Bearing great affection for the young boy, the priest covered the travel expenses for Oniyasha, and him off on his journey. After arriving in the city of Edo¹, Oniyasha was able to become a disciple of Kanemaki Jisai, the Chūjō ryū² master who resides there. Surprisingly, he was able to make much progression in a short amount of time, as he became the top student there that others could not compare to. Secretly, Jisai harbored resentment, for there were many things he did not teach that the young boy was able to show competency in.
One day during training, Oniyasha walked up to Jisai and asked about the ways of gaining insight on the mysteries of swordsmanship. Furiously, Jisai cursed at him, saying “You brat, there are no mysteries! You won’t be able to develop any real skills even if you train for 50 years!”
Oniyasha responded to the verbal attack with his point of view, “Genuine mastery of the mysteries cannot be learned from their teachers, nor can it be based on looking back on one’s journey through martial arts. Thus, one cannot achieve mastery if they harbor any doubt in their heart.” Eager to prove his point, he then requested a match against his teacher. Feeling he would lose face if he declined, Jisai agreed to the match, picked up a bokutō, and squared up against his young student.
Just as they begun, Jisai was defeated in an instance. The two battled for a second time, with Jisai losing again. They yet again battled for a third time, with the teacher, in the same fashion, not able to claim victory. Unable to accept being soundly defeated, Jisai said to Oniyasha, “Through my experiences while traveling throughout the country (of Japan), I was known as the best swordsman. I guess you have discovered some divine techniques to be this strong, huh.” He followed up with this question.
“People scratch their leg when they have an itch there. It’s the same when scratching one’s head when there’s an itch there. They don’t scratch their head when they feel an itch on their leg while sleeping.” Oniyasha stated. “Humans are able to protect themselves from harm through mechanical reflexes. However, whenever teacher prepared to strike during our bouts, I could feel instantly when they were not real.”
Jisai, with great emotion, replied, “I cannot match up to your level, for you are in a very highly enlightened stage. There’s nothing that I can teach you going forward. This is what I’ve come to understand, even if you were to continue to use me to supplement your training, and try to make use of the knowledge I’ve picked up from my years of experience, it’ll all be for naught.” With that, Jisai retrieved the entire collect of secret scrolls he had in his possession, and presented them to his young student.
After deeply apologizing to his teacher, Oniyasha left the dōjō. He would then adopted the name “Itō Ittōsai Kagehisa”, and embark on a countrywide training expedition. Through this experience, he became a famous person who is known as the founder of the sword style Ittō ryu.
1 ) Present-day capital city known as Tokyo, also recognized as Tokyo Metropolitan.
2) This style survives under the name now known as Toda ryū.
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