PUBLIC MARKS from Takwann with tag Eishin-Ryu

In this series of articles, I am attempting to translate and contextualise the dōka of Hasegawa Eishin-ryū. All articles in this series can be found here. In this article, I will be looking at the tanka for the ninth technique, Takiotoshi. This is the final tanka translation in this series. I hope to follow it up with a short article looking at the poems as a group, the similarities between them, and how they relate to each other.

In this series of articles, I am attempting to translate and contextualise the dōka of Hasegawa Eishin-ryū. All articles in this series can be found here. In this article, I will be looking at the tanka for the eighth technique, Namigaeshi.

In this series of articles, I am attempting to translate and contextualise the dōka of Hasegawa Eishin-ryū. All articles in this series can be found here. In this article, I will be looking at the tanka for the seventh technique, Urokogaeshi.

In this series of articles, I am attempting to translate and contextualise the dōka of Hasegawa Eishin-ryū. All articles in this series can be found here. This article covers the tanka for the sixth technique, Iwanami.

In this series of articles, I am attempting to translate and contextualise the dōka of Hasegawa Eishin-ryū. All articles in this series can be found here. This article covers the tanka for the fifth technique, Oroshi.

In this series of articles, I am attempting to translate and contextualise the dōka of Hasegawa Eishin-ryū. All articles in this series can be found here. This article covers the tanka for the fourth technique, Ukigumo.

This is the third in a series of articles in which I am attempting to translate and contextualise the dōka of Hasegawa Eishin-ryū. All articles in this series can be found here. This article covers the tanka for the third technique, Inazuma.

This is the second in a series of articles in which I am attempting to translate and contextualise the dōka of Hasegawa Eishin-ryū. All articles in this series can be found here. This article covers the tanka for the second technique, Tora no Issoku.

Musō Jikiden Eishin-ryū and Musō Shinden-ryū are the two most widely-studied schools of iaido in the world. Both were derived from Hasegawa Eishin-ryū, which was founded by Hasegawa Chikaranosuke Eishin during the Edo period. Two generations later, the ryūha moved to Tosa, where it was transmitted until the modern era. Eishin, the seventh-generation shihan of Hayashizaki Jinsuke’s Shinmei Musō-ryū, was responsible for adapting that school’s battō techniques for the uchigatana, as well as creating a number of waza himself. The waza he created are today collected in both Musō Jikiden Eishin-ryū and Musō Shinden-ryū at the Chūden level, in the set of techniques known as Tatehiza no Bu. This set may also be referred to simply as ‘Eishin-ryū’ or ‘Hasegawa Eishin-ryū.’

The first line of each couplet describes a natural phenomenon and the following line makes the point for the first line’s statement. This poem is not haiku but has a similar structure that sets a scene and follows with an allusion to an iaijutsu waza. The placement of the poem after the listed description of the Chuden wazas in the makimono suggests that it is not intended to be descriptions of or technical advice about the Chuden wazas. Rather the poem’s purpose seems to be to communicate the spirit and attitude that the practice of iaijutsu should develop. Therefore the poem should lead to understanding the spirit of iaijutsu.