Kashima Shrine
The Tenshisho Jigen Ryu Hyōhō (天眞正自源流兵法) was founded by Tose Yosazaemon Osamune (十瀬 与三左衛門 長宗, c. 1540- c. 1600) around the Eiroku Era (1558-1570). Tose was a land-holding samurai from Hitachi province in Japan. He inherited the scrolls of Jiken ryu from Yaobettō Kenko and, in his twenties, he traveled to Katori Shrine where he came under the instruction of Iizasa Wakasa no Kami Morinobu, the third headmaster of the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu. After five years of training he received a menkyo kaiden (license of mastery). After completing his training in Katori he moved on to continue his studies at Kashima Shrine where he underwent a spiritual ordeal and received, via an oracle, a catalog of martial techniques in a divine inspiration from Takemikazuchi. In addition, he received a vision of technique so swift that with it he could cut a flying swallow out of the air. From this inspiration he named his new system Tenshinsho Jigen Ryu, taking the “Tenshinsho” (true and correct transmission from the deity of Katori Shrine- Futsunushi) from the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu, and adding the term “self-power revelation” (Jigen) which had come to him after his spiritual ordeal at Kashima Shrine. From this point, the version of the lineage described in the school tradition differs from other sources.