About Daitou-ryuu

About Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu

Daitō-ryū was practiced as a self-defense martial art by the senior samurai and retainers of the Aizu domain (modern Fukushima prefecture) under the name Goshikiuchi (御式内) during the Edo period. It was a form of jūjutsu that was strictly kept secret from those outside the domain.
In the early Meiji period, Takeda Sōkaku Minamoto Masayoshi (武田惣角源正義), a swordsman of gōshi (a lower-ranking samurai class), further refined the art based on the intentions of Saigō Tanomo (西郷頼母), a chief retainer of the Aizu domain. He incorporated the techniques and principles he had mastered during his travels across Japan engaging in musha shugyō (武者修行, warrior training journeys), completing what is today known as Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu.

Receiving advice and guidance from former Aizu domain chief retainer Saigō Tanomo, Takeda Sōkaku began his full-fledged activities as a jūjutsu master around 1898. Over the Meiji, Taishō, and Shōwa eras, he is said to have trained more than 30,000 students. Among them were individuals of high ranks, including army and navy major generals, police chiefs, and even court judges. Notable students of Takeda Sōkaku included Ueshiba Morihei (植芝盛平), founder of Aikidō; Okuyama Ryūhō (奥山龍峰), head of Hakko-ryū Jūjutsu; and Inoue Yōichirō (井上要一郎), leader of Nihon Shin-ei Taidō.

Many distinguished figures emerged from Daitō-ryū, including Takahashi Giemon (高橋儀右衛門), Matsuda Toyosaku (松田豊作), Yoshida Kōtarō (吉田幸太郎), Sagawa Yukiyoshi (佐川幸義), Mae Kikutarō (前菊太郎), Horikawa Kōdō (堀川幸道), Takeda Tokimune (武田時宗), headmaster of the tradition; Satō Keisuke (佐藤啓輔), Nakatsu Heisaburō (中津平三郎), Akutsu Masayoshi (阿久津政義), and Yamamoto Ittōsai Kakuyoshi (山本一刀斎角義), general headmaster of Daitō-ryū.

Today, many branches and lineages have developed both nationally and internationally under the umbrella of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu-derived martial arts. Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu includes Aiki-no-jutsu (合氣之術) and Ki-no-Aiki (氣之合氣), which cannot be found in other Japanese jūjutsu traditions.

Takeda Sōkaku was so skilled that he was referred to as "The Little Tengu of Aizu". During the Meiji and Taishō eras, he underwent rigorous training across Japan through musha shugyō (武者修業, warrior training journeys) and ascetic practices such as aragyō (荒行, severe training) and takigyō (滝行, waterfall meditation). It is said that he even studied under mountain ascetics and Yamabushi (山伏, practitioners of Shugendō, a syncretic mountain ascetic tradition). He inherited and transmitted martial techniques related to Jō (杖, short staff) and Tansō-jutsu (短槍術, short spear techniques), which contained the esoteric principles of Onmyōdō (陰陽道, the Japanese yin-yang cosmology). With further mastery of the ultimate principles of the sword, he perfected Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu as a highly sophisticated martial art.
In 1929, an article titled "The Martial Heroic Tales of Takeda Sōkaku" (武田惣角武勇伝) was published in a magazine. Following this, in 1930, Takeda Sōkaku was reported in the Tokyo Asahi Newspaper as a man who used maka fushigi no jutsu (摩訶不思議の術, mysterious and extraordinary techniques), which made his name widely known to the public. Today, there are no known individuals capable of performing the true Aiki-no-jutsu, which is now regarded as a mysterious art. However, there are many instructors who practice what is commonly referred to as "Aiki", which involves breath-based throwing techniques that do not rely on physical strength.

Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu Yamamoto Kakuyoshi Lineage:
•Advisor and Mentor Saigō Tanomo (西郷頼母)
•1898 Takeda Sōkaku Masayoshi (武田惣角正義)
•Yamamoto Ittōsai Kakuyoshi (山本一刀斉角義)
•Nagao Zenyū Ittōsai Kakuzan (長尾全祐一刀斉角全)
•Hiraoka Ittōsai Yasuhide (平岡一刀斉祥淑)

Yamamoto Kakuyoshi lived and trained closely with Takeda Sōkaku. In 1941, he was appointed as a assistant instructor （教授代理）, and a year later, he received the secret and ultimate transmission of the art. As the sole recipient of the deepest secrets of Daitō-ryū Jūjutsu, he was recognized as Takeda Sōkaku’s successor and was entrusted with the title of General Headmaster of Daitō-ryū Jūjutsu. Along with this, he received two characters from his master's name—"角" (Kaku) from "Sōkaku" (惣角) and "義" (Yoshi) from "Minamoto Masayoshi" (源正義)—and was permitted to assume the name Yamamoto Kakuyoshi.