流祖飯篠長威斎家直先生は１３８７年に生まれ、応仁の乱等で荒れに荒れ果てた室町時代を生き抜きました。その間に主家である千葉家は滅亡して、栄枯盛衰、諸行無常を人生の中で強く感じられたと推察されます。
６０歳に成られ、香取神宮の梅本山に籠り、１０００日の修行をされ、香取神宮の経津主大神から香取神道流の技を授かったと伝えられております。その結果得た境地が、”兵法は平法なり”です。兵法とは、通常は敵に勝つための戦いかたを説いたものです。しかし、長威斎先生は、”兵法は平和を勝ち得る方法でなければならない”と説きました。
人を殺し、人をだまし、人を押しのけても生きてゆかなければならない時代に、平和の大切さ、平和の具現化を説いたことは、いかに、長威斎先生が戦乱で悲痛な場面に遭遇し、悲しい思いを募らせたかが窺えます。残念ながら、人間は今になっても戦いを止めません。これからも決して戦いは無くならないと思います。そのような人間社会にあって、香取神道流の平法としての教えを理解して、全世界の人々、我々の子孫のために平和の具現化に寄与しなければなりません。
The founder was borned in 1387 and lived at Muromachi era when a lot of civil wars such as civl war of Onin etc occured. He is thought to have strongly felt rise & fall and mutability in his life because his landlord of Chiba was ruined.
It is said that he was taught Katori Shintoryu by the god of Futsunushi living at Katori Shrine when he was 60 years old and trained for 1000 days in the mountain of Baibokuzan. He concluded a way of fighting should be a way of peace as a result of the 1000 days training. A way of fighting is usually to teach you how to win. However, he taught it should be how to make a peaceful world.
I felt how tragic and sad he experienced from a lot of civil wars through his teaching of how important a peace is and how to make it at the era when they needed to kill, deceive, defeat their enemies for their survival. I am deeply sorry to say that a lot of wars and disputes among human beings are still taking place in the contemporary world and will be never ended in the future. We must contribute to realization of a peaceful world for people of the world and our offsprings through Katori Shintoryu in such a contemporary world.
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