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Jeff Cook
26th May 2000, 04:15
Welcome back, folks!

First question(s): How did taiho jutsu develop, who developed it, and why was it necessary to develop when so many other arts were available in Japan?

Jeff Cook
Wabujitsu

Sochin
26th May 2000, 23:01
hey, glad this is up again and glad to see you are here!!!

Now, about the question...

I'm sure that many of our tender readers would appreciate an english rendering of taiho jutsu, not that I have forgotten to what it refers or anything like that since I am well read with a mind like a steel trap etc, etc.

What was the question again?

http://216.10.1.92/ubb/biggrin.gif

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<A HREF="http://pub6.ezboard.com/btheseniorscommunity" TARGET=_blank>Ted Truscott,
The Fighting Old man</A>

Jeff Cook
27th May 2000, 01:08
Hey, Ted! Good to be back in your company!

Taiho Jutsu - Police Arts of Japan.

Jeff Cook
Wabujitsu

Ruairi Quinn
27th May 2000, 15:13
Hi guys-

There's an entry on Taiho-jutsu in Draeger's 'Modern bujutusu & budo' book. I was looking through it in a bookshop not so long ago.
What I was wondering is how many japanese police are still carrying around jo-staffs, and whether or not handcuffs have replaced hojojutsu.

Brently Keen
27th May 2000, 19:04
Hi,

I just returned from Japan and every koban I saw still has a worn and very used looking jo sitting in plain view within easy access. I saw several policemen actually carrying them too.

Brently Keen

Ruairi Quinn
27th May 2000, 19:43
Thanks for the information, Brently. The Police force here in Ireland do their best work with harsh words. (south of the border, that is...)

Brently Keen
28th May 2000, 03:34
A half-world away and a world of difference. The Japanese police are all very polite. Having met one of the senior aikido instructors for the Tokyo Metro Police on my last trip, I found him to be a very friendly guy.

Brently Keen

will szlemko
28th May 2000, 23:15
Hi all,

For the original question I seem to recall (sorry don't remember where) that most of the older traditions had some aspects of taiho jutsu within their curricula but that is was During the relative peace of the Tokugawa reign that these arts truly developed and flourished.

will

Neil Hawkins
29th May 2000, 01:24
Guy's

Taiho Jutsu was developed as a seperate art because by the Tokugawa times most styles had a long drawn out training period. The police needed to learn a small number of effective techniques quickly, and their aim was not to kill.

Remember the police were fairly low on the social ladder and to kill a samurai of higher rank was a serious offence. They learnt techniques using Jo, Jitte, Hanbo and Tanbo as well as hojojutsu.

By the Meiji Period they had established a Ryu called Keisatsu Ryu which comprised of the best techniques from the extant schools of the period. Kenjutsu was added because the police sword unit, called Batto-tai fought during the Satsuma rebellion and brought the Satsuma swordsmen from Jigen Ryu to a standstill. At that stage they were using skills they picked up from their own study and it was decided that the sword should be added officially, as a weapon between the staff and the gun in lethality.

The sword remained standard equipment from 1879 until the end of WW2.

Now-a-days they have added handcuffing to the curriculum but it is very similar to the hojo techniques used in the past.

How do I know all this? Well Tsutsumi Ryu (the style I study)was one of the ryu that specialised in Taiho Jutsu and Keisatsu Ryu includes some of our techniques. I was give some info about the Taiho Jutsu and it's history whilst researching Tsutsumi.

Regards
Neil

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The one thing that must be learnt, but cannot be taught is understanding.

Ron Beaubien
29th May 2000, 16:21
Neil,

You mentioned: "How do I know all this? Well Tsutsumi Ryu (the style I study)was one of the ryu that specialised in Taiho Jutsu and Keisatsu Ryu includes some of our techniques. I was give some info about the Taiho Jutsu and it's history whilst researching Tsutsumi."

Could you tell us more about Tsutsumi-ryu and which techniques were included into Keisatsu-ryu? It all sounds very interesting.

Regards,

Ron

Neil Hawkins
30th May 2000, 02:15
Well this was discussed at length in the old E-Budo but I'll cover it again quickly. The main thing is that we are still researching history so anybody that knows anything that may be of interest please contact me.

I have lineages etc, but essentially the school was started by Tsutsumi Yamashiro-no-kami Hozan, around 1335 after being taught by Jion of the Nen Ryu. (like all dates this start period is subject to some discussion)

It is believed that there was some interaction between Tsutsumi and the Kukishin and Takagi Ryu's but I have been unable to confirm this.

Tsutsumi is credited to be the first to concentrate on kumiuchi (grappling in armour) and the system included all the standard weapons of the Samurai.

By the Tokugawa period there seems to be a growth in the use of the stick, Jo, Hanbo, Tanbo and Yawara (possibly because of the links to Kukishin). They also taught a number of Jitte techniques.

In the 1880's Tsutsumi was chosen as one of the schools to participate in the forming of Keisatsu Ryu (Other spellings have it as Keishicho Ryu) the official style of the Japanese Police. The one specific sword technique adopted from Tsutsumi was Hatchiten Giri and formed one of a set of ten katas. These are thought to be the first standardised kendo kata in Japan.

In 1898 Masao Tsutsumi wrote a book in colaboration with Katsukuma Higashi on Jujutsu. Both these men were influential in the shaping of Judo after Kano had come up with the basis.

In the 1920's two brothers named Saito were the heads of the school. They were sent to Indonesia (possibly as spies) and it is there that my instructor Jan de Jong studied the system. He graded to 3rd Dan, which is the highest technical rank, in 1939. It is obvious from this and the fact that S. Saito is listed as an 8th Dan that they had embraced many of the things that Kano taught.

It is possible that the Tsutsumi System was changed radically between the 1890's and the 1920's.

After the war Jan de Jong tried to find the Saito's and other students but was unable to find any traces at all. He trained in Aliran Pencak Silat. He moved to Australia in 1952 and began teaching Jujutsu and Pencak. In 1969 he travelled to Japan and again searched for any trace of Tsutsumi.

It is believed that we are the only school teaching Tsutsumi in the world today, however the style we practice may differ from the original style in some areas. Obviously changes were made around the turn of the century and since then techniques have been modified or discarded. There are still many traditional techniques taught however and senior gradings have sections dealing with traditional weapons, including kusarigama, manrikigusari and ken.

As I said this is a brief overview and I hope I haven't bored the people that have heard it before. I am willing to discuss it at more lenth offline, especially if anyone has information that may assist in our research.

Regards
Neil

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The one thing that must be learnt, but cannot be taught is understanding.

[This message has been edited by Neil Hawkins (edited 05-29-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Neil Hawkins (edited 05-29-2000).]

Ron Beaubien
30th May 2000, 12:31
Neil,

Thank you very much for taking the time out of your schedule to reply to me. I find it a very intesting subject.

You said:

"In the 1880's Tsutsumi was chosen as one of the schools to participate in the forming of Keisatsu Ryu (Other spellings have it as Keishicho Ryu) the official style of the Japanese Police. The one specific sword technique adopted from Tsutsumi was Hatchiten Giri and formed one of a set of ten katas. These are thought to be the first standardised kendo kata in Japan."

I couldn't find any mention of "Keisatsu-ryu" in any of my books but "Keishicho-ryu" (also known as "Keishi-ryu") was listed and is well known as the official style of the Japanese police department.

Ah hah! Now I see what you mean. You are referring to "Tsutsumi Hozan-ryu"! (Wouldn't that be shortened to "Hozan-ryu" instead of "Tsutsumi-ryu"?)

Yes, there were several schools represented. One technique from each of the following schools were taken to form the "Keishicho-ryu Kendo Kata": Jikishinkage-ryu, Kurama-ryu, Tsutsumi Hozan-ryu, Tatsumi-ryu, Hokushin Itto-ryu, Asayama Ichiden-ryu, Jigen-ryu, Shinto Munen-ryu, Yagyu-ryu, and Kyoshin Meiichi-ryu.

There were also five iaido kata that were part of the system. One iai technique from each of the following schools: Asayama Ichiden-ryu, Shinto Munen-ryu, Tamiya-ryu, Kyoshin Meiichi-ryu, and Tatsumi-ryu.

I can only think of a few sources with specific information on the subject of Tsutsumi Hozan-ryu off hand, but the formation of Keishi-ryu has been quite well documented. Unfortunatly most of the books on the subject have been out of print for quite a while.

I hope this helps,

Ron

Jeff Cook
30th May 2000, 20:55
Any comments regarding Draeger's version of the history of taiho jutsu?

Jeff Cook
Wabujitsu

Brently Keen
4th June 2000, 07:27
Ron & Neil,

Very interesting. I don't have any of my kendo notes handy, and this has got me wondering about some things. Perhaps you (or anyone else) can answer a few questions for me:

Are these ten schools and kata the same ten kata that the Kendo Federation uses today? Or were these different kata selected for early "police kendo"?

Do you know the names of each of these kata?

Do you or anyone else have any information as to why these particular kata were chosen and by whom? Who actually developed the Keishicho-ryu system for the police?

Does anybody have any video tape of these Keishicho-ryu kata?

Are they still being practiced by the Japanese Police? My understanding was that the Tokyo Police practices Onoha Itto-ryu.

As part of my own ongoing research into the arts that Sokaku Takeda studied, I am looking for any more information that anybody might have on Jikishinkage-ryu and Kyoshin Meiichi-ryu. Do any of those "out of print books" you mentioned, have any more to say about these schools, or the kata they selected for inclusion in the Keishi(cho)-ryu curriculum?

Finally, is Keishicho-ryu still widely practiced among the Japanese police today or has it been pretty much replaced by modern kendo/jodo, judo and aikido?

Thanks for any information you might be able to provide.

Brently Keen


[This message has been edited by Brently Keen (edited 06-04-2000).]

5th June 2000, 01:03
Just my two cent's worth, but my research indicates that most of the Japanese police keibo-jutsu techniques were derived from the Ikkaku-ryu jutte-jutsu waza which I believe is generally considered an auxiliary art of Shinto-Muso-ryu. I've also seen some similar techniques from the Shibukawa-ryu jutte-jutsu used by the Japanese police in their training, although I can't find any written record of this. I am very interested in your comments and appreciate the information. Can you provide any documentation of these facts?

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Don Cunningham

Neil Hawkins
5th June 2000, 06:14
The info I have in part reads...

A special technical committee composed of many bu-jutsu and budo masters, engaged in the development of a special police-system. The result included such sections as ken-jutsu, iai-jutsu, ju-jutsu, hojo-jutsu, kappo etc. It recieved the name "Keisatsu-ryu" - (Police school).

Main program:

Gekken-no kata (Fencing/sword kata of the police administration):
The set of 10 katas developed by a committee of these instructors was the first
standardized kendo kata in Japan.
The techniques represented 10 schools as follows.

1. Hasso:Jikishinkage Ryu
2. Henka: Kurama Ryu
3. Hachiten Giri: Hozan Ryu
4. Maki Otoshi: Rishin Ryu
5. Kadan no Tsuki: Hokushin Itto Ryu
6. A-un: Asayama Ichiden Ryu
7. Ichi-ni no Tachi: Jigen Ryu
8. Uchi Otoshi: Shindo Munen Ryu
9. Hasetsu: Yagyu Shinkage Ryu
10. Kurai Zume: Kyoshin Meichi Ryu

In the 1920s and 30s the swordsmen instructing the police included Hiyama
Yoshihitsu, Hotta Shitejiro, Nakayama Hakudo (founded Muso Shinden Iai), Saimura Goro, and Shimizu Takaji (25th head Shindo Muso Ryu, head Ikaku Ryu).

The Iai kata described here date from the founding of the police forces in the
early Meiji and are known as Keshi Ryu. The kata were developed to teach the fundamentals of Iai without the need for prolonged study of one of the Koryu.
In this respect it is similar in intent to the Seitei Gata Iai of the ZNKR or Iaido Toho of the ZNIR. In North America these techniques are taught by Takeshi Mitsuzuka Sensei.

The Iai set contains five techniques, each from a different style. The katas are designed to deal with an attack from the front, back, right and left sides and finally an attack from four directions at once.

The waza and their school of origin are as follows.

1. Mae Goshi: Asayama Ichiden Ryu
2. Muso Gaeshi: Shindo Munen Ryu
3. Migi no Tekki: Kyoshin Meichi Ryu
4. Mawari Gake: Tamiya Ryu
5. Shiho: Tatsumi Ryu


Ju-jutsu-no kata
1. Tsuka-dori (Tenshinshin'yo-ryu, Shinkage-ryu)
2. Tsuka-dome (Shibukava-ryu)
3. Tsuka-garami (Rishin-ryu)
4. Miai-dori (Toda-ryu, Kiraku-ryu)
5. Katate muna-dori (Araki shin-ryu)
6. Ude-dome (Kito-ryu)
7. Eri-nage (Sekiguchi-ryu)

There may be more but the list I have is incomplete.

Regards
Neil

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The one thing that must be learnt, but cannot be taught is understanding.

Ron Beaubien
5th June 2000, 17:25
Wow! So many questions...

Unfortunately I don't have the time available right now to answer all of them, but I'll just write what comes off the top of my head at the moment and try to answer more completely later.

It isn't impossible that it was referred to as "Keisatsu-ryu" (don't get me wrong) but all the references I have here refer to "Keishicho-ryu" or "Keishi-ryu" in Japanese which refers to the kumitachi, iai, and jujutsu, at least according to what I have here.

Four people were chosen to create Keishi-ryu. One of them was Henmi Sosuke of Tatsumi-ryu (and Kyoshin Meichi-ryu). The other four names will have to wait until I can't double check the pronunciation of them and read through their bios.

Just at first glance, there were some mistakes made by the translator of Neil's information. Maki Otoshi of the Keishicho-ryu Gekken Kata, Shiho of the Keishicho-ryu Iai no Kata, and Tsuka Garami of the Jujutsu Kata are all "Tatsumi-ryu" kata, not "Rishin-ryu". The characters are exactly the same and the founder of the art was Tatsumi Sankyo. There are probably other mistakes as well. The information should probably be checked, at least in regards to the names of the different kata, with the current practicioners of each koryu school for accuracy.

Neil wrote:

"In the 1920s and 30s the swordsmen instructing the police included Hiyama Yoshihitsu, Hotta Shitejiro, Nakayama Hakudo (founded Muso Shinden Iai), Saimura Goro, and Shimizu Takaji (25th head Shindo Muso Ryu, head Ikaku Ryu)."

That is true. Those men were swordsmen who were involved in teaching the police. However, I don't believe it necessarily means that they were teaching Keishi-ryu though (although it is certainly not impossible that they were doing that as well...). I think whoever put together that list might have confused time periods and arts here.

Just take a close look. That list is almost identical to the list on names in Draeger's book: *Modern Budo & Bujutsu* when he talks about them as members of the committee which "devised a series of self-defense techniques based on unarmed defense" in 1924 (See page 70). However, Keishi-ryu had already been established many years previously. Keishi-ryu was created in Meiji 19 (1886).

Although I am not sure of the dates of all the people mentioned, Shimizu Takaji for example, wasn't even born until Meiji 29 (1896) his name was mentioned in Draeger's book (along with Hidenori Otsuka of Wado-ryu, etc.) but then in relation to a third committee which was formed after the end of WWII (1947 to be specific).

I'm certainly no expert, but I've got several hundred pages of documentation on the subject of Keishi-ryu alone in Japanese I've been trying to work my way through. I believe that it should be pretty accurate because it was privately published by the Japanese Police Department.

Basically, it seems to boil down to three different police arts, three different time periods, and three different groups of people involved.

I hope this helps,

Ron

Neil Hawkins
6th June 2000, 00:30
Ron,

Thanks very much, I always try to double check my facts and usualy prefer to get the Japanese version and have two or three people translate it for me, but in this case I got very similar info (in english) from a couple of sources and so took it at face value.

This is what I hate about trying to research anything Japanese, and the fact that I don't speak more than a few words and can't read it, means that I have to rely on others. Sometime I don't know why I bother! http://216.10.1.92/ubb/smile.gif

That's why I'm trying to concentrate entirely on the history of the style I practice. BTW, if you come across anything Tsutsumi Hozan related I would really like to get a copy.

Regards
Neil

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The one thing that must be learnt, but cannot be taught is understanding.

jimmy o'curry
3rd January 2001, 23:15
isn't sensei craig's book "japan's ultimate martial art" a depiction of modern taiho-justu, albeit with classically-dressed illustrations?


jimmy o'curry

Joseph Svinth
4th January 2001, 11:05
From James B. Leavell, "The Policing of Society," *Japan in Transition: Thought and Action in the Meiji Era, 1868-1912*, ed. by Hilary Conroy, Sandra T.W. Davis, and Wayne Patterson (Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984), 33-34:

"Of the 3,000 men initially enlisted to form the Tokyo Control Unit [Metropolitan Police], 2,000 of them were selected from among Satsuma ex-samurai. One thousand of them were recruited by Saigo Takamori, and another thousand were selected by Kawaji Toshiyoshi. The remaining thousand were recruited from among former samurai of other prefectures.

More than any other single individual, Kawaji Toshiyoshi can be credited with designing the early modern Japanese police system. His influence is felt even today through the study of his writings by trainees in police schools. Kawaji was born into a Satsuma samurai household. His father, Shozo, served as an investigator in the Kagoshima castle town. The son, Toshiyoshi, showed a strong aptitude for fencing as a young man; and in his early thirties he studied under the renowned Bakumatsu fencing master, Chiba Shusaku. Kawaji's belief that training in the art of fencing developed superior physical and mental performance led him to encourage policemen to study the art -- a tradition that continues today as a standard part of police training." Police were armed with firearms and swords, as one of their main roles was preventing riots.

Meanwhile neighborhood watchmen (bannin) were given official uniforms and ranks, and armed with staffs. FWIW, the bannin were supposed to be heads of household working in shifts, in practice "a number of hinin (nonpersons, nonhereditary outcastes) was employed to substitute rather than serve." (pg. 26) The yakuza often got the hinin the job, so these folks were not necessarily incorruptible, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, it seems probable that at this juncture, there were various former military arts (mostly Satsuma in origin) studied with some enthusiasm by (ex-samurai) police, and a variety of staff arts studied by watchmen who were probably more bullyboy than Dick Tracy.

TIM BURTON
4th January 2001, 13:04
Hi Everyone,
In his book entitled Japan’s ultimate martial art, jujitsu before 1882, the classical Japanese Art of self defense (phew). Darrell Max Craig states that it addresses and demonstrates Kaisho Goshin Budo Taiho Jitsu Ryu or Tokyo Police self defence martial way body techniques. From his descriptions and photographs he has with no doubt, many connections with the Japanese Police.
However it must taken that the Police service of Japan may well employ the assistance of a great many instructors up and down the country. It is quite probable that there are a number of different systems in existence, which are collectively referred to as “Taiho Jutsu” and other systems that offer a version of Taiho Jutsu within their syllabus.
Mr. Craig makes a number of remarks in his book as to being unaware of a technique’s name and we can assume that he was not working from a Police manual. In fact on page 93 he says, “note that the above technique was taken directly from sensei Hatta’s handwritten notes”, which tends to indicate that Hatta is not in possession of any manuals either.
As Ron Beaubien indicates in his post there must be official manuals of Taiho Jutsu produced by the Japanese Police.
“I've got several hundred pages of documentation on the subject of Keishi-ryu alone in Japanese I've been trying to work my way through. I believe that it should be pretty accurate because it was privately published by the Japanese Police Department”.
It is a case of finding the right contact to track these manuals down. Donn Draeger refers to the Taiho Jutsu Kihon Kozo (the fundamentals of Taiho Jutsu), a manual that was produced in 1947, and the system adopted by the Tokyo Police. Early revisions of this manual occurred in 1949, 1951, 1962 and 1968. This would make the first three manuals 53 years old, 51years old and 49 years old respectively, hardly likely to still be restricted by the Japanese authorities I would suggest. Taiho Jutsu will have naturally evolved through out the years and will have been shaped by various sensei and political trends. The art that Mr. Craig portrays could well have been the Taiho Jutsu of the 1970’s and may bear no resemblance to the Taiho Jutsu of the 80’s, 90’s and present day. I am seeking to base my research from the publication of the 1947 manual.
Many thanks
Tim Burton.