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Togakure Ryu Hiden Gata

Hidden Transmission Forms (Hiden Gata)

The Hiden Gata are like a continuation of the Shinobi Gaeshi Gata. In order to perform the following techniques, one should be familiar with:

Middle Counter (Chu Gaeshi)

An opponent walks along behind the defender. When the defender senses the opponent's presence, he does a forward roll (Zenpo Kaiten), cartwheel (Oten), or front handspring (Zenpo Tenkai) without making any sound. This will create a safe distance between the defender and opponent. The defender uses Side Walking (Yoko Aruki) and tonkyojutsu to escape.

Sideways Counter (Yoko Gaeshi)

The defender faces two opponents - one in front and the other on the left or right. The defender does a side roll (Yoko Kaiten), cartwheel (Oten), or side flow (Yoko Nagare) away from the opponent to his side. This will create a safe distance between the defender and the opponents. The defender uses Side Walking (Yoko Aruki) and tonkyojutsu to escape.

Jumping Roll (Tobi Chigae)/ Jumping Counter (Tobi Gaeshi)

This is the method the shinobi had for using shuko to climb trees. If there was a tree too wide for him to wrap his arms around or if there was a tree with branches too high for him to reach, the shinobi would use shuko to climb that tree. For instance, an opponent approaches behind the defender who is wearing shuko. When the defender senses the opponent's presence, he does a forward roll (Zenpo Kaiten) toward a tree. As he comes out of the roll, the defender jumps up into the tree and uses the shuko to climb the tree and hide.

One Sword Throw (Itto Nage)

In this form the defender throws his katana or wakizashi at an opponent. There is no set form for this and it can be done in multiple ways. This was a move of last resort, when the defender needed to kill an opponent and didn't care about his own life. The defender should try throwing the katana from all stances and postures. When throwing the katana, the defender should concentrate on making the sword fly straight. In other words, the sword should not rotate end over end.

Throwing Teppan (Teppan Nage)

This is a unique method of throwing the senban found in Togakure Ryu in which the defender uses a side throw that remains hidden from the opponent. The defender begins by standing in Escaping Stance (Tonso no Kamae) with his right foot forward and his body side on to the target. The defender holds nine shuriken in the palm of his left hand with his left thumb on top of the pile. The defender uses his left thumb to slide the top shuriken forward so that the right hand can grasp it. To grip the shuriken, the defender allows one point of the shuriken to rest on the side of his middle finger. The defender's places his thumb on top of that same point. The defender's right index finger gently hooks around the tip of the next point. The tip of this finger should be on the left side of the edge and not on the tip of the point so that, when thrown, the shuriken does not cut his finger. This hooking of the finger is very important as it helps to give the weapon a high rate of spin. Keeping the elbows in tight against his body, the defender snaps his wrist, throwing the shuriken at the target. As the defender snaps his wrist to throw, the defender slides his middle finger and thumb up toward his index finger to create a lot of spin. By keeping the arms close to the body and low near the belly button, the throw remains hidden and is hard to see from both the front and the back.

Counter Cut (Kiri Kaeshi)

Both the defender and opponent wield a katana. As the opponent sets up for a cut (such as from Daijodan no Kamae), the defender stabs at his eyes with a shout (Kiai) to make him flinch. If the opponent does not move, the defender can simply stab him through the face. If the opponent evades to the right or left, the defender can finish him off with a waist cut (Do Kiri). There are two different ways to do the waist cut (Do Kiri). For instance, if the opponent evades to the left/ the defender's right, the defender can bring the katana around and slice from left to right across the opponent's right side. The defender could also cross-step forward (Yoko Aruki), slice from right to left, and continue walking past the opponent.

Sacrifice (Sutemi)

This is more of a strategy than a step by step technique. For this strategy, the defender is facing off against many opponents. The defender makes the strongest looking opponent or the leader think that the defender is attacking him. The defender instead suddenly changes and attacks the weakest looking person before escaping. If the defender was surrounded, this would be the weakest part of the circle not necessarily the weakest person. For this strategy, the defender can use the last technique, Returning Cut (Kiri Kaeshi). The defender would stab at the strongest person's eyes to make him flinch and then finish by doing a waist cut (Do Kiri) against the weakest looking person. The defender could also use other techniques such as a Single-Flash Sword (Issen Ken) and Striking and Knocking Down Sword (Datou no Ken) against the weakest looking opponent. The purpose is not to get caught up in a sword fight but to escape. The name of this technique suggests that you are willing to sacrifice your own life in order to sacrifice all of theirs.

 

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