When you read Yagus's Heiho Kaden Sho, you can get an idea of his fighting style. Often it would appear that he devised counters for favorite techniques of other martial arts schools in his lifetime. The amount of study you needed to do this was great. One of the special techniques of the Yagyu ryu is muto, or no sword. With these techniques, it is possible for an unarmed man to defeat an opponent armed with a sword. This is a very good indication of Yagtu's skills since the level of this training is very high.
Muneyoshi was born Yagy Shinsuke in 1529 in Yagy Village in Yamato Province. His father, Ietoshi, was a minor landed lord. When Muneyoshi was 12, Ietoshi joined a general named Kisawa Nagamasa in contesting the growing power of the warlord Miyoshi Chkei. However, Kisawa was killed in battle, and the Yagy found themselves on the defensive. With over half of Yamato Province under his control, Miyoshi left the rest of the contract to his lieutenant, Tsutsui Junsh.
The Tsutsui and the Yagy had feuded previously, and Junsh wasted no time. In 1544 he attacked the Yagy at Koyagy Castle with about 10,000 men. According to the Tamon-in Nikki, a chronical of the Kfuku-ji temple, at first the Yagy were caught by surprise, but Ietoshi rallied his troops for a defensive battle. Muneyoshi, a young man of 15, successfuly led a small troop of his own. The Tsutsui soldiers surrounded the castle, burned the surrounding homes and villages, took control of the outer castle and cut off the water supply, but the main castle still held out. The Yagy held out or three three days, but they were very outnumbered, and had no choice but to capitulate, and submit to the Tsutsui.
The Yagy served the Tsutsui for eight years. Muneyoshi studied the martial and liberal arts, becoming proficient with the spear and sword, as well as studying Confucianism, Zen Buddhism, and Shingon Buddhism. Muneyoshi soon gained notice as an able warrior and commander, and as many of orders were sent by Tsutsui to him, a young man in his 20s, as he was sent to his father, still an active lord in his 50s. One message sent by Junsh's son Fujikatsu to Ietoshi singles out Muneyoshi in particular for praise.
In 1559, the warlord Matsunaga Hisahide decided to attack the Tsutsui and take control of Yamato Province. He sent a message to Muneyoshi promising to restore their old lands and position to the Yagy in exchange for their service. The Tsutsui were overthrown, and the Yagy grown prominent under Matsunaga. In particular, Matsunaga cave Muneyoshi a citation for valor for his performance in a battle at To'unomine. Matsunaga's attempt to take the mountain was repulsed, and Muneyoshi cooked in the rearguard as the army retreated. He was wounded, but fighting with a spear he killed several of the enemy. Muneyoshi almost did not survive the battle, but a retained named Matsuda Muneshige sacrificed his life to save Munetoshi's. Muneyoshi would later make a statement of his extreme gratitude when he possessed a Shinkage-ry license to Muneshige's son Genjir.
It is not entirely clear what school of combat Muneyoshi studied, or who his teachers were. An Owari Yagy family record suggests that he studied Shint-ry under a man named Kantori Shinjr. But "Kantori" may simply be a misunderstanding of kanji meant to read "Katori", thus signifying "Katori Shint-ry". An Edo Yagy family record suggests that he studied Toda-ry, a branch of Chj-ry. All family records and Munetoshi's own surviving writings suggest that he was an enthusiastic student of the military arts from a young age, before he met Kamiizumi Hidetsune.
Muneyoshi served Matsunaga with distinction. The battle at To'unomine, for which Muneyoshi received a citation of valor, was either just before his encounter with Hidetsuna or shortly after. In 1568, Oda Nobunaga entered Yamato Province with overwhelming force and subjugated the Matsunaga and Tsutsui, ending their skirmishing. It is likely that around this time Ietoshi retired, and passed on the leadership of the Yagy to Muneyoshi. Nobunaga ordered Muneyoshi to go to Kyoto and attend to the new Shgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki.
With the passing of a few years, however, Yoshiaki began forming all to overthrow Nobunaga, among them the Yagy's old lord and present commander Matsunaga Hisahide and the warlord Takeda Shingen. In 1571, attempting to secure control once more over Yamato Province, Matsunaga sent the Yagy in an attack against Tsutsui Junkei at Tatsuichi, a town in Nara. The attack was a total failure, and in the course of the battle Muneyoshi's oldest son, Toshikatsu, was shot in the hip. This compounded an earlier injury he had received in his first battle, and made him an invalid for life.
Yoshiaki's coalition made its move against Nobunaga in 1573, but certainly early success the death of Takeda Shingen weakened it. Nobunaga drove Yoshiaki out of Kyoto in August, and Matsunaga rejoined Nobunaga to fight the other members of the coalition. It is likely that Muneyoshi took part in these battles. However, by 1577 Matsunaga again turned on Nobunaga, who then finally defeated his wayward vassal. It is not clear when, but around this time Muneyoshi withdrew from the world of battle, and secluded himself in Yagy Village.
