Written by Kagita Chūbee, 20th sōke of the Hōzōinryū
Hōzōin Kakuzenbō Hōin Inei
Inei, the founder of the Hōzōinryū Sōjutsus, was born in the first year of Daiei (1521) as the second son of Nakamikado Tajima Inei who was a warrior monk of the Kōfukuji1. The Nakamikados were descendants of Prince Toneri2, who had been the fourth son of Emperor Tenmu3, and originally went by the family name Sakaguchi. Their ancestor Sakaguchi Musashi Nobutane had been a very strong and brave man. He loved the martial arts and was feared by everbody as the wild Musashi. In the battle of Kasagi castle in the first year of Genkō (1331), which took place during the Genkō4 war in which he fought on the emperor's side, he distingished himself and was rewarded with a sword and the family name Nakamikado by Emperor Go-Daigo5.
Written by Kagita Chūbee, 20th sōke of the Hōzōinryū
Yagyū and Hōzōin
The region called Yagyū1 was located 36 km away from Kyōto and more than 10 km away from Nara. In the East it bordered upon the province of Iga which made it very easy to obtain information about the powerful clans in all of Japan2. Due to its abundance of water the region was very fertile. Furthermore Yagyū together with Nara and Iga was an area that produced a lot of martial artists, amongst others the Yagyū clan with the sword, Hōzōin Inei and Takada Matabee with the spear, Bōan3 with naginata and spear, Heki Danjō Masatsugu4 with bow and arrow or the members of the ninja school Igaryū.
