Swordsmanship

[xSwordsmanx]

Has anyone ever heard of the Furanui Ryu style of swordsmanship? It was created by Hitokiri Kawakama Gensai. I think it would be geat if someone today could learn this style of Swordsmanship.

[xSwordsmanx]

I also like the Jigen Ryu style.

[Aegis]

All I could find on that one...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furanui

Seems to be quite common in certain anime series. Where did you hear about it from?

[Kogusoku]

Originally Posted by xSwordsmanx

Has anyone ever heard of the Furanui Ryu style of swordsmanship? It was created by Hitokiri Kawakama Gensai. I think it would be geat if someone today could learn this style of Swordsmanship.

Sorry to burst your bubble on this, but "Furanui-ryu" never existed historically, it was a fictional school made for the plotline in a famous chanbara (Swashbuckling) anime, Rouruni Kenshin.

Kawakami Gensai was a real historical figure, and was a samurai of the Higo domain (Present day Kumamoto prefecture) and was born before the Meiji restoration. The Emperor, originally only a religious figurehead used by the Tokugawa shogunate, gained some political power after the political and economic climate of Japan changed.

Kawakami Gensai was nicknamed "Hitokiri Gensai", which means killer Gensai after being promoted to captain of the guard. (It was common for nobles to change their given names and sometimes, their family names as their political situation changed. Kawakami Gensai's original name was Komori Genjiro.) Kawakami's political orientation was pro-emperor and he colluded with other political gigures of the same mindset. He later was hired as an assassin and killed many Pro-Tokugawa Shogunate officials and spokesmen.

One of his most famous assassinations was the killing of a controversial politician, Sakuma Shozan, which according to records was done in broad daylight. He was executed in 1872, for allegedly assassinating Imperial counsellor, Hirozawa Maomi.

The main character of Himura Kenshin of Rourouni Kenshin/ Samurai X was very loosely based upon Kawakami Gensai.

If he was a captain of the Guard for the Higo domain, he would probably been required to learn the Otome-ryu (Official school) of the said domain. The Otome-ryu for the Higo domain was Sekiguchi-ryu (Also known as Higo-ryu iai). There were many kenjutsu ryuha in the Higo Domain.

Sorry for the long post.