Analysis of Jikishinkage-ryū Densho Commentary

There are three Jikishinkage-ryū densho available for study in the ke05 1032 collection. The first two are attributed to 写自筆 and are dated as being from 1768. The first (0001) (opens in a new tab) is an example with small red annotation script. The second (0002) (opens in a new tab) is a shorter example without annotation.

Their citations (“Jikishinkage-ryū mokuroku (直心影流目録), Meiwa 5 (1768)” 1768; “Jikishinkage-ryū mokuroku (直心影流兵法目録添状), Meiwa 5 (1768)” 1768) are:

• 吉田 克禮. 「直心影流兵法目録次第」. 写自筆, 1768年. http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/ke05/ke05_01032/ke05_01032_0001/.

• 吉田 克禮. 「直心影流兵法目録添状」. 写自筆, 1768年. http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/ke05/ke05_01032/ke05_01032_0002/.

The third (0003) (opens in a new tab) is an example signed by 小川彌 dated at 1800 with cursive continuous script, with citation (“Jikishinkage-ryū Hōjō (直心影流法定) — Naganuma Tadasato; copied by Ogawa Yashichi” 1800):

• 長沼 庄兵衛. 「[直心影流兵法]法定」. 小川彌七写, 1800年. http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/ke05/ke05_01032/ke05_01032_0003/.

Dating note (canonical for this site). Naganuma Kunisato’s 直心影流目録口伝書 is dated Hōreki 14 / 1764 (Karukome, founder-table); the ke05 0001/0002 items above are 1768 copies of Kunisato-stage material; 0003 is the 1800 copy. These are distinct from the 1805 mokuroku examined in my book, The Truth of the Calm Spirit. Note that Karukome and Sakai date the Suzuka-bunsho witness of the kudensho (全日本剣道連盟蔵) as an 1806 (Bunka 3) copy of the 1764 conferral to Shimizu Sukezaemon (Karukome Yoshitaka and Sakai Toshinobu 2013). Below, ‘red script’ readings are from the 1768 example (0001) and ‘black script’ readings from the 1800 example (0003).

This last densho has been one I had not previously been able to read as thoroughly as I would have liked. I also had not been able to parse the small red annotations to the 1768 example.

In this note we examine and compare them both, including recoverable fragments from the red annotations. To do so, I manually applied the National Diet Library (NDL) image recognition models that have better performance on Japanese cursive calligraphy than other models such as Tesseract Japanese vertical model, which is trained on block type. I then used a larger model (Opus 4.8) to look at fragments and refine content the NDL model was uncertain about.

This both complements material presented my 2025 book:

Inner Dharma, 2025 — paperback (opens in a new tab) · about the book (opens in a new tab)

The results provide additional context into these works, even if still at times there is uncertainty in the reading of some characters (to the point of some phrases being unrecoverable).

Please consult the works of Karukome (Karukome Yoshitaka 2013; Karukome Yoshitaka 2020) for exhaustive academic treatment.

Opening

目録之次第。右二首、長沼国郷ノ〔悟?〕ノ歌ナリ。

The order of the mokuroku. The two [waka] above are Naganuma Kunisato’s poems of realization (satori no uta 悟ノ歌).

Dating/lineage anchor: the roll opens by attributing two verses to Naganuma Kunisato (長沼国郷) — 8th generation — placing this recension in the Kunisato line.

The 1800 Hōjō text (0003): framing passages

Hōjō and hairyū (敗龍)

In the section on Hōjō (法定) practice, we find the introduction:

法定トハ ハリノ定リタルコトヲ平生ナスユヘニ尚流ノ太刀ノ形ニハ法定トミナリ。形ハ人ニ生レテ色ニ變ルトモ汝定ニトナルヲ勤テ已カ形敗龍スルニ至リテハ其モ自由ニトリマハシナルナリ。職トシ勤苦ニハナスへシト云々。必モ人形ヲツカウヤウナル心ニテハ携行ナルヘカラス。

Hōjō means, because what we routinely practice is that which has been established with proper hari (ハリ; extension/stretching), in this school the kata of the tachi are all called Hōjō. Although forms (kata), once born in the person, change in their outward color [i.e., expression], by training diligently in that which becomes fixed (定ニトナル; becoming fixed/settled) — and reaching the point where one’s own form is broken and transformed (敗龍 / hairyū) — one becomes able to handle (the sword) freely. One should make it one’s vocation, pursuing it with diligent toil. It is most important: one must never proceed with the mind of merely being a ningyō (人形, “doll/puppet”) [doing kenjutsu].

Ningyō kenjutsu is an established concept, relating to just going through the motions of kata. Hairyū (敗龍, “broken dragon”) is an interesting term, possibly specific to this school, meaning the dissolution of the form. It is evocative of the shu-ha-ri (守破離; follow-break-transcend stages) process. This densho initially writes Ittō Ryōdan (一刀両段) using the kanji 段 (level or step) instead of 断 (to cut or sever).

目録之沿覚 and the curriculum structure

Titled 目錄之沿覺, a preamble states:

四季ハ天地ノ形ヲ表スルナリ。八相ハ八ツノ形・物ノ八分円・・・

The four seasons represent the forms of heaven and earth. The Eight Aspects (Hassō) are the eight forms / the eight-tenths of a circle [in things]…

This Shunkashūtō (春夏秋冬; Four Seasons) doctrine [cf. A-Un, Gogyō, Godai and Beyond, 2026] will be referred back to later in the densho. (The per-kata commentary read below opens with a closely parallel four-seasons passage — 四本ハ天地ノ形、四季ヲ表スルナリ — the 沿覚 preamble and the hassō commentary share the doctrine.)

The opening section called Hassō Happa [cf. Eight Phases and Eight Extremes, 2026] is the core of the curriculum, being the first kata but also the point of analysis of the final gokui jūaku (十悪; ten evils), which examines what can go wrong in a practitioner’s development.

The four kata names in this densho are standard otherwise for Hōjō:

1. 八相 (Hassō)
2. 一刀両段 (Ittō Ryōdan)
3. 右轉左轉 (Uten Saten)
4. 長短一味 (Chōtan Ichimi)

Three overlap with Yagyū Shinkage-ryū kata names from the set called Sangaku-en no tachi. [cf. 1601/1707 Yagyū Kenpō Kyojō at Nara Women’s University.]

Ittō Ryōdan is written in the standard fashion in the list of kata with commentary. Then we find the standard Tō-no-kata (韜之形) — interestingly, each entry is listed with the suffix tō (韜; tactic). Use of tō is significant as the introduction to the mokuroku lists the Seven Military Classics of China, one of which is well-known to be Rikutō (六韜; Liu Tao, the Six Secret Teachings).

The small sword or kodachi practice, which can be regarded as the ura (concealed) version of Hōjō [cf. Kodachi: The ura of Hōjō, 2026], is not mentioned except in passing in commentary on the topic of Chōtan Ichimi in the koto section below.

Koto particular to 0003

The section containing a list of principles called koto (事; matters) following kata, and preceding the gokui, have some differences from the other mokuroku I have examined. Unique principles found here include:

• Uchi-ashi no koto (打足之事; striking footwork),
• Tsuki-gakure no koto (月隠之事; moon hiding [concealment]),
• Issaisho no koto (切處之事; all places [of cutting])

Others are found common across mokuroku. These include sōjaku no koto (相尺之事; matter of equal measure) [cf. Fixed measurement and the three accordances, 2026] as well as:

• shikake no koto (仕懸; launching)
• ichimonji (一文字; one character)
• tome-sandan (留三段; three step retention)
• ki-tō (氣當; striking with ki), tai-tō (體當; striking the body),
• tachi-tō (太刀當; striking the sword),
• finally ginmi no koto (吟味之事; matter of discernment).

Several koto were added by Naganuma Kunisato in his mokuroku kudensho (1764; its 1768 copy, 0001, is a focus of my book, as its commentary is more legible than other densho I have available). It is at the time of Naganuma Kunisato that Matsumoto Bizen no Kami is inserted as the founder.

Sometimes ki-tō is written with the character 当 (ate) and read as ki-ate.

The technical curriculum in this mokuroku is not explicitly annotated by season but is broken into four parts: foundational methods of Hōjō, retention tome (留; finishing/stopping techniques), circle/connection ren (連; linking/sequential techniques) and stance variations (構之變; guard/stance variations) of in, yo and ai kamae/gamae.

The 0003 gokui list

The gokui are listed in books on the art; I collect the documentary side of my research on them separately. One example that is drawn from Zen Buddhism is seikō-sui(“swallow the west river”), the name of a famous Zen teaching aphorism or kōan. Others include shinmyōken (神妙剱 / 心妙剱 ), ken tai yū (權躰勇), sōtai no boku (惣躰之卜), furyū no katsu (不立之勝) and kihatsu (起發), along with explicitly mentioned kōjō gokui no koto ( 口上極意之事; “beyond words or unspeakable”) matters.

I. Kata (形)

八相 (hassō); 発・破 (happa)

「四本ハ天地ノ形、四季ヲ表スルナリ。八相ハ八ツノ形也。物ハ八分目ト申ハ、十分ニ勝〔たず〕、八分目ノトコロガ、心ノ一ツ、一杯ニノリ、アト二分、重畳ノ心也。初ノ形ハ相和ノ形也。発破ハ、和ナル処ヲ打破テ行ク気味。又ハ剱九重ノ伝一ツ加ヘ、突トモ云也。」

“The four [basic] are the form of heaven-and-earth, expressing the four seasons. Hassō is eight forms. ‘Things at eight-tenths’ means: not winning fully — the eight-tenths point is where the mind rides fully on one thing while keeping the remaining two-tenths in reserve (chōjō 重畳). The opening form is the harmonious (相和) form; happa (発破) is the feel of breaking through the harmonious place — or, adding one ‘ninefold-sword transmission’ (剱九重ノ伝), it is also ‘thrust.’”

一刀両断 (ittō ryōdan)

「二ツナシ、一心ニ頭ヲ破ル心ナリ。只一刀ニテスマスこゝろ也。」

“Not two; the mind of breaking the head with a single mind — finishing with just one stroke.”

右転左転 (uten saten)¹

「〔…〕夏ヨリ冬迄〔…〕、秋ニナリ候ヘバ、時召出ル星ノ思ヒヲ『旋』ト云。最初ヨリ〔シャカラ…?〕。」(heavily flagged)

“〔…〕 from summer to winter 〔…〕; when autumn comes, the image (思ヒ) of the stars called forth in season is called ‘rotation’ (sen 旋). 〔…〕” — relates the kata’s turning to celestial rotation through the seasons.

長短一味 (chōtan ichimi)

「〔一補?〕気持ゟ、弐人ニ、長短ニよらず、初メノ八相ノ心アレバ、長短ノ差別ニ不及。是迄木刀四本ノ形也。」

“Between two people, not depending on long-or-short [weapon]: if one has the initial hassō mind, the distinction of long and short does not arise. Up to here, four bokutō forms.”

龍尾 (ryūbi); 左・右

「最初二本、当リヲ龍尾ト言。蛇ナドハ、頭ヲ押ヘ、尾ヲ押ヘテモ、中ヲ押ヘテモ、自由ナル〔もの〕。龍尾かへしト言。是ゟシナイノ形。」

“In the first two, the contact (当リ) is called ryūbi (dragon-tail). A snake — whether you pin its head, tail, or middle — remains free; hence ‘dragon-tail reversal’ (龍尾返し). From here, the shinai forms.”

面影 (menkage); 左²

「柳生公ニテハ、日ニ影カウツルこゝろ持ハよし。此方、影無ヲ自分ニ付、打込ムト也。水ニ月ノ移ル心也。ちらりト言フ所ヲ打ツ心なり。」

“In the Yagyū tradition (柳生公にては), the mind-set of the reflection appearing in the sunlight is good; on our side, attaching ‘no-reflection’ (kage-nashi 影無) to oneself, one strikes in. It is the mind of the moon reflecting in water (水に月の移る心). One strikes at the instant of a glint (ちらり).”

鉄破 (teppa); 進・退

「四本ノ形。敵ヲ見テ、此間、体ニ〔貫ツレテ?〕打込ムヲ鉄破ト言。二本、向腕ヲ打払フ処ノ〔挂刀?〕ヲ拂フ也。佛書ニハ『泥手鉄山破』ノ言語有り。」

“Four forms. Seeing the enemy, striking in [body committed] in the interval is called teppa (iron-break). Two of them sweep away the 〔挂刀?〕 at the point of striking aside the facing arm. In Buddhist writing there is the phrase ‘deishu/deigyū tetsuzan wo yaburu’ (泥〔手/牛?〕鉄山破).”

It is not clear whether the second character is 手 or 牛 — the latter is likely, and if the graph is 手 it may be a copyist’s error.

In Buddhist canon we often see the construction:

泥牛 + [motion verb] + 破/碎 + [object]

with the verb slot taking a variety of actions.

For example, in X72n1444 we find 泥牛昨夜狂心起，觸碎須彌跳出欄 — “last night the clay ox’s mad mind arose — it butts Mount Sumeru to pieces and leaps the fence” — and in J39nB460 we find 木馬踏碎須彌，泥牛耕破海底 — “the wooden horse treads Sumeru to pieces; the clay ox ploughs open the sea-bottom.”

The annotation 泥手/泥牛鉄山破 is neither a quotation nor a garbling. There is no fixed phrase to have garbled. It is a well-formed generation from a productive canonical formula, with 鉄山 occupying a slot the canon fills with 須彌, 鐵崑崙, 蒼龍窟, 虗空. The term 言語 is “expression / manner of speaking,” not “quotation” — the assertion is there is such an idiom in Buddhist writing, and there demonstrably is.

The school is speaking the idiom competently, not misciting. The canonical formula is SVO: 泥牛 (S) + 觸碎 (V) + 須彌 (O). The densho is 泥牛鉄山破 — object before verb, and no motion verb at all (no 觸/踏/耕/吼). The romanization above reads it as SOV with を. So the phrase doesn’t instantiate the Chinese formula’s syntax; it’s a Japanese-order condensation of it.

Regarding meaning, the sense is not “soft defeats hard.” A deigyū (泥牛; clay ox) isn’t “soft” — a clay ox is impossible, paired throughout with 木馬, 石虎, 石女, 鐵蛇. The formula says the inconceivable accomplishes the inconceivable. For 鉄破 as 体ニ貫ツレテ打込ム, the sense is closer to: what cannot be done is done.

松風 (matsukaze)

「エンクハイ〔円飛/燕飛〕ト云ハ、古ハ『猿飛』ト相記スよし。小笠原源信斎〔…〕。通リノ木刀ニ当ル風ト違ヒ、松ニ当ルノ、サツサツト滞ナク当ル。少シモ滞ナク当ルこゝろヲ言フ。」

”‘Enkuhai / Enpi’ (円飛/燕飛) was formerly written ‘Sarutobi’ (猿飛), it is said. Ogasawara Genshinsai (小笠原源信斎) 〔…〕. Unlike wind striking an ordinary bokutō, it is like wind striking a pine — hitting satsu-satsu without stagnation; the mind of striking without the slightest stagnation.” — corroborates the 燕飛/圓飛/猿飛 renaming and the 真新陰流 (Genshinsai) transmission.

甲船 (hayafune); 左・右

「〔車?〕ノ形。〔敵〕ハ舟ノ〔艪〕ヲ押ス気味也。此方ゟハ、舟ニ乗ル心持也。〔…〕是迄十ノ形也。」

“The 〔cart?〕 form. The enemy has the feel of pushing a boat’s oar; on our side, the mind of riding the boat. 〔…〕 Up to here, ten forms.”

This may be the end of the earlier jutachi arrangement (ten forms) seen in the Naganuma-ha Jikishinkage-ryū of the time.

曲降 (kyokushaku)

「曲リ、長短、マツスグニ打込ムこゝろ也。滞ナク、何処モ曲ラズ打込ムこゝろ也。」

“Bending — regardless of long-or-short — the mind of striking straight in; without stagnation, bending nowhere.”

円連 (enren)

With the annotation 刀連 (tōren) 体連 (tairen):

「円連ハ、心・体トモニ〔…〕連レヲ少シモ滞ラス。刀ニ連ルヲ刀連、体ニ連ルヲ体連ト云。右三ツ、心滞ナク打ツ意味也。右同伝。」

“Enren: mind and body together, the linking without the slightest stagnation. The sword’s linking is tōren (刀連), the body’s linking is tairen (体連). These three — the meaning of striking with an unstagnating mind. Same transmission as at right.”

Waza (業)

The entries 陰之構・陽之構・相構・相心・相尺・目付・仕懸・手の内・横一文字・竪一文字・留三段・体当・太刀当・切落・吟味 are transcribed and commented on.

陰之構之事 (in no kamae no koto)

In no kamae is the yin (陰; yīn) posture:

強々、上段ニ取ル形。体ヨリ上ニ持ツハ陰ノ構。右一致スレバ丈夫〔ナル?〕也。

“Firmly, the form taken in upper stance (jōdan 上段); holding above the body is the yin stance. When these accord, it is robust.”

陽之構之事 (yō no kamae no koto)

Yō no kamae is the yang (陽; yáng) posture:

弱〔柔〕ハ下段ニ取ル形。〔柔ラカ〕ニ体ヨリ下ニ持ツハ陽ノ構。最初同様也。

“Softly, the form taken in lower stance (gedan 下段); holding softly below the body is the yang stance. Same [in principle] as the first.”

Note. The mapping is 陰 → 上段/firm and 陽 → 下段/soft — inverting the usual height convention (陽上陰下) but coherent with the Shinkage setsunintō/katsuninken (殺人刀・活人剣) logic in the Tsuki no Shō, where the lower stance (下段) is the life-giving sword (活人剣; yang/life) and the held upper stance the killing sword (殺人刀; yin/death). The mapping is by life/death, not by height.

相構之事 (aigamae no koto)

Aigamae no koto describes both opponents in combative posture (mutual stance):

互ニ構ヘ、打込ムこゝろ、外ニナシ。

“Both take a stance; there is nothing beyond the intent to strike in.”

相心之事 (aishin no koto)

Aishin no koto is the matter of the mutual mind:

互ニ一気ニ合タル所ヲ言フ心也。

“The mind that refers to the point where both are matched as one ki (ikki 一気; yī qì).”

相尺之事 (sōjaku no koto; 相尺)

Sōjaku no koto deals with matching measure (pinyin xiāngchǐ):

たとへバ、向ニテモ弐尺、此方ニテモ弐尺、一致シテ打ツ心也。

“For example, two shaku on the opponent’s side and two shaku on one’s own — matching them, the mind of striking.” — a direct definition of sōjaku as the matched two-shaku measure.

目付之事 (metsuke no koto)

Metsuke no koto addresses the gaze:

目付ハ敵ヲ見ル。〔気配?〕ノ動キトハ、敵ノ眼中。此上ニモ、得ト〔しかと〕敵ノ〔心棒?〕見ル心也。

“Metsuke is watching the enemy. As for the movement of [his] 〔ki-presence 気配?〕 — the enemy’s eyes (眼中); and beyond that, the mind that firmly watches the enemy’s 〔central axis 心棒?〕.”

仕懸之事 (shikake no koto)

Shikake no koto deals with initiating:

究理ノ巻ニモアル通リ、猪牛ノ〔…〕ノこゝろニテ、参リ〔申?〕ト云事也。

“As is also in the Kyūri no maki (窮理之巻; qiónglǐ; ‘investigating principle’; the densho writes 究理), it is advancing with the mind of a charging boar-and-ox (chogyū 猪牛; zhūniú).” — cross-references the JSKR’s own Heihō kyūri no maki (兵法窮理之巻).

In the Heihō zakki stratum, 仕懸 is filed under shingyō (心行; mind-practice) at the middle (中学) training stage: initiating oneself to test the opponent’s 虚実 (己ヨリ仕懸テ行…専ラ仕懸ヲ以 糺ス虚実ヲ), practiced within Hōjō through the sanze (三世; past–present–future) teaching — the uchitachi’s three timings 本ヲ切ル・中ヲ切ル・末ヲ切ル against the shitachi’s stance, step, and advance (Karukome Yoshitaka and Sakai Toshinobu 2013). The 0003 gloss’s charging boar-and-ox is thus a later, more kinetic framing of an entry whose founding-stratum content was a timing-and-probing discipline.

手の内之事 (te no uchi no koto)

Tenouchi no koto is the matter of the grip:

茶巾絞リ、心片寄ラズ、シナイ〔竹刀〕ヲ握ル迄。

“The tea-cloth-wringing grip (chakin-shibori 茶巾絞り); without the mind leaning to one side, all the way to gripping the shinai (竹刀).”

一文字之事 (ichimonji no koto)

The straight line is described as yoko (横; horizontal) or tate (竪; vertical).

向ヨリ竪ニ太刀打込ムハ、此方ヨリハ横ヨリ打込ム事也。

“When the opponent strikes down vertically (tate 竪), from one’s own side one strikes across horizontally (yoko 横).”

Tate ichimonji is the reverse of the above — cutting vertically against a horizontal strike.

In the Heihō zakki, 竪一文字・横一文字 are grounded in the 十文字 principle — 真ノ切ヲ云、畢竟十文字也…剣術ハ十文字ヨリ無外 — with a nine-line cut diagram (eight cuts plus the center thrust) (Karukome Yoshitaka and Sakai Toshinobu 2013); the 0003 gloss’s cross-response (horizontal against vertical and the reverse) enacts exactly that jūmonji logic.

留三段之事 (tome-sandan no koto)

たとへバ、人ト〔段場?〕ニ及ブ節ハ咽喉〔インド〕也。又ハ親ノ敵ヲ打ツ節ハ、耳ノ脇ヘ留ム。既ニ曽我兄弟、工藤ヲ討ツ節、右耳ノ脇ヘ差ス。〔…〕退治ノ節ハ外ヘ留メ候ヘバ見苦シク候。是ハ土踏マズヘ差ス也。口伝。

“For example, when it comes to [a duel], it is the throat (nodo 咽 喉). When striking a parent’s enemy, one pins beside the ear — as when the Soga brothers (曽我兄弟) killed Kudō (工藤), thrusting beside the right ear. 〔…〕 In general subjugation, pinning to the outside looks unseemly; here one thrusts to the arch of the foot (tsuchifumazu 土踏まず). Oral transmission.” — i.e. three pinning-targets (throat / beside-ear / foot-arch), with the Soga vendetta as exemplar.

This refers to the three manners of delivering the finishing thrust (todome 留め) after a duel, based on the type of conflict one has engaged in: dueling, vendetta, subjugation.

Other commentary speak to tome-sandan no koto in terms of three levels or distances:

見ル 敵ノ拍子 御意ニカナフ 三段

Observing the enemy’s rhythm, it accords with your will, three steps

This is the gloss I provide in TOCS (2025). So here we see different marginal notes for the same formal entry diverge over time.

体当之事 (tai-ate no koto)

自分ノ体、丈夫堅ク出来候上ニテ打込ムベシ。八方八角、車ノ様ナル、何処ニモ十分〔…〕、体ヨリ当ル心也。

“Once one’s own body is made robust and firm, strike in. Eight directions, eight corners, like a wheel, fully everywhere — the mind of striking with the body.”

太刀当之事 (tachi-ate no koto)

右同様ノこゝろ也。太刀ト一所ニ連レテ打ツ心也。

“Same as at right; the mind of striking with [body and] sword linked as one.”

切落之事 (kiri-otoshi no koto)

「平生ノ切落ノ事。悪敷所ハ、幾度モ切捨候而、心ノマヽ〔ニ〕候処、邪心ヲ〔去ル〕心也。」

“The everyday kiri-otoshi. Where it is bad, cut it away however many times until it is as the mind wills — the mind of [removing] evil-mind (jashin 邪心).”

吟味之事 (ginmi no koto)

The ginmi no koto (吟味之事) has the annotation 「相互ニ吟味イタル事也。」 denoting it “the matter of mutual examination.”

Gokui (極意)

Karukome details a comparison of the kata, waza (koto 事; matters), and gokui of this document with the Heihō Zakki of Yamada Mitsunori (Karukome Yoshitaka 2013). The example has commentary on six gokui (氣當・權體勇・西江水・惣體卜・口上極意・不立之勝).

The paired gokui listed under the two bonji — in the Waseda copies, Fudō’s seed pair kan-man (カンマン; Skt. hāṃ māṃ)³ — read Kōmyōken (功妙剣) and Shinmyōken (心妙剣; heart-subtle sword) — not 切妙剣 (kiri-myōken). Confirmed against a densho copy; this supersedes the earlier “kiri-myōken” reading. Note the three-way distinction to keep in romaji:

• Shinmyōken (神妙剣; 神 = divine/spirit)
• Shinmyōken (心妙剣; 心 = heart)
• Kōmyōken (功妙剣; 功 = merit/efficacy)
• Setsumyōken (切妙剣; 切 = cutting) — the graphing of the 0003 witness (image-verified 2026-07-19; see the 功妙剣 entry below)

Takuan’s Fudōchi Shinmyōroku (p. 129) has: 神ぞ心ぞと申すわけ… 或は性或は心とて、その別ち少しづゝかはり有りといへども、源一つにて候 — relevant to whether the mokuroku’s 心妙剣 against the parent tradition’s 神妙剣 is a meaningful variant or a distinction the milieu already held as porous. Takuan’s own title carries 神妙. A Takuan bridge into Jikishinkage-ryū is suggested by the 不動智/動カサル, 惣身/總身, and 抜目/缺ける correspondences. The Fudōchi Shinmyōroku was addressed to Munenori, and Jikishinkage-ryū was influenced by Yamada Heizaemon’s (Ippūsai’s) study of Munenori’s line of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū.

不動ノ剣 (fudō no ken)

「不動ノ剱ト云。〔…〕〔かし残?〕ト切者成候ヘバ、妙釼ニテゝ〔…〕。」

“Called the Immovable Sword (fudō no ken 不動ノ剣; Fudō/Acala 不動). 〔…〕” — the Fudō-Myōō (mikkyō) register, matching the bonji — Fudō’s kan-man — that open the gokui list.

Image-verified (0003 gokui leaf, 2026-07-19): the section head 不動ノ劔ト云〔フ〕 is clear in the brush. The leaf carries the two bonji written large — Fudō’s seed pair kan-man (カンマン; hāṃ māṃ), as the 1768 copy’s red ink names them (below) — each keyed by a single-graph siglum beside it: 不 at the first seed, 切 at the second.

功妙剣 (kōmyōken) 口伝

The NDL model renders the first as 切妙剣 — and inspection of the 0003 gokui leaf (2026-07-19) shows the model was reading its witness correctly: 0003 writes 切妙劔, the head graph’s left element being the crossing 七 (not 功’s 工), and — independently — the single-graph siglum beside the second bonji writes 切 in clearer semi-cursive. The 功妙剣 reading belongs to the other witnesses (Karukome’s tables give 功妙剣 for both the 1686/1708 zakki and the 1764 kudensho ), so the 功/切 divergence is between witnesses, not model versus eye: a real single-graph variant in the 1800 copy. The drift is graphically motivated — 工 and 七 converge in cursive — a different mechanism from the phonically motivated 神/心 substitution discussed below: two distinct graph-drift types operating in one witness’s gokui list. A fresh ndlkotenocr-lite pass on the leaf (2026-07-19) again returns 切妙剣, so model, eye, and siglum now concur for 0003.

是〔ハ〕梵字ノ別傳ナシ、人ニ〔ユヱ/ユルシ〕習ヒナリ。梵字ハ不動ノ梵字ニテ、〔カンマン〕ント唱ヘ、是二字ヲ〔父母〕ト云テ、下ノ二句ヲ生ズ。〔…〕功至テ妙ニ〔至ル?〕意也。〔…〕妙剣アリテ、甚〔だ〕至テ妙トナル意ナリ。

“This concerns the bonji (梵字; Sanskrit bīja) — no separate transmission; it is a teaching given person-to-person. The bonji is the Fudō (不動; Acala) bīja, chanted as kan-man〔…〕; taking these two graphs as father and mother, they generate the following two lines. … The sense is ‘efficacy (功) reaching subtlety (妙)’ → kōmyō; … there is the 〔…〕myōken, and it means becoming utterly subtle.”

The bracketed graphs are filled from the same note in red ink in the 1768 copy (ke05_01032_0001): 「梵字ハ不動ノ梵字ニテ、カンマン〔…〕ト唱。是二字ヲ父母トシテ、下ノ二句ヲ生ス。〔又〕意ハ、功妙劔トハ業至テ功ニナリ、功至テ妙ニナルノ意。心妙劔〔…〕劔アリテ、甚心至テ妙トナル意ナリ」.

The red ink’s definition of the pair agrees with the one Ishigaki quotes from the gokui kaiden-sho (極意開伝書) in his own collection, which his plates reproduce in part as 「直心影流極意開伝書の一部（著者蔵）」, a bundle labelled 開傳書 (kaiden-sho; “book of opened transmissions”): “Kōmyōken: when one accumulates seasoned merit, one gains subtlety in that merit. Shinmyōken: as the mind ripens, one gains the subtlety of the natural mind.”⁴ The two witnesses give the pair as one progression, from technique to mind — skill ripening into merit and merit into subtlety, then the mind ripening into the subtlety of the natural mind — which Ishigaki sums up as the unity of ki, sword and body (ki-ken-tai no itchi 気剣体の一致).

Ties 功妙剣 to Fudō’s seed pair and the Fudō-Myōō mikkyō stratum already visible in the gokui list — same register as the Tsuki no Shō 五字/五大 material.

Kan-man (カンマン; Skt. hāṃ māṃ) is the seed pair of Fudō Myōō (不動明王; Acala), and the densho’s 「梵字ハ不動ノ梵字」 says so in its own words. This is the usage of the Naganuma house and of the Fujikawa line that branched from it: Ishigaki records that the Fujikawa-ha, from the tenth head Fujikawa Yashirōemon, transmits kanman — the immovable mind — as its gokui, reading it with the Fudō sūtra’s 「常に衆生心中に結跏趺坐す」 (“he always sits in full lotus within the hearts of beings”) and 「無想法身虚実同体」.⁵ Both Waseda copies (1768 and 1800) belong to that transmission. Taking the two graphs as “father and mother” of the pair below makes Fudō’s immovability the source of both kōmyōken and shinmyōken, and ties the gokui list to the 不動ノ劔 head written beside it.⁶

心妙剣 (shinmyōken) 口伝

「心妙剣心持也。口伝。動カサル気味、何レモ惣身マシ〔テ?〕、抜目〔なく〕聞キ〔利き〕所也。〔…〕。」

Shinmyōken (心妙剣) — it is a matter of kokoromochi (心持; mental bearing/disposition). Kuden (口伝; orally transmitted). An unmoving quality (動カサル気味): in every case, 〔suffusing?〕 the whole body (惣身); it is the point at which 〔one perceives / it tells〕 without a blind spot. 〔…〕

Clause by clause:

• 心持也 — 心持 (kokoromochi) is “frame of mind / mental bearing,” and the nari makes the whole entry predicative: shinmyōken is a mental disposition, not a physical form. The gesture is to file the item under mind rather than technique.

• 口伝 — the standard marker that the substance is withheld for oral transmission. Everything after it is a mnemonic gloss, not the teaching.

• 動カサル気味 — read 動かざる (ugokazaru; unmoving, classical negative attributive) + 気味 (kimi; a quality, feel, tinge). “An unmoving feel.” Not “motionless body” — 気味 is a felt quality, so this is about the character of the state, not immobility of the limbs.

• 何レモ惣身マシ〔テ?〕 — 何れも (izure mo; in every case / whichever [technique]), 惣身 = 総身 (sōmi; the whole body). The マシ crux is now resolved at the graph level: the ndlkotenocr-lite pass (2026-07-19) reads the witness’s kana as まし, with a following stroke the model renders 火 — best taken as て. The reading 増し(て) (mashite; spread-increased [through the whole body], te-form) is therefore promoted from candidate to primary: 何れも惣身増して、抜け目なく… — “in every case suffusing the whole body, without a gap.” The alternatives (交じ/廻し) drop away; the sense — distributed through the whole body rather than localized — is unchanged and now graphically grounded.

• 抜目〔なく〕聞キ〔利き〕所也 — 抜け目なく (nukeme naku; with no gap, no blind spot). The 利き gloss gives 利き所 (kikidokoro; the point where it takes effect / where it tells) — the martial reading. Taking it as 聞き所 instead gives “the point to be perceived/attended to.” The two aren’t far apart in a densho: both make this the locus where the state becomes operative without lapse.

• Image verification (0003 gokui leaf, 2026-07-19). The entry head is written as a tight 心+妙 ligature (the heart-graph’s dots-and-hook flourish fused above 妙) followed by 釼 — the 心 graphing of this witness is confirmed by direct inspection, with the small interlinear and 口傳 below. In the commentary column the anchors 動サル気味・何レモ・惣身 (written large, almost emphatically)・抜目 are legible; the graph after 惣身 was subsequently resolved by the ndlkotenocr-lite pass — kana まし〔て?〕, see the transcription note above.

• 心妙剣 vs 神妙剣. We see 神妙 in 0003’s 長短一味. 神妙剣 (shinmyōken) is an inherited Shinkage-ryū term, so a JSKR mokuroku writing 心 where the parent tradition writes 神 is either a meaningful variant or a scribal one. Whether the house deliberately re-grounded a shin-as-divine term in shin-as-mind is a real question.

• 動カサル (unmoving) + the instruction to spread the mind through 惣身 rather than fix it anywhere is very close to the Fudōchi Shinmyōroku (不動智神妙録) teaching: don’t set the mind in one place; set it nowhere and it pervades the body. Note that text carries 神妙 in its own title, and 不動 in the deity’s name.

氣當 (ki-ate; 気当; ki-striking / ki-contact)

執行ノ中ニ而モ、〔とこと…?〕ニ空ナル所アリ。兎角、気分モ体モ〔ク〕渡レハ、一ツ添ヘ〔一つに?〕ニ出来ル事ナリ。

“Even in the midst of execution there is a place that is empty (kū 空); in any case, when both the ki-feeling (kibun 気分) and the body pass through, it comes about as one.”

Ishigaki’s commentary gives a fuller account of ki-ate. The gokui kaiden-sho he quotes glosses it as pressing with ki (kizeme 気責), its meaning to be gained through study.⁷ All swordsmanship, he writes, depends on kiai (気合), which is either voiced (usei 有声) or voiceless (musei 無声). Voiced kiai are kakegoe (懸声; shouts) of four kinds: the shout before a bout that shows one’s martial authority and overawes the opponent — this is ki-ate; the shout that lures him and makes an opening (shikake 仕懸); the shout with the strike (happa 発破); and the victory cry (kachidoki 勝鬨). A merely loud shout only lets the opponent read one’s breath; then the voiceless kiai should press his ki instead. Its form is kuraidori (位取り; taking the rank): the rank gained through training settles in the body and overawes the opponent without a word, so that when one presses a step forward from seigan (精眼), he cannot push back and gives ground. That is winning by bearing (kuraigachi 位勝ち), and he has lost in bearing (kuraimake 位負け). Ishigaki adds the Sunzi’s counsel to avoid the morning’s sharp ki and strike the evening’s slack ki: one must not ignore the opponent’s state of mind. Finally he groups ki-ate with the six gokui that follow it — ken-tai-yū, seikōsui, sōtai no shime, kōjō gokui, furyū no katsu and jūaku — as “the sword outside the sword” (kengai no ken 剣外の剣): admonitions on the swordsman’s bearing for those licensed with the mokuroku.⁸

權體勇 (ken-tai-yū) or 権体勇 (ken-tai-yū)

ケンハ秤ノ重ミ、体ノ勇也。不行・不〔踊／帰?〕・不〔留／止?〕、万事一ツ添ヘニ成タルこゝろ也。

“Ken (権; quán) is the counterpoise-weight of a steelyard (hakari 秤); [it is] the vigor of the body (tai no yū 体の勇). ‘Not going, not 〔returning?〕, not stopping,’ a mind in which all things become one.”

Confirms the balance-weight metaphor inferred from the red ink commentary of the 1805 example examined in The Truth of the Calm Spirit (a separate witness from the ke05 items). Variant on the non-fixation formula: the red commentary has 不行不帰不止 compared to here 不行・不〔踊/帰〕・不〔留/止〕.

Reading support: 権 (ken/gon; quán) literally denotes the sliding counterpoise-weight of a steelyard balance, so the “scale/equilibrium” metaphor for 権体勇 is internally apt. The sidenote 不行不帰不止 matches the Karukome-table annotation on this gokui (Karukome Yoshitaka 2013).

Ishigaki’s commentary on ken-tai-yū fills out the steelyard figure. The gokui kaiden-sho he quotes reads: “Commonly called kenpei (権柄; authority). Within one’s own martial valor, take the opponent’s valor (yū 勇): not going, not returning, not stopping.”⁹ Ken is the steelyard’s counterweight and hei (柄) the haft of an axe: to hold the axe in hand and settle matters is to wield, as time and circumstance require, the power of life and death. Each side gauges the other’s strength and looks for the advantage; the secret is to use the opponent’s valor and master it by adapting to the moment. Ishigaki names this the Sunzi’s “strategy of the roundabout and the direct” (ukoku no kei 迂直の計): “to make the roundabout the direct… setting out after the other and arriving before him.” He adds the Sunzi’s “move when the balance favors you” (權を懸けて動く), likening it to giving first and taking afterward, and closes with the passage behind Takeda Shingen’s fūrinkazan banner, glossing its 陰 (in; shade) from the Yùpiān as what is “dark as if formless, deep beyond measure”: the opponent must never read one’s own movement, and one’s posture must stay free to change.

Read together, Ishigaki’s entries on a-un, ki-ate and ken-tai-yū show what the school means by go no sen (後の先). In the a-un entry he says the school values go no sen and avoids the opponent’s full ki, striking at the instant the opponent has breathed out and become empty (虚).¹⁰ That is a rule of timing, not of bearing. The bearing is the ki-ate: continuous pressure with voiceless kiai and kuraidori until the opponent gives ground. And ken-tai-yū names the result in the Sunzi’s words — setting out after the other and arriving before him, by turning his own valor against him. Pressure makes the emptiness, and the strike takes it: closer to Shinkage-ryū’s ken-tai ichinyo (懸待一如; attack and waiting as one) than to passive waiting, and consistent with the school’s dominant, pressing character.

Saitō Akinobu’s illustrated kata manual of 1901, the Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu kyōju zukai (直心影流剣術教授図解), shows the school naming both timings kata by kata. (Saitō Akinobu (斎藤明信) 1901) Its frontispiece calligraphy is the Laozi’s 「後其身而身先」 (“he puts himself last, and so comes first”). In ryūbi (龍尾; dragon’s tail) — so called, Saitō explains, because “strike the head and the tail comes, strike the tail and the head comes”, each cut answered by a cut back from the other side — the uchidachi attacks, the shidachi meets it on the shinogi and cuts back, and “with this one stroke the shidachi takes the victory of go no sen.”¹¹ In omokage (面影), by contrast, the shidachi strikes as the opponent rises to jōdan, “without a hair’s breadth of gap… as the shadow follows the form”, and so wins by sensen no sen (先々の先) — a kata simple in technique, Saitō warns, but very hard in kiai.¹² Go no sen in this school is thus one timing among others, trained in a particular kata against a committed attack, alongside kata that seize the initiative outright.

西江水 (seikōsui; xī jiāng shuǐ; West River water)

The 1768 densho carries both a black-ink gloss and a red-ink shusho (朱書) interlinear commentary on 西江水, a Chan koan that figures prominently in Jikishinkage-ryū and Yagyū Shinkage-ryū writing. The toponym 西江 is generally taken as “the great western river” — an image of vastness first appearing in the exchange between Layman Pang (龐蘊, Páng Yùn; also 龐居士, J. Hōkoji; c. 740–808), the paradigmatic lay Chan adept, and Mazu Daoyi (馬祖道一; J. Baso Dōitsu; 709–788), founder of the Hongzhou school.

惣體卜 (sōtai no shime)

惣体ノ〔卜／分?〕。惣クゝり〔総括り〕ノ心也。人ノ動キモ何モ見ユルガ肝要也。

“The whole body (sōtai 惣体): a mind of gathering-all-together (sō-kukuri 総括り); the essential is that all the opponent’s movements are seen.”

Here, it seems as though one is commenting on perception. The later red ink commentary is difficult to read. It may say:

〔キカ…〕流ノ義。初メ形、両〔手?〕ヲヒロケ、三所〔…〕、〔細?〕帳ニ風ノ含ム如〔ク〕、一パイニ満テ〔…〕下ニ〔…〕アリ。此ノモ〔…〕。

“〔…〕-ryū’s sense. First the form: both 〔hands?〕 opened, three places 〔…〕, as wind fills a 〔curtain/sail?〕, filled to the brim 〔…〕 below 〔…〕. This too 〔…〕.” — i.e. the whole-body (sōtai 惣体) expansion/integration.

This seems to instead refer to the body being integrated and expanded so that it is fully connected. In internal martial arts, this is a type of cultivated force or energy called jin (勁; jìn; trained force).

口上極意 (kōjō gokui; the oral-statement innermost teaching)

自分ノ呑込〔飲み込め〕ぬ義ナド不申、先ノ残レタルモノニハ負ル事有。其処ヲ心ヲ相考フヘキ也。

“Do not speak of matters you have not grasped; there are times you lose to what remains ahead. That place one should consider well.” — i.e. kōjō is here the discretion of oral transmission: what to state and what to withhold.

不立之勝 (furyū no katsu; the victory of not-establishing)

執行場ニ至リ候而、立合トモ候ヤ、此人ニ勝タントヤ、〔…〕此方ヨケレハ不立、先ニ見込ミ勝〔ツ…〕

“Coming to the practice ground and facing off — ‘[shall I] win against this person?’ — 〔…〕 if your side is ready, do not establish [a stance] (fu-ritsu 不立); win by anticipating (先ニ見込ミ).” — the mukamae (無構; no-stance) logic.

十悪 (jūaku; the ten evils)

These are written traditionally in katakana. Below is a best-effort at kanji:

1. カマン = gaman (我慢; self-conceit; Skt. asmimāna)
2. カシン = gashin (我心; egoism) — resolved: the Heihō zakki’s 十悪十非 list carries ガシン, which Karukome and Sakai gloss 我心 (Karukome Yoshitaka and Sakai Toshinobu 2013)
3. トンヨク = don’yoku (貪欲; greed; Skt. lobha)
4. イカリ = ikari (怒り; anger; Skt. dveṣa)
5. オソレ = osore (恐れ; fear)
6. アヤフミ = ayabumi (危ふみ; apprehension)
7. ウタカヒ = utagai (疑ひ; doubt; Skt. vicikitsā)
8. マヨイ = mayoi (迷ひ; delusion; Skt. moha)
9. アナツリ = anadori (侮り; contempt / scorn)
10. マンシン = manshin (慢心; conceit; Skt. māna)

These are “diseases of the mind”; they overlap the four classic sicknesses (shibyō 四病: 驚・懼・疑・惑 — startle, fear, doubt, confusion) and map onto the Tsuki no Shō’s byōki (病気) gokui, the mental fixations to be removed.

The list descends from the Heihō zakki’s 十悪十非 (ガマン・ガシン・トンヨク・イカリ・ウタガヒ・マヨイ・ヲソレ・アヤブミ・アナズリ・マンシン, glossed by Karukome and Sakai as 傲慢・我心・貪欲・怒り・疑い・迷い・恐れ・危ぶみ・侮り・慢心 (Karukome Yoshitaka and Sakai Toshinobu 2013)). Two witness-level observations: 0003’s ordering differs from the zakki’s (オソレ・アヤフミ・ウタカヒ・マヨイ vs ウタガヒ・マヨイ・ヲソレ・アヤブミ — a mid-list transposition), and the ten are precisely the 非 that the hikiri (非切) shingyō removes — 法定非切之事 非ヲ改木刀ニテツブシヲ云: the evils are “crushed” by the swinging of the bokutō in Hōjō practice, tying this closing gokui back to the middle-stage training method.

「此十悪ハいづれも〔…〕、〔新気ヲ〕スラレバ出来ル。此内一ツ有テモ出来不申事。」

“These ten evils, every one 〔…〕; if one 〔…〕 〔the fresh ki 新気?〕, it can be accomplished. If even one of these is present, it cannot be done.”

Transmission colophon (ending passage)

Reconciled reading and translation of the closing licensing colophon. Script is clear gyōsho (行書). Method: NDL古典籍OCR-Lite (which recovered most of the kanbun) × human read × collation with Karukome’s transcription of the corresponding passage (Karukome Yoshitaka 2013). NDL models succeeded on the clear script:

右條之極意者、有口傳。以理爲誠、以誠爲理也。愈々工夫鍛錬、二六時中、無怠慢、〔御〕勉、可爲肝要者也。

元目録之旨趣爲奧儀、今旁下數年、深實信仰、而二六時中、依被勵懇精之、不殘一塵授之、〔暇加愚意説?〕、彌抽丹誠。此道有切磋琢磨工夫、可被鍛錬。而猶〔心〕妙不測之所、免状之時、可顯之者也。

“The gokui items above carry oral transmission (kuden 口傳). Take principle (ri 理; lǐ) as sincerity, and sincerity (makoto 誠; chéng) as principle. Ever more contrive and forge (kufū tanren 工夫鍛錬), throughout the twelve hours (nirokujichū 二六時中; èr liù shízhōng — day and night), without slackening, applying oneself — this must be held essential.

The purport of the original mokuroku (moto-mokuroku 元目録) is [held to be] the innermost teaching (ōgi 奧儀). Now, over several years, with deep and true faith, being urged day and night to earnest exertion, it was conferred without a single mote (ichijin 一塵) held back, 〔adding my humble explanation?〕, drawing out ever greater devotion (tansei 丹誠).

This Way holds mutual polishing and contrivance (sessa-takuma kufū 切磋琢磨工夫; qiēcuō-zhuómó); it must be forged. And still, the place of the subtlety beyond measure (myō fusoku 妙不測) is revealed only at the time of licensing (menjō 免状).”

“What is called ‘winning’ lies in the fore-of-the-fore (sensensen 先々先); the later victory (go no kachi 後の勝) too lies in the fore-of-fore — as fore-and-after, fore-and-after, right and left, back and front all brought into accord: heaven, earth, and the myriad things are of one root, one emptiness (tenchi banbutsu dōkon ikkū 天地万物同根一空; tiāndì wànwù tóng gēn yī kōng). Set down in writing, conveyed by mouth — these words (kotonoha 言の葉); to hold them in the everyday mind is forging (tanren 鍛練).”

Collated source text (final leaf; image inspection × ndlkotenocr-lite, 2026-07-19). The closing passage’s source columns share the leaf with the dated colophon. Reconciled reading:

勝ト云ハ先々先、後ノ勝モ〔先々先〕、また先々ニ先後〔々々?〕、右左後モ前モ一致シテ、天地万物同根〔ノ?〕空。 常のこゝろに持〔つ〕は、たんれん〔なり〕。

Notes: 右左後も前も一致して is now firm (the model and the brush agree — all four directions, not “rear with front”); 万物 and 同根 come back garbled (若物・同様) but anchored; at 同根〔ノ?〕空 the model reads の, and the heavily vernacular register of the passage (こゝろ, たんれん both in kana) leans the same way — the kanbun-style 一空 of the earlier working translation is therefore demoted to the flagged alternative, a small but real register datum. 鍛練 is written たんれん in kana.

Three further small-script annotations recovered on the leaf:

• 此句、一ト切リニ不致、トコマデモ続クこゝろなり — “The mind of it: this phrase makes no single cut-off; it continues however far” — the interlinear gloss on 先々先, reading the fore-of-the-fore as a non-terminating recursion: there is no first initiative to seize, only the ever-prior. (Model line: 此句一本切に不致トコマテ其続く／こゝろなり; 一本切 emended 一ト切リ.)
• 右同様ノ心持、惣体一致スル心也 — “the same mind-set as at right: the mind in which the whole body accords as one” — 惣体 surfacing again at the leaf’s summit, tying the closing doctrine to the 惣体之〆 gokui.
• 此句、今申渡ス上ハ、已来迚モ二六時中、無怠慢相勤、たんれん可致心持也 — “this phrase, now that it has been handed over: henceforth, at every hour of day and night, without negligence, it is a mind-set to be trained and forged” — a vernacular restatement of the kanbun colophon’s 二六時中・無怠慢 injunction, the two registers paired on one leaf.

Residual flags: the 書残し口傳ふる言の葉 line seen at magnification did not return from the model — re-crop that column; and the model’s final token 十四日 (a day-date?) needs locating on the leaf before it can be read as part of the colophon.

Provenance line

In the passage below several readings are flagged (権/勉精, 旁下, 免状〔態〕):

右者従先師神谷氏伝信大居士目録之、雖為奧儀、今旁下数年有深実信仰、而二六時中被励〔権/勉〕精之、不残一塵授之。暇加愚意説、抽弥丹誠。此道有切磋琢磨工夫、可被鍛練。而猶心妙不測之所、免状〔態〕之時可顕之者也。

“The above follows the mokuroku of the late master Kamiya (先師神谷氏), 〔posthumous name〕 Denshin Daikoji (伝信大居士). Though it is the innermost teaching (ōgi 奥儀), now — over several years, holding deep and true faith, urged day and night to exert full effort — it was conferred without a single mote held back. In my spare time I have added my own humble explanations, drawing out ever greater devotion. This Way holds mutual polishing (sessa-takuma 切磋琢磨; qiēcuō-zhuómó) and contrivance (kufū 工夫); it must be forged. Even so, the place of the mind’s subtlety beyond measure (〔shin〕myō fusoku 〔心〕妙不測) is to be revealed only at the time of licensing (menjō 免状).”

Recension variant (for collation)

This densho:

元目録之旨趣爲奧儀

the purport of the original mokuroku is the innermost teaching

Karukome’s transcription of the corresponding passage (Karukome Yoshitaka 2013):

従先師神谷氏伝信大居士目録之雖爲奧儀

[it] follows the mokuroku of the late master Kamiya 〔神谷氏〕, [posthumous name] Denshin Daikoji 伝信大居士, though it be the innermost teaching”). So the two copies differ in whether the licensing clause names its source (Kamiya) or refers generically to the “original mokuroku.

Kamiya Denshinsai (神谷伝心斎) was, per Karukome (Karukome Yoshitaka 2013), the founder of Jikishin-ryū (直心流) and the lineage predecessor of Naganuma Kunisato (長沼国郷). If the named recension is authoritative, this colophon derives the transmission from Kamiya Denshinsai’s mokuroku — a concrete placement of the ke05_01032 copy in the JSKR line, and a dating anchor for its gokui content (including 西江水).

Key Findings

1. 面影 (menkage or omokage) explicitly contrasts the Yagyū approach with the JSKR one and invokes the water-moon (水に月の移る心) — a JSKR-internal reference to both 柳生 and the suigetsu figure. This is direct densho evidence of the JSKR↔Yagyū comparison traced in the seikōsui essay, in the school’s own words.
2. 松風 corroborates Karukome (Karukome Yoshitaka 2013) independently: 円飛/燕飛 formerly 猿飛, with 小笠原源信斎 (真新陰流) — the same 燕飛/圓飛/猿飛 renaming Karukome argues, here attested in the densho itself.
3. Opening verses attributed to Naganuma Kunisato — dates/places this recension in the Kunisato line (consistent with the 相尺・留三段・切落・吟味 additions present in the waza list).
4. 泥〔手/牛?〕鉄山破 (teppa) — not a fixed canonical quotation but a well-formed, Japanese-order condensation of a productive Buddhist formula (see the 鉄破 entry).
5. 不動ノ剣 / 功妙剣 / kan-man bonji (Fudō’s seed pair) — a consistent Fudō-Myōō (mikkyō) stratum across the gokui.
6. The document confirms the full gokui set (incl. 西江水) and the 功妙剣 reading (NDL’s 切 documents the 功/切 ambiguity).

End Notes