is a Japanese koryū

martial art Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

founded in unknown time, but likely in early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

or before, by . Its name means "Old Tradition of Higo", meaning it was already old during time when first written records about it appeared.Amdur, Ellis, ''Old School: Essays on Japanese Martial Traditions'', Edgework, 2002. According to ryūha's own records, founder Kame Terushige created this martial way from techniques passed to him by unknown teachers and bequeathed it to Matsumoto Genjiro, who was associated with the Higo clan of mountainous Higo Province of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

. The system teaches

naginatajutsu is the Japanese martial art of wielding the . The naginata is a weapon resembling the medieval European glaive and the Chinese guan dao. Most naginatajutsu practiced today is in a modernized form, a ''gendai budō'', in which competitions al ...

. The

naginata The ''naginata'' (, ) is a pole weapon and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades (''nihontō''). ''Naginata'' were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru (foot soldiers) and sōhei ( ...

of Higo Ko-ryu is unique: shaft and blade are both four feet long. The weapon this school studies was archaic already in the sixteenth century.

References

External links

* http://www.koryu.com/guide/higoko.html Higo Ko-ryu at koryu.com * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9nBAuOu9DE Higo Ko-ryu demonstration at YouTube Ko-ryū bujutsu {{japan-martialart-stub