Author of Bugei Ryuha Daijiten

[Tom Christy]

Hello all,

I am doing a little informal research at the moment and could use the assistance of this forum's more experienced members. Could anyone give me a little biographical information on Watatani Kiyoshi (of BRDJ fame)? The only information that I have been able to locate so far is a blurb in an old article of Hoplos that states that Professor Watatani was "Japan's foremost authority on the historical development of his country's martial culture" and that he was "a skilled exponent of kenjutsu who authored more than fifty books about Japanese martial culture".

Thank you for your consideration.

[Daniel Lee]

Bunbukan is an organisation that is continuing the research of Kiyoshi WATATANI as part of its work focus. For more information on Watatani (in Japanese), why not check out the following URL?

http://www.bokuden.or.jp/~bunbkan

Good luck!

[Meik Skoss]

From the *Bugei ryuha daijiten* (paraphrased):

Watatani Kiyoshi was born in Wakayama City in Meiji 36 (1904). A descendant of a gunnery instructor (Yoshikawa-ryu hojutsu) of the Kishu domain, his father was a minister. After his father's death, he was sent to live with relatives, first in Awajijima and then in Kobe, where he was adopted by the Watatani family. He graduated from Waseda University and was a member of the the Bungeika Kyokai. He has written and edited more than forty books in a variety of fields, including history, historical novels, interpreting, geography of Edo, research (methods?), as well as twenty-five books on the history of martial arts and traditions.

Yamada Tadashi was born in Aichi Prefecture in Taisho 12 (1923). He became interested in the history of martial arts while he was a student at Tsushima High School. On graduating from a teacher training course at Nagoya Higher Industrial Arts School, he was a teacher at many schools in the area. He began working at a local school for the blind after losing the sight of both eyes.

Draeger once told me that Watatani Sensei was quite skillful with a sword, but I've no idea what style he had studied or anything about his martial arts background. I don't know anything about Yamada Sensei's history in martial arts, though I suppose he did something or other at one time in his life. Most men of that time did, if only as part of their compulsory education.

Hope this helps.

[Tom Christy]

Gentlemen,

I appreciate your assistance. My ability to read Japanese could only charitably be called elementary. I'm aware of the importance of the BRDJ as a research tool, but had very little information as to the men responsible for it. Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.

Regards,

[W.Bodiford]

The website listed above (http://www.bokuden.or.jp/~bunbkan/ch0/wata01.htm) states that Watatani studied Ryugoryu kenjutsu (of the style transmitted in Takino Domain) when he was in middle school.

Although some people might have praised Watatani as "Japan's foremost authority on the historical development of his country's martial culture" we must remember that he was not a scholar. He was a professional writer with an amateur interest in old martial art texts which he collected and published.

Tokyo Kyoiku Daigaku (Tokyo Educational University), now reconsitituted as Tsukuba University, houses Japan's oldest center for the study of the historical development of martial arts. Any one of the professors who have been active there (people like Imamura Yoshio, Tominaga Kengo, and Watanabe Ichiro) made greater contributions to our understanding of this topic.

[Tom Christy]

Dr. Bodiford,

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my query. The information that you provided was very helpful.

Regards,