Okinawan Kenpo | Okinawan Kobujitsu | Jujitsu
This is a brief overview of okinawan martial arts history and
Taiko Ryu Aiki-Jujitsu.

Okinawan Kenpo
The person most often credited with originating the way of Kenpo was a prince and warrior of southern India named Bodhidharma. According to the records of the Lo-Yang temple, Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk under the tutelage of Prajnatara and it is said that upon his deathbed, Prajnatara requested that Bodhidharma travel to China where he felt the principles of Buddhism where in decline, and that the knowledge of dhyana (Zen koans) should be known. 

It's estimated that it was around 520 BC, during the Southern dynasties, that Bodhidharma entered China and traveled northward to the kingdom of Wei where the fabled meeting with emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty occurred. This meeting is recorded do to the intense conversation and discussion of Buddhism and dhyana which took place. The meeting was to no avail, Bodhidharma's words to the worldly emperor meant nothing, and thus, discouraged by his attempts, Bodhidharma left the palace of the emperor and traveled to the Honan province where we entered the Shaolin temple where he would begin a martial history.
 
Bodhidharma's depression grew once he reached the famed Shaolin temple and found Prajnatra's fears were true. The monks were in a ragged condition physically and were mentally diminished due to the extensive amount of time they spent in meditation, doing little else. Many of the monks would fall asleep in meditation while others needed assistance in the basic necessities of life - so feeble was their condition.
 
For an unknown period of time Bodhidharma meditated in a cave at the outskirts of the temple seeking for a way to renew the feat of Buddha's light, as well as helping the monks to regain control over their lives. Upon his return Bodhidharma gathered the monks in the courtyard, from the strong to the most feeble, and began to explain and work with them in the art of Shih Pa Lo Han Sho, or the 18 hands of Lo Han. These techniques which are the foundation for almost all martial arts today were never originally intended to be utilized as methods of fighting but were a manner in which the monks could attain enlightenment while improving their bodies health. 

During the Sui period, approximately forty years or so after the death of Bodhidharma it is told that brigands assaulted the Shaolin monastery; one of many attacks that would occur until the early twentieth century. During this first invasion, the monks’ attempts at defending their temple where futile, their skills where not attuned to fighting techniques and it looked as if the temple would fall. One monk of the temple, with reference only as the "begging monk", during the last siege of the temple by the brigands attacked several of the outlaws with an array of aggressive hand and foot techniques, killing some and driving the remaining attackers away. The other monks where so inspired by the display of this single priest that they requested tutelage in this martial style as a means of protection. In later scripts this fighting art was recorded as Chuan Fa or Fist Method.

As Chuan-fa grew in popularity throughout China and began to spread to other countries, one major influence was that of Okinawa. Okinawa had begun to develop a very effective method of hand to hand combat called simply Te (tay), meaning hand. Over time, this name was changed to Okinawa-Te meaning Okinawa-Hand. At that time three major styles were developed according to the location of the main villages of Okinawa; Shuri, Tomari, and Naha. Each village developed its own particular martial art.  When the Japanese conquered the island, the Okinawans and Chinese became allies and began to share their martial arts techniques with each other.  In Japanese, the Shaolin Kenpo was called Kara, meaning China. When combined with Okinawan-Te, we have the new word Kara-te or Karate. The blending of these two systems probably created the most effective form of empty hand combat in the world.

Okinawan Kenpo is generally credited with the origins of kata as taught by most styles of Karate. In learning the different kata, the student is taught the various self defense techniques and applications. Intermediate and advanced students would begin training in the Kobudo (weapons) system once the basic material was mastered.

There are 36 major styles of Karate in the world today, with 52 variations, and literally hundreds of eclectic systems taught in different countries. However, we can identify four classifications of Kenpo Karate: Chinese (Chuan-fa), Japanese (Shorinji), Hawaiian (Kajukempo), and Okinawan (Te).

Taiko Ryu Aiki-Jujitsu
As a student of United States Kenpo Kobujitsu advances in rank, the student begins to understand how jujitsu and karate work together harmoniously in our self-defense sets and kata. Jujitsu is then taught to the students in advance ranks classes and in seminars. Students can attain rank in Taiko Ryu Aiki-Jujitsu. Below is the history of Taiko Ryu Aiki-Jujitsu followed by its lineage.

The story of Aiki-Jujitsu begins 1,000 years ago during the reign of Emperor Seiwa, the 56th ruler of Japan. According to legend, it was Prince Teijun, Seiwa’s sixth son, who discovered the principle of aiki and passed the secret along to his descendants.

Tsunamoto, Prince Teijun’s eldest son, was given the name Minamoto, and his descendants, who are known as the Seiwa Genji, kept Aiki-Jujitsu as their secret family art. These were all men of historical importance in Japan, traditionally holding the post of Shinjufu Shogun, the general in charge of the northern army.

Although there are those who regard this story as mere legend, itiis an undeniable fact that the Seiwa Minamoto went from nothing to become the most powerful warriors in Japan. And they did this in only four generations, even though there were other families which were older, wealthier, and had more combat experience. It seems only logical to attribute the sudden rise of the Minamoto clan to their hijutsu (secret art).

Minamoto Yoshiie was born in the fifth generation of the Seiwa Genji, during the Heian period (about 900 years ago). He was known as Hachiman Taro, the “eldest son of the god of war,” and is widely considered the single greatest warrior in the history of Japan. His youngest brother, also a great general, was named Yoshimitsu.

Shinra Saburo Minamoto Yoshimitsu was a master of many arts. Poet, warrior, physician, and historian, he is regarded as the actual founder of the Daito Ryu (the “great eastern style” of Aiki-Jujitsu). It is said he greatly advanced the art of atemi (striking vital points) and kansetsu (joint locks) by dissecting the bodies of criminals and war dead. He was also said to have devised many new methods of restraining a prisoner by observing the actions of a spider weaving a web about its prey.

The name “Daito” is commonly said to have come from the name of Yoshimitsu’s mansion. However, this story may be an error resulting from a mistranslation of the Japanese character for “house”. That character may also be read as “family”. In other words, when old books talk about the “Yoshimitsu house”, they are not talking about a building, but about the family itself. Because the Minamoto were the most powerful family in eastern Japan, it seems only logical their family art should be referred to as the Daito Ryu. Yoshimitsu’s grandson, Yoshikiyo, settled in the town of Takeda in the Kai area, and his descendants are known as the Kai Takeda. They were quite wealthy and held positions of political power.

Near the end of the 16th century, when Takeda Shingen chose to fight against the formation of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which was destined to rule Japan for the next 300 years, the position of the Kai Takeda became untenable. This forced Takeda Kunitsugu to move his family north and take up service in the Aizu Han (Present-day-Fukushima area). This branch of the family is known as the Aizu Takeda, and they held the position of Shinamban (clan fencing masters) and taught their art to the most senior members of the clan, those with an annual income of over 500 koku. (In the feudal period, a samurai was paid with rice. One koku – about five bushels – is the amount of rice it took to feed one man for one year.)

The last of the Aizu Shinamban was Takeda Takumi no Kami Minamoto Soemon (1758 - 1853). In addition to Matsudaira Takamori, the Daimyo (ruler) of the Aizu domain, Soemon had two other important students. One was his grandson, Takeda Soyoshi, and the other was the minister of the Aizu Han, Saigo Tanamo (1829 - 1905).

Takeda Soyoshi was a master swordsman and headed, under the direction of the Aizu daimyo, a special squad of elite warriors in the capital city of Kyoto, far to the south of Aizu. It was his task to suppress anti-shogunate demonstrations near the Imperial Palace. His children remained in Aizu, studying under their uncle and Saigo Tanamo.

In 1868 came the Meiji Restoration, and the shogun returned power to the emperor. As leaders of the resistance to this change, Takamori and Soyoshi were killed. Tanamo, then governor of Shirakawa Castle, became a Shinto priest and adopted the name of Hoshino Genshin. His senior student was Takeda Sokichi, Soyoshi’s eldest son. Sokichi, in addition to studying Daito Ryu Aiki-Jujitsu, was a well known sumo wrestler, so he must have been a man of considerable size.

In 1875, Sokichi died and Tanamo called his younger brother to the shrine at Toshogu in Nikko. At less than five feet tall, Takeda Sokaku was the physical opposite of his older brother. Perhaps in order to compensate for his small size, he was a martial arts fanatic. He was one of that rare breed of men who devote their entire existence to training, never doing, or even thinking about, anything else. However, Sokaku was not ready to settle down to temple life and left after only six months.

This forced Tanamo to look for another student, and he finally selected a young boy named Shida Shiro (1868-1920). In 1884, Shiro was officially adopted by Tanamo and changed his name to Saigo Shiro.

While in Tokyo in 1881, Shiro joined the Inoue dojo (school) of the Tenshi Shinyo-ryu Jujutsu. There, in 1883, he met a young man named Jigoro Kano. At that time Kano was in the process of creating a new organization called Kodokan Judo. Shiro joined him and quickly became the most senior member.

During a famous series of matches in 1886, Shiro defeated all challengers with the Daito Ryu technique call yama arashi (mountain storm), greatly increasing the reputation of the new Kodokan. (Yama arashi is the source of the modern judo technique known as uchimata, an inner thigh throw. In the original version, there is a wrist lock based on the basic Aiki-Jujitsu technique of rokyo).

Shiro was appointed director of the Kodokan in 1888, but soon found that the conflict of loyalties between the Daito Ryu and Kodokan Judo was becoming too great. In 1891, he deserted both systems and ran away to Nagasaki, in southern Japan, and joined the Hinoda Newspaper Company. Although he taught Aiki-Jujitsu to army officers during the Japanese-Korean War, he was never to take a formal part in either organization again. Instead, he devoted his time to a study of Kyudo (traditional Japanese archery), and before his death, achieved its highest grade, hanshi. His story has been immortalized in the movies Sanshiro Sugata.

Shiro’s abrupt departure forced Saigo Tanamo to call on Sokaku for the second time, in the hope he would now be ready to assume leadership of the Daito Ryu.

Takeda Sokaku Minamoto Masayoshi (1858-1943) was the last of the great swordsmen. Beginning his martial arts training with this uncle at the age of five, Sokaku studied Daito Ryu and Ono-ha Itto-ryu Kenjutsu (swordmanship). Because of his tremendous abilities, combined with his small size, he soon became known as the kotengu (little demon) of the Aizu clan. By the time he was 20 years old he had earned licenses from the Ono-ha Itto-ryu, Yagyu Shinkage-ryu, Jikishinkage-ryu of sword, and the Hozoin-ryu Sojutsu (spear), all among the most famous and highly respected schools in Japan.

Sokaku devoted the next 20 years of his life to musha shugyo (severe training). He traveled throughout Japan issuing challenges, and was rarely defeated, mastering many different arts. He is said to have been one of the very few people ever to master all 18 of the tradition martial arts.

It is important to note that Sokaku was not merely a student. He had been born and raised as a samurai, and he had killed with a sword. He mastered every martial art of importance at the time, and this academic (dojo) knowledge was tempered by combat experience.

However, in 1898, Saigo Tanamo finally managed to convince Sokaku that the day of the sword was past, and Sokaku took over leadership of the Daito Ryu. However, his years of hard training had established a pattern and he was never to settle down again. For the first half of his life he had traveled throughout Japan studying, and for the second half he traveled and taught, never stopping long enough to establish his own dojo.

There are those who say Sokaku created the Daito Ryu at that point, basing it on a handful of techniques taught to him by Tanamo over a period of a few months. However, there are two glaring flaws in this theory. First, there is the tremendous complexity of the art. The Daito Ryu contains 2,804 techniques, and a system of that immensity takes centuries to develop. The second major flaw in assuming Sokaku created the style lies in Sokaku himself. He held certificates in not just one, but most of the famous and honored styles of his day, and was probably the greatest swordsman alive. He could have had all the students he could handle, along with the status of teaching a famous art, so he had little reason to create something new.

Sokaku's student roster — we are lucky in that he kept a record of everyone he ever taught, reads like the Who’s Who of northern Japan. Generals and admirals, judges and mayors, all flocked to his classes. He followed the traditions of his ryu (style) and only accepted the upper levels of society as his students. This made him very influential, but not widely known to the general public. In 1908 he was invited to the northern island of Hokkaido to teach police officials, and by 1915 was the most famous instructor north of Tokyo.

Sokaku had many famous students, and when he died in 1943 — typically, on his way to teach another class — the system was inherited by his son, Takeda Tokimune, the present headmaster. Other students branched out, modifying the original teachings to suit their individual tastes. A few of the more famous styles related to Daito Ryu are Hakko Ryu, Shorinji Kempo, and Hapkido.

Sogaku’s most famous student was Morihei Uyeshiba (1883-1969). Uyeshiba, who later founded Aikido, was introduced to Takeda by a newspaperman named Yoshida in 1915. It is one of the mysteries of Aikido how Uyeshiba managed to convince Takeda to accept him as a student. Uyeshiba was of social position so far below the rest of Takeda’s disciples that he could not even get a proper recommendation. (The introduction by Yoshida was not a formal one. Yoshida excused himself to go to the bathroom, leaving Takeda sitting alone with Uyeshiba.) One must assume Uyeshiba was an extremely impressive man.

Uyeshiba became Takeda’s most avid student, traveling with him on his lecture tours. In 1922 he received his first Daito Ryu certificate and then, in 1926, his second one. Uyeshiba later moved to Tokyo and taught Daito Ryu as Takeda’s official representative.

Uyeshiba fell under the influence of Deguchi Onisaburo, who was teaching the Omoto-kyo religion. Uyeshiba combined the philosophy of this school with the techniques of Aiki-Jujutsu and, over a period of about 20 years, created what we now know as modern Aikido. In the process, he greatly softened many of the techniques, which allowed him to teach the art to a much wider range of students.

It is important to note that Uyeshiba’s original students were studying Daito ryu Aiki-Jujitsu, not Aikido, and received their certificates in that art from Takeda. This is why you can see a considerable difference between early styles of Aikido, such as Yoshinkai, and later styles such as Shin Shin Toitsu.

There are at present over 40 different styles of Aikido. The primary goals of these systems range from quasi-religious to purely combative, depending on the date and source of their creation.

Okinawan Kobujitsu
Much of the history of the martial arts is obscure and there are several versions of it's origins. This is because many stories of great Masters and legends may have been exaggerated to the point of mysticism. Many masters of the past also died with their knowledge and secrets went with them to the grave since they were very concerned about whom they would take on as a disciple. It was not uncommon that a student used the power of martial arts in the wrong way.

When this happened in ancient China, the Master himself would customarily be responsible. Also, there were many wars and feuds in which secrecy was important to survival and other records of martial arts were burned with the temples that maintained their records. This secrecy on the other hand is what actually gave strength to the Okinawan art of kobujutsu or kobudo (ancient weapons art).

Okinawa started out as a beautiful and peaceful country of the peninsula near China and Japan.
There were many emperors who eventually produced laws that were supposed to keep the peace. Laws like, no production of iron (which could produce metal weapons) and laws like "Turn in your swords for all Samurai warriors).
In 1609 Okinawa was occupied by the powerful Samurai clan of Lord Satsuma. Although the Okinawan people were required to be subject to the new laws, they continued to practice life protection karate and kobudo skills with the undetectable farming implements that could be found around the farm and in the home without appearing as threatening weapons.

Among these weapons were the nunchaku which was used as a rice flail and wheat thrasher.
The nunchaku was originally a six foot long staff with a one foot staff attached to it by a rope, chain or leather thong. Other uses reportedly included it's use as a device used by the night watchman which would alert the village in the event of an emergency like a fire. This instrument was more flat than round. The nunchaku was also said to have been used as a removable horses bridle.

The Tonfa, or Tuifa has been adopted by civil and military police as a restraining and striking type of weapon based on its flexibility and power. The nickname for this weapon is "Spinning Fury." And is quite a versatile weapon. It was used as a rice mill grinder with the handle deeply embedded into a stone mill.

Possibly the oldest close quarters weapon known to man. Originally used on Okinawa as a means to more effeciently carry buckets for water from the well or fruits and vegetables from the market, the Bo staff or RokuShakuBo (six foot staff) could suddenly be used as a long reach weapon against weapons like the katana or Samurai sword which average over five feet in length. The length of the Bo staff is typically longer than most weapons and has a reach advantage. The bo staff is the most popular weapon in the Okinawan martial arts to this day.

The Kama or sickles is jokingly referred to by Old masters as the Okinawan lawn mower.
This weapon is normally used in pairs but not limited to being used in connection with the staff connected by chain or ropes for reach and versatility. The Kama is quite possible the most dangerous of the farming type weapons on Okinawa. It can be razor sharp and can move as fast as the wielders arms can move. There are several other exotic weapons in the kobujutsu arsenal and are all mere extensions of the arms. Here is a listing.

Eku bo or oar (boat paddle)
Sai or truncheon (miniature pitch fork)
Manji sai or sai that is pointed on both ends
Nunte bo or spear (a bo staff with a manji sai attached to the end)
Tekkos or inverted brass knuckles
Tinbe Rochin or shield and dagger
Kusarigama or sickles with a weighted chain
Sansetsu bo or three sectioned nunchaku
Ni tan bo or short staffs