12 essays on spear/Hōzōinryū written by Kagita Chūbee (1957 - 2011), 20th sōke (headmaster) of the Hōzōinryū.

First published in the Nara town magazine Ubusuna, 2009.

Essays by the 20th sōke of the Hōzōinryū

Written by Kagita Chūbee, 20th sōke (headmaster) of the Hōzōinryū

Happy new year.

I feel honoured to have the opportunity to write on the sōjutsu of the Hōzōinryū and would be glad if you would follow me through the 12 episodes that will be published here in the course of this year.

Written by Kagita Chūbee, 20th sōke (headmaster) of the Hōzōinryū

Yari and Hoko

This time I would like to write about the types of spears called yari and hoko.

Written by Kagita Chūbee, 20th sōke of the Hōzōinryū

The Return of the Hōzōinryū Sōjutsu to Nara

There is a mysterious relationship between the Hōzōinryū Sōjutsu and the family Kagita. In the year Shōwa 33 (1958) my late father Chūzaburō constructed the first toll highway in Japan which lead through the Kōenzan, a mountain in the west of Nara. One feeding road to this highway was built next to the cemetary of the temple Byakugōji. On this occasion my father discovered the tombs of Hōzōin Kakuzenbō Inei an his successors. This was the beginning of the previously mentioned relationship.