圓心流 – Enshin Ryū

For more than four centuries, Enshin Ryū has been transmitted from teacher to student, preserving martial skills whose origins reach back to Japan’s age of the samurai.

Unlike modern martial arts developed primarily for sport or competition, Enshin Ryū is a koryū—a classical Japanese martial tradition rooted in the combative knowledge and culture of the samurai period.

Today, Enshin Ryū continues to be practiced as a living tradition through direct instruction and transmission from teacher to student.

稽古-Practice

Enshin Ryū’s curriculum is vast, beginning with Iaijutsu (sword drawing) and Yawara (Basic Jūjutsu), advancing to Kumi Uchi (grappling) and Kenjutsu (swordsmanship), and culminating in the refined art of Kumiuchi Kenden where the Tachi and long Ōdachi swords are combined with Kumi Uchi in irregular ways.

Enshin Ryū is also one of the last Koryū schools in Japan that teaches Ōdachi techniques (Swords with blades over 90cm long are called Ōdachi) .

歴史-History

Inugami Sakon Shōgen Nagakatsu studied grappling (kumi uchi) from a fellow Imperial Guard, Hayami Nagato no Kami Enshin, and by combining it with his family’s sword tradition, he created Kumiuchi Kenden. This system continued to be transmitted and further developed within his family line.
Through his descendants it gave birth to the Kyūshin and Kyūshin Ichi-ryū schools, which some of it’s Jūjutsu techniques were later incorporated into modern Jūdō.

In the Edo period, this system reached the Kobashi family of Sanuki (today’s Kagawa Prefecture, Shikoku) where it went through a reform process that incorporated knowledge from various other old schools into the ancient Enshin Ryū.

Enshin Ryū’s Lineage Keizu

Inugami Sakon Shōgen Nagakatsu
犬上左近将監永勝
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Inugami Kyūshinsai Nagatomo
犬上扱心斎永友
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Itō Sukebei Shigekatsu
伊藤助兵衛重勝
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Itō Shirōbei Munemasa / Ii Munemasa
伊藤四郎兵衛宗正/井伊宗正
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Tanahashi Gobei Yoshisada
棚橋五兵衛義定
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Inugami Gunbei Nagayasu
犬上郡兵衛永保
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Unknown one or two generations in the Yoshida family
吉田家における一、二代不明
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Kobashi Shōbei Masahira
小橋庄兵衛正平
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Fujimoto Ringorō
藤本林五郎
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Kobashi Nichikan Masanori
小橋日感正則
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Tanaka Fumon
田中普門

アコカ東門 – Akoka Tōmon

Akoka Tōmon is a Menkyo Kaiden Shihan of Enshin Ryū. He trained under Sōke Tanaka Fumon for twenty years and received direct full transmission of the school’s teachings, including the ancient part of Enshin Ryū (Koden Enshin Ryū).

His goal is to faithfully preserve and transmit Enshin Ryū, keeping the teachings alive through practice, research, and clear instruction.

lives and teaches in Japan.

The Fumon Archive

When my teacher Tanaka Fumon, the late sōke of Enshin-ryū, passed away, many of his important documents and books came into my care.

Through this section, I hope to honor his memory, the memory of past sōke who preserved and transmitted the tradition, and to honor Enshin-ryū itself.

The Fumon Archive will present articles on the history and teachings of the ryūha, related topics, and findings from my ongoing research.

Enshin-ryū Hyōhō

An abridged translation from the late Sōke Tanaka Fumon’s book, Enshin-ryū Hyōhō: The True Transmission of Third-Generation Nichikan. Enshin-ryū Origins The origins of Enshin-ryū lie in the Sengoku period, when Oda Nobunaga was pursuing the unification of “all under heaven” during the time of Emperor Ōgimachi, in the 1580s. Originally from Hikone in Ōmi province, …