or — Toshitoshi (利厳) was the founder of the Owari mainline of the

Yagyū Shinkage-ryū is one of the oldest Japanese schools of swordsmanship (''kenjutsu''). Its primary founder was Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, who called the school Shinkage-ryū. In 1565, Nobutsuna bequeathed the school to his greatest student, Yagyū Munetoshi, who a ...

style of swordsmanship in the 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 ...

. He was a son of Yagyū Toshikatsu and a grandson of Yagyū Muneyoshi (Sekishūsai). His name is sometimes mispronounced as Toshiyoshi, but the kanji 厳 reading was passed down as "toshi" in the Yagyū family. His ''Zokumyō'' (first name taken at the time of the

Genpuku is a Japanese coming-of-age ceremony which dates back to Japan's classical Nara Period (710–794 AD). /sup> This ceremony marked the transition from child to adult status and the assumption of adult responsibilities. The age of participat ...

) was originally Chūjirō, and his Kaimyō (

Dharma name A Dharma name or Dhamma name is a new name acquired during both lay and monastic Buddhist initiation rituals in Mahayana Buddhism and monastic ordination in Theravada Buddhism (where it is more proper to call it Dhamma or Sangha name). The nam ...

) was Jo'un-sai ; though he is mostly remembered as Hyōgonosuke. He was favored by the old Sekishūsai over Munenori, who had been recommended to the Shōgun. From 1603 to 1607, he served

Katō Kiyomasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. His court title was Higo-no-kami. His name as a child was ''Yashamaru'', and first name was ''Toranosuke''. He was one of Hideyoshi's Seven Spears of Shizugatake. Biography ...

. Thereafter, he became an itinerant warrior. Beginning in 1615, he served

Tokugawa Yoshinao was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Biography Born the ninth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu with his concubine, Okame no Kata. His childhood name was Gorōtamaru (五郎太丸). While still a young child, he was appointed leader of ...

, the founder of the Owari branch of the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this clan r ...

. He directly instructed Yoshinao in the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū.

In legend

While the famous swordsman

Miyamoto Musashi , also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship a ...

was staying in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

, Musashi noticed a certain warrior walking in the street, in with a way of carrying himself that was striking to Musashi. Musashi then approached Hyogonosuke, and Hyogonosuke did the same. Musashi asked, "''Aren't you Lord Yagyu Hyogonosuke?''" Hyogonosuke replied, "''I am. Aren't you Lord Miyamoto Musashi?''". Though Musashi and Hyogonosuke had never once met each other at any time in the past, because of the way he carried himself, along with the certain martial energy that he emanated, it could not have been anyone else but Hyogonosuke. So instead of measuring each other in combat, Hyogonosuke and Musashi instead conversed like old friends within the house of Yagyu. Hyogonusuke also appears in "Musashi" by Eiji Yoshikawa.

References

* ''Miyamoto Musashi - Life and Writings''

In legend

References

Further reading