Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu
Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, originally called Daitō-ryū Jujutsu, is a Japanese martial art that first became widely known in the early 20th century under the headmastership of Takeda Sōkaku. Takeda had extensive training in several martial arts and referred to the style he taught as "Daitō-ryū". Although the school's traditions claim to extend back centuries in Japanese history there are no known extant records regarding the ryū before Takeda. Whether Takeda is regarded as either the restorer or the founder of the art, the known history of Daitō-ryū begins with him. Takeda's best-known student was Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido.
History
Daitō-ryū is mostly considered to be a fighting style created by the Seiwa Minamoto clan, and handed down from generation to generation. It was Shinra Saburo Minamoto Yoshimitsu the one who compiled all its teachings around the 11th century. Shinra Saburō Minamoto no Yoshimitsu was a Minamoto clan samurai and member of the Seiwa Genji. Yoshimitsu studied and researched the techniques handed down in his family in more detail. It is also believed that Yoshimitsu dissected the corpses of men killed in battle, studying their anatomy for the purpose of learning techniques for joint-locking and atemi-waza. Daitō-ryū takes its name from the mansion that Yoshimitsu lived in as a child, called "Daitō", in Ōmi Province.Image:SeiwaGenjiTree.png|thumb|left|upright=1.5|Family tree of the Seiwa Genji
Yoshimitsu eventually settled down in Kai Province, and passed on what he learned within his family. Ultimately, Yoshimitsu's great-grandson Nobuyoshi adopted the surname "Takeda", which has been the name of the family to the present day. The Takeda family remained in Kai Province until the time of Takeda Shingen. Shingen opposed Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga in their campaign to unify and control all of Japan. With the death of Shingen and his heir, Takeda Katsuyori, the Takeda family relocated to the Aizu domain.
Image:Takeda Sokaku.jpg|thumb|right|Retouched photograph of Takeda Sokaku, 1888
Though these events caused the Takeda family to lose some of its power and influence, it remained intertwined with the ruling class of Japan. More importantly, the move to Aizu and subsequent events profoundly shaped what would emerge as Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu in the 19th century. One important event was the adoption of Tokugawa Ieyasu's grandson, Komatsumaru, by Takeda Kenshoin. Komatsumaru devoted himself to the study of the Takeda family's martial arts, and was subsequently adopted by Hoshina Masamitsu. Komatsumaru changed his name to Hoshina Masayuki, and in 1644 was appointed the governor of Aizu. As governor, he mandated that all subsequent rulers of Aizu study the arts of Ono-ha Ittō-ryū, as well as the art of oshikiuchi, a martial art which he developed for shogunal counselors and retainers, tailored to conditions within the palace. These arts became incorporated into and combined with the Takeda family martial arts.
According to the traditions of Daitō-ryū, it was these arts which Takeda Sokaku began teaching to non-members of the family in the late 19th century. Takeda had also studied swordsmanship and spearmanship with his father, Takeda Sokichi, as well as Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū as an uchi-deshi under the renowned swordsman Sakakibara Kenkichi. During his life, Sokaku traveled extensively to attain his goal of preserving his family's traditions by spreading Daitō-ryū throughout Japan.
Takeda Sokaku's third son, Tokimune Takeda, became the headmaster of the art following Sokaku's death in 1943. Tokimune taught what he called "Daitō-ryū Aikibudō", an art that included the sword techniques of the Ono-ha Ittō-ryū along with the traditional techniques of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu. It was also under Tokimune's headmastership that modern dan rankings were first created and awarded to the students of Daitō-ryū. Tokimune Takeda died in 1993 leaving no official successor, but a few of his high-ranking students, such as Katsuyuki Kondo and Shigemitsu Kato, now head their own Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu organizations.
Aiki-jūjutsu
Aiki-jūjutsu can be broken into three styles: jujutsu ; aiki no jutsu ; and the combined aikijujutsu. Modern aikido originated in aikijujutsu, which emphasizes "an early neutralization of an attack". Like other forms of jujutsu, it emphasizes throwing techniques and joint manipulations to effectively subdue or injure an attacker. Of particular importance is the timing of a defensive technique either to blend or to neutralize an attack's effectiveness and to use the force of the attacker's movement against him. Daitō-ryū is characterized by ample use of atemi, or the striking of vital areas, to set up jointlocking or throwing tactics.Some of the art's striking methods employ the swinging of the outstretched arms to create power and to hit with the fists at deceptive angles, as may be observed in techniques such as the atemi that sets up gyaku ude-dori. Tokimune Takeda regarded one of the unique characteristics of the art to be its preference for controlling a downed attacker's joints with one's knee to leave one's hands free to access weapons or to deal with the threat of other attackers.
Branches
Currently, there are a number of organizations that teach Daitō-ryū, each tracing their lineage back to Takeda Sokaku through one of six of his students. Those six students are: Takeda Tokimune, the progenitor of the Tokimune branch; Takuma Hisa, of the Hisa branch; Kōdō Horikawa, of the Horikawa branch; Toshimi ‘Hosaku’ Matsuda kyoju-dairi 教授代理 of the Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu Shobukai ;Yukiyoshi Sagawa, of the Sagawa branch, and Somekichi Kobayashi, of the Kobayashi branch.Tokimune
The Tokimune branch descends from the teachings of Takeda Tokimune, the son of Takeda Sokaku, and designated successor of Daitō-ryū upon the father's death. When Tokimune died, he had not appointed a successor; there are two main groups that carry on his teachings.The first group is led by Katsuyuki Kondō, who began his training under Tsunejiro Hosono and continued training under Kōtarō Yoshida for a time, before being introduced to Tokimune. On the basis of the high level teaching licenses Kondo was granted by Tokimune, his followers represent his school as the Daitō-ryū "mainline". Kondo has done much to increase the visibility of the art by hosting seminars both in Tokyo and abroad, especially in Europe and the United States. In the last years many Branches were created all over the world. The biggest groups are located in Italy, Russia, Netherlands, Slovakia. In the USA there are also several Branch dōjōs such as Derek Steel in Philadelphia, Mark Sumi in Los Angeles and Jose Garrido in the New York City Metro area. In the United Kingdom there is a study group in Suffolk. Australia study group is led by Rachael Crompton in Sidney. Switzerland’s study groups are led by Pascal Badan and Selahattin Ak.
The second group from the Tokimune branch is headed by Shigemitsu Kato and Gunpachi Arisawa, who are long-time students and teachers from Tokimune's original Daitokan headquarters in Hokkaidō. This organization is called the Nihon Daito Ryu Aikibudo Daito Kai. They maintain a smaller organization in Hokkaidō, with strong connections to practitioners in Europe, the United States, and Brazil.
Hisa
The second major branch of Daitō-ryū is represented by students of Takuma Hisa. His students banded together and founded the Takumakai. They have a wealth of materials in the form of film and still photographs, taken at the Asahi Newspaper dōjō, recording the Daitō-ryū techniques taught to them, first by Morihei Ueshiba and then later by Takeda Sokaku directly. One of their major training manuals, called the Sōden, features techniques taught to them by both masters.The Takumakai represents the second largest aiki-jūjutsu organization. The current director is Mori Hakaru assisted by honorary director is Chiba Tsugutaka, and the manager is Kobayashi Kiyohiro. Chiba Tsugutaka, who proposed the idea of naming the organization "Takumakai", also spent some time training at the Daito-kan in Hokkaido under Takeda Tokimune.
In the 1980s, led by Shogen Okabayashi, who was sent by the elderly Hisa to train under the headmaster, the Takumakai made a move to implement the forms for teaching the fundamentals of the art as originally established by Tokimune Takeda. This move upset some preservers of Hisa's original teaching method, leading to the formation of a new organization called the Daibukan, founded by a long term student of Hisa, Kenkichi Ohgami. Later, in order to implement greater changes to the curriculum, Okabayashi himself chose to separate from the Takumakai and formed the Hakuho-ryu.
Horikawa
The Horikawa branch descends from the teachings of Kōdō Horikawa. A few organizations have been formed based on his teachings.The Kodokai was founded by students of Horikawa, whose distinctive interpretation of aiki movements can be seen in the movements of his students. The Kodokai is located in Hokkaidō and is headed by Yusuke Inoue. Both Inoue's father and his main teacher, Horikawa, were direct students of Takeda Sokaku. Inoue received his teaching license in accordance with Horikawa's final wishes.
There are two major teachers who branched off from the Kodokai to establish their own traditions. The first was Seigō Okamoto who founded the Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Roppokai. His interpretation of aiki and minimal movement throws. The organization has a great following abroad, especially in the United States and Europe. Another group was that of Katsumi Yonezawa, who founded his own organization, called the Bokuyōkan. In the early 1970s, while Yonezawa was still a senior teacher at the Kodokai, he was the first person to bring Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu to the United States and Canada. The Bokuyōkan is currently run by his son Hiromitsu Yonezawa, headquartered in Hokkaidō, with a following at the Yonezawa dojo and several branches in the United States, as well as a dojo in Germany.