, was a Japanese swordsman, originally named Itō Yagorō. He is attributed as the founder of the

Ittō-ryū , meaning "one-sword school", is the ancestor school of several Japanese Koryū kenjutsu styles, including Ono-ha, Mizoguchi-ha, Nakanishi-ha, Kogen, Hokushin, Itto Shoden and even Mugai Ryu. The style was developed by Itō Ittōsai Kagehisa. ...

("one sword" or "one stroke") school of sword fighting. According to legend, he floated across the

Sagami Bay lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshu, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shōnan coastline to the north, while the i ...

on a piece of

driftwood Driftwood is a wood that has been washed onto a shore or beach of a sea, lake, or river by the action of winds, tides or waves. It is part of beach wrack. In some waterfront areas, driftwood is a major nuisance. However, the driftwood provides ...

from Ōshima Island, a part of the

Izu Islands The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo Prefecture. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ōsh ...

. The trust of the local villagers was earned when Yagorō chased away a group of bandits that went around raiding and pillaging. As he desired to be a great swordsman, the villagers paid for Yagorō's travels in seeking out a master. On his journey, Yagorō reached

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū is the most important Shinto shrine in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The shrine is a cultural center of the city of Kamakura and serves as the venue of many of its most important festivals with two museum ...

Shinto shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

where he paid homage to the gods and practiced his swordsmanship. One particular day, an unknown assailant tried to attack Yagorō but he unconsciously and without thinking drew his sword and cut down his attacker in one swift stroke. Not understanding this technique, Yagorō later described it as ''Musōken'' (夢想剣), a fundamental aspect of his swordsmanship's philosophy. Musōken is either an offensive or defensive technique that is delivered spontaneously and without thinking, fully anticipating an opponent's movement; a type of

extra-sensory perception Extrasensory perception (ESP), also known as a sixth sense, or cryptaesthesia, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was ado ...

similar to mushin. In another predicament, Ittōsai developed ''Hosshato'' when engaging multiple enemies in his bedroom. He later changed his name to "Itō Ittōsai Kagehisa" (Ittōsai being a '

Bugō are nicknames used in the Japanese martial arts. The word is composed of the symbols wikt:武, 武 (bu, meaning "martial") and wikt:号, 号 (gō, meaning "name"). In English, the term is sometimes translated as "martial name" or "warrior name" wit ...

', martial name). It is said Ittōsai's style evolved from the Chūjō-ryū style of his master, Kanemaki Jisai. Among the many pupils that Ittōsai trained, one such was his successor, Ono Tadaaki who went on to serve the Tokugawa. The Ittō-ryū style is grounded for some in

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

influence due to Ono Tadaaki's contact with the famed Buddhist priest,

Takuan Sōhō was a Japanese Buddhist prelate during the Sengoku and early Edo Periods of Japanese history. He was a major figure in the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism. Noted for his calligraphy, poetry, tea ceremony, he is also popularly credited with the in ...

. This is a reasonable assumption since later Ittō-ryū swordsmen advocated directness and simplicity in their technique of the "one stroke." In order to become famous, it is said Itō Ittōsai fought 33 duels in a

Musha shugyō is a samurai warrior's quest or pilgrimage. The concept is similar to the Chinese Youxia, or Knight Errantry in feudal Europe. A warrior called a ''shugyōsha'', would wander the land practicing and honing his skills without the protection of ...

without losing even once, which makes him second only to

Miyamoto Musashi , was a Japanese swordsman, strategist, artist, and writer who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 62 duels. Miyamoto is considered a ''Kensei (honorary title), kensei'' (swo ...

's over 60 duels. His main sword was a katana crafted by the Ichimonji school, heirs of the great

Emperor Go-Toba was the 82nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1183 through 1198. This 12th-century sovereign was named after Emperor Toba, and ''go-'' (後), translates literally as "later"; ...

's investment in swordmaking. This sword was the one Ittōsai used in his 33 duels, and was later passed on to Grand Masters of the Ittō-ryū, starting with the 4th one, Kamei Heiemon. In one of Ittōsai's duels, he defeated Mikogami Tenzen, who later changed his name to Ono Tadaaki, despite Ittōsai being armed with a wooden ''

bokken A ''bokken'' (, , 'wood', and ''ken'', '(double-edged) sword') or ''bokutō'' (, , 'wood', and ''tō'', '(single-edged) sword') is a Japanese wooden sword used for training in kenjutsu. It is usually the size and shape of a ''katana'', but is so ...

'' and Tenzen using a traditional steel katana. Ittōsai wielded his weapon so precisely that he didn't harm Tenzen at all. Tenzen went on to be Ittōsai's disciple and became the second head of Ittōsai's ryu.

In popular culture

Ittōsai features in

Takehiko Inoue is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for the basketball series ''Slam Dunk'' (1990–1996), and the ''jidaigeki'' manga '' Vagabond'', which are two of the best-selling manga series in history. Many of his works are about basketball, I ...

's award-winning manga ''

Vagabond Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, waste picker, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western ...

,'' heavily featuring as a mentor-type character during the manga's ' Kojiro arc', but also appearing later to duel

. Ittōsai appears as a recruitable character in the game

Inindo ''Inindo: Way of the Ninja'' (伊忍道　打倒信長 or ''Inindou Datou Nobunaga'', スーパー伊忍道　打倒信長 or ''Super Inindou Datou Nobunaga'' in its Super Famicom version) is a 1991 role-playing video game developed and published ...

, produced by

Koei Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its historical simulation games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based o ...

for the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

. He will frequently be found challenging the player to a duel.

In popular culture

References

Further reading