Tsukahara Bokuden

Tsukahara Bokuden
Statue of Tsukahara Bokuden (Kashima City, Ibaraki Prefecture)
BornTsukahara Shin'emon Takamoto
c. 1489, first year of Entoku
Hitachi Province (now Ibaraki prefecture), Japan
Died11 February 1571(1571-02-11) (aged 81–82), Genki (era)
Kashima (now Kashima City), Hitachi Province, Japan
Native name塚原 卜伝
Other namesYoshikawa Asako (infant name) → Tsukahara Takami (塚原高幹?) → Buden (number)
ResidenceJapan
StyleKashima style of kenjutsu
ChildrenMikishige (幹重) son
Notable studentsAshikaga Yoshiteru; Kitabatake Tomonori; Hosokawa Fujitaka; Imagawa Ujizane; Kamiizumi Nobutsuna; Yamamoto Kansuke and more.
Japanese name
Kanji塚原 卜伝
Hiraganaつかはら ぼくでん
Transcriptions
RomanizationTsukahara Bokuden

Tsukahara Bokuden (塚原 卜伝, 1489 – March 6, 1571) was a famous swordsman of the early Sengoku period. He was described as a kensei (sword saint). He was the founder of a new Kashima style of kenjutsu, and served as an instructor of Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiteru and Ise provincial governor daimyō Kitabatake Tomonori.[1]