IDaito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu (from Yamamoto Kakuyoshi)

The techniques of Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu were originated by the founder of the Kai Gengi Takeda clan, Shinra-Saburo Yoshimitsu, and completed by Takeda Sokaku, who was also responsible for its popularization. Looking at the art written transmissions as well as the techniques themselves, it is clear that there were secret techniques present from the ancient past, but these were added to and perfected by Takeda Sokaku, who traveled all over Japan and absorbed many other martial arts to add to his own. Aside from Jujutsu, he also studied Kenjutsu (swordsmanship), including Nitou-ryu (double-sword style) and Ittou-ryu ( a single-sword style), and was said to be a great swordsman. Daitou-ryu is said to contain 2,884 techniques, forward and reverse, but this is not included on the style license certificates. Indeed, the sum total of those which are listed doesn reach 1,000, much less 3,000.

Takeda Sokaku died in Itoho in Aomori, his last disciple being Yamamoto Kakuyoshi. Yamamoto's real name was Tomekichi, but he took two characters from his teacher Takeda Sokaku Minamotono-Masayoshi name to become Yamamoto Kakuyoshi. At present, disciples of Takeda Sokaku in Japan number more than 30,000.

One student of Yamamoto Kakuyoshi was Sato Kinbei. It is believed that Sato Kinbei received Menkyo Kaiden from Yamamoto Kakuyshi. One student of Sato Kinbei was a student/associate of Ueno Takashi, who in turn is in the lineage of Shogo Kuniba. It is possible that this connection accounts for the Aiki influence on the arts passed down from Kuniba Soke that were referred to as Goshi Jutsu. (Note: Goshi refers to Samurai. It is not a reference to Goshin)

GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT DAITO RYU

There are a number of Daito Ryu factions, some are listed on the previous page. Even those factions with direct links to Takeda Sokaku (ie: the founder trained with Takeda Sensei), teach an art somewhat different from the others. Some claim that is because waht the others are teaching is not Daito Ryu. But there are good reasons for there being different teachings.

One reason is that Takeda Sokaku did not always teach all of the same techniques to each student. Even those with Menkyo Kaiden, full transmission of the art, were taught different sets of techniques. Takeda Sensei travelled the country teaching Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu to individuals and at various dojo. Sometimes only staying for a short time and teaching only a small number of technqiues.

It is said that he never taught the same technique twice. Most often it was up to the student to interoret what he taught and teach it according to thier own understanding, as they would never see that technqiue again and would not be able to ask questions about it. This approach to teaching will easily and logically account for two individual teachers who both received teaching credentials from Takeda Sokaku.

Today, a number of researchers and historians feel more like Takeda Sokaku was the founder of Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu as opposed to having inherited the ancient art. Some also believe that the parent art of Daito Ryu is actually Asayama Ichiden Ryu. There is no direct evidence to support this idea, outside of the Asayama Ichiden Ryu being an older art from the same region and striking similarities between the two.

What we are rather sure of is that the art that Takeda Sokaku inherited was not called Aikijujutsu and that he likely coined the term. There is also some speculation that it was Yoshida Kotaro who came up the term. It seems that although Takeda Sokaku was the inheritor of Daito Ryu, it was not any where near as vast or as organized of a system that was passed down to him. It is possible that, as he travelled the country teaching Daito Ryu and studying other arts, that he added techniques (perhaps even dropped some) and completed the catalog as he went along. This again would account for why different students with the Menkyo Kaiden teach a different curriculum yet still teach what Takeda taught them.