Benevolent Sun

Fujibayashi Hanjūrō

O o Motanai Bijū
Jul 25, 2025
17
5
3
藤林無声流ふじばやしむせいりゅう
Taijutsu Style

Fujibayashi Musei-ryū (often Musei-ryū) is a notable member of the older generation of martial arts styles endemic to the Land of Water. It is a comprehensive bujutsu, meaning that it comprises several different arts (such as jūjutsu, naginatajutsu, and kenjutsu, among others). It was founded by Fujibayashi Yoshiharu, who lived on the clan's ancestral holding of Miurajima at the time (some three decades before the end of the Warring States Period).

History

Name

While the style primarily takes its name from the clan of its founder, the exact nature of the inclusion of musei is unclear; it has been postulated that the style is so-named for its instruction in breath control, for its lack of kiai, its approach to combat on principle, for the infrequency of its use in public, for the relative anonymity of its founder, or for its uncertain heritage.

Origin

Fujibayashi Yoshiharu was a swordsman of modest historical note born approximately sixty years before the end of the Warring States Period in the Land of Water. He was the fifth son of the head of the main branch of the Fujibayashi clan and was therefore expected to have little chance at obtaining meaningful political power. The musha shugyō that he undertook in early adulthood is attributed to this fact. The ryūha that he studied before or during this time are not attested to.

Several decades later, he came to the service of the immediate predecessor of the first daimyō of the unified Land of Water (who was then a child of ten years). His skill at arms was of immediate note to his lord's regency council, who issued him an order to instruct others in his style. It is in this way that Fujibayashi Musei-ryū was founded and came to have dōjō both in the capital and within its clan's domain on Miurajima.

Lineage
  1. Fujibayashi Yoshiharu (founder and first sōke; missing and presumed dead at age 63)
  2. Fujibayashi Masayori (second sōke, credited for introducing naginatajutsu to the style; killed by his successor at age 32)
  3. Fujibayashi Harumasa (third sōke, credited for introducing sōjutsu to the style; died to wounds inflicted by his predecessor at age 23)
  4. Fujibayashi Masazō (fourth sōke, credited for the transition from oral transmission to written transmission via the Musei-ryū Zenkaidensho; died at age 59 on the battlefield during the Second Great Shinobi War)
  5. Fujibayashi Hanzō (fifth sōke, credited for introducing iaijutsu to the style; died at age 72 of a stroke)
  6. Fujibayashi Masanari (current sōke, inherited the title ten years ago; in seclusion for the last three years)
  7. Fujibayashi Hanjūrō (acting sōke-dairi; assumed current role following the entrance of his father into seclusion)
It should be noted that while Yoshiharu's son Masayori followed his father to become the second sōke, the succession of the ryūha has passed through the siblings (and occasionally the children of siblings) of other sōke several times, such that it has fallen into line with the succession of the main branch of the Fujibayashi clan.
Philosophy

Much of the modern approach of Musei-ryū (both to teaching and to fighting) was developed by its second sōke, Fujibayashi Masayori, rather than by its founder. Its practitioners say that this is due to the poor aptitude of its founder for the task of instruction. There exists only one principle in its records attributed to its founder: hyakushin hyakutō ga isshin ittō, which is usually taken to mean that a person with a poor understanding of their enemy will need to strike many times to strike true but that the same person will need to do so only once if they are of one mind with that enemy.

The core doctrine of Musei-ryū is that victory in all things lies in the degree of understanding of one's opponent. It identifies the primary obstacle to this as the clinging monkey-mind, which rejects (or, at best, imitates) the thoughts and feelings of an opponent. In overcoming this, it prescribes techniques aimed at evoking the no-mind required to empathise with (often even referred to as "becoming") the opponent, and therefore to kill them. The style is, in this way, usually considered to maintain a cynical, perverse, or regressive perspective on the goal of life and the purpose of techniques that were originally designed to reveal the buddha-nature.

Musei-ryū, as an institution, relies heavily on the practice of a progressive cultivation (usually called "gardening") of its techniques and practitioners. This attitude arises from the former principle of empathic becoming and is used to naturally adjust the school over time in order to overcome changes in outside culture and technique. In this way, the school has earned a reputation as an ikiryū.

While the pedagogy of the style still involves traditional methods (such as solitary and paired kata or sparring), a large emphasis is laid upon the practices, be they solitary or guided, of spiritual refinement (such as meditation or art) as well as practical refinement through live combat.
Curriculum

  • ART
    FORMS
    Jūjutsu
    11 Forms: Jūichiji-no-Jūjutsu
    Kenjutsu
    7 Forms: Sotoshichijō-no-Tō
    8 Forms: Chūyaemon-no-Tō
    9 Forms: Uchikuzu-no-Tō
    Iaijutsu
    7 Forms: Shippō-no-Iai
    Naginatajutsu
    4 Forms: Shiiji-no-Naginata
    Sōjutsu
    3 Forms: Sansai-no-Yari
  • ONEfirst
    D-Rank Taijutsu

    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: [LIST APPROPRIATE]
    Cost: [CHAKRA POINTS]
    Damage: [TOTAL]
    Hand Seals: [LIST → IN → ORDER]
    Description: [AT LEAST ONE PARAGRAPH]
  • ONEfirst
    C-Rank Taijutsu
    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: Boost
    Cost: 2
    Damage: N/A
    Hand Seals: N/A
    Description: +2 to Sense

    ONEfirst
    C-Rank Taijutsu
    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: Boost
    Cost: 2
    Damage: N/A
    Hand Seals: N/A
    Description: +2 to Sturdy

    ONEfirst
    A-Rank Taijutsu
    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: Boost
    Cost: 4
    Damage: N/A
    Hand Seals: N/A
    Description: +2 to Speed, +1 to Skill and Strength

    ONEfirst
    A-Rank Taijutsu
    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: Boost
    Cost: 4
    Damage: N/A
    Hand Seals: N/A
    Description: +2 to Strength, +1 to Skill and Speed

    ONEfirst
    A-Rank Taijutsu
    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: Boost
    Cost: 4
    Damage: N/A
    Hand Seals: N/A
    Description: +2 to Skill, +1 to Speed and Strength

    ONEfirst
    S-Rank Taijutsu
    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: Boost
    Cost: 5
    Damage: N/A
    Hand Seals: N/A
    Description: +2 to Speed and Strength, +1 to Skill

    ONEfirst
    S-Rank Taijutsu
    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: Boost
    Cost: 5
    Damage: N/A
    Hand Seals: N/A
    Description: +2 to Skill and Strength, +1 to Speed

    ONEfirst
    S-Rank Taijutsu
    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: Boost
    Cost: 5
    Damage: N/A
    Hand Seals: N/A
    Description: +2 to Skill and Speed, +1 to Strength

    ONEfirst
    S-Rank Taijutsu
    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: Boost
    Cost: 6
    Damage: N/A
    Hand Seals: N/A
    Description: +2 to Skill, Speed, and Strength
  • THREEthird
    D-Rank Taijutsu

    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: [LIST APPROPRIATE]
    Cost: [CHAKRA POINTS]
    Damage: [TOTAL]
    Hand Seals: [LIST → IN → ORDER]
    Description: [AT LEAST ONE PARAGRAPH]
  • FOURfourth
    D-Rank Taijutsu

    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: [LIST APPROPRIATE]
    Cost: [CHAKRA POINTS]
    Damage: [TOTAL]
    Hand Seals: [LIST → IN → ORDER]
    Description: [AT LEAST ONE PARAGRAPH]
  • ひさしに一滴いってき
    D-Rank Taijutsu

    Nature: N/A
    Keywords: [LIST APPROPRIATE]
    Cost: [CHAKRA POINTS]
    Damage: [TOTAL]
    Hand Seals: [LIST → IN → ORDER]
    Description: [AT LEAST ONE PARAGRAPH]
 

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