was a Japanese daimyà Â, swordsman, and martial arts writer. He founded the Edo branch of Yagyà « Shinkage-ryà «, which he learned from his father Yagyà « "Sekishà «sai" Munetoshi, and was one of two official sword styles patronized by the Tokugawa shogunate (the other one being Ittà Â-ryà «).
Munenori began his career in the Tokugawa shogunate as a hatamoto, a direct retainer of the Tokugawa house, and later had his income raised to 10,000 koku, making him a minor fudai daimyà  (vassal lord serving the Tokugawa), with landholdings around his ancestral village of Yagyà «-zato. He also received the title of ().
Munenori entered the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu at a young age, and was later an instructor of swordsmanship to Ieyasu's son Hidetada. He eventually became one of the primary advisors of the third shà Âgun, Iemitsu.
Shortly before his death in 1606, Sekishusai passed the leadership of Yagyà « Shinkage-ryà « to his grandson Toshiyoshi. Following a period of musha shugyà Â, Toshiyoshi entered the service of a cadet branch of the Tokugawa clan that controlled the Owari province. Toshiyoshi's school was based in Nagoya and came to be called (), while Munenori's, in Edo, the Tokugawa capital, came to be known as (). Takenaga Hayato, the founder of the Yagyà « Shingan-ryà «, was a disciple of Yagyà « Munenori and received gokui (secret teachings) of the Yagyà « Shinkage-ryà « from him.
In about 1632, Munenori completed the Heihà  kadensho (A Hereditary Book on the Art of War), a treatise on practical Shinkage-ryà « swordsmanship and how it could be applied on a macro level to life and politics. The text remains in print in Japan today, and has been translated a number of times into English.
Munenori's sons, Yagyà « Jà «bàMitsuyoshi and Yagyà « Munefuyu, were also famous swordsmen.
The essay The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom by Takuan Sà Âhà  was a letter written from Sà Âhà  to Munenori.