Aisu IkoAisu Iko, a.k.a. Aizu Hyūga-no-Kami Iko, Aisu Hisatada (1452 - 1538) was a Japanese martial artist and the founder of the Kage-ryū school of sword fighting. Aisu was originally a pirate based in Kumano, who raided Japanese and Chinese shipping and whose travels took him on occasion as far as the Chinese mainland.[1] After suffering a severe shipwreck off Kyushu, of which he was the only survivor, Aisu abandoned his life as a pirate and entered into seclusion at the Udo caves in Miyazaki Prefecture.[2] Here, he purportedly had a dream in which a monkey deity taught him the secrets of swordsmanship.[3] He named the new style he developed the Kage ("Shadow") School,[4] which based its movements on natural phenomena such as wind and waves.[5] Aisu's student, Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, (who also studied with Iko's son Aisu Koshichiro) would later adapt this style into the Shinkage ("New Shadow") school.[1] After travelling throughout Japan on a martial pilgrimage for some years, Aisu returned to Kyushu, where he died of natural causes.[2] References
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