While researching my first book I became intrigued by the late Edo period Kōbusho, the martial academy of the Tokugawa that several prominent Jikshinkage-ryu swordsmen taught at. I began researching the institution, its figures both teacher and students, and started working my way through the transition from the Edo to Meiji period and beyond. This wound up growing to become a substantial part of this site, with entries on:
Amano Hachirō, Amano Shōshō, Chiba Shūsaku, Chūjō Kinnosuke, Fujita Taiichirō, Fukuda Hachinosuke, Hakomori Yosaburō Suokuni, Henmi Sōsuke, Honme Yarijirō, Iba Sōtarō, Imahori, Inoue Hachirō, Kajikawa Yoshimasa, Kawaji Toshiyoshi, Kawashima Takashi, Kobayashi Sadayuki, Kondō Yanosuke, Matsudaira Chikaranosuke, Matsuoka Katsunosuke, Matsuoka Yorozu, Matsushita Seiichirō, Mitsuhashi Kan’ichirō, Mitsuhashi Torazō, Mochida Moriji, Monna Tadashi, Naitō Takaharu, Nakayama Tatsusaburō, Odani Seiichirō, Okumura Sakonta, Saimura Gorō, Sakakibara Kenkichi, Shibata Emori, Shimada Toranosuke, Shimoe Hidetarō, Shingai Tadaatsu, Takahashi Deishū, Takahashi Hatsuji, Takano Sasaburō, Takayama Minesaburō, Toda Hachirōzaemon, Tokunō Sekishirō, Ueda Umanosuke, Umezaki Yaichirō, Yamada Jirokichi, and Yamaoka Tesshū.
In the early summer of 2026 I worked to bring it all together into one reference. It examines the late-Edo and early-modern institutions surrounding Japanese kenjutsu — the Kōbusho, gekken-kōgyō, the Battōtai, the Keishichō police schools, the Dai Nippon Butokukai — together with the schools and teachers who carried many surviving martial arts through their modern transformation. I am pleased to announce the work is now available as my second book:
From the Kōbusho to the Butokukai: Japanese Swordsmanship in Transition (opens in a new tab), Inner Dharma, 2026. 305 pages.
If this time period interests you, please consider purchasing a copy to help support this site. There is existing scholarship available from practitioners and researchers interested in Kendo and I attempt to complement that work rather than repeat it. Topics include the teaching roster of the Kōbusho, the military units some of its teachers and students served under, and examinations of the careers of several important swordsmen as Japan entered modernity.
