TAKAHIRO YAMAMOTO

Hyoho Taisha Ryu's Shihan Menkyo Kaiden and the

Ryu-Sen-Kan Kancho

Can you introduce yourself ?

My name is Takahiro Yamamoto, Shihan of Hyoho Taisha Ryu and Kancho (head) of the Ryu-Sen-Kan Dojo.

I was born on March 21st, 1970 in Yatsushiro-city, Kumamoto.

Today in 2021, under the 15th Soke Eriko Uehara, my life is dedicated to instructing my students, demonstrating the skills of the school, and holding seminars all over Japan as well as overseas.

Tell us about your beginnings in the world of martial arts. How did you come to practice martial arts? By what art? Master ? Dojo?

I wanted to “refine myself in order to achieve a calm mind.” That is the reason why I started my path through traditional martial arts. “There is no competition in traditional martial arts so we do not compete.” These words from the 13thSoke Takenori Yamakita touched my heart, and they inspired me to start my training in Hyoho Taisha ryu. My Sensei also said: “Always remember to tell yourself, this is for the training of your mind. This means the improvement of self.”

I joined the school on April 5th, 1995, and from that day forward I received all my instruction from Sensei Takenori Yamakita, the 13th Soke (head of the style) of Hyoho Taisha ryu. I went often to the “Ryu-sen-kan,” which at that time was located in Nishiki-machi, Kuma-gun, Kumamoto, because I wanted to learn as much as possible from Yamakita Sensei. On February 26th, 2011 I received a Menkyo Kaiden (full transmission license) and a Ikkoku Ichinin Denju (“sole instructor of the region” certificate). On May 7th, 2011 I established the Hyoho Taisha ryu Ryu-sen-kan, inheriting the name of Ryu-senkan from Sensei Yamakita.

What did you like? What made you love martial arts? What pushed you and continues to push you to continue?

I believe there is no end to the training of skills. Holding a sword helps us to improve and polish our skills - continuous training can even improve the delicate sensitivity of the tips of the fingers. I always attempt to train with the feeling that “this is the first time in my life to swing a sword,” so that each swing of the sword is not a repeat of the same movement. There is no end, in other words, the improvement of one’s self never ends - I train and try to keep improving everyday with this in mind.

For you, what do the martial arts bring from a physical, mental and spiritual point of view?

Martial arts gives us the ability to “understand our own body,” to “observe things thoroughly and in depth,” and helps us to achieve a “calm mind ready for any situation,” however I still have far to go to master these skills. I have led a very meaningful life so far and training in martial arts was my primary source of support.

You are a teacher of Ken-Jutsu, more precisely of the Hyoho Taisha Ryu school which is a Koryu. Can you tell us about this school, its founder, its history and its specificities compared to other Ken Jutsu schools?

Hyoho Taisha ryu is a Kenjutsu (swordsmanship) ryu-ha (school) founded during the last years of the Warring States period, near Kumamoto, about 450 years ago. The founder Marume Kurando no suke Nagayoshi developed Kassatsu Kenpo (literally “the method of the life giving-killing sword”) – putting together his experience in the training and study of Shinkage-ryu and his experience in real battles.

He survived the passage from the Warring States period to the Edo period, namely the period of the famous warlords Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was recognized as the best swordsman in the western part of Japan - “Nishi no tenka ichi” (the best in the east was Yagyu Munenori of Shinkage-ryu). He also supported the dissemination of Hyoho Taisha ryu swordsmanship all over Kyushu and shared his teachings with many students.

The word “Taisha” has many meanings because the name “Taisha” is made up of two parts; it is quite unique and very unusual in that Marume chose to write the first part “Tai” using the Katakana script (タイ) and the second part “Sha” using the usual kanji (捨). The result is that anyone seeing it written タイ捨 cannot know for certain what it means. The first part タイ “Tai” can be substituted with a number of kanji characters that can mean: body, wait, oppose, back, and many other things. The second part 捨 “sha” means to throw away, discard, or forget. This can be interpreted as forget about using the body, forget about waiting, forget about opposing, forget about stepping back – the natural way of moving without thinking. In other words, move naturally.

The skills inherited constitute the characteristics of a real combat swordsmanship style, and take into account body control skills in consideration with various conditions of the battlefield, skills to confuse opponents, and the combination of sword skills used together with Tai-jutsu (fighting skills without weapons) like kicks and submission techniques.

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What does Ken Jutsu bring these days? Philosophically, bodily?

Compared with the times of the Samurai, in modern times we have so many convenient things.

In other words, tools and items are much more developed. The improvement of tools has brought us various benefits. On the other hand, nowadays people do not have the same need to think and to move as before. This led to a degeneration of the person.

Ancient swordsmanship teaches us, in the modern day, how to cope with things (the way of thinking) and how to use our body (body control) which people originally had.

I consider Kenjutsu to be “the way of life” which our predecessors bequeathed to us.

Some in the West speak of a loss of interest in traditional martial arts in Japan. What can you tell us about that?

I think almost the same as you.

However, I think “it is being lost” rather than “it is already lost.” I think this is the same for any country - traditions are considered hard and not easy to get started in, thus particularly young people tend to hesitate to ask about joining.

If this trend continues, it will be difficult to train the next generations and there is a possibility that traditional martial arts will continue to decline. Therefore, I consider the way of sharing information in relation to the times important, like utilizing “innovations” in a positive way as I already mentioned.

Also, I believe that it is our responsibility to find a way to make an “entry point” for potential interested in youth for the purpose of passing traditional culture to the future generations.

You are responsible for the development of Hyoho Taisha Ryu, especially in Europe. How is this school received in Europe? Is the practice of the sword different than in Japan?

Countries in Europe have a long history, the same as Japan. Europeans have “Chivalry” which is a comparable path to “Bushido” (“the way of the Samurai”) in Japan. There is no difference between us in terms of spirituality. “Confidence without conceit” and “humility without obsequiousness,” these are common things between us and thus I think that we walk together on the same “path.”

I read that your school, Taisha Ryu, is related to the techniques of Ninjutsu. Can you tell us more? What does Ninjutsu represent?

Some old books related to our school include the term “Ninjutsu.”

Unfortunately, it seems that the skills were lost sometime in the past. Currently we are conducting historical research on this topic. The Kanji character “忍” (shinobi or nin) is made of two parts: “刃” (yaiba, blade) on the top and “心” (kokoro, mind) below that. From our point of view, we think that the meaning of “the art of the shinobi” (ninjutsu “忍術”) is to “always keep a calm mind in any kind of situation.”

There would be rumors that the Ninjas as we know them (in black and balaclava) did not exist. What is your opinion ?

We think the same.

For sure in the past there were intelligence organizations. However, intelligence activities were carried out by avoiding suspicious dress and attitudes. It was very important for them not to capture another’s attention, avoid noticeable activities as much as possible, wear something matching with the surroundings, and adapt depending on the situation. I think that the imaginary icon of the “Ninja” of today was created because of the influence of modern novels and movies. Of course, I do not think that novel writers or movie directors had an intention to twist the actual history at all - they just created icons for entertainment.

Does your school have Kata? If so what is the use of the practice of Kata?

Not only our school, but also many other traditional martial art styles have standardized forms (kata). There is a very important concept called wabi “和美” – repeatedly training the routine, manners, and correct skills and mastering them by rooting them in your body. Therefore, we get rid of unnecessary movement and habits – this is the concept of sabi “差美.”

The meaning of “kata” in our style is to build up the natural body (shizentai) based on this “wabi sabi” concept. We train hard every day with the aim to achieve beautiful and strong “kata.” Nature has two faces: the beauty of Nature, of the sunset, of the sunrise, and of the majestic mountain - you see it and you think: “Ah, it's beautiful!”, but Nature is also destructive and has great power which humans cannot hope to achieve or overcome.

Like the floods in Kumamoto. It is the same thing. These two faces form what is the true natural body (shizentai). Similarly, during a demonstration (enbu), when one has a natural posture (shisei) people looking from the side will say: “Oh, how beautiful, what very beautiful movement!”, but at the same time the sword swings are powerful and scary. This is how we practice the natural body (shizentai) and its meaning within Taisha ryu.

In addition to your practice as a teacher, do you have a routine at home?

I die every morning.

Saying that, I imagine it in my mind. When I wake up every morning, before getting up, I think about the death of myself as realistically as possible. In other words, I become a “dead person” every morning. It is common for everyone that there are ups and downs in life (we experience both good and bad things) and nobody can avoid that. For example, we may have an unexpected accident.

To keep the “calm mind” as much as possible during such occasions, I die every morning. This is the teaching of Taisha ryu, as well as the teaching of the Samurai.

With your years of practice, do you have an anecdote to share with us?

The origin of the word keiko “稽古” (training) is keikoshoukon “稽古照今”.

This is the word mentioned at the beginning of the ancient book kojiki “古事記” (Records of Ancient Matters) which is considered the oldest book in Japan. The meaning of keikoshoukon “稽古照今” is to illuminate the present by thinking about the past “古” (inishie). I hope that we can inherit our teachings from the past and pass them to future generations.

What are your projects ?

Taisha ryu currently has 2 projects in Europe, other than trainings and seminars.

One is the “SABURAU” project. This is a SAMURAI EXPO in which we introduce traditional Japanese culture (swords and other arts) by collaborating with contemporary artists (e.g. Manga and anime).

By combining traditional culture with modern interests that people are familiar with, we think that we will get more people interested in traditional culture, which is being lost, and will be able to pass it on to future generations. In other words, the purpose is to create an “opportunity” for it to be passed on.

We also have the “Taisha ryu book project.” I think quite a good number of Europeans and Americans know “Gorin no sho” (五輪の書, the book of five rings) written by Miyamoto Musashi and “Hyoho Kadensho” (兵法家伝書, the life-giving sword) written by Yagyu Munenori. On the other hand, none of the Taisha ryu books have been ever translated into English. The abovementioned two books are great, but we plan to publish a book about Taisha ryu next year which will be considered as good as them. I hope that many people will be interested and read it.

A word for the end? Something to add ?

Firstly, I want to express my appreciation to Mr. Julien Boucher for providing me with this great opportunity. I would also like to thank people who kindly read the interview to the end. Thank you very much for having interest not only in Hyoho Taisha ryu, but in traditional Japanese culture. I hope that traditional Japanese culture will be an important and valuable addition to your life.