Lineage

of Meishi Ha Mugai Ryu

1. Founder: Tsuji Gettan Sukemochi, 1648-1727 Edo
2. Tsuji Uheita, ~1742 Edo
3. Tsuji Kimata Sukefusa, ~1761 Edo
4. Tsuji Bunzaemon Sukekata, ~1787 Edo
5. Tsuji Kimata Sukeyuki, ~1812 Edo

6. Takahashi Hachisuke Mitsuaki, 1750~1809 Himeji
7. Takahashi Tatsuzo Mitsuharu, 1784~1835 Himeji
8. Takahashi Hachisuke Nariyuki, 1816~1880 Himeji
9. Takahashi Tetsuo Takenari, 1830~1876 Himeji
10. Takahashi Kyutaro Koun, 1859~1940 Dai Nippon Budokai
11. Nakagawa Shiryu Shinichi, 1896~1981 The Iaido Federation

Menkyo Kaiden Nakatani Toshiyuki
Menkyo Kaiden Shirai Ryotaro
Menkyo Kaiden Toda Seiju
Menkyo Kaiden Okamoto Yoshiharu
Menkyo Kaiden Konishi Misakazu
Menkyo Kaiden Nagasawa Masao

The Edo line from Tsuji Kimata Sukehide (5th) on was continued on to Tsuji Bunzaemon Sukenobu (6th), Tsuji Kinichiro Yoshishige (7th), Tsuji Kimata Shibaoka (8th), and Tsuji Kamegoro Sadatoku (9th) after which the lineage died.

The fellow student of Tsuji Bunzaemon Sukenobu, Takahashi Hachisuke Mitsusuke, was the eldest son of Takahashi the 5th, Shoue Akishige, born in the 3rd year of Kanei, Jan 13, to the Sakai House in Edo. He studied under Tsuji Bunzaemon Suketaka (4th), and in later years trained under Tsuji Kimata Sukeyuki (5th).

He taught iai as official instructor to the clan, and when he was 43 was ordered to move back to Himeji from Edo and remained the chief instructor to the Sakai house teaching Mugairyu.

Mugai Ryu was transmitted through the Takahashi clan on to Nakagawa Sensei (11th).

Nakagawa-sensei did not officially appoint a successor before his death. There were 6 recipients of Menkyo Kaiden from Nakagawa-sensei, so taken in order that makes Konishi-sensei the rightful and legitimate 16th Soke of Mugairyu Iaihyodo.

The Takahashi family line was passed on from Takahashi Kyūtarō (10th) to his grandson Takahashi Hidezō.

Menkyo Kaiden recipients from Konishi-sensei are: Sega Yoshiyuki, Konishi Shin, Tamenori Akitada, Fujimura Michio, Nakatani Masaya, Furuhata Kimiyuki, and Niina Gyokudo (Soke of Meishi branch.)

Mugai Ryu Iaihyodo

Nakagawa Sensei (11th) reformed Mugai Ryu by incorporating the since early age by Mugai Ryu practicioners taught Jikkyo Ryu Iaijutsu techniques together with the traditional Kenjutsu techniques of Mugai Ryu into the curriculum of his „Mugai-ryū Iai Hyōdō“ (formal name: Mugai Shinden Iai Hyōdō 無外真伝居合兵道).

So strictly speaking, Mugairyu Iaido techniques are actually taken from Jikkyoryu.

Tsuji Gettan learned Jikkyoryu from its founder, Taga Jikkyoken Morimasa, and successive generations of the Tsuji family learned Jikkyoryu from the subsequent soke (head master) of Jikkyoryu directly.

Jikkyoryu was officially inherited by the Mugairyu practitioners of the time when it was clear that there would be no successor in Jikkyoryu beyond the 6th generation soke. Nakagawa Shiryu Shinichi (中川士龍申一, 1895-1981), the 11th soke of Mugairyu, is credited as the driving force behind Mugairyu and Jikkyoryu’s reformation and is known as the master who reinvented the art, which he christened “Mugairyu Iaihyodo”.
Takahashi Yasuke Mitsuaki, the 6th soke of Mugairyu, and his brother, Hidezo, were taught Jikkyoryu by the 5th generation soke of Jikkyoryu, Yamamura Masashige. The Takahashi brothers were the ones who truly incorporated Jikkyoryu into Mugairyu teachings, but it would be Nakagawa Shiryu Shinichi, the 11th soke of Mugairyu, who would ultimately compile the iaido forms into the 20 primary and 3 naiden forms familiar to Mugairyu practitioners today.

Contemporary practitioners of Mugairyu are students of Mugairyu Iaihyodo as it was recompiled by Nakagawa Shiryu Shinichi.

Nakagawa sensei appointed Ishii Gogetsu as the 12th soke of Mugariyu, but due to various circumstances, Ishii subsequently separated himself from Nakagawa leaving the art without a successor. Nakagawa passed away before he could appoint another student to the position of soke. As a result, many of Nakagawa’s students who were recipients of both menkyo (license) and menkyo kaiden (full transmission license) began referring to themselves as successive soke. However, among these licensed students of Nakagawa sensei, there has never been an official successor simultaneously recognized by each independent branch of Mugairyu, the All Japan Kendo Federation, the All Japan Iaido Federation or the Iaido Federation of Japan. Each soke should be correctly referred to as the soke of their particular branch of Mugairyu.