About the ryū

Tenshin Bukō-ryū Heihō (天真武甲流兵法) has its roots in Toda-ryū, founded in the late Muromachi period c. 1560 by Toda Seigen (戸田 清眼), a swordsman of the Chūjō-ryū. In the mid-nineteenth century, the name was changed to Toda-ha Buko ryū (戸田派武甲流) by the thirteenth headmaster Suneya Ryōsuke Taeyuki. In 2022, the current sōke-dairi Kent Sorenson changed the name from Toda-ha Buko ryū to Tenshin Bukō-ryū.

The ryū contains an extensive curriculum of weapon arts centring on the study of the naginata. The primary weapons are the su naginata (the ‘plain’ naginata) and the kagitsuki naginata (a naginata with a small cross-bar beneath the blade, used for deflecting, trapping and breaking an enemy’s weaponry), but the curriculum also includes sōjutsu, bōjutsu, kenjutsu and kusarigamajutsu. The techniques are designed for use in the battlefield and so often include large, powerful movements.