From the beginnings to Takeda Sokaku
Aikijūjutsu, the basis of Ueshiba Morihei's Aikido, has a nice story about its origin. Supposedly it originated in ancient times and famous figures in Japanese history were involved in its development. The following is a concise summary of this narration up to Takeda Sokaku.
By the beginning of the Heian period, the family of the Japanese emperor had grown so large that the court was no longer able to adequately support all of its distant relatives. Therefore, in 814, it was decided to resettle all imperial relatives who were not part of the immediate family or who were not needed for government duties outside the capital, where they began a new life as feudal lords with substantial land holdings.
Over time, powerful clans with different names emerged from the individual families.
Among them was the Minamoto family, or Genji according to the Sino-Japanese pronunciation of the name. It is named after its ancestor, Minamoto Tsunemoto (源 経基; 894–961).
The Minamoto settled near the capital, Kyoto. Like all other lords, they maintained an independent army.
This Minamoto clan is credited with the development of Aikijutsu, which formed the basis of their military training at that time. Initially, the Aikijūjutsu part consisted primarily of various methods of striking against openings and fittings in armor. (Article about Aiki here in the blog)
With General Minamoto Yoshimitsu (1056–1127), unarmed techniques for close range were refined. They became the basis of today's Aikijūjutsu.
Yoshimitsu studied the anatomy of the human body with his brother Minamoto Yoshii. He is said to have even dissected corpses. He replaced many of the strikes previously used with arm and wrist locks.
The Taira clan, based in Kyoto, struggled with the Minamoto for supremacy at the imperial court. In 1156, the Hogen War broke out, in which the Taira defeated the Minamoto clan and executed the leading members of the family. Only Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, the two youngest sons of the then Minamoto lord, were exiled to the Izu Peninsula.
The harsh rule of the Taira led to unrest and revolts. In 1156, Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, with their army secretly built in exile, began the Gempei War against the Taira.
After five years of fierce fighting, the Minamoto defeated the Taira in the naval Battle of Dan-no-ura in March 1185.
Aikijutsu was then further cultivated by the Takeda clan, one of the many branch lines of the Minamoto clan. This clan had settled in Kai Province (甲斐国, kai no kuni, present-day Yamanashi Prefecture).
The Takeda developed their special martial art from aikijutsu, which they named Takeda-ryū. This system included unarmed techniques for close combat, archery, horseback riding, spear and sword fighting, and terrain strategies for the battlefield.
A well-known lord of the clan is Takeda Shingen (1521-1573). He is the main character in the 1980 film "Kagemusha" by Akira Kurosawa. A review of the film can be found
here in the blog.
In 1572, Takeda Shingen once again fought against Tokugawa Ieyasu and ultimately defeated him. He died in April 1573 from a battle wound. His son Takeda Katsuyori took over leadership of the clan.
Shingen had sent his other son, Takeda Kunitsugu (1551-1592), to Aizu in the northeastern part of Japan's main island of Honshu to seek support from this branch of the Takeda family. However, at this time, they did not dare to engage in military conflict with the Tokugawa family. Instead, they offered Kunitsugu a shōen (荘園), a tax-free estate. They also hired him as a martial arts instructor.
Tokugawa Ieyasu persuaded the incumbent shogun, Oda Nobunaga, to jointly attack the Takeda. Their armies were armed with 3,000 muskets. In the Battle of Nagashino in May 1575, 12,000 samurai of the Kai Takeda were killed, and Takeda Katsuyori and the survivors were forced to retreat to Kai.
Tokugawa and Nobunaga attacked the Takeda again in February 1582 at Kai. After a futile battle against superior numbers, Katsuyori committed seppuku. The last Takeda, Takeda Kunitsugu, therefore accepted the offer of his relatives from Aizu and began teaching selected Aizu samurai the Takeda-ryū.
At the death of Takeda Kunitsugu in 1592, several forms of Takeda-ryū existed in Aizu. His successors founded a central training center, the Nisshinkan, around 1664. Only samurai with an income of over 500 koku, ladies of the court, and the daimyō's direct servants were allowed to attend this school. Five styles of kenjutsu and two styles of jūjutsu were taught at the Nishinkan. In addition, many private training centers emerged. In total, there were more than 94 martial arts schools of various kinds in Aizu.
Certain martial arts were accessible only to the upper class. The knowledge was not to be passed on to followers of lower status. Aikijūjutsu was also subject to this rule.
The fighting system of the Aizu samurai, initiated by the Takeda family, was thus passed down through generations. More than ten generations after Takeda Kunitsugu, towards the end of the Tokugawa period, it was practiced by only a small group of martial arts experts. During the turbulent period of the Meiji Restoration, traditional martial arts struggled to withstand strong foreign influences.
For further information, see an article on the Meiji Restoration here in the blog.
The Aizu clan fought on the side of the Shogun's supporters against the Emperor's supporters in the conflicts over Japan's future. These periods are depicted, for example, in the worthwhile films "Mibu gishi den" from 2002 and "Gassoh" from 2015. Ultimately, the Aizu clan found itself on the losing side.
The then representative of the Takeda martial arts, Saigo Tanomo (1830-1903), was ultimately defeated by the imperial troops in the Battle of Shiragawaguchi in the spring of 1868. Most of his samurai were killed. Believing Saigo's family to be among the dead, they collectively committed seppuku. Saigo survived, however, and later taught Takeda-ryu for almost 20 years in Aizu and nearby Fukushima. Since his stepson turned to judo under Jigorō Kanō and made a career there, Saigo appointed the young Takeda Sokaku (1859-1943) as his successor.
Takeda Sokaku was a dedicated ronin. He constantly traveled through Japan, challenging other masters and testing himself in combat. He is said to have killed several of them. The public carrying of swords had been forbidden since 1878. The Japanese authorities eventually confiscated Takeda's sword, which he had always carried with him without permission. He spent several years on Kyushu. However, he regularly returned to Fukushima to train under the guidance of Saigo Tanomo. From 1910 onward, he lived on Hokkaido, which was just being colonized by the Japanese, as told, for example, in the 2005 film "Kita no Zeronen." It was a refuge for many who had come into conflict with the law. He rarely left the island. He also taught his martial arts to people outside his clan.
In 1915, Yoshida Kentaro (1886-1964), who was working as a spy in the USA and temporarily went into hiding in Hokkaido, brought Ueshiba Morihei, who had come to Hokkaido as a colonizer, to Takeda's dojo.
Wording: Aikijutsu (合気術) refers to all combat techniques (Jutsu 術) that use Aiki (合気). Jūjutsu (柔術) refers to unarmed techniques, and not, as is often claimed, to "gentle" or "soft" techniques. Aikijūjutsu (合気柔術) is therefore a subgroup of Aikijutsu techniques.
Source: budopedia.de, edited, shortened and illustrated.