Yagyū Toshitoshi
柳生利厳
Yagyū Hyōgonosuke, third-generation head of Shinkage-ryū and founder of the Owari Yagyū line
Description
Origins
Yagyū Toshitoshi (1579-1650) was a swordsman active from the Azuchi-Momoyama period into the early Edo period. He was commonly known as Hyōgonosuke, and also as Mozaemon, taking the name Joun-sai in his later years. He was born in the Yagyū estate of Yamato Province, the son of Yagyū Toshikatsu, eldest son of Yagyū Muneyoshi (Sekishūsai). Yagyū Munenori, who became sword instructor to the shogunal house, was his uncle.
Succession as Third Head of Shinkage-ryū
Toshitoshi learned Shinkage-ryū directly from his grandfather Sekishūsai, and in 1606 is said to have received from him the certificate confirming succession to the orthodox line of Shinkage-ryū as its third-generation head. Beyond swordsmanship, he studied Shintō-ryū spearmanship and Anazawa-ryū naginata under Atō Bōan, reportedly attaining mastery in both.
Departure from the Katō House and Years as a Rōnin
For a time he served Katō Kiyomasa in Higo, but around 1604 he is said to have cut down a fellow retainer and left that service. He then travelled the provinces for roughly a decade, refining his martial method through practical training. This period as a masterless swordsman is regarded as the formative phase of what became the Owari Yagyū technique.
Service to the Owari Tokugawa and the Founding of Owari Yagyū
In 1615, on the recommendation of the Owari domain elder Naruse Masanari, he was taken into the service of Tokugawa Yoshinao, lord of Owari, with a stipend of five hundred koku, teaching swordsmanship, spearmanship and naginata. Shinkage-ryū was thereby established as the official style of the Owari domain, laying the foundation of the Owari Yagyū house that has transmitted Shinkage-ryū down to the present day. Where the Edo Yagyū line of Munenori rose in political standing as instructors to the shogunal house, the Owari Yagyū is characterised as the "Yagyū of sword technique," devoted to refining the methods handed down from Kamiizumi Nobutsuna himself.
Technique and Writings
Toshitoshi expounded the principle of awase-uchi and of the jikiritsu-taru-mi, the naturally erect body that dispenses with deeply lowered stances, and in doing so substantially reorganised the body method of Shinkage-ryū. His view of martial method is set out in the transmission text Shijū Fusha-sho. His third son, Yagyū Toshikane (Renya-sai), succeeded to both the household and the school, and the Owari Yagyū Shinkage-ryū was further refined and passed on to later generations.