Tsukahara Bokuden

Most any fanboy nowadays can recite the life story of Miyamoto Musashi to you. You know, the one where he traveled across the country mercilessly killing anyone dumb enough to get in his way. Then he marries the princess and slays all the demons and becomes an immortal and blah blah blah.

The story of Tsukahara Bokuden, on the other hand, is not quite as famous among the Western audience. Like Musashi, he fought in many duels over his life and came away the victor in all of them. Bokuden is credited with founding the Kashima Shinto-ryu, as well as creating a technique called, Mutekatsu-ryu. (Winning without hands.)

Bokuden is documented to have fought in over 30 battles. Including these 30 battles, he is supposed to have fought a little over 200 individuals, having never been bested. He was also trained by one of the founding fathers of the Kashima Shinryu. Plus he personally trained 2 Ashikaga Shoguns as well as the man Takeda Shingen himself.

From Karl Friday's Legacy of the Sword:

In his (Bokuden) travels throughout Japan, leading an entourage at times numbering more than 800, he is said to have fought at least nineteen duels with live blades and participated in some thirty-seven battles, during all of which he bested more than 212 opponents.

Then there's this legend:

Bokuden came across a young, brash warrior who was bragging that he could take the older Bokuden. He agreed to fight the youngin', and when he was asked which style he used, he replied, "The Style without hands/sword" (depending on how you translate).

This confused the young warrior, so he agreed to fight the old man on a nearby island. Bokuden quietly rowed out to the island and the young swordsman quickly jumped off the boat and onto the island. No sooner than he touched the ground, Bokuden began to row back to shore. As he was rowing away he yelled back to the man, "This is my no hands/sword school."

This might sound a little familiar. It was completely jacked by Bruce Lee for one of his Hollywood films.



This is a woodblock print of a fictional training session between Bokuden and Musashi. Bokuden is doing the training, which may show you how he is revered outside of the West.