Shintō Munen-ryū (神道無念流) was founded by Fukui Hyōemon (福井兵右衛門), born in Shimotsuke province in Genroku 13 (1700), who first trained in Ichien-ryū before a long warrior pilgrimage musha-shugyō (武者修行; martial arts pilgrimage) and a period of austerities at the Iizuna shrine on Mount Togakushi in Shinano, after which he is said to have grasped the inner principle of the sword and established the school, opening a dōjō at Yotsuya in Edo. The style became widely known through Togasaki Kumatarō Terufusa (戸賀崎熊太郎暉芳) and, above all, through Saitō Yakurō (斎藤弥九郎), whose Renpeikan (練兵館) was one of the great Edo dōjō and whose pupils included many Chōshū men (Katsura Kogorō, Takasugi Shinsaku, and others).
Nicknamed “the Saitō of power” (力の斎藤), the school favoured heavy, decisive cutting over light touches — light strikes were not counted as valid — and was known for hard practice with reinforced armour. After the Meiji Restoration the line was carried on by Negishi Shingorō (根岸信五郎) and Nakayama Hakudō (中山博道).
