Musō Gonnosuke
Musō Gonnosuke Katsuyoshi (夢想權之助勝吉) was a samurai of the early 17th century and the traditional founder of the Koryu school of jojutsu known as Shintō Musō-ryū (神道夢想流/神道無想流).
Sometime after he finished his training in Katori Shintō-ryū, Gonnosuke went out on the road, traveling through Japan with a few followers as a wandering swordsman, always looking for an opponent to fight duels with and at the same time teaching swordsmanship to a selected few.
The essence of the story, however, tells of how Gonnosuke, by now a very famous swordsman and arrogant in his (considerable) martial abilities, had one day encountered Musashi and had unceremoniously challenged him to a duel.
In the version found in the Kaijo monogatari, Gonnosuke and Musashi meets in Akashi instead of Edo, and the former is also brandishing a long four shaku staff instead of a wooden sword.
One version say he was armed with only a half-finished bokuto, which Musashi was actually still carving as the duel began, and used it to overwhelm Gonnosuke without ever using the X-shaped block, instead hitting him lightly on the forehead as to demonstrate his superior stance in battle and emphasizing proper distance to an opponent, or Maai.
After one of his regular (exhausting) training sessions, he collapsed from fatigue and reputedly had a vision of a divine being in the form of a child, saying to Gonnosuke: "know the solar plexus [of your opponent] with a round stick".
Gonnosuke, drawing on his own considerable experience with the spear, longstaff, naginata and sword, devised a series of jo-techniques for use to counter and defeat a swordsman.
Gonnosuke, spending several more years on the road, part of the time with his new friend Musashi as his second, eventually took up residence in Fukuoka after being asked by the Kuroda clan to teach his jo-techniques to a selected few of their warriors.
The memory of Musō Gonnosuke is honored at a Shinto shrine raised by Shimizu Takaji, one of the most prominent Shintō Musō-ryū jōdōka until his death in 1978.
The true origin of Gonnosuke is unknown; his traits and various exploits have, as with many martial artists and other famous samurai of the time, been exaggerated and/or constructed by later historians.
A number of traditional founders of ryu, martial art school, have been credited with having divine inspirations or visions, or in some cases even being taught by mythical creatures.
One example is the famous samurai Minamoto no Yoshitsune who was supposedly taught by a Tengu - magical creatures of Japanese mythology, some possessing vast knowledge of weapons and martial arts.
In the video game "Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance", it is stated that Master Bo' Rai Cho helped Gonnosuke develop the Jojutsu style after his loss to Musashi.
In the Wii video game Samurai Warriors: Katana, Gonnosuke is portrayed as a bandit chief that often uses henchmen to impersonate him in order to stay alive.
Gonnosuke later joins both Ino Tadaaki and Sasaki Kojiro in their journey of swordsmanship, vowing to become a master of the sword in accordance to the skill of his two pupils.
