Nakatsu Heizaburo (中津平三郎) was born on June 1, 1894 in Ikeda (池田町) in the Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku Island. He was a direct student of Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu master Takeda Sokaku, with whom he studied for three years. Nakatsu Sensei is the teacher at the origin of the lineage of Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu of Shikoku, which is represented today by Chiba Tsugutaka Sensei. During a recent visit to Chiba Sensei's house accompanied by Olivier Gaurin, Sensei showed us a number of documents that we had never seen. Let's study those together and look back on Nakatsu Sensei's life and his place in the history of the Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu.
During the Taisho eraTaisho jidai (大正時代), Japanese historical period ranging from 1912 to 1926, which coincides with the reign of the Emperor Taisho., Nakatsu Sensei served as a police officer at the Sonezaki Police Station in Osaka. At the beginning of the Showa eraShowa jidai (昭和 時代), a period corresponding to the reign of Emperor Hirohito spanning from 1926 to 1989., he was also active as a judo teacher, 5th dan from the KodokanThe Kodokan Judo Institute (公益財団法人講道館) was founded in 1882 by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo. I contacted the Kodokan in order to get more information about Nakatsu Sensei's grading record, and they kindly provided me with the information that Nakatsu Hizaburo received the 3rd Dan on October 25, 1924, the 4th Dan on January 8, 1928, the 5th Dan on February 15, 1933, and the 6th Dan on January 10, 1960. and as a competitor recognized throughout Japan. His strongman reputation led to his appointment in 1930 to the security service of the Asahi JournalAsahi Shimbun (朝日新聞社), one of the five national newspapers in Japan. in Osaka.
Nakatsu Heizaburo
Around 1933, Ueshiba Morihei was summoned by Mitsujiro Ishii, a former minister in the Japanese government and a founder of the Liberal Democratic Party, to strengthen security in Osaka's Asahi Journal, which had been the target of attacks by lobbyists and right-wing extremists because of an editorial error dating from March 1928 regarding the death of an imperial prince.
Nakatsu Heizaburo
The Director of Corporate Affairs in charge of sports activities at the newspaper was Hisa Takuma. Nakatsu, Hisa and a handful of others, began to study the techniques of Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu from Ueshiba Morihei at the newspaper's dojo under the leadership of Ishii in 1934. When Ueshiba was absent, some of his students from Tokyo ensured the teaching at the newspaper, particularly Yonekawa Shigemi and Tsutomu Yukawa. After each class, students took advantage of the facilities and photographic material available to replicate the techniques and record them under the form of a large number of photographic plates that today are known as a collection called Soden (総伝, you can read a full analysis in an article I wrote about Soden). Nakatsu Heizaburo appears as tori from volumes 6 through 9, which contain the advanced teachings of Ueshiba, and Takeda Sokaku's Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu techniques in their purest form.
Photo from the Soden showing Nakatsu Heizaburo demonstrating a technique
Instruction with Ueshiba Morihei ended in June 1936 with the arrival to Osaka of his own teacher, Sokaku Takeda, who took over the dojo from there on until 1939. Sokaku Takeda announced to the group that given that he had not taught everything to Ueshiba, it would be he who would undertake to complete the training of the Asahi students. Though this is the generally accepted version, some pieces of evidence, including some early statements made by Hisa himself, suggest that it is actually the group that requested that Takeda come to teach them.
The Asahi Shinbun group around Takeda Sokaku. First row, left to right: Yoshimura Yoshiteru, Takeda Sokaku, Harada Bunzaburo; second row: Kono Testuo, Takeda Tokimune, Nakatsu Heizaburo.
Takeda Sokaku must however have thought that Ueshiba Morihei did an appropriate job at teaching Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu basics to the group since Sokaku promptly awarded some members of the group the hiden okugi no kotoHiden okugi no koto (秘伝奥義之事), litt. scroll of hidden mysteries. It is a set of 36 techniques that represents the 3rd level of Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu, the first and the second being respectively the hiden mokuroku 118 kajo (秘伝目録百拾八ヶ條) and aiki no jutsu (合気之術). certificate.
ormal photograph taken in October 1936 at the Asahi Journal after the awarding of hiden okugi no koto by Takeda Sokaku. Front, left to right: Tonedachi Masao, Hisa Takuma, Takeda Sokaku, Yoshimura Yoshiteru, and Harada Bunzaburo. Back, left to right: Kawasaki Genetsu, Nakatsu Heizaburo, Kawazoe Kuniyoshi, Akune Masayoshi, and Kono Tetsuo.
The photo above is quite overexposed, but some closer analysis, and a study of Nakatsu's hiden okugi certificate, reveals that the documents that Tonedate and Harada are holding on the picture are identical. Hisa and Yoshimura can also be seen holding their eimeiroku, which they would have started to use from that point since they had also become kyoju dairi. This would of course date the picture to October 1936.
Hiden ogi no koto certificate of Nakatsu Heizaburo dating from October 1936. It lists the 118 kajo ura-omote (百拾八ヶ條 裏表), the Aiki no jutsu 30 kajo ura (合気之術 裏参拾ヶ條), Hiden okugi 36 kajo (秘伝奥儀 参拾六ヶ條), with the mention that all of it was taught over the course of 25 occasions (以上貳拾五囬教授). Then follows the goshinyo no te 84 kajo with the mention that it was taught during one occasion (御信用之手八拾四ヶ條 壹囬教授).
In October 1937, Takeda registered Nakatsu and other of his colleagues as kyoju dairiKyoju dairi (教授代理), litt. representing instructor, is a title that allows a practitioner to teach in the name of his instructor. It is generally obtained after the practitioner has received the shoden mokuroku, aiki no jutsu, hiden ogi and go shin'yo no te scrolls.. Under those terms, they were allowed to teach their own students, but had to pay a three-yen fee to Sokaku for every student that they enrolled.
Takeda Sokaku's registry showing Nakatsu Heizaburo's name (red square) under the mention "kyoju dairi"
This is the same title that Takeda had awarded to Morihei Ueshiba after he had taught his art to him in Ayabe in 1922. According to Takeda Tokimune, the son of Takeda Sokaku, the kyoju dairi title was only issued once the student had mastered the 118 shoden basic techniques (equivalent to today's 5th dan) and the 53 aiki no jutsu techniques (omote and ura), the 36 hiden ogi techniques (omote and ura), the Daito-ryu aiki nito-ryu hiden techniques, and and the 86 goshinyo no te techniques. It therefore represents a very high standard of instruction and at the time he gave it to O Sensei, this certificate was the highest grade to be awarded by Takeda Sokaku.
In October 1938, Takeda taught Nakatsu and five of his colleagues the 84 techniques of kaishaku soden no koto (解釈總傳之事), which can be translated as “explanation of full transmission”, during a period of 24 days. If the previous document represent a validation of what had been taught by Ueshiba, those techniques can be said to be specific to Takeda's teaching.
Entry from Takeda Sokau's eimeiroku showing that he taught the 84 kaishaku soden no koto (解釈總傳之事) techniques to the Asahi members including Tonedate Masao, Hisa Takuma, Kono Tetsuo, Nakatsu Heizaburo, Akune Masayoshi and Kawazoe Kuniyoshi for 24 days from October 22th to November 14th, 1938.
Later, in 1939, Hisa Takuma received the menkyo kaiden certificate (免許皆伝, total transmission) from Takeda Sokaku. Takeda awarded only two of these throughout his entire life (the second was given to Tonedate Masao but evidence suggests that it was a largely honorary reward for his administrative role as part of the Asahi newspaper's dojo).
Dojo in September 1937. Takeda Sokaku performing an immobilization technique on 4 people: Hisa Takuma, Nakatsu Heizaburo, Kawazoe Kuniyoshi and Kawasaki Zenetsu. Back row from left: Kurita Yoshie, Tonedate Masao, Akune Masayoshi, Takeda Tokimune and Kono Tetsuo.
Interestingly, Takeda Tokimune is reported to have said about Nakatsu Heizaburo that he was likely the most proficient of the students of the time.
There was a man named Heizaburo Nakatsu who practiced with Hisa Sensei in those days. According to Tokimune Takeda Sensei he was the most skilled technically among those who practiced at the dojo and was even better than Hisa Sensei.Mori Hakaru, Director of the Takumakai - AikiNews issue 81, July 1989, p.22
In 1943, following a mild stroke that left him temporarily paraplegic, Nakatsu left the Asahi Journal and returned to live in Ikeda. He established a chiropractic office and taught Daito-ryu to a handful of students, among which were Imai Toshikatsu, Chiba Tsugutaka (read his interview here), Makita Kan'ichi (蒔田 完一), Onishi Masahito (大西 正仁), and Okitsu Hirofumi.
Nakatsu Heizaburo surrounded by his students. Front from the left: Imai Toshikatsu, Nakatsu Heizaburo. Back row: Sumitomo Bunshiro on the left, Chiba Tsugutaka on the right.
Subsequently, many students of Hisa Takuma regularly traveled from Osaka to learn the Shikoku techniques and both groups retained close ties. Nakatsu Heizaburo was awarded the 6th dan by the Kodokan in January 1960. He died in December of the same year, at the age of 66. In 1975, the two study groups decided to come together to formalize the transmission of the techniques taught by Hisa Takuma and Nakatsu Heizaburo, and Chiba Tsugutaka proposed to call the group the Takumakai (琢磨会, gathering for Takuma). Today, practitioners of Shikoku and Osaka still meet twice a year in Wakimachi (Mima prefecture in Shikoku) around Chiba Sensei Tsugutaka during courses to learn the techniques of Shikoku.
Chiba Tsugutaka and Onishi Masahito, the heirs of Nakatsu Heizaburo's teaching.
For more information on Shikoku's Daito-ryu aiki-jujtsu, visit the website of the Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Shikoku Hombu Dojo.
