Chūjō Hyōgo-no-suke

Chūjō Hyōgo-no-suke (whose name was Nagahide; birth year unknown – 1384) was a warrior and swordsman active in the Nanboku-chō period, and is known as the founder of the swordsmanship school Chūjō-ryū. Derived from Nen-ryū, Chūjō-ryū became one of the sources of the later Ittō-ryū lineage. Established as a swordsmanship system centered on the kodachi (short sword), it had a major influence on many later schools of swordsmanship.

Much about Chūjō Hyōgo-no-suke's life remains unclear. He is said to have been lord of the castle of Koromo in Mikawa Province (Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture), to have served as a member of the hyōjōshū (council of state) of the Muromachi shogunate, and to have instructed the shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in swordsmanship. It is also said that he studied swordsmanship under Nen'ami Jion (founder of Nen-ryū). The distinctive feature of the Chūjō-ryū he established was a technique of fighting long swords with a short sword of about two shaku (approximately 60 cm); the school developed into one that also transmitted techniques with the yari (spear) and naginata.

The greatest feature of Chūjō-ryū was its assertion of the superiority of the kodachi over the long sword (tachi) tactics that were mainstream at the time. Its doctrine held that in close-range combat outside the reach of the long sword, a short, highly maneuverable blade was effective. The school also called its martial art 'heihō', written with the character meaning 'even/peace' instead of the usual character meaning 'military'.

From Chūjō-ryū came the Toda-ryū, known through Toda Seigen of Echizen, which became the foundation of many famous schools, including the later Ittō-ryū. The swordsmanship philosophy of the kodachi established by Chūjō Hyōgo-no-suke gave rise to a current of exploring the diverse ways of using the Japanese sword, and holds an important place in the history of Japanese swordsmanship.