I am humbled, honoured and also very grateful to Shortt Sensei for appointing me as the Chief Instructor (Shihanke 師範家) of the Ryōi Shintōkai (良移心当会) organisation. I commit to do my utmost to repay his trust and to embrace this responsibility by taking Ryōi Shintō-ryū Jūjutsu (良移心当流 柔術) forward. However, whilst in this role, it […]

I have loved this scene from Kurosawa's 'The Seven Samurai' since I first saw the film many years ago. The swordsman Kyūzō (久蔵) - played by Miyaguchi Seiji (宮口 精二), in a few brief moments, displays principles and strategies detailed in the upper levels Ryōi Shintō-ryū Jūjutsu (良移心当流 柔術) 'mokuroku' documents.A truly brilliant piece of […]

The Ryōi Shintō-ryū Shidō-in-kai (良移心当指導員会 - Ryōi Shintō-ryū Teachers Group) was founded this week to facilitate communication to and between instructors so as to assist in preservation and promotion of Ryōi Shintō-ryū Jūjutsu (良移心当流 柔術). There will soon be a closed Facebook group and a member’s access page on this website to support Ryōi Shintō […]

Fujita Chōsuke (藤田長助) - (died 1839) learned Ryōi Shintō-ryū (良移心当流) from Kubo Sadaharu (久保貞治) of the Kasahara (笠原) line and Yōshin-ryū (楊心流). He went on to found the Ise Jitoku Tenshin-ryū Jūjutsu (為勢自得天眞流柔術 aka: Jigō Tenshin-ryū 自剛天真流 ). The link below show the 16th generation Sōke (宗家) Mifune Toichiro (三舟統一郎) demonstrating of Ise Jitoku Tenshin-ryū:

Further illustrations from my copy of the 'Kito Yushin Jujutsu Hiden Kai' (起倒雄心 柔術秘傳解 - An Explanation of the Secret Jujutsu Techniques of the Kito Yushin School) document. As one would expect, the connections between Ryōi Shintō-ryū Jūjutsu (良移心当流 柔術) and Kitō-ryū Jūjutsu (起倒流柔術) are evident within this document. Eric Shahan has translated another copy […]

Another illustration from the 'Kito Yushin Jujutsu Hiden Kai' (起倒雄心 柔術秘傳解 - An Explanation of the Secret Jujutsu Techniques of the Kito Yushin School) document, which I recently obtained from Japan. Eric Shahan's translation of this document in his excellent book 'A Collection of Curious Jujutsu Manuals: Volume II' provides the description of this illustration […]

Regular readers of these posts will appreciate that Kitō-ryū Jūjutsu (起倒流柔術) was derived from Ryōi Shintō-ryū Jūjutsu (良移心当流 柔術). I recently obtained a copy of the 'Kito Yushin Jujutsu Hiden Kai' (起倒雄心 柔術秘傳解 - An Explanation of the Secret Jujutsu Techniques of the Kito Yushin School) document from Japan. Fortunately, Eric Shahan provides a traslation […]

My lockdown training partner modelling two different versions of the new embroidered Ryōi Shintō-ryū (良移心当流) keiko-gi (稽古着 - training uniform). (My thanks to Stephen Grayston for the calligraphy and to Simon Yeo for arranging the embroidery)

The Nagahama line (長浜派) of the Ryōi Shintō-ryū (良移心当流) would use a number of different written permutations of Shintō-ryū (as an abbreviated term instead of Ryōi Shintō-ryū). Amongst these were the: Shintō Yawara 神当和, Shintō-ryū Yawara 心當流和, Shintō Yawara 心當和, Shintō Yawara 神富柔, & Shintō-ryū 心當流. In the 'Kenpō Gokui Atemi Sappô Kappō Meikai' by […]

I was interested to read in Eric Shahan’s translation of various mokuroku in his excellent book: ‘A Collection of Curious Jujutsu Manuals’ (2018). Included within this is a work written by Kimura Sentaro (written in 1907) concerning the Shingen Shinto ryu. This is described as being a derivation of the Yagyū-ryū and the Shinto-ryū . […]

The picture (above) shows how Ryōi Shintō-ryū Jūjutsu (良移心当流 柔術) and Kōdōkan Jūdō (講道館柔道) divide the body up for Nage-waza (投技 throwing techniques) in Tachi-waza (立ち技standing techniques), or Tachi-shō (立相 ). One may surmise that the rationale for the division of Jūdō Nage-waza was based on the older schools (Ryūha 流派). In addition, both Ryōi Shintō-ryū […]