Ono-ha Itto-ryu
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Ono-ha Itto-ryū is recognized as the senior line of the Itto-ryu styles of swordsmanship. It was founded by Ono Jiroemon Tadaaki, who succeeded Ito Ittosai Kagehisa as the second head of Itto-ryu kenjutsu. Originally, his name was Mikogami Tenzen, and Ono was the name he took after becoming the head of the school.
After Tadaaki was appointed kenjutsu shinan-yaku (instructor in swordsmanship) to Ieyasu’s son, the second Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada, Itto-ryu became one of two official kenjutsu schools of the Tokugawa shogunate. He also served Iemitsu, the third shogun, in this capacity.
The fourth headmaster, Tadakazu, instructed the lord of the Tsugaru han (domain, in present-day Aomori Prefecture), Tsugaru Echigo-no-kami Nobumasa, in the entire system of the Ono-ha Itto-ryu and established a separate Tsugaru line. Other feudal lords and senior retainers throughout Japan also studied the ryu, and this served to increase its reputation and prestige in both the capital and provincial castle towns.
Tsugaru Tosa-no-kami Nobutoshi, second lord of Tsugaru, returned the transmission to the Ono family when he instructed both Ono Tadahisa (who died soon after) and Tadakata. After this time, both the Ono and the Tsugaru families transmitted the main, or orthodox, line of Ono-ha Itto-ryu.
In the Kansei Period (1789–1801), the seventh head of the school, Ono Tadayoshi, taught a Tsugaru retainer by the name of Yamaga Hachirozaemon Takami the entire Ono-ha Itto-ryu curriculum and after that, the Tsugaru and Yamaga families worked together to transmit the system. This semi-formal collaboration continued until the Taishō period (1912–1926), when Sasamori Junzo, a well-known kendoka, Christian minister, and educator, who later became an influential politician noted for his work for international peace, inherited the ryu. The seventeenth generation headmaster, active today, is Junzo’s son, Takemi, also an ordained minister and prominent educator. Ono-ha Itto-ryu is also practiced independently, outside the purview of the mainline of the ryu, by kendo teachers, some Daito-ryu organizations and other exponents throughout Japan, and is thus probably the most widely disseminated form of Itto-ryu today.
Other branches of Itto-ryu include Hokushin Itto-ryu (famous masters include Chiba Shusaku and Ito Kashitaro), and Mizoguchi-ha Itto-ryu.
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