Training

Kenjutsu (剣術) ,"sword techniques", focuses on mastering the katana as both a tool for combat and a vehicle for strategic and spiritual refinement. Whereas some styles have turned onto a more esoteric path of practicing this martial art, we still maintain a rigorous regimen of full-contact fencing. It is not merely about striking or blocking, but also about controlling the entire engagement by reading your opponent and adapting accordingly to ensure victory.

Yagyū Shinkage Ryū balances technical exercises designed to test reflexes and explosivity with elements that develop your ability to cooly make split second decisions under pressure. Our combat also training extends beyond the limitations of the blade to include unarmed methods for neutralizing a swordsman (mutō-dori 無刀取り), and Zen meditation before and after classes.

Ultimately, our school is rooted in hyōhō (兵法), strategy, as the unifying principle of all actions in both combat and everyday life ( 兵法は常、常は兵法　Hyōhō wa Tsune -   Tsune wa Hyōhō). Here each movement is guided by timing, distance and the understanding of your opponent's intent rather than mere kata choreography.  This includes the concept of marobashi (転), moving like a rolling boulder falling down from a steep mountain with a great natural force - adapting fluidly to the terrain, allowing the practitioner to maintain key initiative and respond decisively to any shift in the encounter.
At its heart lies katsuninken (活人剣), the “animating sword” - not a doctrine of avoiding conflict but the ideal of using your sword and strategy to bring the opponent to life as one would a puppet.
This places a great deal of focus on learning how to interpret interpersonal relations and improving one's adaptability to the many challenges we face in life at large.

Battōjutsu (抜刀術) is the art of drawing the sword at a moment's notice (katana 刀) with precision and control. While chiefly associated with a quick smooth cut from the draw, battōjutsu also encompasses techniques where the draw serves to deflect the opponent’s attack before you deliver a decisive counter, often using the very momentum of the opponent's attack to gain victory.

Practicing battōjutsu trains your ability to move both in a fluid and controlled manner, as well as to pivot to explosive sudden strikes to floor your opponents. Unlike martial arts aiming to teach you how to earn medals at a contest for extravagant or beautiful moves in solo choreography, it emphasizes self-improvement, economic combative effectiveness, and sharp perception (zanshin 残心).

Hyōhō (兵法) is the study of strategy in all aspects of life, but primarily (ofcourse) in combat.
Concerned not only with techniques of the sword, but with the broader ability to perceive and control the conditions of an encounter. It is a practical discipline, and we train this in full-contact mode and sparring.
As a beginner you are welcome to borrow equipment from us, and to procure your own protective gear.

Training emphasizes core principles such as Ma-ai 間合い (distance ), Hyōshi 拍子 (timing) and Sen 先 (initiative). Through formal partnered kata, practitioners learn to attune their body and senses to spot openings in their opponent's guard and strategy, and to act with great momentum to seize victory. Movements are direct, and purposeful. You are taught to use your entire body and not just your hands to gain the upper hand. Adding to this,  adaptability (Marobashi 転) is developed through pure improvisation coupled with the internalization and canalization of sword techniques trained over a long time.

As you gain experience from training with us, you start seeing how successful sword fighting is the produce of long earnest training and pure intuition. 

Our body of techniques hail as far back as the late 1400's, but are based on the teachings of Kamiizumi-Isenokami Nobutsuna and his disciple Yagyū Sekishūsai of the 1560's. Naturally, as the samurai increasingly started to fight unarmoured the school's masters such as Yagyū Renyasai and Yagyū Hyōgonosuke further developed it to be trained and executed in regular Japanese clothing in the 1600's.
Adding to this, the deputy master Nagaoka Fusashige created a series of techniques around the year 1800 that allow for even the freshest beginner to enjoy the full fury of swordsmanship.  

Having practiced martial arts in Japan for a decade, Karl-Axel is now the chief instructor at Kenjutsu Sweden in Stockholm.

Albeit that he has years of experience in training jūjutsu, sōjutsu (yari), a number of battō and iai schools as well as other traditional schools of kenjutsu from central and eastern Japan, he is now focussing on developing his skills in Yagyū Shinkage Ryū together with all our members. 

A heartfelt welcome to all those joining us is central in his teachings - a principle derived from the school's teachings of stable leadership and mutual respect.
He strives to keeping the style of teaching in line with the Japanese traditional way, and is active in spreading the understanding thereof in Europe through translations of medieval Japanese fencing manuscripts and public, as well as private "tailor-made" lectures on topics concerning Samurai history.