1577 in Yagyū Village, but the Yagyū family have no records of this, and while there is a memorial to him there, there is no grave. One theory is that the gravestone and services held in 1577 were for Kamiizumi himself, while another is that the gravestone and services were for the 12th anniversary of his son's death, a common rite in Japan. A document of Kiraku-ryū, a jujutsu school based in the Gunma area, says Kamiizumi died in Odawara in 1577, while a document of the Kamiizumi family suggests he died in Odawara in 1582. Impact Kamiizumi is considered a major figure in the development of kenjutsu. Through his major students, numerous branch traditions were created and spread around Japan. Schools still extant today that claim Kamiizumi as a founder, co-founder, or progenitor include (Yagyū) Shinkage-ryū, Jikishinkage-ryū, Kashima Shin-ryū, Taisha-ryū, and Komagawa Kaishin-ryū. He is popularly credited as the inventor of the fukuro-shinai, a practice sword made from split-bamboo in a leather sleeve, allowing practitioners to practice together and swing with full-force without fear of death or major injury. The particular version used in Yagyū Shinkage-ryū is called a hikihada-shinai, "toad-skin shinai". The leather sleeve is made of cow or horse hide, but after being lacquered Kamakura Red, it resembles the skin of a hikigaeru. The Honchō Bugei Shōden, a mid-Edo period collection of historical stories, related one of Kamiizumi travelling to Myōkōji Temple, in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture. An insane man had kidnapped a child and was hiding in a barn with a sword. Kamiizumi shaved his head, borrowed a kesa from a priest, and approached the barn with two rice balls. Kamiizumi used the rice balls to lull the man into dropping his guard, and then quickly seized him and saved the child. This episode was later used by writer/director Akira Kurosawa in his film Seven Samurai. In 2008, the city of Maebashi celebrated the 500th anniversary of Kamiizumi’s birth with a festival. Services were held at the Kamiizumi gravesite, and a 2.5 meter tall bronze statue of Kamiizumi, holding a fukuro-shinai, was unveiled. Yagyū Koichi, a lineal descendant of Kamiizumi’s student Yagyū Munetoshi, demonstrated Shinkage-ryū with his students. References Further reading Japanese swordfighters Samurai Martial arts school founders 1500s births 16th-century deaths