Origins & background

The combat methods of using the Japanese sword that emerged in the Muromachi period (1333–1573) began to transform structured Ryūha (school or transmission) during the Sengoku period (1467-1600), a time of extensive civil war, political upheaval, and social transformation in Japan and continued into the early years of the Edo period (1603–1867) during the Shogunate ruling.

These classical Ryūha were not simply battlefield techniques preserved unchanged after warfare ended but rather formal pedagogical systems that used stylised designed Kata (predetermined forms) to transmit principles of swordsmanship, tactical judgement, self-command and warrior culture rather than literal reconstructions of typical combat encounters. These Kata described combative situations in order to transmit principles, judgement, character, body organisation and warrior identity.

Hayashizaki Jinsuke was a swordsman around the time of the Sengoku/Edo transition who established a Ryūha, that evolved into Musō Jikiden Eishin-ryū (MJER), a name meaning ‘peerless, directly transmitted school of Eishin’. This name was given after the 7th headmaster, Hasegawa Chikaranosuke Hidenobu, ‘Eishin’ being an alternative pronunciation of ‘Hidenobu.’

After the collapse of the Japanese feudal system in 1868 the theory and the practice of classical Iaidō disciplines were preserved away from actual combat and have become to be known as Koryū (old schools that pre-date the Meiji period) Iaidō, which includes MJER.

The 17th headmaster of MJER, Ōe Masaji (1852-1927) adopted a more open and inclusive approach to teaching and permitted indiscriminate transmission allowing anyone in possession of full-transmission (menkyo kaiden) to award licenses to any number of his students.  Oe Masaji is believed to have awarded at least 16 full-transmissions which has resulted in MJER fracturing into multiple branches with legitimate lineage.