Hontai Yōshin Ryū is a traditional jujutsu school, which in addition to weaponless techniques, is also known for its use of the short sword (kodachi) and its staff fighting (bojutsu).

banner small

The school is based upon the principles of jujutsu roppo (the six kinds of techniques used in jujutsu):

  1.             Gyaku:         joint lock
  2.            Nage:           throwing
  3.            Ate:              hitting
  4.            Shime:          choking (strangling)
  5.            Toritsuke:     capturing the enemy and rope binding
  6.             Katsu:          resuscitation

For more information:

Guy Buyens wrote a series of 3 articles on Hontai Yōshin Ryū for koryu.com. First the school is introduced (Part 1), followed by a description of jujutsu in more detail (Part 2), and finally by a reflection on the long and never ending journey (Part 3).

After finishing these 3 articles we realized that an additional article on "iai-jutsu" was useful.

A Dictionary/Glossary related to Hontai Yōshin Ryū is also available. In this glossary, an explanation of most entries has been provided. We hope this glossary (dictionary) turned out to be more than yet another alphabetic list of words commonly used in BUDO.

A translation (and explanation) of the names of the techniques in the different KATA of the school (the official curriculum as taught by INOUE Kyoichi Munenori, the 19th generation SOKE) also exists but this document is intended for students of Hontai Yōshin Ryū only.

There is an official video on " Hontai Yōshin Ryū ", part of a series entitled "Nihon No Kobudō” (Kobudo of Japan) produced by the Nippon Budokan. This video (available on DVD) can be purchased.