Quote Originally Posted by Joe McGraw View Post
Did Sagawa ever leave Japan, travel and do public demonstrations? Did he travel to other dojos and places like Ueshiba sensei? Of what we know of Sagawa is from articles, photos, and a couple of books. Both books by his students are very different from each other. In contrast Ueshiba sensei was all over the place with volumes of film, and published material, he was extremely open and accessible. His skill challenges where recorded on film. Even his jo work is recorded on film. We have something there to bite into to discuss. Let's take the discussion in that direction where there is fertile solid ground.
As far as I know, Sagawa Yukiyoshi never taught abroad but we know and this is confirmed by different sources, one of them being Takeda Tokimune that he did follow Takeda Sokaku as an assistant instructor while the latter was teaching all around Japan during the 30´. It seems that Sagawa Yukiyoshi did teach quite openly but then, for different reasons, decided to adopt a much lower profile later on in his life, opening a relatively small Dojo attached to his house and having few students. One of the reasons being that Sagawa Yukiyoshi felt that he needed to settle down on order to have the necessary amount of time to further develop the skills he had learnt from Takeda Sokaku.
I remember reading, in an article about Aiki no rentai, that Ueshiba Morihei did actually try to hire Sagawa Yukiyoshi at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. This proposal was allegedly turned downed by Sagawa Y owing to some comments, once again allegedly, made by Ueshiba Morihei in a newspaper called Yomiuri somewhere in may 1956 which reflected poorly on Takeda Sokaku´s personality.
There are also evidence that Takeda Tokimune tried at least two times (in 1954 and 1974) to give the leadership of the Daito-ryu to Sagawa Yukioshi. Coming from the son of Sokaku, this attempt should not be overlooked since it does indeed speak volumes about the respect that Takeda Tokimune felt for Sagawa Y.
While it is true that Sagawa Y probably paid very few visits to other intructor´s Dojo, it is also true that many top practioners regularly came to his Dojo. I do not think this is a secret anymore but only to make an example, Matsui Shokei of the IKO 1 (Kyokushin Karate) is a member of the Sagawa Dojo. It seems that there is indeed a very strong connection between some practioners of Jissen Karate and the Sagawa Dojo and that many advanced Karateka fighters are joining or have joined this Dojo.
Raphael Deutsch
Last edited by Raff; 8th June 2014 at 20:30.
Reason: forgot to write down some words
Deception is one of Kenpo´s best technique.
Väck ej björnen som sover
Raphael Deutsch