Kukishin ryu referred to their swordwork as kenpo. Source:
http://www.shinjin.co.jp/kuki/hyoho/catalog_e.htm#n1
They used tachi, large swords that predate the modern katana. The technique is seperate from their unarmed fighting. Altogether the ryu refers to their art as "happo bikenjutsu" or 8 secret weapon ways, which includes unarmed fighting and grappling in armor (dakentaijutsu, yoroi kumi-uchi), short range battlefield weapons (jutte, tessen, shoto), kenjutsu, defensive stick weapons (jo, hanbo), offensive stick weapons (rokushakubo), spear and polearms (naginata, bisento, yari), throwing blades, and battlefield strategy (a large topic that seems to have included army tactics, meteorology, disguise/stealth/espionage, use of water and fire, fortress construction, etc). They also taught horsemanship and frequently fought on naval vessels. I think there are three branches taught today: Hatsumi Masaaki (Bujinkan dojo), Tanaka Fumon (Kukishin ryu bojutsu), and Kuki Takatake (of the Kuki family).
One headmaster of Kukishin ryu became allies with the soke of Takagi Yoshin ryu; after a friendly match they became convinced of Kuki's superior weapon use and Takagi's better jujutsu, and restructured each other's cirriculum to resolve the differences. I was just reading something about a little known sub-style of fighting that was developed by Ohkuni Shigenobu (13 soke Kukishin ryu, c. 168
between these two, that combines Kukishin ryu's weaponry and battlefield grappling, Yoshin ryu's indoor jujutsu, and "rough-and-tumble street grappling." He was supposed to have simply called it
Shinken Gata, and it is written under the title
Tora no Maki.
According to some history notes I have, the founder of Itto ryu was a student of someone who practiced Kukishin ryu, and it goes on to say that some of Itto ryu's higher teachings and notes on strange swordwork are nearly if not completely identical to kenjutsu from Kukishin ryu. There is also the supposition that Kito ryu was influenced by the Kukishin ryu, as one headmaster of the former was a student of one of the Kuki's and contains some nearly identical teachings (which might well be in turn from Yoshin ryu
). It would be interesting to substantiate either of these.