Kurai wa Momoi

Edo, December 1865. Momoi Junzo and 8 of his disciples were walking home in the fading evening light after finishing their end of year keiko. Despite the cold and the late hour, the city was still busy preparing for the upcoming end-of-year and new-year celebrations. Coming down the hill at Choenjizaka and tuning into Ichigaya they came face to face with a group of horsemen travelling in the opposite direction. As the street was narrow Momoi and his disciples moved to give the horsemen space. Suddenly, one of the horsemen shouted brusquely:

“This is the city patrol, get out of our way!”

Despite the rude manner, Momoi replied calmly:

“Please, pass by.”

“Get further out of the way!” one of the horsemen shouted. “We need more space, move! We are the Shinchogumi under command of the Sakai family from Shonai domain. We are charged with policing the city. Move!”

“We saw that you were patrolmen and moved to let you pass. As you can see, we cannot move further than we have. Surely you can squeeze past?” replied Momoi.

“What?! Are you disobeying our order!” barked one of the horsemen, at which Momoi’s top student Ueda Umanosuke lost it:

“What the hell !?! I can’t forgive such insolence!!!!”

Immediately a number of the Shinchogumi as well as Ueda drew their swords and moved towards each other. All hell had broken loose.

In that instant Momoi stepped in-between the drawn swords. He faced the man who seemed to be the Shinchogumi’s superior officer and said gently:

“Excuse me, but I think you can see that we moved aside for you. Do you have any intention to rein in your men? Or are you planning to allow them to cut us down?”

The calmness of Momoi’s question disarmed the superior officer and he made no reply. Momoi then stepped forward, grabbed the still-mounted officers hakama, and pulled him strongly:

“Now, get down of your horse, I want a word with you.”

The dismounted officer and Momoi stood face to face:

“My name is Momoi Junzo, and I am a Shogun-appointed kenjutsu teacher at the Kobusho. Even though you are a follower of the Sakai family from the Shonai domain and an officially appointed patrolman, I can’t forgive your outrageous actions. If it’s a fight you want then I won’t stop it.”

Motioning towards his top student:

“This here is Ueda Umanosuke. He has a reckless disposition and it looks like he didn’t use up all his energy at keiko today.”

The officer, immediately realising just who it was he had crossed, meekly apologised, followed by his red faced men, and the whole affair was settled.

Momoi never drew his sword.

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The dignity of Momoi Junzo

位は桃井、技は千葉、力は斎藤
Momoi has dignity, Chiba skill, and Saito power

Known mostly nowadays as the 4th generation master of Kyoshin meichi-ryu, Momoi Junzo (1825-85) was a highly significant kenshi in the late Edo/early Meiji period. He first reached fame while teaching kenjutsu in central Edo in the 1850’s. His dojo, Shigakukan, was one of the most renowned dojo in the city, ranking with Chiba Shunsuke’s Genbukan and Saito Yakuro’s Renpeikan (collectively they were know as the “3 big dojo’s of Edo”).

His prowess was awarded with promotion in status and a teaching position at the highly prestigious Kobusho (Bakufu military training academy). From this position – and through his students – he would go onto to influence (directly and indirectly) on what would later become kendo.

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Finding Junzo (field work)

Although I’ve known that Momoi moved to Osaka during the Bakumatsu period for a number of years now, I hadn’t really bothered rolling up my sleeves and poking around to see if I could find any remnants of the man… mainly because there was – as far as I knew – no physical structures left that I could go and visit. Recently, however, I accidentally discovered that in later life he had worked as a shinto priest just south of Osaka and that his grave was in the vicinity of the shrine. Using the excuse of a sore elbow, I decided to skip keiko one Saturday and go exploring.

The grave: Momoi’s grave is located in the far corner of a gravesite situated on the edge of a Kofun, a type of very old and, usually very large, key-shaped mound grave unique to Japan. The particular mound is called Hakayama Kofun and is located very near Furuichi station in Habikino, south Osaka. I guess nobody really visits the area much as there are almost no sign posts and very little information on Momoi save a very old and very faded bio of his life. Momoi’s wife Fumiko is also interred at the same site.

The shrine: A short 15 minute walk from the gravesite takes you to Konda Hachimangu (originally constructed in 1051), the large and spacious shinto shrine where Momoi spent his final years. Although there would’ve been a dojo in the grounds back in the day, there was no sign of one now.

Although there isn’t a lot of physical remnants of the Momoi left to wonder at, it’s nice to put the shinai and the books down now and then and actually get out and visit somewhere. It also served as a great impetus for revision.

If you are in Osaka and looking for something alternative to visit rather than the usual places, then I can recommend this as a nice afternoon out. Check out the gallery below for pictures of his grave and the shrine.

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Kyoshin meichi-ryu and keishicho

The marriage of keishicho (Tokyo metropolitan police force) and kendo dates back to 1879, when it’s first Superintendent-General – Kawaji Toshiyoshi – published the Gekken Saikoron, his thoughts about why kendo should be included in the police system. Kawaji’s arguments won the day and within 2 years of the Gekken Saikoron being published, it’s first kenjutsu instructors were employed.

The first batch of instructors were chosen by Sakakibara Kenkichi (perhaps with input from Momoi?) and included the following of Momoi’s students: Kajikawa Yoshimasa, Ueda Umanosuke, and Henmi Sosuke. More of Momoi’s students were also employed by keishicho later, for example Sakabe Daisuke.

It was these kenshi that would put together the Keishi-ryu gekken and battojutsu kata, both of which include a single Kyoshin meichi-ryu kata each.… all that is left of the school today. It’s important to note that this was the first ever attempt at trying to standardise a set of kata to be taught to swordsmen from differing backgrounds, and as such can be considered a forerunner to kendo kata.

In the years that followed, young keishicho kenjutsu teachers/students would go on to include Naito Takaharu, Takano Sasaburo, and Monna Tadashi amongst others… all of whom would receive instruction under Kyoshin meichi-ryu kenshi (i.e. Momoi’s disciples). They would all also be involved in the creation of kendo kata in the future.

Nowadays it’s hard to measure exactly what impact/influence Momoi had on keishicho and modern kendo (especially since Kyoshin meichi-ryu is now no longer extant), but we can probably surmise that it wasn’t insignificant.

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Timeline

1825: born in Suruga province, Numazu domain (present day Shizuoka prefecture) as the 2nd son of the samurai Tanaka Toyoaki. His childhood name was Tanaka Zinsuke and his adult name Naomasa.

1838: went to Edo (Tokyo) and began studying Kyoshin meichi-ryu at Shigakukan under the 3rd generation teacher of the school, Momoi Naokatsu.

1852: became the 4th generation master of the school, taking on the hereditary name of “Momoi Junzo” (by this time he had taken the current teachers daughter as a wife and was adopted into the family).

1856: The Tosa domain samurai Takechi Hanpeita comes to Edo and enters Shigakukan (already an accomplished swordsman, this shows Momoi’s fame). Spotting Takechi’s talent, Momoi makes him the chief student of the dojo.

1862: The shogunate promotes Momoi, making him a direct retainer of the shogun. He is then ordered to become a kenjutsu teacher at the shogunate’s military training facility for senior retainers, the Kobusho. Other instructors included Odani Seiichiro and Sakakibara Kenkichi (Yamaoka Tesshu entered as a student and became an assistant instructor).

1867: is made the head bodyguard of Tokugawa Yoshinobu when he goes to Kyoto after which he is appointed a kenjutsu instructor at the short-lived Kobusho in Osaka (at Tamatsukuri). Disagreeing with the Boshin war, Momoi and a few of his students withdraw to the south of Osaka.

1868: government forces expel the shogunate forces from the Kansai area and burn down Osaka castle. The shogunate attempt to recruit Momoi to their cause again but he refuses. Instead he takes up an offer from the loyalist government to teach kenjutsu to soldiers from Satsuma, Choshu, and Geishu who would be responsible for policing Osaka. A dojo was built for this purpose in a now no longer extant temple in Tenma.

1868-70: after the prefectural system was set up and “Osaka prefecture” came in to being, a more official policing structure was started called the Naniwa-tai (it began with 80 members). Momoi was 1 of the 4 leaders of this where he continued to teach kenjutsu. At its peak, there were over 600 peace keepers in the system. In 1870 the organisation was split up as the civil war was over (the modern police system would not begin until later). During this period a new Shigakukan based in central Osaka was built and he taught kenjutsu here as well.

1875: becomes head priest of Konda-hachimangu where he built a dojo and taught kenjutsu, and Chinese classics.

1884: becomes the official kendo instructor for Osaka prefecture

1885: dies of cholera.

2005: is awarded a posthumous citing from the All Japan Kendo Federation

Notes:
1. the terms kendo, kenjutsu gekken, gekiken, shinai uchikomi are often used synonymously in this article.
2. the kanji for “Momoi” is sometimes read “Momonoi”

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Sources

This article is based more on “pulp” sources rather than academic or original sources. There is nothing online in English about Momoi at all, so please consider this simply a basic primer about the man, rather than something academically substantial. Note that I used some artistic licence in the introductory part of the article!!

日本武芸小伝。綿谷雪。国格書刑行会。
大江戸剣豪列伝。小学新書。館田澤拓也。
剣の達人１１１人データファイル。新人物住来社。
桃井春蔵
Shigagukan picture taken from this website.