The Zong family is still a signboard, but now the master family is the master family.

Apart from who is in charge, this discourse seems to be turning to deal with Kunai's legacy. "Italy Musashi" left behind not only its reputation. With the origin of Kashima Jinryu, it was able to develop rapidly in the early Showa era. In addition to Guojing's strength, interpersonal communication is also a very important part.

According to the tombstone inscription written by Guan Wenwei, the Kunai clan began to contact the right-wing groups at the time after he retired from the army [6] . The original text reads: "Joined the army during the First World War, and later became a teacher of national scholar Imaizumi Tesuke, and at the same time graduated from Kokugakuin University. He has a profound understanding of the dignity of the national body. As a result, he participated in the Imperial Church of Japan, the Blood Alliance Kyoya Alliance, and Japanese youth. Alliance, etc. [7] 」

Dadasuke Imaizumi was the dean of the Imperial College of Nihon University and a famous Shintoist in the Showa period. His last words were "The Emperor of the World". In the publication "Promotion of the Imperial Way" sponsored by Imaizumi, Kunai Shi once published an article introducing Kashima Jinryu. The Blood Alliance and the Xingya Alliance were all right-wing organizations at that time. There is not much information to judge the depth of Kunai's involvement in right-wing activities, but in the famous "Blood Alliance Incident" of the Showa era, the murderer who assassinated Junnosuke Inoue, hid in Kunai Yoshiya's gym after the murder [8] .

Due to the background of the times, the development of martial arts in the early Showa era in Japan was often unclearly related to right-wing, radicalism, and military forces. For example, in the aforementioned blood alliance incident, in addition to Kunai Yoshiya, Otsuki Otsuki of Otsuki-ryu Aiki Jiujitsu also provided assistance; the predecessor of today's Aikikai, "Emperor Martial Arts Hall", had a deep connection with the Japanese military at the time when it was founded. relationship [9] . Judging from the atmosphere of Japan's gradual militarization at that time, it would be difficult for many teachers in the martial arts world to stay out of the way.

As mentioned in the previous article, postwar Japan once banned martial arts activities. Even after the ban was lifted, martial arts often gave people a negative impression. For example, Taihogi Teruo, a professor at Saitama University, once recalled that in high school, he wanted to learn kendo, but his mother discouraged him; he wanted to practice Aikido in college, but his parents and brother were very angry. At that time (1960s, 1970s), for many Japanese, it was still "martial arts = violence = right wing" [10] .

After the war, the Japanese martial arts world went a long way to shake off this negative stereotype. For example, the Imperial Martial Arts Academy mentioned above was renamed Aikikai after the war, and emphasized that Aikido is "the martial arts of love", which requires "no fighting, no fighting." Methods). In short, martial arts/martial arts began to emphasize their sports value and cultural value, and they also paid special attention to etiquette and form. Many martial arts traditions try to avoid their associations with violence, militarism, right-wing, etc. That said, negative perceptions in society persisted for decades before fading away.

Compared with the timely withdrawal of the older generation of martial arts masters such as Uezhi Mori and the other, many modern martial arts practitioners seem to be more savage. For example, the last article mentioned that Shirakawa Ryuji highly respected Kunai Yenya, and talked about the legend of Kunui's single sword liberation of Japanese martial arts. Some people even deliberately went to play gun kendo, military short sword and so on. It can only be said that young people are young people, and they cannot understand the hardships of their ancestors in starting a business.

This article is simultaneously published in the author's square column .

Notes:

[1] Refer to the homepage of the official website of Kashima Shinryu, URL: https://www.kashima-shinryu.jp/index.html , access date 2022/5/31

[2] Refer to Guan Wenwei, 1976 "The Origin of Japanese Budo Kashima Shinryu" pp1-2. It is also interesting that before March 8, 2018, the current clan of Kashima Jinryu's Wikipedia, Masatoshi Kunai, was the 21st clan, and after March 8, he became the 19th clan. I can't understand why there is such a change. It is probably a clerical error that was discovered for a long time.

[3] Quoted from the page of the official website of Kashima Kamryu, "The True Story of Kashima Kamryu". Website: https://www.kashima-shinryu.jp/seiden/i_historical_fact.html , Access date: 2022/05/31

[4] Quoted from the homepage of the official website of Kashima Kamryu, and translated into Chinese by the author. Website: https://www.kashima-shinryu.jp/index.html , Access date: 2022/05/31

[5] Refer to the section "Kashima Shenryu Budo Alliance" on the official website of Kashima Shenryu. Website: https://www.kashima-shinryu.jp/i_federation.html , Access date: 2022/05/31

[6] The author has not found any information to judge whether Kunai Yoshiya has been deeply involved in right-wing activities. However, in the 10th year of the Showa era (1935), Mr. Kunai used his real name Michiyuki Kuniji to write an article titled "The Activity of the Alliance for Political and Religious Reform", which was published in the magazine "Flying in Japan". The magazine was a right-wing theoretical magazine, and the Alliance for Political and Religious Reform was one of the right-wing groups at the time. Considering Kunai's role in the blood alliance incident and the content of his inscription, it can be inferred that Kunui is at least a sympathizer if not a participant in the event.

[7] Quoted from the inscription on the tombstone of Yoshiya Kunai, the original text reads: "The first major war against the army, after that, Mr. Dingsuke Imaizumi, a Chinese scholar, worked as a teacher, and at the same time graduated from the University of the National Academy. Deep く Kokuti の 厳 を Wu る. The Imperial Church of Japan, the blood alliance The tomb of Yoshiya Kunai is now in the Katsuzo-in in Iwako City, Fukushima Prefecture.

[8] The blood alliance incident refers to the two assassination incidents that occurred in Japan in 1932. The victims were Junnosuke Inoue, the former Minister of Tibetan Affairs, and Takuma, the commander-in-chief of the Mitsui Foundation. The assassination was orchestrated by a radical group called the Blood Alliance. For Kunai Yoshiya's role in this event, please refer to "The Blood Alliance Incident Judgment", dated 2022/5/30, URL: https://ja.wikisource.org/wiki/Blood Alliance Incident Judgment

[9] Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, was invited to Tokyo to teach martial arts by Admiral Takeshita Takeshita, and Takeshita Takeshita was also the first president of the Imperial Martial Arts Association. Refer to Shigemi Inaga's "Modern Days of "Heji Road" その戦前から戦戦へのSeverance and Inheritance>

[10] Refer to Teruo Dabaomu's "Sketch of Wu" pp51-54