Дайто-рю Айки-дзюцу: История и Традиции

Japanese martial art

Daitō ryū Aiki jūjutsu (大東流 合気柔術), originally called 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 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"). 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.

Daitō ryū (also known as simply Aiki jūjutsu) 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 (新羅 三郎 源 義光, 1045–1127) was a Minamoto clan samurai and member of the Seiwa Genji (the branch of the Minamoto family descended from the 56th imperial ruler of Japan, Emperor Seiwa). 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 (nerve striking). Daitō ryū takes its name from the mansion that Yoshimitsu lived in as a child, called "Daitō" (大東), in Ōmi Province (modern day Shiga Prefecture). Yoshimitsu eventually settled down in Kai Province (modern day Yamanashi Prefecture), 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 (武田 信玄, 1521–1573). 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 (武田 勝頼, 1546–1582), the Takeda family relocated to the Aizu domain (an area comprising the western third of modern day Fukushima Prefecture). 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 (武田 時宗 Takeda Tokimune, 1916–1993), became the headmaster of the art following Sokaku's death in 1943. Tokimune taught what he called "Daitō ryū Aikibudō" (大東流合気武道), 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 (近藤 勝之 Kondō Katsuyuki, 1945–) and Shigemitsu Kato, now head their own Daitō ryū Aiki jūjutsu organizations.

Aiki jūjutsu can be broken into three styles: jujutsu (hard); aiki no jutsu (soft); and the combined aikijujutsu (hard/soft). 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 (reverse elbow lock). 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.

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 (久 琢磨 Hisa Takuma, 1895–1980), of the Hisa branch; Kōdō Horikawa (堀川 幸道 Horikawa Kōdō, 1894–1980), of the Horikawa branch; Toshimi ‘Hosaku’ Matsuda (1895 ?) kyoju dairi 教授代理 of the Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu Shobukai ;Yukiyoshi Sagawa (Sagawa Yukiyoshi, 1902–1998), of the Sagawa branch, and Somekichi Kobayashi (1901–1999), of the Kobayashi branch.

The Tokimune branch descends from the teachings of Tokimune Takeda, 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 (吉田 幸太郎 Yoshida Kōtarō, 1883–1966) 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 (under Alex Muracchini and Luca Canovi), Russia (under Evgeny Bodrenko and Stanislav Kopin), Netherlands (Robert Breedveld,Niels van Willigen, Anton Brandregt, and Ilse van der Hoeven), Slovakia (under Stephan Kurilla). 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 (under Oran Redmond). Australia study group is led by Rachael Crompton in Sidney. Switzerland’s study groups are led by Pascal Badan (Lausanne) and Selahattin Ak (Zürich). 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 (日本大東流合気武道大東会). They maintain a smaller organization in Hokkaidō, with strong connections to practitioners in Europe (especially Italy), the United States, and Brazil.

The second major branch of Daitō ryū is represented by students of Takuma Hisa. His students banded together and founded the Takumakai (琢磨会). 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. also spent some time training at the Daito kan in Hokkaido under Takeda Tokimune. In the 1980s, led by Shogen Okabayashi (Okabayashi Shogen, born 1949 2018), 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 (Ōgami Kenkichi, born 1936). Later, in order to implement greater changes to the curriculum, Okabayashi himself chose to separate from the Takumakai and formed the Hakuho ryu.

The Horikawa branch descends from the teachings of Kōdō Horikawa. A few organizations have been formed based on his teachings. The Kodokai (幸道会) 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 (Inoue Yasuke, born 1932). Both Inoue's father and his main teacher, Horikawa, were direct students of Takeda Sokaku. Inoue received his teaching license (Menkyo Kaiden) 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 (岡本 正剛 Okamoto Seigō, 1925 2015) who founded the Daito ryu Aikijujutsu Roppokai (大東流 合気柔術 六方会). 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 (米沢 克巳 Yonezawa Katsumi, 1937–1998), who founded his own organization, called the Bokuyōkan (牧羊館). 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 (Yonezawa Hiromitsu), headquartered in Hokkaidō, with a following at the Yonezawa dojo and several branches in the United States, as well as a dojo in Germany.

The last major group consists of students of Yukiyoshi Sagawa (佐川 幸義, Sagawa Yukiyoshi, 1902–1998), who was once considered to be the successor to Takeda Sokaku (should Tokimune not have survived World War II). Sagawa ran only a single dojo and taught a relatively small number of students. He began studying Daitō ryū under Takeda Sokaku in 1914 after first learning the art from his father, Sagawa Nenokichi (1867–1950), who was also a student of Sokaku and a holder of a Kyōju Dairi (teaching license) in the system. Although considered by many to be one of the most accomplished students of Sokaku, Yukiyoshi Sagawa received the kyoju dairi in 1932—but did not receive the menkyo kaiden (certificate of mastery) of the system's secrets, as during the time he practised under Takeda Sokaku, the highest licence was not the menkyo kaiden. Sagawa often served as a teaching assistant to Takeda and traveled with him to various locations in Japan teaching Daito ryu. He further developed the art of applying Aiki and is said to have remained powerful until very late in life, and – as a consequence of the success of Transparent Power – was featured in a series of articles in the Aiki News magazines prior to his death in 1998. Daisuke Nagano, a descendant of Narimasa Nagano and noted Master of Asayama Ichiden Ryu under Yukio Nakamura and senior student of Sagawa, taught at Koikikawa Dojo near Tokyo and often taught United States military servicemen stationed in Okinawa in the 1970s. In the 1997 a branch dedicated to Nagano sensei's teachings called "Nagano Ryu Heihou Kyokai" was founded by his most senior student Jamie Ellerbe.

Somekichi Kobayashi, a descendant of Hirohito Kobayashi, ran only a small dojo and taught a relatively small number of students. He began studying Daitō ryū under Takeda Sokaku in 1923. Kobayashi went many times to France giving clinics at La Baule Martial Arts Camps with Fukami Sensei Judo Coach of the French Team. One of his students , Jean Luc Moreau Kudan, headmaster and cofounder of this style, started to study with him in France and many times in Japan. To enlarge his view and knowledge, Jean Luc Moreau also studied different martial arts (Judo, Karate, Kendo, Ko Budo ) under other great teachers such as: Ichiro Abe, 10th Dan (Kodokan), Head Kata Instructor at the Kodokan , Minoru Mochizuki, (1907 2003) – Founder of Yoseikan Budo Aikido, Hiroo Mochizuki, (1936 ) – Current Head of Yoseikan Budo Aikido, , Taiji Kase, (1929 – 2004) – 9th Dan Shotokan Karate, Tadashi Abe, (1926 1984) – Pioneer of Aikido in France and Europe , Takeda Tokimune, (1915 1993) – 36th Soke, Daito Ryu AikiJujutsu, Gozo Shioda, (1915 1994) – Founder of Yoshinkan Aikido.

The significant interest in this martial art, which has much in common with the many less popular classical Japanese jujutsu schools, is probably due largely to the success of Takeda Sokaku's student Morihei Ueshiba, and the art that he founded, aikido. Aikido is practised internationally and has hundreds of thousands of adherents. Many of those interested in aikido have traced the art's origins back to Daitō ryū, which has increased the level of interest in an art which was otherwise virtually unknown a few decades before. Aikido's influence was significant even in its early years, prior to World War II, when Ueshiba was teaching a more overtly combative form closer to Daitō ryū. One of the main conduits of the influence of Ueshiba's pre war aiki jūjutsu was Kenji Tomiki, founder of Shodokan Aikido. Tomiki was already ranked 5th dan in judo when he began studying under Ueshiba. Today's goshin jutsu kata, or "forms of self defense" (created in 1956 by a team of experts after Kanō Jigorō's death, and thus not belonging to original judo), preserve these teachings, as does Tomiki's own organization of Shodokan Aikido.

The concept of aiki is an old one, and was common to other classical Japanese schools of armed combat. Choi gave two versions of his story, one in 1962 and another completely different one in 1982. Hakkō ryū founded by Okuyama Yoshiharu, who trained under Takeda Sokaku; and Shorinji Kempo, founded by Nakano Michiomi (later known as So Doshin), who is known to have trained under Okuyama. Additionally, Icho ryū – an offshoot designed for police defense is practiced widely in Washington state. Many techniques from Hakko ryu are similar to the techniques of Daitō ryu. Certain styles of Karate also use joint manipulation and locking techniques.