Toyama Ryu was created to have the beauty you only find in something that is purely functional. In other words, it is a ‘minimalist’ sword style: streamlined, efficient, and wholly practical.

Once, that was normal among Japanese sword styles. During the Sengoku era there were constant wars. Sword battles were common. Movements and techniques that didn’t work well did not survive.

When peace was enforced for a couple of centuries during the Edo era, Japanese swordsmanship changed wildly. Swords were no longer used on the battlefield — instead they were status symbols for the samurai caste, and knowing sword forms could get you promoted. So teachers invented some very showy, impressive-looking techniques. If those techniques sometimes lacked teeth, that didn’t matter so much: they looked amazing.

Toyama Ryu was created by Morinaga Kiyoshi to be used on the battlefield, in close combat. It was designed as a return to the older, fiercer styles of swordwork. It expemplifies the power and beauty of something designed purely for function, and not for show.
Because of its uncluttered simplicity, Toyama Ryu is ideal for working on the internal aspects of swordsmanship: a zen mindset, an unclouded heart, and all the other traditional mental training of the way of the sword.

We are from the Morinaga lineage of Toyama Ryu (the founder's line), and are one of only three dojos in the USA that is officially recognized by the main school in Japan.