Aisu Iko, a.k.a. Aizu Hyūga-no-Kami Iko, Aisu Hisatada (1452 - 1538) was a Japanese martial artist and the founder of the Kage-ryū school of sword fighting.
Aisu was originally a pirate based in Kumano, who raided Japanese and Chinese shipping and whose travels took him on occasion as far as the Chinese mainland.[1] After suffering a severe shipwreck off Kyushu, of which he was the only survivor, Aisu abandoned his life as a pirate and entered into seclusion at the Udo caves in Miyazaki Prefecture.[2] Here, he purportedly had a dream in which a monkey deity taught him the secrets of swordsmanship.[3] He named the new style he developed the Kage ("Shadow") School,[4] which based its movements on natural phenomena such as wind and waves.[5] Aisu's student, Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, (who also studied with Iko's son Aisu Koshichiro) would later adapt this style into the Shinkage ("New Shadow") school.[1]
After travelling throughout Japan on a martial pilgrimage for some years, Aisu returned to Kyushu, where he died of natural causes.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b Stephen Turnbull (April 2008). The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War. Tuttle Publishing. p. 86. ISBN 978-4-8053-0956-8.
- ^ a b William De Lange (2006). Famous Japanese Swordsmen: The Warring States Period. Floating World Editions. ISBN 978-1-891640-43-8.
- ^ Allen Guttmann (January 2001). Japanese Sports: A History. University of Hawaii Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-8248-2464-8.
- ^ Stephen R. Turnbull (1 November 2000). The Samurai Tradition. Routledge. p. 258. ISBN 978-1-873410-22-6.
- ^ Yagyu Munenori; William Scott Wilson (2012). The Life-Giving Sword: Secret Teachings from the House of the Shogun. Shambhala Publications. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-59030-990-2.
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