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STANDARDS of 'JŪHANKEN' (柔半剣)

IN THE

ADAPTATION OF
WEAPONRY KATA

INCLUDING NECESSARY

STRUCTURE AND NOMENCLATURE



This term 'Jūhanken' (柔半剣) refers to the subject of universal cross-application of Body, sword and staff in the Jujutsu techniques. It's the basis of all other weapons application and you must study and know it to actually understand the school's systems of Japanese Budo Weaponry. The principles and techniques are certainly not all that restricted to Japanese Classical Jujutsu Weaponry... it can be used with just about any weapon one should wish. What is this foundation and why is it necessary to understand? Because all Jujutsu Weaponry such as the Jutte 'Ten Hands' truncheon or the Toda Ryu chain arts we practice, as are the Jujutsu unarmed combat techniques, all practiced and applied against the sword and staff straight out of the 'Jūhanken' itself. There is no separating these. The nomenclature and terminology, as well as the technical listings, are all based off of it. Most schools do not call this subject 'Jūhanken' (柔半剣), but instead they call the subject 'Jūkenbō' (柔剣棒) , whereas the art of Aikidō calls it 'Riai' (理合). Not as commonly known and understood, the term 'Jūkenbō' (柔剣棒) is directly linked to and in reference to the term 'Jūkenbō' (銃剣棒) “Bayonet stick” used for old paramilitary practice involving bayonet practice with a wooden mock rifle (the 'stick') mounted with a mock bayonet. The idiom has direct paramilitary context, naturally. One is not supposed to ignore this.

Since all the traditional Jujutsu weapons, such as Jutte truncheon, Tessen Iron fan and, of course, the Kusari fundō Counter-weighted chain used from the Toda Ryū are all used against the sword and staff under the guiding principles of 'Jūhanken' (union of Body arts, Staff arts and Sword arts). This makes the subject and it's necessary associative terminology and nomenclature very important. Of the sword there are three lengths recognized: (1) Long sword ( 刀 katana, or, 太刀 tachi or daitō), (2) Short sword (小太刀  kodachi, 小刀 shōtō or 脇差  wakizashi, respectively.) And (3) the Dagger ( 短刀  tantō, 短剣  tanken or 懐剣 kaiken). Similarly, there are four lengths of the stick or staff: (1) Long staff ( 長棒 Chōbō), (2) Cane stick ( 杖(棒) Jō(-bō)), (3) Short stick ( 半棒 Hanbō) , (4) Baton ( 短棒 tanbō).

Whatever weapon you are exploring, be it the case of the Short sword, Long sword, Short or Long staff, the Toda Ryū Kusari Fundō (Counter-weighted chain of the Toda school), it itself is always being applied in the practice of the techniques against one of the indicated lengths above of the sword or staff. That means, literally, it's all 'Jūhanken' and so... now we explore the terminology directly. In regard to the sword, multiple entries had to be placed because there's more than one term used to denote that length of sword, sorry.

These are the Base Terms (Foundational terminology) used both to describe the weapons' usage against an opponent and in disarming an opponent bearing the weapon:


刀捕之型  Katana Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Long Sword

太刀捕之型  Tachi (or, 'Daitō') Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Long Sword

小太刀捕之型  Kodachi Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Short Sword

小刀捕之型  Shōtō Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Short Sword

脇差捕之型  Wakizashi Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Short Sword

短刀捕之型  Tantō Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Dagger

短剣捕之型  Tanken Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Dagger

懐剣捕之型  Kaiken Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Dagger



長棒捕之型  Chōbō Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Long Staff

杖(棒)捕之型   Jō(-bō) Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Cane Stick

半棒捕之型   Hanbō Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Short Stick

短棒捕之型   Tanbō Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Baton



Both sword and staff sets are applied against an unarmed man (whom is using hand to hand combat in order to disarm the weapon.) This is how the unarmed combat tactics are practiced, no other way at all. In this fashion one is assured of some familiarity with an opponent who bears a fighting knife (at a minimum for his weapon) by way of practice against a minimum of the wooden dagger and  through common address in practice... we are then not really at all inclined to show unreasonable fear and concern over so simple a  weapon. This is a rather healthy combative 'conditioning' within the practices and teachings of the school's 'Jūhanken' orientation.

If we likewise practice against (wooden) short swords then we do have some familiarity when actually faced with a true weapon of  such size and length (it will not seem quite so intimidating at the time of our need-to-defend. ) These are all the standard tenets of the Japanese fightings arts of this caliber. As for the above listings, one can see they show pre-occupation with 'capturing' and this most certainly betrays the elemental foundation of the occassion: always move to capture the opponent's weapon (expressely so that you  may then employ it yourself. It is the artifice of stealing away his advantage and making it your own.) Now we will look directly into the subject of adaptive terminolgy used to further explore the subject.

If against a dagger, it's called exactly the same as above: 短刀捕之型 Tantō Dori No Kata – Forms of Capturing the Dagger.

If against a short sword, it's called exactly the same as above: 小太刀捕之型 Kodachi Dori No Kata – Forms of Capturing the Short Sword.

But when the dagger is used to capture the short sword (a superior weapon, so we must take it away) then it gets called by the name:

短刀小太刀捕之型 Tantō Kodachi Dori No Kata – Forms of Capturing a Short Sword with a Dagger.


THESE ARE ALWAYS 'DISARMING' TECHNIQUES.


We will now further examine usage of terminology with one of the other traditional weapons used to disarm the sword or staff, such as
Kusari fundō Counter-weighted chain.



鎖分銅捕之型  Kusari Fundō Dori No Kata  –  Forms of Capturing with the Counter-Weighted Chain

Counter-Weighted Chain Against The Various Lengths Of The Sword:

鎖分銅刀捕之型  Kusari Fundō Katana Dori No Kata
Forms of Capturing the Long Sword with the Counter-Weighted Chain

鎖分銅小太刀捕之型    Kusari Fundō Kodachi Dori No Kata
Forms of Capturing the Short Sword with the Counter-Weighted Chain

鎖分銅短刀捕之型    Kusari Fundō Tantō Dori No Kata
Forms of Capturing the Dagger with the Counter-Weighted Chain

Counter-Weighted Chain Against The Various Lengths Of The Staff:

鎖分銅長棒捕之型    Kusari Fundō Chōbō Dori No Kata
Forms of Capturing the Long Staff with the Counter-Weighted Chain

鎖分銅杖(棒)捕之型    Kusari Fundō Jō(-bō) Dori No Kata
Forms of Capturing the Cane Stick with the Counter-Weighted Chain

鎖分銅半棒捕之型    Kusari Fundō Hanbō Dori No Kata
Forms of Capturing the Short Stick with the Counter-Weighted Chain

鎖分銅短棒捕之型    Kusari Fundō Tanbō Dori No Kata
Forms of Capturing the Baton with the Counter-Weighted Chain


NOTE: Sometimes one encounters these same with 'ni' (に) “against” inserted between both weapons names, in such cases (for
example) it would be: Kusari fundo ni katana dori no kata “Capturing Forms of Counter-Weighted Chain Against Long Sword”.


We will now further examine usage of the same terminology with yet another of the traditional weapons used to disarm the sword or staff, the Tessen Iron Fan.


鉄扇捕之型 Tessen Dori No Kata – Forms of Capturing with the Iron Fan

Iron Fan Against The Various Lengths Of The Sword:

鉄扇刀捕之型  Tessen Katana Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing the Long Sword with the Iron Fan

鉄扇小太刀捕之型  Tessen Kodachi Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing the Short Sword with the Iron Fan

鉄扇短刀捕之型  Tessen Tantō Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing the Dagger with the Iron Fan


Iron Fan Against The Various Lengths Of The Staff:

鉄扇長棒捕之型  Tessen Chōbō Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing the Long Staff with the Iron Fan

鉄扇杖(棒)捕之型  Tessen Jō(-bō) Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing the Cane Stick with the Iron Fan

鉄扇半棒捕之型  Tessen Hanbō Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing the Short Stick with the Iron Fan

鉄扇短棒捕之型  Tessen Tanbō Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing the Baton with the Iron Fan


NOTE: Sometimes one encounters these same with 'ni' (に) “against” inserted between both weapons names, in such cases (for
example) it would be: Tessen ni katana dori no kata “Capturing Forms of Iron Fan Against Long Sword”.


We will yet further examine usage of the same terminology with yet another of the traditional weapons used to disarm the sword or staff, the Jutte Ten Hands truncheon.


十手捕之型  Jutte Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing with the Ten Hands Truncheon

Iron Fan Against The Various Lengths Of The Sword:

十手刀捕之型  Jutte Katana Dori No Kata – Forms of Capturing the Long Sword with the Ten Hands Truncheon

十手小太刀捕之型  Jutte Kodachi Dori No Kata – Forms of Capturing the Short Sword with the Iron Fan

十手短刀捕之型  Jutte Tantō Dori No Kata – Forms of Capturing the Dagger with the Iron Fan


Iron Fan Against The Various Lengths Of The Staff:

十手長棒捕之型  Jutte Chōbō Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing the Long Staff with the Iron Fan

十手杖(棒)捕之型  Jutte Jō(-bō) Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing the Cane Stick with the Iron Fan

十手半棒捕之型  Jutte Hanbō Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing the Short Stick with the Iron Fan

十手短棒捕之型  Jutte Tanbō Dori No Kata  –   Forms of Capturing the Baton with the Iron Fan


NOTE: Sometimes one encounters these same with 'ni' (に) “against” inserted between both weapons names, in such cases (for
example) it would be: Jutte ni katana dori no kata “Capturing Forms of Ten Hands Truncheon Against Long Sword”.



HOW ARE ALL THESE TECHNICAL ENTRIES STRUCTURED?

Most usually they follow the standard pattern of:

本之型  Hon No Kata – Main Forms

表之型  Omote No Kata – Outer Forms

裏之型  Ura No Kata – Inner Forms

逆之型  Gyaku No Kata – Reverse Forms

変化之型  Henka No Kata – Variation Forms

表変化之型  Omote Henka No Kata – Outer Variation Forms

裏変化之型  Ura Henka No Kata – Inner Variation Forms

逆変化之型  Gyaku Henka No Kata – Reverse Variation Forms






TECHNICAL KATA LISTINGS

APPLICABLE TO THE

WEAPONRY ARTS


INCLUDING THE JUJUTSU KATA
UNDER THE STANDARD CUSTOMS
OF 'JŪHANKEN'




Due to standard 'Jūhanken' customs of adaptation of the Jujutsu kata techniques, and the kata structure of the Jujutsu school(s) that we use, such as are a form of (any branch of) the Yōshin Ryū just about any unarmed combat ('jujutsu) technique is subject to be adpated in the above listed structures and turned into weapons kata techniques.

BUT THERE IS A CERTAIN KATA SET THAT IS PARTICULARLY SUBJECTED TO THE ADAPTATION AND WHEN THUS SUBJECTED USUALLY ENCOUNTERS A NAME CHANGE OF THE KATA SET TO REFLECT AND TO IDENTIFY WHAT WEAPON IS DOING THE CAPTURING (according to the nomenclature listed above.)


We need to have a look at those...

PLEASE pay attention: The title of this kata set is really well known and strongly associated with (but not limited to) various kinds of the Yōshin Ryū schools. If one pokes around the subject, one can find plenty of proof of the listed conversions of the kata set (consider the example of 'sensu dori' – Capturing with a folding fan, found in some of the Koryū school as well as many other of the Koden Gendai schools, for example.)




無刀捕之型 MUTŌ DORI NO KATA – Forms of No Sword Capture

SET NAME CHANGES, LISTED SET REMAINS THE SAME.

Often and usually renamed as a kata sequence for the weapon, when named as Tanbō Dori No Kata “Forms of Capturing with a Baton”, Hanbō Dori No Kata “Forms of Capturing with a Short Stick”, Jō(-bō) Dori No Kata “Forms of Capturing with a Short Stick”, Tantō (or, Tanken) Dori No Kata “Forms of Capturing with a Dagger”, Kodachi Dori No Kata “Forms of Capturing with a Short Sword”, Tachi Dori No Kata “Forms of Capturing with a Long Sword”, Sensu Dori No Kata “Forms of Capturing with a Folding Fan”, Tessen Dori No Kata “Forms of Capturing with an Iron Fan”, Jūtte Dori No Kata “Forms of Capturing with a Truncheon”, Kusari Fundo Dori No Kata “Forms of Capturing with an Counter-weighted Chain” and so on and so forth.

The renaming NEVER includes inter-combining “muto dori” with any of the other terms.


無刀捕之型  Muto Dori Gata    Capturing without a Sword


一文字  Ichimonji    Straight Line

片手落  Katate Otoshi  Single Hand Drop

向捕  Muko Dori  Diverting Take

回捕  Mawashi Dori  Rotating Take

平一文字  Hira Ichimonji  Level Line

後捕  Ushiro Dori  Rear Take

正眼  Seigan  Straight Eye

柄砕  Tsuka Kudaki  Hilt crusher

沈捕  Shizumi Dori  Sinking take

松葉落  Matsuba Otoshi  Pine needle drop