The role of the ryu in training samurai or Just how many samurai studied koryu? A friend of mine asked me what koryu was and I said that essentially, it refers to the martial arts as practiced by the samurai. But then I stopped to wonder just how accurate my answer was. So I'd like to ask about the role that the (ko)ryu played in feudal Japan with regards to training large numbers of soldiers. A recurring point that is made by authors like Ellis Amdur, Dave Lowry et al. is that the koryu are not suitable for mass instruction of large numbers of people. We hear often about the very special, pervasive, teacher-to-student relationship that is an essential part of koryu. In Hunter Armstrong's essay in Koryu Bujutsu he even goes as far as to say that in koryu there is one dojo consisting of the teacher and his students and that "there are no branch dojo under junior instructors." I also understand that several ryu have vows that prohibit members from teaching the art before they receive permission or license to teach, on pain of divine punishment. Now, all this makes me wonder how it was possible to train the hundreds or thousands of warriors that were needed for the battle times (especially prior to 1600). Were all samurai part of one koryu or another? Or was this membership reserved only for a very few? Did ryu have a kind of basic training that was given to large numbers of warriors, with the more advanced material kept for the elite? Back in "the old days," was it necessary to allow unlicensed people to teach in order to reach a large number of people? How did the transmission method work with an official otome ryu like the Itto-ryu or Yagyu Shinkage-ryu? Was it still only the soke and/or menkyo kaiden holders that were legitimately allowed to teach, or were there what you may call "study groups?" Did you, for example, have fathers teaching sons privately even though they may not have had licenses?
That depends upon the policy of the ryuha and if the shihan of the ryuha has selected anyone to actually open up a shibu dojo. That shibu-cho (branch head) would be required to visit the hombu dojo regularly to insure that correct teaching methods were being observed. During the old days, this would also be based upon his fighting skill, so as to "not let the side down". Bushi of all ranks were required to learn the basic teachings of the domain's otome ryu. Some of these teachings were conducted en masse, say for instance sojutsu drills or kyujutsu formations. Higher teachings would be reserved for select individuals or groups. Teaching thousands of conscripts & lower ranking infantry kenjutsu or naginata would cost both time and money to both arm and instruct troops. Yari at the time were cheaper to make, easy to manufacture and more importantly, easier to teach. Where as kenjutsu & naginata or nagamaki would take years to train and perfect techniques, the basic spearman only really needed a small repertoire of thrusts, deflections and parries to make his weapon work effectively. The Yari also allowed for large bodies of men to close ranks, which was more effective on the battlefield. During the bakumatsu era, bushi from different domains were actually encouraged by their superiors to study as much as possible about bugei juhappan (The eighteen specified military arts). They were actually paid generous stipends if they earned a licence of full proficiency in one ryuha - These bushi were now valuable to the domain, as they could instruct it's warriors in the arts and sciences of that particular ryuha. If the the individual gained another licence from a different ryuha, he would be paid even more, possibly even a new daisho. Of course, doesn't every good father teach his son what he knows? If he doesn't he sends his son off to the best dojo in the area and then improves upon the family's collective knowledge.
Is it true that samurai who really distinguished themselves would be made a member of the domain's Black Belt Hall of Fame and honoured at a special black tie party? :woo:
