, also known as , is a koryū (school of traditional

Japanese martial arts Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts. The usage ...

) founded in 1582 by Saito Hangan Denkibo Katsuhide. The current headmaster (as of 2020) is the 17th

sōke , pronounced , is a Japanese term that means "the head family ouse" In the realm of Japanese traditional arts, it is used synonymously with the term '' iemoto''. Thus, it is often used to indicate "headmaster" (or sometimes translated as "head o ...

Kimura Yasuko. Although Denkibo was already an incredibly talented Samurai, he felt that his technique was still incomplete and went to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine in Kamakura to pray for 100 days. In 1581, Denkibo had the revelation he had been longing for and created his school named Ten Ryū (天流), the “School of Heaven”, which later became Tendō Ryū (天道流), the “School of the Way to Heaven”. Although it is mainly known today for its techniques with the

naginata The ''naginata'' (, , ) is a polearm 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 ( ...

, the Japanese glaive, Tendō-ryū actually includes the practice of various other weapons: the long and short swords, both swords simultaneously, two kinds of daggers, the staff (representing the shaft of a broken naginata), and the Japanese sickle-and-chain (

kusarigama A is a traditional Japanese weapon that consists of a '' kama'' (the Japanese equivalent of a sickle or billhook) on a kusari-fundo – a type of metal chain (''kusari'') with a heavy iron weight (''fundo'') at the end. The ''kusarigama'' is s ...

). The modern version of naginata practice, called "new Naginata" (新しいなぎなた ''atarashii naginata''), is one of the nine official modern budō recognized by the

Nippon Budōkan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. The Budokan was a popular venue for Japanese professional wres ...

. Tendō-ryū is one of the two main classical styles of naginatajutsu which ''atarashii naginata'' is derived from, the other one being

Jikishinkage-ryu Naginatajutsu is a naginatajutsu koryū which claims to have descended from ''Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū''. Despite this claim, Jikishinkage-ryū naginatajutsu does not appear to have any of the original rituals, esoteric teachings, body and weapon mo ...

References

Ko-ryū bujutsu Japanese martial arts 1582 establishments in Asia 1580s establishments in Japan {{martialart-stub