Ogasawara-ryu Genealogy notes

Ogasawara-ryu Genealogy

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Genealogy
The Ogasawara family is from the Minamoto family line. The first of the Minamoto was Prince Tsunemoto, grandson of the Emperor Seiwa and an excellent archer and horseman. One of the most noteworthy of the Minamoto was Tsunemoto no Yoshiie under whose leadership the family's power increased greatly. Yoshiie's brother, Minamoto no Yoshimitsu, was the progenitor of the Ogasawara.
Yoshimitsu's great-grandson, Tomitsu, was highly skilled in both literary and military arts. Due to his bravery during the suppression of the Taira, he was given an honorary post. He further distinguished himself during the reign of the Emperor Takakura, when he was called on to shoot a mysterious light that was assailing the Emperor's court. Tomitsu's son, Nagakiyo, was the first to be called Ogasawara, after his home village in Kai province (now Yamanashi Prefecture). The Ogasawara's reputation for excellence in archery and horsemanship was already well-established at this point, and as a family document indicates: "After Nagakiyo became known as Ogasawara, the family's skill in military arts became more and more celebrated."

Nagakiyo served Yoritomo no Minamoto as master of archery and horsemanship, further increasing the fame of the Ogasawara. Etiquette, however, was not among the pressing needs of the warrior class at the height of the Kamakura Period, so Nagakiyo did not teach it.

It was the 7th Headmaster, Sadamune Ogasawara, who reintroduced etiquette to the arts of archery and horsemanship. For this he is called the restorer of the Ogasawara school. It is from the 7th Sadamune's teaching that the Ogasawara school as we know it today descended. Sadamune studied under the Zen Master Seisetsu Shoho and stressed the Zen components of their teaching, and incorporated them even more strongly into the Ogaswara-ryu. This paved the way for continuing evolution of the arts which we now know as the 'do' arts of Japan.

Sadamune served the Emperor Godaigo during the period between the collapse of the Kamakura Shogunate and the establishment of the Muromachi Shogunate. The Emperor took him into service on account of his great contribution to the downfall of the Kamakura, and assured him that the Ogasawara school of etiquette would become the code of the warrior class. Sadamune subsequently joined the forces of the Muromachi Shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, serving as master of etiquette and thus adding to his good reputation.

The Ogasawara continued to serve the Ashikaga from generation to generation. They taught not only archery and horsemanship, but also the rites of manhood, wedding rites, and the other ceremonial etiquette.

Three generation after Sadamune, a man named Nagahide compiled the "Sangi Itto", the cornerstone of Ogasawara etiquette. The volume was written at the behest of the third of the Ashikaga shoguns, Yoshimitsu, who deplored the deterioration of ancient courtier manners.

During the Warring States Period, the Ogasawara were charged with protecting the province of Shinano (now Nagano Prefecture). They fought Takeda Shingen several times, losing their territory but eventually regaining it under the banner of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The family head, Sadayoshi, handed down the "Seven Volumes of Ogasawara Etiquette" to his heir Hidemasa during this period. Unlike later systems of etiquette that only boast of splendor, these volumes provide an authentic explanation of the unadorned grace of warrior-class manners.

When the battle of Osaka broke out in the summer of 1615, Hidemasa and his heir, Tadanaga, went to the field in support of the Tokugawa and died heroic deaths. In return for their loyalty, the Ogasawara were named the ruling family of Akashi, Harima Province (now western Hyogo Prefecture), a fief with an annual yield of 110,000 koku of rice. Subsequently, they were named the rulers of Kokura, Buzen Province (now northeastern Fukuoka and northern Oita Prefectures), a fief with a yield of 150,000 koku of rice.

During the Edo Period, the Ogasawara instructed the succeeded elite of the shogunate in the fine points of etiquette. Even the general population began to bear the Ogasawara mark, as they increasingly adopted the manners of the warrior class. The Ogasawara code of etiquette was exhaustive. It explained rituals for annual events, furniture arrangement, how to change and fold clothes, how to write cards correctly, how to eat in a proper manner, how to wrap gifts, and more.
In the Meiji Era the head of the Ogasawara was given the title of count.

Zen in Japanese Traditional Archery

For most people, maybe especially in Japan, kyudo is not associated directly with Zen. There are only a few schools of actual Zen Archery. But, as we have discussed, whether an individual practices in one of these schools, or in one that does more of a sport, or dan ranking emphasis, or one of those that has a focus on simply the Japanese Tradition itself... it's all kyudo. The only exception I make to this, if they like, the schools that have retained just the jitsu portion of the practice, and have an interest only in technique itself... these may wish not to use the term kyudo, and also retain the kyujitsu term to describe their practice; and that's fine.

There were no actual Zen Archery schools per se, until Umeji Kenran Roshi and followers of Awa Kenzo Sensei, Like Suhara Roshi and his predecessor's created them. But what they borrowed from to do this, was not schools of Zen Archery, but of Zen Schools that had archers. Primarily these two schools were not born out of Zen, but out of these archers own personal spiritual revelation. They were not the first to do this, but this practice too was not common in Zen, we are still talking about a miniscule portion of the yumi community, and few Zen Archers. Technically speaking only those of us under one of these strains of the practice are doing Zen Archery.

 99.9% of the kyudo practitioners are simply doing modern Japanese archery, and this is called kyudo, just like we do. So we are all doing kyudo. The term Kyudo came from yumi no michi, in fact the same kanji are used for both, so only our oral history tells us which one was actually used.

The term yumi no michi was used when the yumi was used in sacred rituals, and exists in the earliest writings of the Japanese people, and the practice of using the yumi as a ritual implement goes back to the origination of its asymmetrical design.

 

These rituals were often performed by Shaman with a yumi, but could have just as likely been done by a warrior at the direction of Shamen. This was not Zen Archery, Zen, and even Buddhism had not arrived in Japan yet.

When buddhism arrived, the practice continued much like this. Though Prince Tashi and his court used the principles they were learning from the mainland to codify the practices, including the first kyujitsu school Tashi-ryu. These principles, coming from the mainland were all based on jyukyo. Jyukyo is basically the combination of Confucianist, Buddhist, and Taoist thought. But as always in Japan, these began to meld often with the existing Shamistic ideas, and what we now call Shinto was beginning to form, and yumi no michi was part of this.

This is exactly the portion of Zen that the warrior class in Japan embraced, whether they retired into 'monkhood' or not.

From the time of Prince Taishi tthe process of jyukyo incorporating itself into Japanese Culture began.

Kukai, or Koboh Daishi, the founder of Japanese Shingon Buddhism, was another catalyst for this process. Coming from Tendai Buddhism, as all the founders of Japanese Buddhist sects began there. But Tendai Buddhism is little changed from its mainland roots, Koboh Daishi allowed much more integration with indigenous ideas, and Buddhism became much more 'Japanese'.

 

A main catalyst for warriors and Jukyo to mix was with the Ogasawara Family who used jukyo, and what they term as in/yo theory for their Ogasawara-ryu. Jyukyo, though it includes all three Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, is often translated as Confucianism. And indeed, the etiquette of Ogasawara-ryu is steeped in Confucianism, and is the core of their teaching. Their yumi no michi based on what we now call Shinto, the in/yo theory is the Japanese version of Tao, and the the Taoist thought was minor in jyukyo. But major in Chan and Zen Buddhism. It is from here that they brought in for their tea ceremony, flower arrangement, calligraphy, and the other geido arts.

From the beginning, jukyo and indigenous ideas began to mix into everything the Japanese did. This was true for all classes of society to one degree or another. But the mixture was not the same for every class. Nobility, warriors, peasants, merchants... for each the mixture was different.

As it is in Japan, the Ogasawara-ryu emphasized the mixture in all the practices, no matter what implement a person had in their hand, these principles that had now become 'Japanese' principles were the way to conduct oneself. This is what was then, and what is now Japanese Culture. This same thing, at the same time happened in Zen. And Zen became infused with exactly the same mixture, but of course from a primarily Buddhist emphasis. This mixture is the fine distinction between Chan in China, and Zen in Japan.

The traditional Japanese Culture we have today is very much like the Japanese Culture that the Ogasawara Family gave us. Zen simply evolved at the same time along similar ideas, and this is why they are sometimes used synonymously. It is simply that they both embody what has become Japanese Culture. So although all Zen Practitioners embody Japanese Culture, not all those who embody Japanese Culture are doing Zen.

Perhaps only those of us doing Zen, may really be doing Zen Archery. But all of us doing kyudo, definitely embody Japanese Culture.