Newspaper Articles about Takeda Sokaku Part 1: The Recluse Bokuden of Our Times (1930)

The first article was written by Osaka Yoichi (尾坂與市), a reporter for the Tokyo Asahi Newspaper (Tokyo Asahi Shinbun, 東京朝日新聞), which we know today as the daily newspaper Asahi Shinbun (朝日新聞). Published during the Taisho era, it was among the top five newspapers in Tokyo. It seems that what prompted the journalist to want to know more about Daito-ryu was the publication in 1929 of an even earlier article written for a nonfiction magazine by Admiral Takeshita IsamuTakeshita Isamu (竹下勇, 1870 - 1949) was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy. He was also a diplomat who helped end the Russo-Japanese War. Passionate practitioner of Japanese martial arts, he was particularly supportive of the development of judo, sumo and aikido. entitled “The Heroic Story of Takeda Sokaku” (武田惣角武勇伝), but the article in question seems to either have been lost, or perhaps never existedThere is actually no evidence that suggests that Takeshita met Takeda, let alone wrote about him. Still, Yoichi decided to travel to Hokkaido in July 1930 in the aim of interviewing Takeda Sokaku, who was teaching in the north of the island at the time. His article was published on August 17, 1930. The following text is a revised translation of the text that appeared in Aikido Journal issue 68 (August 1985), and supplemented with notes.

The Recluse Bokuden of Our Times

Blindingly Fast Moves of Daito-ryu Aiki

Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu is a very ancient martial arts school transmitted in secret within the Aizu clan. It was not until the Meiji eraMeiji (明治時代, Meiji jidai) is the historical period of Japan that spans between 1868 and 1912. The mentioning of the period is of importance since it is the time of the abolition of the samurai class. If one believes the alleged origin of Daito-ryu, it may help explain why Sokaku would have suddenly opened up the secretive teachings of the school to the public. that the school's rightful heir, Master Takeda Sokaku (武田惣角, 1859-1943), allowed the world to discover this art which had remained mysterious for hundreds of years.

It is said that this bujutsu (武術) is more remarkable than kendo, judo and the like in terms of personal defense systemThe Japanese term is goshin-jutsu (護身術). A comparison is made here to judo and kendo, most likely as representative of the dichotomy between gendai budo and kobudo. That said, judo which indeed includes a kata with the specific goal of self-defense called “Kodokan goshin-jutsu” (講道館護身術).. This extraordinary bujutsu practitioner Takeda Sokaku mysteriously withdrew from the world about 20 years ago, living principally in Shirahama (白濱)The author probably made a mistake on the second kanji, which should read Shirataki (白滝). in the Kitami province of HokkaidoKitami (北見) is located in the far north of Hokkaido Island. This supposed withdrawal from the world is indicative of the fact that at the time of writing, for a Tokyoite like the author, Hokkaido must have felt like the end of the world. Takeda moved from Akita to Hokkaido in 1910 in order to teach Daito-ryu courses to the police. There he married his second wife, Sue (née Yamada Sue, 山田スエ, 1890-1930) in 1913, and the couple settled in Shirataki around 1916. Tokimune (武田 時宗, 1916 - 1993), the couple's third son and Sokaku's successor as head of his school was born that same year. Based on the analysis of the eimeroku and shareiroku records, it indeed seems that the frequency of Sokaku's travels reduced substantially during that period compared to earlier in his life. Sokaku's travels would however resume in early 1931 and one can speculate that it could have been a byproduct of the interest generated by the present article.. He lives there reclusively and works the land. Although he has nearly 30,000 students across the country, Sokaku lives in secrecy in order to escape the troubles of the world.

It took me seven hours to travel east by train after changing at Nayoro (名寄市, Nayoro-shi), near the northern end of Hokkaido, to arrive at the old man's remote residence in Shirataki, in the Kitami country. The house consisted of two adjoining rooms of ten tatami mats and a larger one of about 20 tatami mats containing a hearth of 5 shakuThe shaku (尺) is an ancient unit of measure of length in Japanese architecture, it is approximately equal to 30 cm. (1m50) dug in the ground and whose frame was made of a black lacquered wood. Although it was midsummer, a large pot hung from the rack with two pairs of four-foot metal tongs carelessly placed there. All aspects of this setting made me think of the isolated dwellings in which Tsukahara Bokuden or Araki MataemonAraki Mataemon (荒木又右衛門, 1584 - 1637), the founder of Yagyu Shingan-ryu (柳生心眼流) might have lived.

"Although you wanted to see my husband, he left for a wander at the beginning of June and still hasn't come back," his wife told me.

I thought that she didn't sound that worried about it. If we had been in Tokyo, a search would no doubt have been launched immediately.

“Oh, yes, a letter arrived three or four days ago. He said that he was in KoshimizuKoshimizucho (小清水町) is a small town about 140 km from Shirataki., on the other side of AbashiriIt is in this town of Abashiri-shi (網走市) that in 1954, Takeda Tokimune (武田 時宗 1916- 1993), the son and successor of Takeda Sokaku would establish the Daito-kan Dojo (大東館道場), which no longer exists.. However, he plans to leave after that and I don't know when he will come home. You can try to reach him in Koshimizu, but there is no guarantee that you will arrive before he leaves."

Although I felt quite disappointed, I made up my mind to travel for an additional seven hours and got off at Furuoke StationFuruoke (古桶), currently Hamakoshimizu station on the Semmo main line. located four stops from the city of Abashiri, which is famous for its prison. I then walked on a trail of about three riThe ri (里) is a unit of measure of distance used in Japan and from China. (12 km) along a mountain ridge and arrived in Koshimizu around midnight. When I got to the hostel, a 67-68 year old man who looked like a samurai from yesteryear asked me:

"Where are you from and what do you want?"

I gave him my business card and followed him. Once we got inside, I heard someone shout behind the door:

"What? A journalist plague!? What can he want from an old peasant like me!? I guess I have no choice if he's made the trip here, tell him to come."

The man greeted me with the following words:

"Your coming is a nuisance, I don't want to see you, but I guess I have no choice".

During this first meeting, he was wearing a plaid summer kimono with an obi around his waist. His appearance suggested that he was indeed a poor peasantThe Japanese term used is mizu nomi byakushou (水飲み百姓), which designate a peasant that is so poor that he has to drink water. This was in fact an official designation for farmers during the Edo period who did not have enough resources to be taxable and who could not own a paddy field.. He had a vigorous appearance and didn't look like his age, which was 72. He was small and measured less than five shaku (1.50m), and I later learned that he weighed barely 12 kan (45 kg)The kan (貫) is a unit of mass dating from the Edo period.. His eyes shone with a terrible light and scanned you down to the depth of your stomachThe term used is hara (腹). In Japanese medical and martial arts traditions, the word hara is used as a technical term to refer to a specific area (physical / anatomical) or energy field (physiological / energetic) of the body. In the context of this article, it can be said that Takeda was scrutinizing someone down to the depth of their soul..

"What do you want with an old man like me?"

“Talking about your background in the martial artsThe term used is bugei (武芸), which in literature is often used interchangeably with the term bujutsu (武術).."

“I know a few stories of peasants, I know how to run a two-hectare farm and I can get up to 30 large tree roots out of the ground in one day ha! ha! ha!"

After a while, he eventually agreed to tackle the subject that interested me, starting with the origin of martial arts, followed by the history of each school. As the conversation progressed, he became more and more animated and asked one of his advanced students (the old man to whom I had given my business card at the entrance, and who had been learning from Sokaku for 20 yearsAccording to Horikawa Kodo's (堀川幸道) wife, Chieko (堀川ちゑ子), during a conversation that she had with Stanley Pranin in 1986, the man described here was Horikawa Taiso (堀川泰宗), the father of Kodo and a long term student of Takeda Sokaku. Taiso met Takeda in 1912 and was appointed kyoju dairi (representative instructor) on January 10, 1930..) to stand in front of him in the middle of the eight tatami room.

"Since the conversation has stopped, come over here, let me show you something. Come on, attack me however you want."

His strong posture and slightly spaced feet made him look truly imposing. His eyes were freezing as they stared at his best student. A moment later, his opponent attacked him with all his might. He ended up on the ground after being thrown easily by Takeda Sensei whose scream echoed like a thunderclap. The student said,

"I surrender."

The technique was done so perfectly that it was not very satisfying to watch. I got the opportunity to see a dozen of these exchanges but they all took place at such a speed that I could not perceive how he managed to throw or immobilize his opponent, who did not even have time to moan.This kind of remarks from people who have seen or undergone the advanced techniques of Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu are quite common because the said techniques aim in part to make it so that nothing is felt or visible, to the point that they can even sometimes seem "fake" or staged from the outside.

"Looks like it's all staged, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does." I replied without thinking.

"Have you ever practiced yawara techniquesYawara (柔) means "soft" or "flexible" and it is pronounced "ju" when placed with character jutsu, as in ju-jutsu (柔術).? Please stand up."

I stood up.

"Grab my neck and hold tight."

I’m a pretty strong guy and I strangled him with all my might. Then he said to me,

"Are you ready?"

At the moment when he screamed, I felt like my hands were about to break around his neck. He then asked me to grab his right arm with both hands, or push his chest, and other things of that nature. Each time I did as he told me and I ended up thrown without understanding how he had done it. He immobilized my neck and both arms with his legs like a knotThese immobilizations are characteristic of Daito-ryu. Also, the mention of the use of the legs is interesting as it is a particularity of the advanced techniques of Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu.. My arms felt like they were about to break and I couldn't breathe.Here again, the reporter gives us a valuable clue about Takeda's techniques. Indeed, beyond the painful joint restraints, immobilization of Daito-ryu places the enemy in such a situation of discomfort that it is difficult to breathe fully and to control his own body weight, which most of the time is what makes the bulk of the coercion work.

When I looked up at Master Takeda from my unfavorable position on the ground, he had his arms crossed against his chestThis is another important element that shows that all control is done without the help of the hands, but just with levers done with the legs and body weight. and he said to his student:

“We spilled the tea!"

I couldn't believe it.

A little later he took out a real swordEven back then, walking around with a real sword was totally forbidden and it is likely that Takeda allowed himself to do so since he was in Hokkaido, a rather isolated place. There is no evidence to my knowledge that suggests Takeda did this to Honshu, although he is known to have a razor blade on him. He showed me several kata. He moved the bare blade past my eyes, under my nose, and near my shoulders, with a threatening hiss.

“It's pretty hard to make the sword whistle like this. It is impossible to cut a person properly without making this noise while hitting. It’s very difficult to produce this hiss with a two shaku sword (60 cm)If this number is correct, rather than a katana, it is likely that Takeda Sokaku actually demonstrated using a long wakizashi. However, it is also possible that he had a katana shortened in order to conceal it more easily.."

The 72-year-old didn't look like he was tired in the slightest. He then spoke of Marquis Saigo Tsugumichi and the speed with which the he learned the techniquesSaigo Tsugumichi (西郷従道, 1843-1902) was a Marshal in the Japanese Navy and Japanese Minister of State for the Meiji era that Takeda accompanied to Hokkaido around 1887 when Tsugumichi took the lead of the land development project. Sokaku served as Tsugumichi's bodyguard but I am not sure whether he learned from Takeda directly because I cannot find his name in the eimeiroku (英名録, register containing the names of all his students and the dates on which they learned with him) of Takeda. Tsugumichi is also the younger brother of Saigo Takamori (西郷隆盛, 1828-1877), a Japanese samurai known for his opposition to the shogunate and his role in the Meiji Restoration. Takeda Sokaku had actually tried, unsuccessfully, to join Takamori's army in his youth.. He also spoke of meeting and speaking with General NogiNogi Maresuke (乃木希典, 1849-1912) was General of the Imperial Japanese Army and Governor General of Taiwan. He was an important figure in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, as commander of the forces that had captured Port Arthur from the Russians. According to his son Takeda Tokimune, in 1903, Sokaku, who was instructing about fifty officers of the second army division in Sendai (this fact is recorded in his eimeiroku) was assigned to General Nogi's Third Army and allegedly participated in the Battle of Port Arthur. in NasunoNasuno (那須野), in Tochigi prefecture (栃木県, Tochigi-ken), located in the center of the island of Honshu. and that he liked the fact that the he dressed like a farmerProbably in spite his high social status..

He also told me that since his martial art style was very easy to learn, he had never shown his techniques to the publicThe author is talking about demonstrations here, since the number of entries in Sokaku's eimeiroku suggests that by that time, he had already taught to several thousand students.. Takeda said that his father used to cauterize his fingernails to punish him for not learning fast enoughSokaku here infers that he learned his techniques from his father, Sokichi (武田 惣吉), but the current consensus indicates that his learning would have continued long after, with other teachers. So it is interesting that he is only citing his father as a teacher.. He showed me the burn marks that were still visible all those years after.

Although it was past two in the morning, he was still talking. In order to change the subject to obtain more information, I asked him,

"Have you ever used these techniques in real life?"

At first he laughed and didn't answer my question, but after a while he told me about an incident. According to his story, he was attacked by 40 or 50 construction workers at the start of the Meiji era in Fukushima Prefecture and killed eight of them.The incident allegedly took place in 1882. Takeda was imprisoned for a month before being acquitted after being found to have acted in self-defense.

"The techniques of this art are perfect for personal defense, because we avoid cuts, as well as punches and kicks, and at the same time, we do not cut, and we do not strike, neither with the fists, nor with the feet. When the attack comes, it is dealt with quickly using the power of the opponent. Even women and children can perform these techniques. However, my rule is never to teach these techniques to anyone without a prior recommendation as they are devastating if misused. I know that  some people teach these techniques in TokyoSokaku is probably referring to Ueshiba Morihei (植芝盛平, 1883 - 1969), who was teaching in Tokyo at that time., but I don't think that one can teach others if one is not very advanced oneself.This sentence is a bit difficult to interpret. At the time, Ueshiba Morihei had already been appointed kyoju dairi (教授代理, representative instructor) by Sokaku, but this title in principle did not allow him to teach outside the tutelage of Sokaku. There was a dispute about this between the two men and it is unclear whether with this sentence, Sokaku was being critical of Ueshiba's technical level, or whether he was just taking offense at the fact the latter had more or less cut ties with his master. There is no doubt that Hisa Takuma (久琢磨), when he read this article, would have realized that Sokaku was talking about his own teacher at the time, Ueshiba. This may have provided additional incentive for him to invite Sokaku to teach at the Osaka Asahi Newspaper. Note that when Sokaku took over the reins of the Asahi Newspaper dojo in 1936, he told the students that Ueshiba had only taught them the basics because he did not know the advanced techniques. "

The old man's seem that he could go on with his stories until dawn.

Many thanks to Jordy Delage for his insightful comments and to Marc Trudel for the corrections.