A short biography: Naruse Kanji (Nov.10, 1888 - Sept. 30, 1948)
(alt. "Narusei")

by Jason Wotherspoon - special thanks to Professor Yasuo KAMATA for giving me permission to use the photographs of his grandfather.

Kanji NARUSE while enlisted in the army

The types of damage they suffered is very instructive. Scabbards required the least attention: about 10% of scabbards had been broken or split --- a problem primarily caused by the stress of incorrect unsheathing or re-sheathing the swords.

Blades, of course, were a problem, but not the most numerous problem. About 30% of the swords suffered bent or broken blades. For the most part, these were the swords that had actually been used in battle. Naruse was shocked at the high rate of blade failures. The main problem, however, was not the blades. It was the sword handles. A full 60% of the swords needed to be repaired because their handles had broken. Worse, Naruse reported that almost every sword he examined need to have the handle's mekugi (retaining pins) replaced. Even without severe use, the mekugi quickly wore out or became damaged.

Among shuriken enthusiasts, Kanji NARUSE Sensei is most well known as being the 3rd headmaster of Negishi Ryu Shurikenjutsu, although he was also the headmaster of a school of swordsmanship, Yamamoto Ryu Iaijutsu, and he was an author of several interesting books on the sword.

The Naruse family was the head family of Yamamoto Ryu, which was passed on through the Kuwana-han, and he trained in this art of swordsmanship from an early age, eventually becoming the soke, or ancestral headmaster of the school. It is said he had a talent for the sword, and was highly skilled in its use. As a student, he was also interested in the socialist movements of Marx and others, as well as Christian humanism, and later in Japanese nationalism. It is thought that he also had some possible influence on famous children's author Kenji Miyazawa.

He was drafted into the army, serving during the Sino-Japanese war which began in 1894, where he both saw action, and was employed as a sword repairman. Based on his experiences, he wrote several books on the Japanese sword which are becoming quite popular in recent times. In particular, he carefully documented instances of swords being broken during battle, and became a lifelong vocal advocate on changing the design of Japanese swords based upon the repair work he was engaged in during his stint in the army.

During a particular 9 month period he repaired more than 2,000 swords, ranging in age from a variety of historical periods: 25% were Koto, 60% were Shinto or Shin Shinto, and 15% were Gendaito. Of these, only 30% had been damaged in battlemeaning that most of them (70%) had been damaged in training or through mishandling.

Kanji Naruse is seated 3rd from the left.

On 15th April, 1927 at a meeting in Tokyo, he met Tonegawa Magoroku (1850 - 1939), second headmaster of Negishi Ryu shurikenjutsu. Tonegawa was an accomplished martial artist, being expert in swordsmanship, spear and horsemanship, and fought in the Boshin battle* in Aizu in 1868 at the age of eighteen. He was a student of the founder of Negishi Ryu, Negishi Shorei.

At this meeting, the aged Tonegawa demonstrated throwing a sharpened chopstick into a tatami, which impressed Naruse deeply, and he asked to become his student. Naruse studied with Tonegawa for 13 years until his passing in 1939.

Before the war, Naruse Sensei and his wife operated and taught at a school for underpriviledged deaf and mute children, and they lived next door to the school. The school's gymnasium served as Naruse Sensei's dojo, and here he taught shuriken.

In 1938, Naruse Sensei gave a demonstration of Negishi Ryu shurikenjutsu at the Meiji Shrine, on the day of the Meiji celebrations, (3rd of November). During the demonstration, a young Eizo SHIRAKAMI, still in high school, saw Naruse Sensei and was very impressed with his art. Two days later Shirakami visited Naruse and became his student, and he visited Naruse every 10 days for training.

In 1941, at the age of 19, Satoshi SAITO also began training under Naruse Sensei, who taught both the shuriken of Negishi Ryu and Shirai Ryu, as well as the Kuwana-han Den Yamamoto Ryu style of swordsmanship.

Demonstating the posture "Koso no I"

The position of headmaster was passed onto the senior surviving student of Naruse Sensei's, Isamu MAEDA, who in 1959, with permission of Naruse Sensei's daughter Eiko, transferred the title of headmaster to Saito Sensei, who remains the current master of Negishi Ryu shurikenjutsu and Yamamoto Ryu Iaijutsu.

As it has with many classical arts, indeed the Naruse family's Yamamoto Ryu Iaijutsu of the Kuwana -han line, Negishi Ryu shurikenjutsu has not passed on through blood family ties, rather, the headmastership has been passed on to students selected by the current headmaster. Saito Sensei says it seems to be the fate of the art.

*NOTE. It is interesting to discover that a student of Shirai Toru Yoshikane (founder of Shirai Ryu) by the name of Kurokawa Naiden Goro Kanenori, had two sons who also fought in this battle.

Naruse Sensei wrote several books, listed below, which are apparently somewhat difficult to find. It is thought that due to his nationalistic tendencies during the war, many of his books were subsequently removed from libraries..

Japanese Sabre FIghting (further details not known)
Tatakau nihonto (1940, Japanese swords in battle),
Jissen todan (1941, Discussion of practical swords),
Shuriken (1943, ) Tokyo: Shin-Taishusha,
Rinsen tojutsu (1944, Battlefield swordsmanship).

Naruse Sensei continued to teach shurikenjutsu to his three students, Maeda, Shirakami and Saito, living his last years on a farm at Akitsu, in Musashino on the Seibu line. According to Saito Sensei, Naruse Sensei had a fondness for shochu, a form of Japanese rice wine, which he heated and drank in winter while sitting under a kotatsu (a sort of low table with a heated blanket under it to keep ones feet warm. He developed a cirrhosis of the liver, no doubt due to the shochu, and sadly passed away in 1948.