Jump to content

Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Mateo2006 (talk | contribs) at 15:24, 6 July 2007 (→‎Classification of techniques). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu
Family crest of the Takeda clan.
Family crest of the Takeda clan.
Date foundedc.1900
FounderTakeda Sokaku
(武田 惣角 Takeda Sōkaku)
File:Sokaku.jpg
Retouched photograph of Sokaku Takeda circa 1888

Daitō-ryū aiki-jūjutsu (大東流合気柔術), originally called Daito-ryū jujutsu (大東流柔術), is a Japanese martial art that first became widely known in the early 20th century under the headmastership of Takeda Sokaku (武田 惣角 Takeda Sōkaku). Takeda had extensive training in several martial arts (including Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū and sumo) and referred to the style he taught as "Daitō-ryū" (literally, "Great Eastern School").[1] 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 he is regarded as the restorer or founder of the art, the known history of Daitō-ryū begins with Takeda Sokaku.[2][3] Perhaps the most famous student of Takeda was Morihei Ueshiba (植芝 盛平 Ueshiba Morihei), the founder of aikido.

Takeda Sokaku's third son, Tokimune Takeda (Takeda Tokimune), became the headmaster of the art following the death of Takeda Sokaku in 1943. Tokimune Takeda 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 Takeda'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 (Kondo Katsuyuki) and Shigemitsu Kato (Kato Shigemitsu) now head their own Daitō-ryū aiki-jūjutsu organizations.[4]

Aikijujutsu is a form of jujutsu which emphasizes the 'early neutralization' of an attack.[5] Like other forms of jujutsu it emphasizes throwing techniques and joint manipulations (see jointlocks) to effectively control, subdue or injure an attacker. It emphasizes using the timing of an attack to either blend or neutralize its effectiveness and use the force of the attacker's movement against them. Daito-ryu is characterized by the ample use of atemi, or the striking of vital areas, in order to set their jointlocking or throwing tactics. Some the art's striking methods employ the swinging of the outstretched arms to create power and to hit with the fists at deceptive angles. Tokimune regarded one of the unique characteristics of the art to be its preference for controlling a downed attacker's joints with one's knee in order to leave one's hands free to access one's weapons or to deal with the threat of other oncoming attackers.

Organizations and important personages

Currently, the aiki-jujutsu organizations that can verify their teaching lineage directly to Sokaku Takeda can be traced back to the teachings of one of four teachers under the first headmaster: (1) Tokimune Takeda (the second headmaster); (2) Yoshiyuki Sagawa (an outstanding early student of Sokaku); (3) Takuma Hisa (the highest ranking student of Sokaku); or (4) Kodo Horikawa (a talented innovator in the art).

The Tokimune branch

There are two main groups under this branch which have sought to maintain the teachings of the second verifiable headmaster of Daito-ryu, Tokimune Takeda. The first is represented by Katsuyuki Kondo who began his training under Tsunejiro Hosono, continuing with Kotaro Yoshida for a time before being introduced to Sokaku's son. On the basis of the high level teaching licenses he was granted by Tokimune, his followers represent his school as the Daito-ryu "mainline." He has much support in the martial arts community for this. Kondo has done much to increase the visibility of the art by hosting seminars both in Tokyo and abroad, especially the United States.[6]

The second main group is that of long-time students and teachers from Tokimune's original Daitokan headquarters in Hokkaido, Shigemitsu Kato and Gunpachi Arisawa. Their organization is called the Nihon Daito-ryu Aikibudo Daitokai. They maintain a smaller organization in Hokkaido with strong connections to practitioners in Europe, especially Italy and Brazil. [7] [8]

The Hisa branch

The second major branch of Daito Ryu is represented by students of the Takuma Hisa (1896-1980). His students banded together and founded the Takumakai[9]. Interestingly, they have a wealth of materials in the form of film, and still photographs, taken at the Asahi Newspaper dojo, recording the Daito-ryu techniques taught to them, first by Morihei Ueshiba and then later by Takeda Sokaku directly. One of their major training manuals called the Soden features techniques taught to them by both teachers.

The Takumakai represents the second largest organization and made a move in the 1980s to impliment the kata for teaching the fundamentals of the art established Tokimune Takeda spearheaded by Shogen Okayabayshi, who was sent by the elderly Hisa to train under the headmaster. 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.[10] Later, in order to implement greater changes to the curriculum Okabayashi himself chose to separate from the Takumakai and formed the Hakuho-ryu.[11]

The Horikawa branch

The Kodokai was founded by students of Kodo Horikawa (1894-1980), whose distinctive interpretation of 'aiki' movements can be seen in the movements of his students. [12] The Kodokai is currently headed in Hokkaido by Inoue, Shihan, Menkyo Kaiden. There are two major teachers who branched off from the Kodokai to establish their own traditions the first was Seigo Okamoto who founded the Daito-ryu Roppokai, whose own interpretation of aiki and minimal movement throws have proved very popular and has a great following abroad, especially in USA and Europe.[13] The other group was that of Katsumi Yonezawa (1937-1998) who founded his own organization, the Bokuyokan, and who was the first person to bring Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu to USA and Canada while still a senior teacher at the Kodokai.[14] The Bokuyokan is currently run by his son Hiromitsu Yonezawa from Hokkaido with a following at the Yonezawa Dojo in U.S.A.[15]

The Sagawa branch

The last major group consists of students of Yukiyoshi Sagawa Yukiyoshi(1902-1998) who was once considered to be the successor to Sokaku Takeda should Tokimune be unable to survive the war. Sagawa, an extremely conservative teacher, ran only a single dojo and taught a relatively small number of students. He began studying Daito-ryu under Sokaku Takeda in 1914 after earlier learning from his father who was also a student of Sokaku.[16]

Kimura Tatsuo, a mathematics professor at Tsukuba University and a senior student of Sagawa, runs a small aikijujutsu study group there. He has also written two books about his training under the Sagawa; Transparent Power and Discovering Aiki. [17]

Related arts

There are a number of martial arts in addition to aikido which appear or claim to descend from the art of Daito-ryu or the teachings of Takeda Sokaku. Among them is the Korean martial art of hapkido founded by Choi Yong Sul, who made unverified claims to have trained under Takeda Sokaku, Hakko Ryu founded by Okuyama Yoshiharu who trained under Takeda, Nippon Shorinji Kempo founded by Nakano Michiomi (So Doshin) who is known to have trained under Okuyama.[18] Several other modern schools of aikijutsu such as Yamate-Ryu, Takeda-Ryu and Nami-Ryu also claim a connection to Daito-ryu.

The term aiki-jujutsu (variations aikijujutsu and aikijutsu) in a number of cases have been adopted by newly synthesized martial arts and refer to aikido techniques performed in a "harder" manner. It also relates to arts that teach jujutsu with an aiki application. See hard and soft (martial arts). Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu is not the sole art that refers to Aikijujutsu (or its derivatives). Daito Ryu was originally called Daito Ryu Jujutsu, and was later changed to Aikijujutsu by Sokaku Takeda.[19]

The Aiki Concept

Tokimune defined aiki in the following way:

Could you explain in a little more detail about the concept of aiki?

Aiki is to pull when you are pushed, and to push when you are pulled. It is the spirit of slowness and speed, of harmonizing your movement with your opponent's ki. Its opposite, kiai, is to push to the limit, while aiki never resists.

The term aiki has been used since ancient times and is not unique to Daito-ryu. The ki in aiki is go no sen, meaning to respond to an attack. ... Daito-ryu is all go no sen—you first evade your opponent's attack and then strike or control him. Likewise, Itto-ryu is primarily go no sen. You attack because an opponent attacks you. This implies not cutting your opponent. This is called katsujinken (live-giving sword). Its opposite is called setsuninken (death-dealing sword).

Aiki is different from the victory of sen sen, and is applied in situations of go no sen, such as when an opponent thrusts at you. Therein lies the essence of katsujinken and setsuninken. You block the attack when an opponent approaches; at his second attack you break his sword and spare his life. This is katsujinken. When an opponent strikes at you and your sword pierces his stomach it is set-suninken. These two concepts are the essence of the sword. Pranin, Stanley. Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu; Conversations with Daito-ryu Masters. Interview with Tokimune Takeda from 1985-87. Aiki News Tokyo 1996.

Classification of techniques

Daito-ryu techniques involve both jujutsu and aikijujutsu applications.




The first category of techniques in the system, the shoden waza, although not devoid

  • Shoden (Hiden Mokuroku) -118 techniques.
  • Aiki-no-jutsu - 53 Techniques.
  • Hiden okgui - 38 Techniques.
  • Goshinyo-no-te - 84 Techniques.[20]

Officially the Daito-ryu system is said to be comprised of thousands of techniques, divided into omote and ura (literally 'front and 'back') versions, but many of these could be seen as variations upon the core techniques. In addition Sokaku and Tokimune awarded scrolls denoting certain portions of the curriculum such as techniques utilizing the long and short short sword.

To the list above the Takumakai adds:

  • Daito-ryu Aiki Nito-ryu Hiden
  • Kaishakusoudennokoto 477
  • Kaidennokoto 88 kajo[21]

and utilizes the photographic document of techniques taught at the Asahi Newspaper Dojo by Morihei Ueshiba and Sokaku Takeda that was compiled into a series of books called the Soden.[22]

References

  1. ^ Pranin, Stanley. The Aiki News Encyclopedia of Aikido. Aiki News, Tokyo, Japan 1991
  2. ^ Pranin, Stanley. The Aiki News Encyclopedia of Aikido. Aiki News, Tokyo, Japan 1991
  3. ^ Mol, Serge Classical Fighting Arts of Japan; A Complete Guide to Koryu Jujutsu. Kodansha, Tokyo, 2001
  4. ^ Pranin, Stanley (2006). "Takeda, Tokimune". Encyclopedia of Aikido. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Pranin, Stanley (2006). "Daito-ryu aikijujutsu". Encyclopedia of Aikido. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu Hombu
  7. ^ Nihon Daito-ryu Aikibudo Daitokai
  8. ^ Instituto Cultural Brasil Japão de Aiki-jujutsu - ICBJA
  9. ^ Daito-ryu Aiki jujutsu Takumakai
  10. ^ Daibukan
  11. ^ Interview with Okabayashi Shogen of the Hakuho Ryu
  12. ^ Pranin, Stanley. On Separate Language Editions (see Roppokai section). Aikidojournal.com
  13. ^ Pranin, Stanley. Interview with Seigo Okamoto. Aikidojournal.com
  14. ^ Pranin, Stanley Yonezawa, Katsumi Aikidojournal.com
  15. ^ Pranin, Stanley Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Roppokai Aikidojournal.com
  16. ^ Pranin, Stanley (2006). "Sagawa, Yukiyoshi". Encyclopedia of Aikido. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Wollos, Paul On Training with Tatsuo Kimura Aikidojournal.com
  18. ^ Draeger, Donn F. Modern Bujutsu & Budo: Martial Arts And Ways Of Japan, Vol III. Weatherhill, Tokyo 1974, 1996.
  19. ^ Pranin, Stanley (2006). "Daito-ryu Jujutsu". Encyclopedia of Aikido. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ Pranin, Stanley.Interview With Katsuyuki Kondo. Aikidojournal.com. 1992
  21. ^ The System of Techniques of Daito-ryu Aiki jujutsu Takumakai
  22. ^ Pranin, Stanley (2006). "Soden". Encyclopedia of Aikido. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daitō-ryū_Aiki-jūjutsu&oldid=142909217"