Ito style

A leading school of early modern spearmanship, this is the origin of the kudayari (fast spear). It is also called the Kenkou school. Its founder was a native of Oshu, Ito Kii Nyudo Suketada. Suketada first studied the Shinto school of sword and spear techniques and mastered their secrets, but one day in a dream, Kashima Daimyojin and Marishiten appeared to him and taught him how to put a ring tube through the handle of a suyari (straight spear) and quickly unleash the spear. He was also injured on the battlefield and his left hand became disabled, so to compensate for this, he came up with the idea of ​​fitting a tube in the shape of a ryugo (a wooden top with a narrowed middle shaped like a drum) to the handle and twisting it, eventually creating the school. In the Edo period, many masters of this style came out, each adding their own unique techniques, and it became popular as various schools, such as Nihon Kakuten-ryu (Ogasawara Naiki Sadaharu), Gyokaku-ryu (Tanabe Yazaemon Nagatsune), Torao-ryu (Torao Magobei Sanan), Isshi-ryu (Matsumoto Nagatonokami Sadayoshi), Nuka-ryu (Tsuda Gonnojo Nobuyuki), Myoken Jitoku-ryu (Inoue Hyozaemon Teruichi), and Risou-ryu (Ishino Denichi).

According to a document from the mid-Edo period, the standard way in which this school of spears was made was for the handle to be 1 jo, the body (tip) to be 7.5 sun with double ridges, the ferrule to be 3.5 sun in crane beak shape, the overall length to be 1 jo 1 shaku 1 sun, the tube to be made of metal and 3.5 sun, and the length from the neck to the tube stopper to be 1 shaku 3 sun.

[Ichiro Watanabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

近世槍術(そうじゅつ)の一流で、管槍（早槍）(くだやり)の源流。建孝(けんこう)流ともいう。始祖は奥州の人、伊東紀伊入道佐忠(すけただ)。佐忠は初め神道流の刀槍二術を学び、その奥義に達したが、ある日夢想に鹿島(かしま)大明神および摩利支天(まりしてん)が現れ、素槍（直槍）(すやり)の柄に輪管を通して、すばやく槍を繰り出す術を伝授されたといい、また戦場で負傷して左手が不自由となり、これをカバーするために、柄に輪鼓(りゅうご)（中央がくびれて鼓の形をした木製独楽(こま)）の形をした管をはめてしごくことを創意し、ついに一流を編み出したともいう。江戸時代に入り、この流儀から数多くの名手を輩出し、それぞれ独自のくふうを加え、日本覚天流（小笠原内記貞春）、行覚流（田辺八左衛門長常）、虎尾(とらお)流（虎尾孫兵衛三安）、一指流（松本長門守(ながとのかみ)定好）、貫流（津田権之丞(ごんのじょう)信之）、妙見自得(みょうけんじとく)流（井上兵左衛門照一）、離相(りそう)流（石野伝一）などの流派に分かれて普及した。

　なお、江戸中期の伝書によれば、この流の管槍の仕立て方として、柄は1丈、身（穂）は両鎬(りょうしのぎ)で7寸5分、石突(いしづき)はツルの嘴(くちばし)形で3寸5分、全長1丈1尺1寸、管は金属製で3寸5分、螻首(けらくび)から管留(くだどめ)まで太刀打(たちうち)1尺3寸が標準とされた。

［渡邉一郎］

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