The were a family of ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

s'' (feudal lords) with lands just outside

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

, who became the heads of one of Japan's greatest schools of swordsmanship,

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 ...

. The Yagyū were also

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 o ...

teachers to the Tokugawa shōguns and descendant of the famous

Taira clan The was one of the four most important Japanese clans, clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period, Heian period of History of Japan, Japanese history – the others being the Minamoto clan, Minamoto, the Fujiwara clan, Fuji ...

, hailing from prestigious Imperial Lineage with the

Kabane were Japanese hereditary noble titles. Their use traces back to ancient times when they began to be used as titles signifying a family's political and social status. History At first, the ''kabane'' were administered by individual clans, but ...

rank of ''Ason''. Yagyū Muneyoshi (1527–1606), the first famous Yagyū swordsman, fought for a number of different lords before meeting

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

, the first Tokugawa shōgun. In 1563, he was defeated by the swordsman Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, praised as one of the very few ''Kensei'' throughout Japan. Humbled by his defeat, Muneyoshi became Nobutsuna's disciple, and was later named his successor, founding the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū school of swordsmanship. In 1594, Muneyoshi was invited to Tokugawa Ieyasu's mansion in Kyoto, where he provided such an impressive display of sword skills that Ieyasu asked that the Yagyū become sword instructors to the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty which produced the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 during the Edo period. It was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of ...

. Among other things, Muneyoshi demonstrated Shinkage-ryū techniques of sword catching on Ieyasu himself. Muneyoshi suggested that his son Munenori be Ieyasu's teacher; Muneyoshi then retired from swordsmanship, and died in 1606, by which time Ieyasu had become shōgun. It was at this time also that the Yagyū swordsmanship school split in two, with Munenori and his nephew Toshiyoshi each becoming the hereditary heads of the Owari and

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

schools of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū. The Nara area bears many memorials to the Yagyū family, and their family graveyard lies on the grounds of the Hōtoku-ji where the clan's main bastion Yagyū Castle was. On the grounds is a rock called Ittō-seki, which Muneyoshi is supposed to have cut in half with his sword (but was probably split by lightning). The '' mon'' (crest) of the Yagyū family was a wide-brimmed black ''kasa'' with ties, called a ''yagyūgasa''.

Notable members of the Yagyū family

* Yagyū Muneyoshi (1527–1606)- founder of the swordsmanship school and first of the family to earn significant power and prestige. ** Yagyū Toshikatsu (柳生厳勝) (?–?) – the eldest son of Muneyoshi and father of Toshiyoshi. *** Yagyū Toshiyoshi - head of the Owari branch of the swordsmanship school, which served the junior branch of the Tokugawa family, based in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

. ** Yagyū Tajima-no-kami Taira-no-Munenori (1571–1646) – first swordsmanship ''sensei'' to the Tokugawa, and head of the Edo branch of the swordsmanship school. *** Yagyū Jūbē Taira-no-Mitsutoshi (–1650) – one of the most famous and romanticized samurai in history, Jūbē was the head of the Edo branch of the swordsmanship school and instructor to shōgun

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was born to Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Lady Saigō on May ...

. Although very strong, talented and known throughout the land because of his social status, it seems Jūbē didn't like his job. In training, he struck Hidetada with his boken instead of stopping his wooden blade before contact, since it was the custom among swordsmen from the same Dōjō. For someone else, it would have been preposterous, but it was Jūbē's job to do as he thought fit. Thus, Yagyū Jūbē got fired, and history almost lost his tracks. Because he was also the heir of Munenori as a

Daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

, Jūbē could not be condemned to

Seppuku , also known as , is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (particularly officers near ...

, neither just become a wandering Rōnin, so is thought to have played a role in the Bakufu's secret police, and the reason why he was so romanticized. ***Yagyū Samon Taira-no-Tomonori – one of two younger brothers to Jūbē, he replaced his elder as the Shōgun's training partner after he got fired, but Samon died of illness some years later. *** Yagyū Munefuyu - among the 3 sons of Munenori, Munefuyu was the less gifted in martial arts, he is also remembered as a womanizer and a Noh amateur. A kōan says how he became far stronger than the average swordsman by staying always alert with ''Zanshin'', always prepare to fight. Despite that, he was defeated in a single strike by Yagyū Renya in an official contest. *Yagyū Hyōgonosuke Taira-no-Toshitoshi – 3rd Sōke of Owari Yagyū line. Beloved grandchild of Sekishūsai, his gifts in martial arts allowed him to inherit Shinkage-ryū instead of his uncle Munenori, the Shōgun's own instructor. **Yagyū Renya Taira-no-Toshikane (a.k.a. ''Yagyū Renyasai'') – 5th Sōke of the Owari Yagyū, very famous in his time as a child prodigy, and both a master of the pen and the sword ( ''Bunbu Ryōdō''). Renya and his father slightly modified the teachings of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū to take into account the change in warfare, caused by the fact samurai almost no longer fought in armours or in battle, but mainly in duels with civilian clothes : this was called ''Tsuttattaru Mi'' (Heihō without Armor). In the Edo period, Renya was also very famous for having kill in one stroke of his wakizashi someone who attacked him in the night. The so-called wakizashi was a blade of peculiar design forged by famous Japanese swordsmith Hata Mitsuyo, because of this, the blade was nicknamed ''Onibōchō'' (

Oni An ( ) is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains or in hell. Oni are known for their superhuman strength and have been associated with powers like th ...

kitchen knife). *Yagyū Kōichi Taira-no-Toshinobu,

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 ...

(headmaster) of

since 2006, from the main line of ''Owari Yagyū''. ''*Each change in ranking in this list indicates a father-son relationship (a change in generation).''

References

*De Lange, William (2019). 'The Remarkable History of the Yagyu Clan'. New York: TOYO Press. *Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.

Notable members of the Yagyū family

References

Further reading