"Heki Ryu Insai Ha"

The way in which Kyudo is performed has remained almost unchanged since the 15th century. There have been many schools, among them OGASAWARA and HEKI Ryu. The main concern of the Ogasawara Ryu was how to dress and how to move. During the Tokugawa Period in the first part of the 17th century the 3rd Shogun ordered the Ogasawara Ryu to define their own ceremony. The style of this school was developed from Yabusame (shooting from horseback) and it has remained unchanged up to the present. The All Nippon Kyudo Federation (A.N.K.F.) combined elements of Ogasawara and Honda.

The origins of the Heki Ryu are shrouded in myth and it is said that it began with HEKI DANJO MASATSUGU, a legendary hero whose existence even today has not been confirmed. Nonetheless Heki Danjo Masatsugu is considered to be a genius of martial arts who completely changed the way of shooting with the bow. At that time many techniques were used, almost every noble family having it's own. Heki Danjo checked all these different techniques, collected the best points of each school, adapted them for the best results and so developed a new technique. Historically the Heki Ryu Insai Ha was founded by the great warrior YOSHIDA INSAI who was named Master by the first Shogun IEASU TOKUGAWA on becoming his teacher in the 17th century. Insai learned the art of shooting from some families who had been taught directly by Heki Danjo. Insai lived at the time of the great battles; later in peaceful times (same period as Miyamoto Musashi) he was able to adapt the Heki technique of the battlefield and to make some changes for peaceful times without armour. For these reasons it is possible to say without any doubt that the Heki Ryu is still teaching a technique that was created and used for maximum efficiency on the battlefield and thus, as Inagaki Sensei used to say, is a TRUE technique.

The direct line of the most important masters of the Heki Ryu from the 16th century onwards is shown below:

Yoshida Insai            :

Master to the 1st shogun, about 1600

Yoshida Sadakatsu :

Insai's son, Master to the 2nd and 3rd Shogun

Yoshida Yoshikata            :

Sadakatsu’s younger brother, about 1700, very famous for his skill

Yoshida Gennoju Inkei    :

Yoshikata's son, Master of the Ikeda family

Tokuyama Katsutoshi    :

Master of the Bizen Daimyo (now Okoyama)

Urakami Naoki                           :

appointed Principal Master by Yoshida Gennoju

(Naooki)Urakami Sakae        :

appointed by Naoki

Inagaki Genshiro               :

appointed by Urakami Sakae

The Heki Ryu Insai Ha (as it is called by other schools, the true name is "School of the Shogun Family" - Heki To Ryu) has an unbroken tradition into the present century which started with Yoshida Insai. During all these years many changes were made to the bow due to the studies of many masters; on the other hand Inagaki Sensei has checked the ancient manuscripts from the16th century which confirm that the Heki technique we learn today is almost the same as that taught in the past. Nowadays, the Heki Ryu teaches technique according to its tradition and according to the studies made with modern equipment at the Waseda and Tsukuba Universities.