The Ohio State University Kendo/ Iaido Club was organized in the early 1970's by a group of OSU students headed by the most enthusiastic students, Mr. Craig Nolan Campbell and Mr. David Diguangco. We practice Kendo/Iaido based on one of the most powerful Kendo schools that ever existed. I can say this with confidence, because my Sensei, Sakurai Gen'noshin Fumitaka, was a member of the Shinsen-gumi during the Civil Wars of the Meiji Restoration. The Shinsen-gumi, Mimawari-gumi, Shincho-gumi, and Hachioji Sen'nin Doshin-gumi were the police force of Tokugawa Shogunate. They helped to restore law and order in Japan, especially in Edo (Tokyo), Yokohama, Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagasaki, where Imperialist terrorists ran rampant and committed all sorts of crimes in the name of the Emperor. Almost all of my extended family members were related to those organizations, one way or another, as Goshi (landlord samurai).

A first cousin of my great-great-grand father, Kotaka Shinzaemon Hidemichi was one of the Soke Shusekishihan of Hiruma-ha Kogen Itto-ryu and taught kendo at the Hachioji Sen'nin Doshin-gumi dojo where Ten'nen Rishin-ryu Soke Shusekishihan Kondou Isamu, and his students such as Hijikata Toshizo, Okita Soji, Yamanami Keisuke, Inoue Gen'zaburo, et al., came to teach their Ten'nen Rishin-ryu kendo. They also practiced full contact shinai keiko with the Kogen Itto-ryu swordsmen. Contrary to the character assassination done by the pro-Imperialist historians, fiction writers, and their readers, Kondou Isamu was a very broad-minded swordsman. He always accommodated high caliber swordsmen from other famous schools, including Saito Hajime, Harada Sanosuke (from a variety of kendo schools including Hokushin Itto-ryu and mainly Hozoin-ryu Sojiutsu), Todo Hyosuke (Shintou Munen-ryu), and Nagakura Shin'pachi (Shindou Munen-ryu).

The Hen'mi-ha Kogen Itto-ryu Soke in Ozawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, was very inactive during the Meiji Restoration Civil War era. He did not adopt full contact shinai Kendo using the bogu that was invented by one of the Itto-ryu founders, Nakanishi Chuzo (Nakanishi-ha Itto-ryu). He also abandoned Iaido practice. In contrast to the Hen'mi dojo, Hiruma Yohachi, founder of Hiruma-ha Kogen Itto-ryu, opened his branch dojo in Hachioji and trained using full-contact shinai keiko. Hachioji Sen'nin Doshin Gumi members with Kondou Isamu's Ten'nen Rishin-ryu Shieikan were the great swordsmen of that dojo. They shared each other's kendo techniques and philosophy to increase the efficiency of training combat-ready samurai that embodied the true conscience of bushido. When they organized the Shinsen-gumi, they selected the best swordsmen that ever lived in Japan, mainly from Shieikan Ten'nen Rishin-ryu dojo and Hachioji Sen'nin Doshin Gumi dojo. (Ref. 1, 2, 3, 9)

The Hiruma-ha Kogen Itto-ryu Soke Shusekishihans and Kondou's Ten'nen Rishin-ryu Shieikan dojo shihans trained the Riot Control Police Force members as samurai with true samurai conscience, or "MAKOTO." When Kondou Isamu organized the Shinsen Gumi, he selected for the Shinsen Gumi banner the Kanji character that reads "MAKOTO" or "Sei." We hang this Shinsen-gumi Banner with the "MAKOTO" character on the wall of the OSU Kendo/Iaido Club, Kohbu-kan dojo, as our Shinden. The banner reminds you that you are practicing kendo/Iaido by yourself under the watchful eye of your own truthful conscience. Always train and behave yourself under the watchful eye of your truthful conscience, MAKOTO. (Ref. 1, 2, 3)

The philosophy or motto of the Sakurai-ha Kogen Itto-ryu is "one flash of the sword, one kill". The most important factor in a real sword fight is to out-last the enemy. You cannot enjoy the luxury of taking a rest. You must endure the entire battle session until the battle is completely over. As it is with your body, so it is with your sword. If your sword is broken or damaged by rough usage, you cannot survive on the battle field. Save energy and explode that conserved energy at the right moment by the flashing of your sword. You cannot work against the laws of thermodynamics. Your every movement in a real sword fight or keiko at the dojo must follow the laws of thermodynamics. (Ref. 8)

In order to execute "one flash of the sword, one kill" Itto-ryu doctrine, you must use the sword efficiently. The most efficient men and do attacks, for example, can be made from jyodan, gedan, wakigamae, hassou, yotou, kagetou stances, rather than chudan or Seigan. If you keep "issoku ittou no maai" (one step/one sword length distance between you and opponent), you are perfectly safe from your opponent's attacks, whatever kamae, or stance you take. However, if the opponent penetrates in your issoku-ittou no maai zone, you must attack the opponent in a flash, without delay.

It is very difficult for an inexperienced kendoist to fight back an opponent who is invading his maai. It is just like facing the huge wave of a fighting spirit tsunami. You would be spiritually immobilized and stunned by the enormous force of the experienced opponent's spiritual wave. To win, empty your mind of any thinking/brain activity, and just reflect the opponent's image in your eyes by focusing as if you are looking at a distant mountain range. Your opponent becomes a very tiny being in the vast universe in your field of vision. With this state of mind and vision, you can see the opponent holding a tiny stick or a piece of a straw. The dangerous part of the stick or piece of straw is its tiny point (kissaki) and a thin line of the stick (razor-thin blade). You can reduce your opponent to a tiny point and a continuous line of tiny points. In a real sword fight, transform the huge wave of your opponent's spiritually oppressive tsunami into a set of miniscule points like photons. When the movement of the set of photons flashes in your eyes, attack the opponent by making a slightly angled cut that avoids letting the set of photons of the opponent's sword cut any part of your body. .

I discussed this quantum mechanical and thermodynamic approach to Sakurai-ha Kogen Itto-ryu kendo with Professor Dr. Philip Vos Fellman, Professor, Graduate School of Business, New Hampshire College, when he visited us here in Columbus for the first time in early 1990s. It was a pleasant surprise for me to know that Dr. Fellman is a great fan of Tsukue Ryunosuke. He is a nihilistic hero of Nakazato Kaizan's novel titled "Daibosatsu Toge" (Great Buddha Pass). Ryunosuke was an outstanding swordsman of the Kogen Itto-ryu. When Ryunosuke participated a light-contact bokken tournament dedicated to the Fuji Sengen Jinja (Shinto shrine), his tsuki (thrust) was not recognized by the judge. The judge declared hikiwake (a draw match). He protested that the judge was unfair and requested a rematch, which meant full-contact bokken shiai, the same as real sword fight. Ryunosuke made a full-contact men ippon. The skull of the opponent, Utsuki (I forgot his first name), was smashed completely. Several of Utsuki's students supported him to prevent his falling to the ground. The judge declared hikiwake, again, even though Utsuki was dead in the hands of his students. Utsuki's senior students set up an ambush on the lane through woods that night, and attacked Ryunosuke. Ohama (see below) warned him of the ambush for revenge on Ursuki's family. All of the attackers were instantly killed, one by one, with Ryunosuke's breath-takingly sharp, one flash of the sword/one kill techniques.

Ryunosuke's philosophy was that samurai must not yield victory to anyone, whether in shiai, or in a real sword fight. Samurai must earn their positions by victory in the dojo and on the real battle field. Every practice at a dojo was a real sword fight for samurai. Nobody yielded victory or was willing to get killed by you on the battle field. So, this intensity and realism was (and is) absolutely necessary for every swordsman.

Utsuki's wife Ohama begged Ryunosuke before the tournament to yield victory to Utsuki so that his dojo could flourish, in exchange for an intimate relationship with Ryunosuke. Ryunosuke accepted the intimate relationship with Ohama, but did not yield the victory to Utsuki. Ohama could not return to the Utsuki Dojo. She asked Ryunosuke to slip out of town together to avoid further revenge attacks by the Utsuki clan. For this and other transgressions (Ryunosuke committed tsjigiri, a test cut of a new sword, killing an innocent bystander), Ryunosuke was excommunicated from his father's Kogen Itto-ryu kendo school. He moved to Edo (Tokyo) with Ohama. Meanwhile, Ryunosuke's father adopted Utsuki's youngest brother and trained him to kill Ryunosuke for revenge and for society.

Because of his hard life as an Edo ronin, Ryunosuke decided to join the Roshi Gumi that eventually reorganized into the Shinsen Gumi and Shinchou Gumi in Kyoto. Just before Ryunosuke left Edo and went to Kyoto with the Roshi Gumi, Ohama attempted to kill Ryunosuke to revenge her ex-husband. Eventually, Ohama was killed by his hand. Shinchou Gumi members including Ryunosuke returned to Edo and acted separately from the Shinsen Gumi to restore law and order to the Edo, Yokosuka, and Yokohama area.

For some reason, very few, if any, Shinchou Gumi stories were written, even though Shinchou Gumi members were as good as, or superior to, some Shinsen Gumi members. Ryunosuke killed numerous Imperialist terrorists in the Edo area. When the Meiji Restoration Civil War broke out, the Shinchou Gumi fought against the Imperialist Army as a company of the Pro-Tokugawa? army. During that war's early stage, Ryunosuke was blinded by gun powder blasts. The blind Ryunosuke's sword was even sharper as the remaining Shinchou Gumi were hunted down in the deep mountains by the Imperialist Army.

He was rescued by a Shinto Shugenja (a mountaineering ascetic) as he lay unconscious in the deep woods. While he recuperated from the eye wound, Utsuki Hyoma located Ryunosuke in the mountain hideout and challenged him to avenge his brother. Though blind, Ryunosuke sensed Hyoma's swordsmanship had greatly improved, but was not strong enough to win a duel with Ryunosuke. He suggested that Hyoma come back after he trained hard in kendo for several more years, because Ryunosuke never yielded victory, even in an unfair fight with an inexperienced kenkaku like Hyoma, or his older brother. He wanted to die by the hand of a far superior swordsman. Until this challenge, Ryunosuke fought with his best swordsmanship, acquired as the heir of a Kogen Itto-ryu Soke, even though he was excommunicated from Kogen Itto-ryu school by his own father.

Ignoring Ryunosuke's advice, Hyoma closed in maai. Normally, Ryunosuke would never put himself at such a terrible disadvantage, but this time he stood with a steep cliff at his back, without drawing his sword. When Hyoma made a sharp tsuki, Ryunosuke jumped backward and disappeared over the cliff.

Unfortunately, the author of the fiction, Nakazato Kaizan passed away with his story at this point. When I read the "Daibosatsu Toge," I was in the fifth grade. I was angry that the author made Ryunosuke's last swordfight his stupidest swordfight. Ryunosuke would never yield victory by standing with a cliff behind him and evade Hyoma's bold tsuki by jumping from a cliff for a free fall to his death.

I have always strictly followed Ryunosuke's philosophy, not to yield victory to the opponent in any exhibition matches whether official or unofficial. However, at the age of seventy, I understand why Nakazato Kaizan had Ryunosuke choose to fall in his very last sword fight. One of several models used for the Ryunosuke character was the swordsman Fuda Ryujiro. The Fuda clan is closely blood-related to my family. In the late Era of War his clan and the Kotaka clan were Sengoku Daimyous (Ref. 4, 5, 6, 7). The blood relationship between the two clans became close again during the Meiji Restoration civil war era. According to the legends of my family, Fuda Ryujiro's vision was saved by a doctor who came to Japan with a group of American missionaries. Ryujiro became a Christian and went to Manchuria as a Japanese Christian Missionary. To swallow one's pride and sacrifice himself for a promising young person are the noble acts of a well-established kenkaku like Ryunosuke.

Nonetheless, promising young kenkaku must train hard for your own sake. If you match the timing of your offence with that of the opponent, you can match the relative velocity of the opponent no matter how fast the opponent is.

The Itto-ryu doctrine "one flash of the sword, one kill" is correct in view of relativistic quantum mechanics. In general, sport kendo practitioners think of classical kendo as too slow for them to use in shinai kendo. However, this is not true for our relativistic quantum mechanics Shinsen-gumi Itto-ryu. We can match up with any vector force in any velocity from any style of kendo. With relativistic timing kendo, age, sex, and muscular strength are not limiting factors at all.

I would like to continue this research project of the relativistic quantum mechanics of Shinsen Gumi Itto-ryu with young brilliant students of various disciplines at the OSU/Columbus Kendo/Iaido Club Kohbu-kan Dojo.

References:
(1) Edo Bakufu Sen'nin Doshin Shiryo (Chronicle of Edo Bakufu Sehn'nin Doshin Gumi), Tadashi Murakami, Editor, Bunken Shuppan, Publisher, 1982
(2) Edo Bakufu Sen'nin Doshin, Tadashi Murakami, Editor, Yuzankaku, Publisher, 1998
(3) Shinsen Gumi Shiroku (Historical Records of Shinsen Gumi), Michio Hirao,Author, Hakuryu Sha, Publisher, 1967
(4) Hitachi Sankekafu (Hitachi Three Families History), Komonjyo
(5) Hitachi Shiryo (Hitachi Historical Records), Komonjyo
(6) Satake Kafu (Satake Family Chronicle), Komonjyo
(7) Sengoku Busho Meikan (Whos Who Sengoku War Lords)
(8) Itto-ryu Gokui (Secret Principles of Itto-ryu), Jyunzo Sasamori, Author, Seishin Sha Printing Co., Publisher, 1970
(9) Kogen Itto-ryu, in Nippon Budo Taikan, Volume 2