Sōkaku Takeda
Sōkaku Takeda (武田惣角, Takeda Sōkaku?) was the second son of Takeda Sokichi and Tomi Kurokochi born on October 10 by the lunar calendar corresponding to November 4, 1859 in Aizu. Master Takeda passed away in 1943, in Japan.
As part of a family of samurai (Takeda clan), he dedicated his life to the transmission of his family's traditional martial arts, in particular the so-called Daito-Ryu AikiJutsu which was later renamed Aiki Jujutsu Daito-Ryu.
Forged in Fire
In 1868, Prince Mutsuhito, descendant number 122 of the imperial dynasty, decided to recover the power that since the XII century, when Minamoto Yoritomo proclaimed himself shōgun he held the samurai class (made up of feudal warlords).
The task was not easy, but nevertheless the Emperor had three advantages:
- The first thing he had in his favor is that he was underestimated by the samurai for not being a warrior like them.
- The second is that he had an open mind that led him to be interested in West technology totally unknown to Japan of his time.
- and the third is that the shogunate's opposition to opening to the west put the great western powers on the Emperor's side to gain the advantages of trade with Japan.
Mutsuhito formed an army in secret, equipped with modern weapons and under the command of a group of officers from France and Germany, countries that intended to benefit from the opening of Japan. This army of peasants required very little training to handle firearms, and with it in 1867 they attacked the forces loyal to the Tokugawa shōgun, beginning the Boshin War. Tokugawa was defeated and forced to retreat to Edo where in May 1868 he capitulated.
The Aizuwakamatsu Castle controlled by the Matsudaira Clan, of which the Takeda family was a vassal, located three hundred kilometers north of Tokyo, in the Fukushima prefecture, opposes the changes imposed by the Emperor, proclaiming its fidelity to the daimyō and the Tokugawa shogun.
Mutsuhito's troops advanced against Aizuwakamatsu Castle in October 1868, where the men of the Clan chose their best armor, perfumed their hair, composed a small poem-testament that they would carry with them in battle, affixed the symbol of their family on the breastplate of his armor to honor him during the battle until the moment of his death, the women wielded the naginata, the young men and children the yari.
After a month of resistance, the castle falls where the episodes of the teenage samurai, the Byakkotai, the ritual suicide of the entire family of Tanomo Saigo and the departure to battle of the women of the castle with their led naginatas for Nakano Takeko who, after fighting bravely, was shot to death in the chest without ever backing down in battle, and to whom a monument was erected at Hokai Temple, in Aizu Bangemachi, in Fukishima province, has turned them in legend.
Without a tear
A short time later, a child says goodbye to an entire form of life in the remains of the castle, it is Takeda Sokaku Minamoto Masayoshi, who during the war was practicing Kenjutsu in Edo in the Ono ha Itto ryu style as an uchi deshi (boarding student) of Toma Shibuya at the Yokikan dojo.
Knowing what was going through the boy's mind at that moment is impossible, but it is clear that it determined his behavior in the future. He was adopted by his mother's family, the Kurokochi family and received from his maternal grandfather Kanenori Dengoro Kurokochi (黒河内伝五郎兼規), a famed martial arts master, a sword signed by Kotetsu Nagafune of Bizen which becomes his most prized possession.
From a very young age, Sokaku was trained in kenjutsu, bōjutsu, sumo and Daito-ryu by his father and later his grandfather Dengoro also taught him bō, hankyu, jō, shuriken and above all Hozoin-ryu sojutsu before sending him to Sakakibara dōjō, specializing in Jikishinkage-ryu.
A short time later, when his brother Sokatsu died, who served as a Shinto priest at the Ise monastery dedicated to the goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami, in the old district of Aizu, which had been entrusted to the protection of the Takeda Clan centuries before, he is sent to replace it.
There he meets Saigō Tanomo (1828-1905), former head of the council (karō) of the Aizu clan (hittōgarō 筆頭家老) who had been a student of his grandfather Soemon Takeda, now Tanomo with the name Hoshina Chikanori served as prior of the monks of the Tsutsukowake Shrine in Fukushima Prefecture (the Aizu domain no longer existed at that time).
Sokaku follows the learning of Daito Ryu Aiki Jujutsu, sword practice and Oshikiuchi with Hoshina Chikanori with incredible fervor.
In about 1875, 16-year-old Sokaku hears that Saigō Takamori has launched a rebellion in Satsuma against the forces of the new Meiji government and immediately decides to go to support him, leaving the temple and heading there, but upon arrival Kyūshū is prevented from continuing, so he returns to Osaka where he spends the next ten years as a guest at swordsman Momonoi Shunzo's Kyoshin Meichi-ryu dojo.
Already in the XX century, Takeda dedicated himself to traveling throughout Japan, teaching and demonstrating his skills.
Violent Times
The modernity of the 20th century in the Meiji era was not the appropriate time for a samurai without land and castle, since that in 1878 the emperor prohibited the carrying of arms in the famous Haitōrei edict and abolished the feudal order.
As many wealthy Japanese begin to dress in European fashion Takeda Sōkaku wears a traditional Japanese outfit decorated with his family insignia and under the baggy suit carried his swords, the "Tessen" a fan made of sharp blades with steely tips and a "Hanbo" or metal cane with one sharp end and the other with a heavy silver pommel.
The stories told by Sōkaku himself and many witnesses of the time about fighting and combat were tremendous and numerous. The fact that Takeda never refused a duel and understood the Kirisute Gomen custom (killing anyone who acted against the morality of Bushidō) as an obligation brought him many problems. It is said that when there was a gang of bandits near his path, instead of moving away, he would deviate to put the thugs in order, he felt responsible, as a samurai, to protect the humble and weak.
Among the many other stories told, there is one that tells that once Sosaku Takeda was walking in his traditional costume and some construction workers made fun of his way of dressing, which annoyed Sosaku and he rebuked him for his disrespect to the workers regarding Japanese traditions and bushido, which the latter, who were around thirty, decided to attack him with their sharp construction tools and Sosaku Takeda responded like a samurai, the police intervention was finally able to prevent further bloodshed, although Sosaku Takeda was arrested but to avoid scandal he was released for acting in self-defense; This incident is believed to be part of one of the reasons why Sosaku Takeda was very distrustful, since the families and some survivors of that attack sought in the future, without success, to exact revenge on the samurai.
In one of the ironies of existence, the last great samurai of Japan was very short for which many (obviously when he was not present) called him "little demon of Aizu" or "Tengu (demon of short stature and very bad character) of Aizu”, "Aizu no Tengu" in Japanese.
In 1889, at the age of 30, he married a girl from Aizu named Kon, having with her two sons named Takeda Soichiro and Takeda Munekiyo.
Bugei ju-happan
It was said at the time that Takeda Sokaku was one of the last people to master all 18 samurai techniques at a master level. These techniques are jujutsu (unarmed combat), kenjutsu (fencing), bōjutsu (pole or long staff), shuriken (dart throwing), kyujutsu (archery), sōjutsu (spear), naginata (halberd), jutte (iron club).), kusarigama (sickle and chain), kibajutsu (horse riding) and Nawa (forms of binding and stopping the enemy permanently), hensojutsu (techniques to hide), shinobi (infiltration and espionage), Suijutsu (military swimming), boryaku (strategy), inton (escape), tenmon (weather) and chimon (geography) in some with variations in others.
Footprints in the water
Being of the samurai class, according to the Bushido Sokaku code he could only fight or teach for a living. Although the time of the samurai had passed Sokaku did both, he taught the Art of Daito Ryu Aiki Jujutsu and kenjutsu, techniques in which he was highly adept.
It didn't take long for the government to realize his actions, but to avoid scandal it is said that they decided to kill him discreetly, which was not an easy task since due to his ideology he mistrusted everything. He never went out unarmed, nor did he turn his back on the crowd; he carefully rounded corners; when he was invited somewhere, he would first check the gardens and all the hidden places and entrances, even bringing his own food and drink to the gatherings he was invited to or only eating and drinking after someone else had. Frequently those who haunted him were the ones who never returned, while the anecdotes about the life of Sokaku Takeda were more and more numerous.
At the age of 50, Sokaku remarries, this time to a young woman from Shirataki-mura (Hokkaidō), named Sue (武田すえ, 5/30/1890-9/10/1930), from the marriage seven are born Children: Takemune, Tae, Tokimune, Eiko, Munemitsu, Shizuka and Muneyoshi.
Shadow Master
The master Sokaku Takeda was 54 years old when, through the intermediary of Kotaro Yoshida, a student of Sokaku who had received the instructor scroll or Kyoju Dairi in that same year, he met Morihei Ueshiba (the future founding master of the martial art of Aikido) at Hisada's inn in Engaru, Hokkaido in late February 1915. Ueshiba's early practices in Daito-ryu included three 10-day seminars ending on April 4 of the same year. Daito-ryu records show that he then participated in three more seminars given by Takeda the following year in 1916.
In fact, Ueshiba also invited Takeda to stay at his home for intensive instruction in what would be the beginning of a long and very turbulent, but no less productive, association that would last for more than twenty years.
In September 1922, on a trip accompanied by his family to Ayabe, where Ueshiba lived at the time, after several months, the master Sokaku Takeda granted him the kyoju dairi scroll, which certifies Morihei Ueshiba as an adjunct instructor of Daito -Ryu Aiki Jujutsu under the supervision of Sokaku himself.
In 1929 one of his former students, Admiral Isamu Takeshita, a member of the Satsuma clan, published the article "Takeda Sokaku Buyuden" (Story of the brave Sokaku Takeda) and the influential Tokyo Asahi Shimbun newspaper publishes Yoichi Ozaka's article "Ima Bokuden" about his life.
Isamu Takeshita, a very influential figure in government circles of the time, would play a fundamental role shortly after in the spread of Aikido based on the relationship he established with Ueshiba Morihei.
The following year (1930) in a fire at the Shirataki cinema, Takeda Sue, Sokaku's wife, died along with their youngest son.
At the end of April 1931 Morihei Ueshiba inaugurated the new Kobukan Dojo in Tokyo in the presence of many dignitaries including high-ranking army and navy officers including Admiral Isamu Takeshita, General Makoto Miura, Rear Admiral Seikyo Asano, Admiral Sankichi Takahashi, Dr. Kenzo Futaki, Harunosuke Enomoto, Commander Kosaburo Gejo, Ueshiba's nephew Yoichiro Inoue Hisao Kamada, Minoru Mochizuki and Hajime Iwata with the evident and significant absence of the master in Aiki jujutsu Daito-Ryu of Ueshiba, Dai-Sensei Sokaku Takeda.
However, in a strange way, the Dojo had already functioned before it was inaugurated, its activities had begun with a seminar given by Dai-Sensei Sokaku Takeda between March 20 and April 7, 1931, which was recorded with Morihei's name and stamp in the Sokaku revenue book (eimeiroku).
As reported by expert Don Angier in an article called "So Sorry! Jiu-jitsu Please, Not Judo!" Writing in 2000 for the publication Aikido Journal, his teacher Kenji Yoshida told him that in the 1930s the ultranationalist organization Kokuryukai met at Morihei Ueshiba's Kobukan Dojo without it being clear if Morihei Ueshiba knew of the meetings and if he participated or not, of the warmongering position of its participants.
In those years the book Budo, was published privately by the Kobukan dojo in 1938 and has recently been published in English by Kodansha Editorial. It shows many of Sokaku's techniques performed by Ueshiba's students, the Tokyo Asahi newspaper cooperated with the photographs, and although it is not known who wrote the accompanying texts, it is assumed that the contents were partly obtained from the master's mokuroku. Sokaku or at least his explanations.
There was an earlier technical book, published in 1933 and titled Budo Renshu, which contained technical drawings by Miss Takako Kunigoshi who was then a young art student, but the spread of the A few copies of this work were housed in the Kobukan in the 40s and have been republished, in English by Tetsutaka Sugawara, and in Spanish by the Paidotribo publishing house in the year 2000 under the title: Budo Training in Aikido .
The end of a demon
Sokaku Takeda never had any Dojo, he was never invited to give a demonstration in front of the imperial court, he did not give classes at the Dai Nihon Butokukai, to which he never even attended to request that the art he practiced be recognized, nevertheless he traveled Japan tirelessly teaching those who he understood deserved to learn, wanted to do so and could pay him even if they did not belong to his clan.
Along his way he taught in his own words more than 30,000 students, awarded kyoju dairi certificates to Morihei Ueshiba, Ryuho Okuyama, Sato Kanmi, Shimoe Shutaro, Harada Shinzo Mikami Tomiji, Sagawa Nenokichi Yoshida Kotaro Asano Seikyo, Sagawa Yukiyoshi Matsuda Hosaku Miyano Hikojiro Mae Kikutaro Horikawa Taiso Sato Seishiro, Sato Keisuke Yoshimura Yoshiteru Yokoyama Eijiro Nakatsu Heizaburo, Akune Masayoshi Kawazoe Kuniyoshi, Takahashi Jun'ichi, Kusumoto Koichiro, Harada Jozaburo, Togawa Tadae, Uchida Suematsu, Teimo Kaichikushi (previously Yamamoto Tomekichi but changed his name in honor of Sokaku to Kakuyoshi), Takuma Hisa and Tonedate Masao, the latter three were also granted the Menkyo Kaiden, although only the last two were recorded in Sokaku's Eimeroku kept by his son Tokimune, However, Yamamoto's Menkyo is duly registered in the Eimeroku kept by the Yuushinkan school.
He even taught his faithful servant and performance partner Choi Yong Sul, who was not certified, but called him "master" even years after his death, but still gave rise to the modern Korean martial art of hapkido.
It is logical to assume that he transmitted the art to his children including Takeda Tokimune (武田 時宗,1916-1993) who succeeded him after his death. However Takeda Tokimune never presented any certificate endorsing him as the successor of his father in the leadership of Daito Ryu.
He never abandoned the practice of art although at the age of 83 he suffered a stroke that left him partial paralysis and on April 25, 1943 Soke Sokaku Takeda died of a heart attack at the age of 84 after leaving class in Aomori Prefecture.
It is difficult not to recall the verse that the poet Hoshina wrote to him so many years before:
- People know what you're doing?
- You can hit with your sword the stream of the river
- But you can't leave any mark on the water.