- The use of martial arts in mass education
- The development of sportive forms of martial training
Therefore it is a worthy exemplar.
First developed for warriors during the 1560s, Tendo-ryû had a rather
violent history, and many of its early members were involved in duels. Sig-
nificant changes occurred during the late 1800s, however, under the tenure
of Mitamura Kengyô, headmaster of one line of Tendo-ryû. Chief among
them was that Mitamura singled out the naginata for the purpose of train-
ing women and girls.
The motivation was the desire to combat the steady influx of Western
influence, and in 1895 Mitamura joined the newly formed Dainippon Bu-
tokukai, a Kyoto-based martial arts regulating body. After he displayed his
methods for group instruction in 1899, a women’s school in Kyoto con-
tracted with him to teach naginata on a regular basis, and subsequently the
Tendo-ryû came to be known as specializing in the study of the naginata.
Women took prominence as teachers (most notably, Mitamura’s brilliant
wife, Mitamura Chiyo), and over time the practice weapon was made lighter.
Tendo-ryû kata instill a sense of fighting awareness; Mitamura
Takeko, the granddaughter of Mitamura Kengyô, calls this the “cut and
thrust spirit.” She believes that practicing in this way can help one to reach
deep inside oneself: “I don’t just practice the naginata, it is a part of me.”
She states that even though a student practices killing, “the gentleness and
softness inherent in a woman is not lost. In fact, the training is aimed at fo-
cusing those traits into a strength which can be used for fostering and pro-
tecting as well as taking life” (personal communication 1982).
Women in the Martial Arts: Japan 697A late-nineteenth-century depiction of the match at the dôjô of Chila Skusaku between Naginata & Shinai. (Courtesy
of Ellis Amdur)