is a school of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese swordsmanship ''(

kenjutsu is an umbrella term for all ('' ko-budō'') schools of Japanese swordsmanship, in particular those that predate the Meiji Restoration. Some modern styles of kendo and iaido that were established in the 20th century also included modern forms of ...

)'' created by Yamaoka Tetsutaro Takayuki, more commonly known as Yamaoka Tesshū. He studied a number of ryu over the years, most notably Jikishinkage Ryu, Hokushin Ittō-ryū and Nakanishi-ha Ittō-ryū. Tesshū received the full transmissions of both the Hokushin Ittō-ryū and the Nakanishi-ha Ittō-ryū from his teachers. In creating his own line of transmission, he named it the Itto Shoden Muto-ryu to emphasize that he was passing on the correct transmission of Ittō-ryū principles and techniques. The term ''muto'' (No-Sword) refers to Yamaoka's stated realization that the difference between the sword and the self, and between oneself and one’s opponent is illusory and that the underlying unity of all is the most important thing in swordsmanship. The school practice ''shugyō'', (austere) training of swordsmanship, which put into test one's mental and physical capacity to the greatest levels. Today, there are very few exponents of Yamaoka’s school. Itto Shoden Muto-ryu is now practiced in Kanazawa,

Ishikawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,140,573 (31 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,186 km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to ...

. Murakami Yasumasa, who learned from a late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Ishida Kazuto, used to be the sixth generation head of the school.

List of heads of the school

* Founder : Tesshū Yamaoka * 2nd Head : Zenjirō Kagawa * 3rd Head : Ryūzō Ishikawa * 4th Head : Ryūnosuke Kusaka * 5th Head : Kazuto Ishida * 6th Head : Murakami Yasumasa * 7th Head : Takehiro Izaki

References

Ko-ryū bujutsu Japanese martial arts {{martialart-stub