Muso Shinden Ryu
The style we practice is Muso Shinden Ryu, which is actually a collection of several koryu styles with a geneaology that could give anyone a headache. The official lineage traces back to Hayashizaki's Shimmei Muso ryu, but the majority of the enclosed ryu have quite different origins. The earlier part of the genealogy is also shared with many other styles.
In the 20th century the masters Oe Masamichi Shikei (1852-1927) and Nakayama Hakudo Hiromichi (1869-1958) significantly reorganized and modified the curriculum, and presented the collection of three ryu of the tradition as just one style,
calling one Shoden 'basic techniques' - Omori ryu,
another Chuden 'intermediate'- Hassegawa Eishin ryu,
and the third one Okuden 'advanced' - Shimmei Muso ryu .
Number of Iaido katas we learn
Omori ryu – 12 katas
Hassegawa Eishin ryu – 10 katas
Shimmei Muso ryu – 19 katas

