Aisu Kageryu

A school of swordsmanship that originated with Aisu Iko. It is also simply called Kage-ryu or Kage no Ryu. After Iko's founding in 1487 (Chokyo 1), this school gradually spread throughout Kyushu, and some of its masters were even among the Wako (Japanese pirates) who were wreaking havoc on the Korean Peninsula and Chinese coasts at the time. The Wako's swordsmanship was apparently a threat to the Ming people, and in the military book "Kiko Shinsho" (1584) edited by Qi Jiguang, who gained fame for his efforts to defeat them, he copied a fragment of the "Kage-ryu no Mokuroku" (Enpi Chapter) which he claimed he had acquired from a Wako in his camp in 1561 (40th year of the Jiajing era). The above list and seven illustrations of sword techniques by a monkey were included in the "Bubi-shi" written by Bou Gengi in 1624. Meanwhile, the Kage-ryu style was brought to the Kanto region by Ikko's eldest son Koshichiro Munemichi, and became the Shinkage-ryu style of Kamiizumi Ise no Kami Hidetsuna, which gave rise to many branches, such as the Yagyu Shinkage-ryu, Hikita Kage-ryu, and Taisute-ryu, and spread throughout the country.

[Ichiro Watanabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

愛洲移香(いこう)を祖とする剣術の流派。単に陰流もしくは影之流(かげのりゅう)ともいう。この流は1487年（長享1）移香の創始以後、しだいに九州各地に広がり、当時朝鮮半島・中国沿岸で猛威を振るった倭寇(わこう)の間にもこれを習得するものがあった。倭寇の刀術は明(みん)人の脅威であったらしく、その討伐に名声をはせた戚継光(せきけいこう)が編集した兵書『紀効新書(きこうしんしょ)』（1584）には、自ら嘉靖(かせい)40年（1561）に陣中の倭人から獲得したとして、「影流之目録」（猿飛(えんぴ)の巻）の断簡を模刻している。ついで天啓4年（1624）につくられた茅元儀(ぼうげんぎ)の『武備志』にも前記の目録と猿による刀法の図解七つが載せられている。一方、移香の長子小七郎宗通(こしちろうむねみち)によって関東にもたらされた陰流は、上泉伊勢守秀綱(かみいずみいせのかみひでつな)の新陰流となり、さらに柳生(やぎゅう)新陰流、疋田(ひきた)陰流、タイ捨(しゃ)流など多くの分派を生み、全国に広がった。

［渡邉一郎］

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