丸目蔵人佐長恵

Marume Kurandosuke Nagayoshi (1540–1629) received full transmission of Shinkage-ryū directly from its founder Kamiizumi Nobutsuna and returned to Kyushu to found Taisha-ryū ('Abandon the Body' school). His system retained the fluid, yielding principles of Shinkage-ryū while developing a distinct regional character suited to the fierce military culture of Satsuma, Higo, and the Kyushu daimyo domains. His extraordinary lifespan of eighty-nine years became legendary, and Taisha-ryū flourished as one of the major sword schools of Kyushu throughout the Edo period. His relationship with the Yagyū school — fellow descendants of Kamiizumi's teachings — reflects the remarkable spread of Shinkage-ryū's philosophy across the whole of Japan.