TAIHO JUTSU

[TIM BURTON]

Dear All
I am a serving member of the Leicestershire Constabulary and in my spare time I am the secretary of the British Taiho Jutsu Association. This association was formed by Mr Brian Eustace after the system ceased to be used for officer protection in the UK.
Currently I am trying to piece together the Japanese origins of Taiho Jutsu in order that there is a historical record for our members to view. I am seeking any Japanese manuals, books, and other material or information on the subject, or copies of such texts.
At present the source document that has supplied me with information on Taiho Jutsu is the book entitled, Modern Bujutsu and Budo by Donn F Draeger. I am sure you are familiar with this work but I paraphrase it below as it gives some indication to the material I am trying to locate.
In 1924 the Tokyo Police commissioned a technical committee to review the martial art systems employed by the Police at that time. The committee comprised of a number of experts in Goshin Jutsu (self preservation) and others in the arts of Ken (the sword). The Goshin experts were Nagaoka Shuichi, Sato Kinosuke, Mifune Kyuzo, Kawakami Tadashi and Nakano Seizo. The Ken experts were Saimura Goro, Nakayama Hyakudo, Hiyama Yoshihitsu and Hotta Shitejiro. After this review the Tokyo Police accepted the findings and its officers were trained in the techniques recommended by the committee.
In 1947 the Tokyo Police commissioned another technical committee to again review Police self defence. This time the committee was headed by Saimura Goro, who had sat on the previous committee and represented Kendo. The others were Shimizu Takaji of the Shindo Muso Ryu, Nagaoka Shuichi representing Judo, Otsuka Hidenori the founder of Wado Ryu Karate and Horiguchi Tsuneo a pistol instructor. Can anyone help with the identification and the Systems of these committee members?
The result of this committees work was the creation of a martial art system they termed Taiho Jutsu. A manual entitled Taiho Jutsu Kihon Kozo (the fundamentals of Taiho Jutsu) was produced and the system adopted by the Tokyo Police. Early revisions of this manual occurred in 1949, 1951, 1962 and 1968. Taiho Jutsu appears to have been supplemented with Keibo Jutsu, Keijo Jutsu, and Hojo Jutsu. Later there was the addition of the Tokushu Keibo.
My research shows that when Wado Ryu was registered at the Butokyukai, Kyoto in 1939 it included a section named Keisastu Taiho Jutsu, consisting of Two Tehodoki, Three Kansetsuwaza, Five Nagewaza and Four Osaewaza. These techniques seem to have been refined from Shindo Yoshin Ryu. Is there any literature that defines these techniques? If not can anyone explain them?
If you can help or anyone you know has access to any of these manuals I would appreciate it if you contacted me via this site. I await your replies in anticipation and assure you that any costs would be gladly met.

[TIM BURTON]

Sorry I forgot to give you all a brief overview of what I’ve got so far,
TAIHO JUTSU
1924 – Tokyo Police employ technical committee to review police systems.
SAIMURA Goro 10TH Dan KENDO ?
NAKAYAMA Hyakudo 1873-1958 SHINDO MUNEN RYU
HIYAMA yoshihtsu ?
HOTTA Shitejiro ?
MIFUNE Kyuzo 1883-1965 10th Dan KODOKAN JUDO
SATO Kinosuke?
NAKANO Seizo 10th Dan KODOKAN JUDO
NAGAOKA Shuichi 10th Dan KODOKAN JUDO
KAWAKAMI Tadashi ?

1927 – SHIMIZU Takaji 1897-1978 25th Headmaster SHINDO MUSO RYU
Headmaster IKAKU RYU
Appointed KODOKAN JUDO JOJUTSU INSTRUCTOR in 1921
& TAKAYAMA Kenichi ?
Give a demonstration of Jojutsu to a seven man National Police Committee.

1931 - SHIMIZU Takaji is appointed resident Tokyo Police Jo jutsu Instructor. He is then instrumental in
creating the Keidotai or Special Riot Unit, which later receives instruction from SHIODA Gozo of
YOSHINKAN AIKIDO.

1946 – The 18 inch Keibo is introduced into training.

1947 - Tokyo Police employ technical committee to review police systems.
SAIMURA Goro 10TH Dan KENDO of the previous committee.
NAGAOKA Shuichi 10th Dan KODOKAN JUDO of the previous committee.
SHIMIZU Takaji SHINDO MUSO RYU.
OTSUKA Hidenori 1892-1982 Founder of WADO RYU KARATE.
Note,
When WADO RYU is registered with the NIHON BUTOKYUKAI, KYOTO in 1939
One of its sections is KEISATSU TAIHOJUTSU 14 (Police arresting techniques).
TEHODOKI x 2 (Defensive movements)
KANSETSUWAZA X 3 (Joint locking)
NAGEWAZA x 5 (Throwing)
OSAEWAZA x 4 (Holding)
HORIGUCHI Tsuneo Firearms Instructor?
Note,
This results in the production of the manual TAIHO JUTSU KIHON KOZO. Availible?
Which apparently lists the system as follows;
TOSHU (Unarmed) or KEIBO (Truncheon)
14 KIHON WAZA (Basics)
16 OYO WAZA (Advanced)
6 SEIJO (Handcuffing) SOKEN (Searching) and HIKITATE OYOBI ( standing a restrained
person).

1949 – Revision of TAIHO JUTSU, KEIJO JUTSU & HOJO JUTSU. Manual produced? Availible?

1949 – The 2 foot Keibo replacing the 18” one introduced into training.

1951 - Revision of TAIHO JUTSU, KEIJO JUTSU & HOJO JUTSU. Manual produced? Availible?

1955 - Revision of KEIJO JUTSU & HOJO JUTSU. Manual produced?
Sensei KUDA holds revision course at the KODOKAN?

1956 – The US NAVY SHORE PATROL TRUNCHEON replaces the 2’ one in Keibo training.

1961 – The TOKUSHU KEIBO (extending Truncheon) introduced for a five year trial by SHIMIZU and
his instructors;
KURODA Ichitaro
KAMINODA Tsunemori
YONENO Kotero
HIROI Tsuneji

1962 - Revision of TAIHO JUTSU, KEIJO JUTSU & HOJO JUTSU. Manual produced? Availible?

1965 - KAMINODA Tsunemori takes over Police instruction as SHIMIZU concentrates on teaching
Jo Jutsu to the public.

1966 – The TOKUSHU KEIBO is officially adopted.

1968 – Revision of TAIHO JUTSU & KEIBO JUTSU. Manual produced? Availible?

1978 – Taiho Jutsu reviewed, Manual produced? Availible?

To Present? Is Taiho still used?

[JamesF]

Hi Mr Burton,

I'd be interested to see anything you find on the subject (as would many on this forum i think).

Looks like you've found quite a bit of info to date - the manuals would be very interesting to see.

Hope your searching proves prosperous (and sorry this reply was not of help in your search).

Kind regards,

James.

[ghp]

Mr. Burton,

Sorry that I cannot help in your request; however, I do have collateral information.

You noted that in 1948 the 18" baton was replaced by the keibo. The reason the 18" baton was introduced was the result of direct US Occupation Force interferrence.

I am pulling this from memory, so the dates might be a bit off. However, In 1998 or so I interviewed Dr. Benjamin Hazard who was just recently promoted to hanshi 8th dan in kendo (he is 80). Dr. Hazard (prof. emeritus of Oriental history) was an Intelligence officer during the war (he speaks and reads *fluent* Japanese, Korean, and is pretty good in Chinese). During his time in Tokyo beginning in 1946 he began his kendo training. It was in 1947 during the May Day riot (might have been 1948) that the riot police had their jo taken from them by the demonstrators. The Provost Martial said, "It's because of that damned kendo stuff." He then ordered a course designed around the US police baton and had instructors from New York City teach the course to the Japanese Police. Kendo was now officially "banned" for the police -- up till then the police were allowed to train in kendo -- and they had to learn the riot baton.

Dr. Hazard states that although kendo was banned for that one year, he and others gathered at a ballet studio to continue keiko. Others were not quite comfortable, but figured that if the Military Intelligence was attending, then MacArthur knew about it, so they were safe.

Incidentally, the police resumed jo not long after using the US police baton.

Just another footnote in history.

Regards,
Guy

[TIM BURTON]

Thank you Guy, this gives me something more to research, it makes very interesting reading that the keidotai (riot police) were disarmed of thier Jo by demonstrators. This is just the type of info I was hoping for, thanks again.
Tim.

[Joseph Svinth]

There isn't a great deal of detail in "Japan Times," but it's still worth looking at and the British Library has them all on microfilm all the way back to 1897. The National Archives in Maryland, though, are the motherlode for this kind of stuff, as they include the now-declassified SCAP documents. (Run the keyword "kendo" through the search engine and see what I mean.)

Something that you will want to look at are the socialist riots of the late 1940s. Why? Well, for one thing, Koreans, students, and returned soldiers sometimes were not as rightwing as MacArthur would have liked. The Japanese political right responded by saying we needed more budo. And the result was people on all sides getting beaten up or killed. (If folks with connections in Japanese organized crime are correct, then some of Japan's many suicides weren't entirely voluntary, let's put it that way.)

For background, try Ivan I. Morris, *Nationalism and the Right Wing in Japan: A Study of Post-War Trends* (London: Oxford University Press, 1960).