眞道夢想流棒術序
並條目
Preface to the Shintō Musō-ryū bōjutsu
With articles
将刀鎗相闘者古今共及殺害故恐叨用之
When swords and spears are crossed in combat, from ancient times to the present, it has ever led to killing; for that reason, people feared to use them recklessly.
将夫棍棒者雖傷人亦隕其命者鮮矣是以世人日用爲竒仗且一取其勝利也却優於刀鎗等術也
The staff, though it may wound, rarely takes a life. Thus people of the world commonly rely upon it as a trusty weapon, and by it seek to attain victory. Indeed, it excels over the arts of the sword and spear and other weapons.
古者以棒爲藝中魁首其手足攻擊之法不能外于此也冝哉
In former times, the staff was regarded as foremost among martial arts. The methods of striking at the hands and legs fall entirely within its principles; none lie beyond them. This is truly fitting.
爰天眞正七代之弟子夢想權之助以棒術鳴世名聲籍甚矣
Now, there was in the seventh generation of the Tenshinshō lineage a disciple named Musō Gonnosuke. Through his mastery of the staff he made his name resound throughout the world, and his fame was exceedingly great.
或夜夢會于神童傳於棒術之奥儀夢覺乃按之則一打一揭宛然在手中焉
One night, in a dream, he encountered a divine youth who imparted to him the inner mysteries of the staff art. When he awoke and put them to the test, the forms of striking and of lifting revealed themselves clearly, as though already within his hands.
於是終爲一家之秘術權之助自号夢想比故也
Thus, in the end, he brought the teaching to perfection, and it became the secret art of a single household. For this reason, Gonnosuke styled himself “Musō”.
欽哉
Reverently heed this.
傳術誓書授受
Thus the art is transmitted — sworn in writing, bestowed and received.
This scroll is translated from the scanned original document and the accompanying yomikudashi-bun (transcription of Classical Chinese into Japanese) provided by Matsui Kenji in his book 天真正伝神道夢想流杖術 (Tenshin Shōden Shintō Musō-ryū Jōjutsu), written under supervision of Otofuji Ichizō. Matsui-sensei admits that there are several unclear passages of which even he is unsure, wherefore there might be mistakes in the transcription. For this reason, whenever ambiguities have arisen, I have turned to the original text as the authoritative version, and provide these translation notes for transparency and clarity. However, since the transcription is not in the public domain, I have not included it here in its entirety.
The scroll itself is the oldest verifiable extant scroll of transmission in Shintō Musō-ryū, and dates from 1720, when it was given as a licence by the fourth headmaster Higuchi Han’emon (樋口半衛門) to Yokota Hanzaburō (横田半三郎). It later passed into the possession of the Yajima family, and Yajima Yanosuke graciously allowed Matsui-sensei to photograph it for his book.
眞道夢想流棒術序
並條目
It is worth noting that Shintō is written here as 眞道 (“true path”), and not, as it is now, 神道 (“divine path”). The art is referred to as bōjutsu rather than jōjutsu, but bō (棒) is a general term for a staff.
将刀鎗相闘者古今共及殺害故恐叨用之
恐叨用 is translated as written: “fear reckless use”. However, it is possible that 叨 is used mistakenly instead of 切, in which case it would work as an emphasising adverb on 恐 to render something like “deeply fear the use”; as this makes little difference to the meaning, I translated the verbatim text.
将夫棍棒者雖傷人亦隕其命者鮮矣是以世人日用爲竒仗且一取其勝利也却優於刀鎗等術也
竒仗 is an odd phrase, literally meaning “strange cane”. 竒 is in all likelihood intended to be 倚, meaning “to lean on”. This would give us 倚仗, which in Chinese means “to rely on” something, as one leans on a cane. 仗, then, probably does not refer to the weapon itself here, and should not be taken on its own.
古者以棒爲藝中魁首其手足攻擊之法不能外于此也冝哉
It is impossible to tell whether 手足攻擊 refers to attacks at or with hands and legs/feet, but given the context of a staff art, it makes much more sense for it to be about strikes with the staff, targeting the hands and legs. There are no such attacks one cannot do with the staff.
冝哉 (with 冝 being an unusual variant of 宜) means something like “ah! how good/fitting it is!”, but the poetic exclamation does not translate very well into English without sounding a bit silly. The statement refers to the entire preceding paragraph, saying it is fitting to consider the staff as foremost among weapons as it rarely kills and can be used in many ways.
爰天眞正七代之弟子夢想權之助以棒術鳴世名聲籍甚矣
Musō Gonnosuke was known to have received a menkyo kaiden (license of total transmission) in Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū, so this must be what is meant by 天眞正七代之弟子, “seventh-generation disciple of Tenshinshō”. Though also a skilled swordsman, he particularly excelled at the bōjutsu of this school.
或夜夢會于神童傳於棒術之奥儀夢覺乃按之則一打一揭宛然在手中焉
神童 means a god in the form of a young boy, hence “divine youth”. I surmise that 揭, “lift up” or “raise”, refers to techniques such as kuritsuke.
於是終爲一家之秘術權之助自号夢想比故也
一家之秘術, “secret art of a single household” refers to the school being kept secret within the domain of the Kuroda clan until the 20th century as a so-called otome-ryū (御留流).
Gonnosuke came to call himself “Musō” (夢想), meaning “dream-vision”, in recognition of the revelation he received from the god-child. His actual family name is said to have been Hirano (平野) (or possibly Yamamoto (山本), according to oral traditions), and his real (posthumous) given name was Katsuyoshi (勝吉).
欽哉
The final phrase, 欽哉, literally means “ah! how admirable/revered!”, but Matsui Kenji rendered this as 欣しき哉 (“how joyous!”), reinterpreting 欽 as the similar 欣 (a rare form of 喜), meaning “to rejoice”. Since this is used as a closing statement in a kanbun text, however, I believe it is used as a set phrase, similar to the more common 欽此, from Classical Chinese. There, it was used as a closing statement in imperial edicts, ordering the reader to gravely consider the message as it comes directly from the emperor himself. In that context, 欽 had more of a connotation of “imperial”/”by the emperor personally”, but in Japanese usage such as in this text, it would have had the more general meaning of “admiration” or “veneration”. In the Shangshu (Book of Documents)1, it is used as a moral injunction (“be reverent!”), admonishing the reader to humbly adhere to what is written.
傳術誓書授受
This final line marks the scroll as a menkyo (kaiden), a licence of transmission given from teacher to student.