Although there are sketchy references to martial
art techniques dating as far back as 23 B.C., the first generally
acknowledged was the Japanese grappling system that was developed
by Prince Teijun Fujiwara, 6th son of Japan's 56th Emperor Seiwa
Fujiwara (850-880 AD.). The techniques were inherited by Teijun's
son, Tsunemoto, who was given the name Minamoto. His descendants
are known as the Seiwa Genji and his aikijutsu techniques were
kept as a secret family art. With them, the Minamoto clan rose
to become the most powerful warriors in all of Japan in only four
generations.
MASTER OF MANY ARTS
Among the most famous of the Seiwa Genji was General Yoshimitsu
Shinra Saburo Minamoto. He was a master of many arts: warrior, poet,
physician and historian. He greatly advanced the arts of atemi (striking
vital points) and kansetsu (joint locks) by dissecting and analyzing
the bodies of criminals and war dead. He lived in the Daito mansion,
which many believe to be how the Minamoto style of Aikijutsu came
to be called Daito-ryu. General Yoshimitsu passed on the techniques
to his son Yoshimitsu Yoshikiyu, who resided in Takeda in the province
of Kai. Near the end of the 16th century, the Takeda Han fought the
formation of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which was destined to rule Japan
until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. When the position of the Kai
Takeda became untenable, the family moved north to take up service
in the Aizu Han where they became known as the Aizu Takeda. There
they held the position of shinamban (clan fencing masters) and taught,
their art to the clan's most senior members.
The last of the Aizu shinamban, Takeda Takumi no
Kami Minamoto Soemon (1758-1853), had two important students. One
was Takeda Soyoshi, his grandson. The other, Saigo Tanamo (1829-1905)
was minister of the Aizu Han and head or Shirakawa Castle. In 1868,
when the Meiji Restoration returned power to the emperor, Soyoshi
was killed as a leader of the resistance to this change. Saigo
became a Shinto priest at the Nikko Toshugu shrine, changing his
name to Hoshino Genshin. His senior student was Takeda Sokichi,
Soyoshi's eldest son. When Sokichi died in 1875, Saigo called his
younger brother to the shrine to continue the Minamoto tradition.
CONTINUING THE TRADITION
Enter Takeda Sokaku Minamoto Masayoshi (1858-1943), the last or
the great swords-men. Here was a man who lived, breathed, ate,
slept and dreamt the martial arts. His fanatical devotion is
perhaps explained as a compensation for the fact that, at less
than five feet tall, he was much smaller than his elder brother.
Born and raised as a samurai, Sokaku began his study of Daito-ryu
aikijutsu and Ono-ha itto-ryu kenjutsu (swordsmanship) at the
age or five. His tremendous natural abilities and small size
soon earned him the name Kotengu (little demon).
By the age of 20, he had earned licenses from four of the most
highly respected sword and spear schools in Japan. For the next
20 years, he traveled throughout Japan issuing challenges, and
was rarely defeated. He is said to be one or the few people ever
to master all 18 or the traditional martial arts. Sokaku was not
yet ready for temple life, however, and left after only six months.
Saigo then selected Shida Shiro (1868-1920). While
in Tokyo in 1881, Shiro met Jigoro Kano, who was in the process
of creating a new organization called Kadoka Judo. Shiro joined
him and quickly became the most senior member. He was appointed
director of the Kadoka in 1888, but soon was overcome with the
conflict of loyalties between Judo and Daito-ryu. In 1891, he deserted
both systems and Saigo Tanamo once again called on Takeda Sokaku,
hoping he would now be ready. Finally, in 1898, Tanamo managed
to convince Sokaku to assume the leadership of the Daito-ryu.
Sokaku's years of intensive training had established a life pattern,
however, that could not be broken. He traveled Japan teaching,
never stopping long enough to establish his own dojo. His students
were among northern Japan's elite: generals, admirals, judges and
mayors. By 1915, he was the most famous instructor north of Tokyo.
Daito-ryu Aikijutsu survives to this day, under the leadership
of Sokaku's son, Takeda Tokimune. Also among Sokaku's chief instructors
was Toshimi Hosaku Matsuda, who taught one of his more gifted students
extensively in the techniques of the ryu. This student would later
study directly under the guidance of Sokaku Takeda himself.
This student's name was Okuyama Yoshiharu (Yoshiji) also known
as Ryuho Okuyama, founder of Hakko-ryu Ju-jutsu.
OUT OF THE MIST
Okuyama Yoshiharu (Yoshiji) was born on February 21, 1901, in Yachi-cho,
Nishi Mu- rayama, Yamagata Prefecture, to a former samurai family
of the upper Mogami River area. Not a great deal is known about
his early years except that he was active in various bujutsu-ryu
(martial arts systems) and studied traditional Oriental medicine.
In 1924, he entered one of the most prestigious government training
schools of the day called the Tokyo Seiji Gakko (Tokyo School of
Government), where he soon excelled as an orator. By the time he
graduated in 1927, he was distinguished as the Prime Minister to
the First Oratorical Imperial Youth's Congress.
Upon graduation he struck out to the frontier of Japan, Hokkaido,
where he hoped to quickly make his mark. It was here at Asahikawa,
through his contacts in government work, that he first became introduced
to Shihan Toshimi (Hosaku) Matsuda, who at the time was teaching
Daito-ryu Aiki jujutsu at the Shobukan Dojo. Matsuda, a tough Japanese,
born in Hokkaido and former apprentice to the founder of Daito-ryu,
Shihan Somi (Sokaku) Takeda, soon found that Mr. Okuyama was an
excellent student, and taught him extensively the techniques of
the ryu.
MANY TEACHERS
During his travels, Okuyama had the opportunity to stay with various
teachers, and picked up a considerable amount of knowledge and
perspective in the process. One of his major areas of interest
was traditional Oriental medical therapy, and on several occasions
he was able to apprentice himself to some highly skilled teachers.
The first was Ryozan Hirayama, whom Mr. Okuyama first met in
1930. Mr. Hirayama was a teacher and practitioner of the Japanese
In/Yo (Chinese Yin/Yang) theory as applied to keiraku therapy
(circulation medicine using the meridians of the body), who taught
Mr. Okuyama its principles and application to the diagnosis of
disease, both pulse and ninso (face reading), shiatsu (finger
pressure medicine), amma (massage) and diet. Mr. Okuyama also
studied one of the more esoteric schools of therapy of the time,
western medicine, under Haizan Minami, whom he first met in 1934,
and with whom he became close friends from that time forward.
Among the martial arts other than Daito-Ryu studied during his
pilgrimages, the major ones included Hasegawako-ryu iaijutsu (sword
drawing), which he learned from Shihan Kiichi Yamaguchi in the
city of Sapporo; shurikenjutsu (various throwing weapons) and jojutsu
(stick) from teachers in the mountains of Niigata; kusarigama (sickle-chain)
in Ise; Nito-ryu kenjutsu (sword) at Kumamoto hot springs; and
sojutsu (spear) and kyujutsu (archery) in his home province of
Yamagata.
In 1936, Mr. Okuyama was awarded the instructors
license in Daito-ryu and thereafter apprenticed himself to Shihan
Somi Takeda, where he studied the Okuden (secret techniques), and
assisted Takeda with the day-to-day running of his aiki association.
At the time, Takeda was quite old, well over 80 (Mr. Okuyama described
him as "completely toothless, but robust for a man his age"), and
needed help with a great many things. For a while, Mr. Okuyama
was personally responsible for all of Takeda's assets, which could
have been rather formidable considering he charged the equivalent
of $150 and $250 per technique, depending on the level of training
one desired.
At the time, there were three levels of training
- shoden (basic), chuden (middle), and okuden (secret)- and four
sets of basic techniques numbering 582. The higher the level, the
more a student needed to pay.
Given this, one may readily see why the founder of
aikido, Morihei Uyeshiba, who trained formally with takeda for
a total of 100 days before receiving the instructors license, gave
up his entire inheritance. Keep in mind, however, that Takeda's
family, former Otome-ryu kenjutsu instructors of the Aizu clan,
were put completely out of work after the dismantling of Japan's
feudal system during the Meiji restoration of 1868. He, like so
many of his contemporaries, sold his martial arts skills to the
public in order to make a living, a pattern that continues in certain
ryu today. This was less objectionable to some former samurai than
taking a pedestrian job.
MR. OKUYAMA'S FIRST DOJO
Upon finishing his studies with Takeda in 1938, Mr. Okuyama published
the first of what was to be many of his martial arts texts entitled,
"Daito-ryu Goshinjutsu" (The Daito System of Self-Protection).
Shortly thereafter, backed by the assistance of Army General
Iwane Matsui and Naval Attache Kumpei Matsumoto, Mr. Okuyama
established the Dai-Nippon Shidokai (Greater Japan Way of the
Samurai Association} , and became a public instructor in what
he called Daito-ryu Hiden Shido (Secret Daito-Ryu Way of the
Samurai}. His first dojo was in Asahikawa and was called the
Nippon Shidokai Ryubukan.
In 1939, he moved to the Kanda district in Tokyo and founded the
Dai Nihon Shidokai, which began his split from the main Daito-ryu
school. By this time, Takeda was too old to take care of himself
and the leadership of Daito-ryu was somewhat in question. The heir
apparent, Tokimune Takeda, was still quite young, but seemed destined
to take over the ryu. Mr. Okuyama, seeing little chance for administrative
advancement in Daito-ryu, grew restless. After so many years of
study and travel, he had become a highly skilled exponent of both
martial arts and medicine, and wanted to use those skills not only
to bring financial benefits and fame for himself, but also to be
of distinguished service to his country. It was in this environment
that he began to formulate his own distinct system.
"THE SPINE OF A DRAGON"
Finally, on June 1, 1941, at the Shiba Tenso Jinja (Shinto shrine
in the Shiba district of Tokyo}, he held the Hakko-ryu, Kaiso
Hokokusai [Ceremony Proclaiming to the Kami (Shinto deities}
the Birth of Hakko-ryu]. From that day forward Mr. Okuyama took
the pen name of Ryuho. Meaning "the spine of a dragon" and called
his system Hakko-ryu JuJutsu.
During the war he taught Hakko-ryu in its original
form to many of the leaders in government and the military, and
in 1943 renamed his dojo the Hakko-ryu Kobujuku (Private School
of the Ancient Martial Art Hakko-ryu}. He was featured in magazines,
gave seminars and appeared on radio talk shows.
By the middle of the decade, however, the war situation began to
look increasingly bleak, and with the continuous allied bombings,
Tokyo was becoming almost uninhabitable. Finally, in 1945, Mr.
Okuyama abandoned the Kanda dojo and escaped to his home prefecture
of Yamagata. The trip was very difficult. Mr. Okuyama wrote of
having to subsist on a single piece of tofu each day, and sleep
in the snow with only an amado (storm door made of light wood)
for shelter. One can hardly imagine the difficulties faced by the
average Japanese citizen during that period. Once he arrived, he
and a small group of followers joined the Mt. Haguro sect of Shugendo
where they prayed for peace and the deliverance of their nation.
In 1947, Mr. Okuyama quietly relocated to Saitama Prefecture where
he established the Hakko Juku Honbu Dojo (Private Headquarters
Dojo of Hakko-ryu} and slowly rebuilt his former life as a martial
arts teacher and healer. By this time, his political aspirations
had been completely destroyed, and he decided to leave that era
of his life behind him. In this post-war environment, however,
making a living as a martial artist was no easy task either but
gradually, over many years, he succeeded in doing so.
A PHILOSOPHY OF "COMMON SENSE"
Both the techniques and philosophy evolved until ultimately Hakko-ryu
took its current form as a modern martial art (shin-bujutsu)
which, in its essence, strives to create more justice in society
through the introduction of humanitarian principles of se1f-protection.
The groundwork for this was laid before the war and combined
both medical and martial techniques. Through use of the meridian
system of the body, a hakko-ryu exponent can deliver varying
amounts of pain to control an attacker, usua1ly without causing
serious injury. This is a distinguishing characteristic of Hakko-ryu,
and has won strong backing in the Japanese law enforcement profession.
Since that time and until his death in November of 1987, Mr. Okuyama
developed a solid following for his system. His method of teaching
students individually, rather than in large groups, added to the
uniqueness of hakko-ryu and assisted in building its reputation.
His son, Ryuho (Toshio) Okuyama, is now headmaster of the ryu and
continues, for the most part, his father's original pattern. Hakko-ryu
is one of the very few authentic jujutsu ryu which has been succesfu1
in establishing roots outside of the islands of Japan.
It was Mr. Okuyama's goal to see the philosophy of
Hakko-ryu accepted as the "common sense of mankind" and although
the road was very long this one man, during a very turbulent period,
was able to travel a great distance.
A PEACETIME MARTIAL ART SCHOOL
Since Ryuho Okuyama founded hakko-ryu 1941, the international headquarters
of hakko-ryu has moved to Omiya city, in Japan's Saitama Prefecture.
By the end of World War II, Hakko-ryu had completely evolved
into a peacetime martial art school and has not been altered
since. Over 700,000 people have been trained in Hakko-ryu in
Omiya city and international branch schools and millions have
heard the word of Hakko-ryu through lectures and demonstrations
throughout the world.
Hakko (eighth light) was the name which Mr. Okuyama thoughtfully
assigned to his school of jujutsu. Hakko, in the manner used by
Mr. Okuyama, reflects great national pride while it explains a
main concept of his style of self defense. He philosophically conceived
that there are nine color bands in the sun's color spectrum. The
eighth of these nine bands, which he refers to as a shade of red,
holds the secret of the power of Hakko-ryu Ju-Jutsu. This eighth
light of which Mr. Okuyama speaks is seemingly very weak in composition;
but in fact, it is surprisingly powerful. Red, as he used it, symbolizes
the land of the rising sun - Japan. He goes on to explain that
the ninth band, the color purple, creates and develops the eighth
light. Purple is the color of royalty and honor in Japan. |
|
|
