The Great Sokaku Takeda Master of Daito ryu Aikijujitsu

Sokaku Takeda

Sokaku Takeda, who revived Daitoryu Aiki jujitsu, was born in 1860 in the town of Aizu Sakashita in Fukushima prefecture.  Sokaku Takeda was the 35th Grand Master of the Daitoryu tradition that had stemmed from Kunitsugu Takeda.  Sokaku Takeda, was always carrying around his kendo equipment, on visits to different fencing schools. 

Sokaku Takeda, then head of the family, began to teach the art outside the Takeda household, travelling widely throughout the recently unified Japan and finally settling in Hokkaido.  Sokaku Takeda had also studied other martial arts and he incorporated his knowledge of these plus his practical experience into the Daitoryu which he taught to select groups of military officers, police officials and aristocrats.

Jujutsu

Takeda's form of jujutsu is the most successful of surviving Japanese schools and his technical influence on AIKI BUDO and, hence, modern day aikido is great.  In 1880 he was initiated into Daitoryu Aikijujutsu, which at that time was a secret form of jujutsu being practiced by the Aizu clan called Oshikiuchi.Morihei Ueshiba Sensei studied the art from 1915 to 1937 and received instructors certification in the art(Kyoju Dairi) and also the Goshin'yo no te scroll, of which was the highest level of Daito Ryu awarded in those days.  In fact, with out Takeda Sensei's teachings, Aikido in its present form, would probablly never exist today.

Although very small and hard to find, Daito Ryu Aiki Ju Jutsu has remained remarkably intact, since Takeda Sokaku Sensei started disemminating the art through out Japan at the turn of the century.  Kondo Sensei is now the only living Daito Ryu Master to hold the Menkyo Kaiden, a license indicating that all knowledge has been transmitted to the receiver and the Kyoju Dairi, an instructors certification in the art.  Kondo Sensei himself has made a life long study of the Japanese MartialArts.  Kondo Sensei has been accepting non Japanese students since 1988.

Students

Among Sokaku's students during this period was Makoto Miura who later became a famous general and supporter of Morihei Ueshiba.  Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969) was one of Sokaku's most famous students.  Further, Ueshiba, now an accredited teacher of Daito-ryu, awarded scrolls of proficiency to his direct students until quite probably as late as 1937.  When Takeda Sokaku taught Daito-ryu to someone, he had the students write their names on the Eimeiroku ( the signature ).