Iizasa Chōisai

Iizasa Chōisai (1387–1488) was born in Iizasa village, Katori District, Shimōsa Province (present-day Tako Town, Katori District, Chiba Prefecture). He is known as a legendary heihō master who founded the Tenshin Shōden Shintō-ryū (Katori Shintō-ryū), and he is regarded as the founder of one of the three great original currents of heihō (martial strategy). His longevity is said to have reached 102 years, and it is told that after severe training in a sacred precinct he mastered a divinely inspired swordsmanship.

After serving the Chiba clan, Chōisai is said to have secluded himself at Umekiyama Fudansho, near the inner shrine of Katori Shrine, and to have entered a 1,000-day course of training. During this training he is said to have received an oracle from Katori Ōkami (the martial deity Futsunushi-no-kami) and been granted the inner secrets of swordsmanship. This divinely granted experience is the origin of the name “Tenshin Shōden Shintō-ryū,” and it shows how swordsmanship became joined with a Shintō spiritual dimension that went beyond mere combat technique.

The Tenshin Shōden Shintō-ryū was established as a “comprehensive heihō” that systematized every aspect of the martial arts: not only swordsmanship but also iaijutsu, bōjutsu, sōjutsu, naginatajutsu, jūjutsu, shuriken-jutsu, and castle-construction techniques (chikujō-jutsu). Even today the sōke (head family) maintains a dōjō in the Katori area and transmits the school, and in 1960 it was designated an intangible cultural property of Chiba Prefecture.

Chōisai's lineage produced swordsmen, including Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami, who had a major influence on the sword schools of the later Kashima and Katori lineage. The schools formed by these disciples eventually came to make up the main currents of Japanese swordsmanship, and Chōisai is also called the “restorer of Japanese heihō.” The school transmits the teaching that “heihō is the law of peace,” and the spirit that regards martial arts as a path of training for body and mind continues to be passed down to the present day.