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TIM BURTON
28th December 2000, 12:28
You may know that before Taiho Jutsu, the Japanese Police used another older system called Yaku kobujutsu in order to maintain the peace. By 1900 the centre of Policing in Japan was Tokyo and so it was mainly Tokyo where Police related martial arts were practiced and refined. But apart from police dojos, where did they train? The answer is mainly at the Kodokan, the dojo of Jigoro KANO.
Here at the turn of the century the Kodokan was host not just to Judo but a large number of different styles. Many people think of this dojo, as it is today, a Mecca of Judo. Not so, the dojo was like yours or mine and when Kano was not teaching, the mat was rented out to other systems, in order to make the dojo a profit. If one were able to walk into the Kodokan at this time, we would see weapon arts and various Jitsu’s being practiced alongside each other.
As the Kodokan was so rich with different styles the Police actually received their training in a modular form. That is to say that they went to a particular Sensei or group of Sensei within the Kodokan to be taught for example, Jo jutsu (the art of the 4ft stave). Then to other Sensei, in order to be taught other fields of expertise such as Renkoho (restraining) and Goshinho (self defence).
On another level, around 1925, Kano had also sent out one of his top students, Kenji Tomiki then a fourth Dan at the age of twenty five, to learn the skills of Aikijutsu from Ueshiba, a fact I shall return to later.
Kano recognised the surge of imperialism in Japan prior to W.W.II, and as he was making progress with the Olympic committee and through them in-roads for the introduction of Judo as an Olympic sport, he removed a number of kata from the Kodokan syllabus. This was to stop the Kodokan Dojo being used by the military to prepare soldiers for war. This obviously did not go down to well and some labeled Kano, a western sympathiser.
The war ended with the occupation of Japan by the allied command. One of the beliefs the allies held was that the martial discipline of the Japanese had been a major factor that had influenced the war. So they prohibited the practice of many martial arts. It is interesting to note that Kano hid some of the Kata by entrusting them to the women’s section of the Kodokan. The allies were so chauvinistic at this time that they never bothered to check the women’s classes for prohibited techniques.
This fact interested me greatly, as on beginning Judo I was always told that Ju No Kata was a “woman’s kata”. Later in life I discovered that Kano had created the Kata to preserve the techniques of the Tenshin shinyo Ryu, where he received a lot of his early training. The Kata contains, attack, counter attack and counter to the counter etc, within each move. This means that each move is a short hand list of techniques and combat principals. Has its true meaning been lost because we were too blind to see that it had been cleverly preserved in the woman’s section, and was not just a kata for women? Who knows, but if so, those women to whom Kano entrusted the knowledge are fast disappearing.
So what happened to the martial arts that were banned by the Allies? A lot went underground to escape detection, but the Tokyo Police with their strong martial traditions came up with a solution. This was to apply to the Allies to review their current system of self defence; they removed the term “martial art” to prevent suspicion. They were granted leave to do this and they took advantage to preserve the older techniques and systems now banned, under the collective banner of the term Taiho Jutsu. So the Police were still taught say, Jo jutsu by the same Kodokan sensei as before, but now if asked they referred to it as Taiho Jutsu training.
In 1940 Tomiki Sensei received the first eighth dan ever bestowed on a student by Ueshiba for the study of what was then termed Aikibudo. Again it should be borne in mind that Tomiki was still a highly skilled Judoka and had continued his studies of this art along side Aikibudo. In 1948 Tomiki took up a post at Waseda University, he also joined the Kodokan Judo Institute as an instructor and a member of its board. By 1956 he was recognised as a 7th Dan at Judo and an 8th Dan at Aikido. During this period he was one of the twenty one sensei who developed the Kodokan Goshin Jutsu, created to update Kano’s Kime No Kata. In 1958 Tomiki divided his teaching of Judo and Aikido and the Waseda Aikido club was founded.
It was here Tomiki began to subject the techniques of Aikido taught to him by Ueshiba, to the same sort of process applied to Judo by his other sensei Kano. Tomiki sought to produce a contest form of Aikido similar to Judo in order to test its effectiveness. This culminated in a series of fifteen techniques deemed suitable for the practise of Aikido Randori. The theories being developed by Tomiki were not well received by Ueshiba and his protégés or the Sensei of the Kodokan, but Tomiki persisted with the help of his close friend and colleague Hideo Ohba.
With constant refinements the present Junanahon No Kata was created, together with six Kyoryu Kata that preserved about 140 techniques of traditional Aikijutsu passed down by Ueshiba. Tomiki who held it on a par with the Kodokan Goshin Jutsu often referred to the third of these Kyoryu kata as the Goshin Jutsu of his Aikido system. Tomiki always insisted he viewed his style of Aikido with a “Judo mind”. By this I believe he meant that he applied the basic theories formulated by Kano to his Aikido. If you are unaware of Kano’s theories, then I will summarise them here. Simply put, Kano distilled all of the teachings of all the Jujitsu Ryu’s down to a few common principles, which remain true whatever the martial art practiced. These are the principle of adopting a natural posture, the principle of rendering an attack useless by avoidance and the principle of breaking balance. In 1966 Tomiki introduced another form of Randori into his Aikido system involving the use of techniques against a knife or Tanto.
In 1967 Tomiki opened his first Shodokan dojo, which was established solely for the practice of his Shodokan Aikido. Again one can see similarities here as Kano named his system Kodokan Judo, Kodokan meaning “the place for teaching the way” and Tomiki named his system Shodokan Aikido, Shodokan meaning “the place for identifying the way”.
Tomiki continued to teach his system aided by such sensei as Ohba and Nariyama, until his death in 1979. An interesting point that many over look is that Tomiki did not stop his involvement with Judo as he believed the two systems to be inextricably linked and in 1971 he received an 8th Dan in Kodokan Judo.

Karl Kuhn
29th December 2000, 05:30
Thanks for the informative post!

Very interesting stuff about Kano restructuring some of the Kata to avoid aiding the war machine. I have never encountered this idea before. Is it in Kano's writing somewhere or is there another source?

Peace,
Karl

MarkF
29th December 2000, 10:42
This is interesting to me, as well. Since Kano was little more than a figure head at the Kodokan by the early thirties, you must separate what Kano did, and what the Kodokan did in his absence.

Also, Kano was never interested in Judo, the Olympic sport, and was not "making inroads" for Judo, the Olympic sport. In fact, he opposed this, as "judo is not a game."

As to the Kodokan existing while other martial art schools were closed down, the answer is simple. The allies used the Kodokan and judo as their "hand 2 hand" school during and after the war. Nothing was diluted, hidden in women's judo, but the women did get the benefit of "keeping the faith" of Kodokan judo kata, and there are many photos of Kano teaching women mostly kata, including the Kodokan kime no kata, sword defense kata, etc. There was good reason for this, but it isn't so mysterious. Since women were banned (by the Kodokan) from randori, kata became women's judo, until fairly recently.

Almost from the beginning (at least as to the Kodokan having its own dojo to teach), other arts were taught, and are still taught there today. Thus, if you wanted to learn a form of jo, te, etc., while studying judo, you can.

The people who resented Kano, started their own school of judo and kendo, the Butokukai in Kyoto. This school was the meeting grounds for royalty, politicians, as well as business exectutives, and some yakuza types. This school was originally turned into a manufacturing plant for Japan's armed forces, and was closed in 1946, by the allies. The Kodokan wasn't, but not for reasons stated. The allies were learning CQ fighting there, thus the reason for not closing.

While Kano was considered the father of Japanese sport, this did not include Kodokan judo. He was responsible for bringing sports of all kinds to Japan, and mostly was an international figure.

On a final note, Kano did not "send" anyone anywhere, they left on their own accord with his blessing. Kano is said to have greatly admired Ueshiba, and, according to Takeda Tokimune, his father and Prof. Kano were friends. This is likely due to their similarities in age and their similar interests.

Oh, Yes, it would be a great help if you listed your sources, and if they are available, and where.

Mark

MarkF
29th December 2000, 11:12
BTW: Mr. Burton, I'm not sure what you mean by "distilling down koryu jujitsu to a few principles." Kano was indeed principled and also was aware enough to teach the same principles to be applied to one's life style. But he never "removed" anything, and only brought on board, those techniques, of tenshin shinyo ryu, and possibbly more importantly, kito ryu and jikishin ryu (from which the term judo was in use by the eighteenth century), randori no kata was separated into separate principles of judo. Much was added in 1920, and, aside from Kodokan goshin jutsu, is still intact today, in the judo syllabus. Many were involved in building this syllabus, but many today, simply practice the randori no kata. There seems to be a shift in that way today.

Their is a renewed interest in the go no kata, ju no kata, the kata, or "ura" of the kito ryu, and atemiwaza, which is mostly from tenshin shinyo ryu. Also, the go no sen no kata, one not included, thought the waza are, is included in Kawaishi's Seven Kata of Judo.

As to what you state here, I think Keiko Fukuda is still active, and she could verify your statements of "hiding judo."

TIM BURTON
29th December 2000, 15:56
Thank you for some thought provoking responses.
In an article by Jigoro Kano and T Lindsay 1887 (Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan vol 15)
Kano gives a historical account of Jujitsu and its many styles, he states that in the Bugei-Sho-Den, the principles of Jujitsu are.
1 Not to resist an opponent, but to gain victory by pliancy.
2 Not to aim at frequent victory.
3 Not to be led into scolding, by keeping the mind composed and calm.
4 Not to be disturbed by things.
5 not to be agitated under any emergency, but to be tranquil.
6 And for all these, rules for respiration are important.
I believe that in this article Kano is relating the fact that he could “see” basic underlying principles common to all the different styles.
In his work entitled The meaning of Judo and the goal of training, Kano states, ”the Judo principle will never perish because there is nothing I have taught which does not include this principle which I myself learnt and through the use of which everyone can improve their technique. If you find a technique that I have taught which does not fit the principle then it is I that taught wrong”.
In simple terms this Judo principle contains,
1 The principle of shizentai (concerning posture)
2 The principle of yawara (concerning defence)
3 The principle of kuzushi (concerning offence).
These Kano states were arrived by scientific analysis.

In his publication Fundamental principles of Judo, Kenji Tomiki 1956, Tomiki lists these principles as Shizentai, Ju no ri and Kuzushi.

In an interview by Linda Yiannakis 1998 with Steven Cunningham 6th Dan Kodokan, entitled the Dynamic nature of kata. There is a discussion concerning the many kata created but now unrecognised by the Kodokan.
“ Jiro Nango, Kano’s nephew managed the Kodokan through the war years (WWII). Kano had been concerned about the Kodokan being taken over by the military as a place to train soldiers for combat. To that end a lot of old methods of Goshin Jutsu were hidden away and were not publicly taught anymore.”
Cunningham goes onto say,
“There were lots of masters of lots of arts at the Kodokan. There was a sense of preserving certain concepts by making them into kata and teaching it in the womens division. In the highly male dominated society and unfortunately even in the Occupation forces, attitudes were very sexist so there wasn’t much consideration given to looking to see what they were doing in the womens Division. So that sort of thing worked out very well”.

In her book Tomiki Aikido Book III Past and Future Dr Lee Ah Loi states.
“ being so talented and obviously involved in the Kodokan, he(Tomiki) was asked by Kano to study Aikido under Ueshiba himself in 1940 the first disciple to do so”.

It was my understanding that Kano died whilst returning from an International Olympic Committee meeting a committee he had joined to promote the acceptance of Judo into the Olympics.
Again thank you for your replies.

Joseph Svinth
30th December 2000, 01:58
In May 1938, Kano died while returning to Japan. While he had indeed been attending an IOC meeting, but the purpose of that meeting was not judo in the Olympics, but finalizing the location of the 1940 Olympics. (Japan's invasion of China had caused the Chinese to protest Japan having the Games, and as a result negotiations were required.)

***

FWIW, the idea of judo in the Olympics is not owed to Kano, but to the Nazis, who, with their interest in sublimating sport to nationalism, viewed it as an international sport rather than some uniquely Japanese activities. So, as a result, the Germans tried throughout the early 1930s to organize a European Jujutsu Union, and in 1936 the German judo federation petitioned the Nazi sport ministry to ask that judo be included as an exhibition sport during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. After the war, the Japanese wanted to come up with a sport that they could dominate in ultranationalistic competition (read Olympics) and of course judo came to mind.

"Japan Times" is probably the best single source, but for more readily accessible references, try:

Hajo Bernett, "Das Scheitern der Olympischen Spiele von 1940," *Stadion*, 6 (1980), 252-275

Richard Bowen, "Origins of the British Judo Association, the European Judo Union, and the International Judo Federation," *Journal of Asian Martial Arts*, 8:3 (1999), 42-53

Jigoro Kano, "Olympic Games and Japan," *Dai Nippon*, 1936, 197-199

***

For women's judo, try these:

British women

* Garrud: "Damsel v. Desperado," http://ejmas.com/jnc/jncart_garrud_1299.htm .

* Garrud: "Ju-Jutsu as Husband-Tamer," http://ejmas.com/jnc/jncart_healthstrength_0100.htm .

* Budokwai: Richard Bowen, "History", http://www.budokwai.org/history.htm .

* Sarah Mayer: Letters, http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_mayer1_0200.htm .

European women

* General background: L.H. Weir, Europe at Play: A Study of Recreation and Leisure Time Activities (New York: A.S. Barnes, 1937).

* Germany: "Geschichte," http://www.wu-dao-institut.de/Systeme/Ju%20Jutsu%20_%20Ju%20Jitsu%20_%20Jiu%20Jitsu/JJ.htm#Geschichte .

* France: "L'histoire du Judo en France," http://www.planetesport.com/judo/jdhist.htm .

* France: "Introduction du Judo en France," http://www.multimania.com/oj13/Historique/histintroductionfrance.html .

US women

* Hilo High School: http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_JTimes_1199.htm .

* Danzan Ryu: Seishiro Okazaki, The Science of Self-Defense for Girls & Women (Kahului, HI: Henry Seishiro Okazaki, 1929); see also http://www.danzan.com .

* Women's judo in the US Army: http://www.iglou.com/neters/business/ftwaltonaauw3.shtml; see also http://www.netwrx1.net/CherryAmes/war-5.html . The National Archives and Records Administration (http://www.nara.gov/nara/nail.html) has film footage of women receiving additional training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Try the keyword "judo"; the film's NARA control number is NWDNM(m)-111-ADC-1182. There are also images of WWII US Army nurses doing calisthenics on a wrestling mat at http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/anc/a&i/ww2-kw/anc-glry.htm .

Japanese women

* General background: Steven R. Cunningham, "Joshi Judo: Origins and Early Years", http://www.judo1.net/ju01010.htm .

* Keiko Fukuda: http://www.pinewoodkarate.com/kfukuda.htm; see also the review of her book, Born for the Mat, at http://www.bstkd.com/judorev1.htm .

MarkF
30th December 2000, 08:11
As a side note, writings and history of judo is, as Cunningham admits openly, are either "kuden" as told by teachers, or are opinions (his) of judo history. He also admits upfront "mistakes and ommisions" due to this inprecise method of research.

He makes a good case for "hiding" the martial applications of judo, therefore saving the Kodokan from shutting down during occuaption post-war, but Dr. Kano had been teaching the kata to women well before that, as had his own teachers, and thus his reasons for doing so were simply that a small person could beat, or defend, against the much bigger, thus using women as examples.

However, in most cases of kata demonstrations, men performed the kata.

Also, the Kodokan has not changed in one area, and that is the teaching of other budo, and continues today.

But some things do change. While most JMA schools were shut down, the Kodokan was not as it was the training school for the post-war allies. There also wasn't the blatant right wing militarism in the Kodokan as in other schools (relative to some such as the Butokukai). Many forms of bugei are and were taught there, in particular immediate post-war occupation years, so aikido and other jujutsu, not to mention other striking arts (those distinct from judo's own waza).

Most kata today is ignored by the Kodokan, as their randori only training classes have been the most attended for some time, so it is no surprise here. The following kata are taught and pracitced at the Kodokan today:

Randori no kata (if not including nage no kata and katami no kata)
Nage no kata
Katame no kata
kime no kata
Kodokan goshin jutsu no kata
Ju no kata
Itsutsu no kata
Ko shiki no kata
Seiryoku Zen'yo Kokumin Taiku no kata (this being more the underlying force behind judo, and thus is taught from the beginning and enforced throught the years).

If you conclude that forms such as shime no kata, kansetsu no kata, and go no sen no kata to be individual of those presently being taught, then the number goes up. The forms of judo were and are in a constant state of flux so one may even add the kukinage no kata of Mifune Kyuzo, Kawaishi M., and a host of others have added or taken away many waza, and the number of forms changed.

But hey, history is opinionated facts, anyway, and who really knows what evil lurks in the minds of men:nin:

Mark

BTW: If this continues in this area, the discussion should probably be moved to the judo forum, but I don't mind the trip.:)

[Edited by MarkF on 12-30-2000 at 02:40 AM]

TIM BURTON
30th December 2000, 14:01
Okay, sorry, I'm a bit new to all this old chap, I will post something on the Judo site as you suggest. Then I will find something more Aikido for everyone to get their teeth into. It will have to be Shodokan (Tomiki) and its related KORYU Kata as this the style I was taught.

Tim BURTON Taiho Jutsu.