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2. Origins of the Takeuchi-ryu kobudo
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(Photo right: the Chofukan gang armed to the teeth in 1998, along with a new member, a plastic skeleton used to study anatomy. Nobody said we took ourselves that seriously.)
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 According
to the Takeuchi-ryu Shoden Mokuroku of the Chofukan Dojo, the Takeuchi
family were originally Kyoto nobility. Takeuchi Yukiharu was the fourth
family head to hold the lands of Harima as "managers" (shigo),
from which they derived a tax base. One of his sons was Takeuchi Hisamori,
the founder of our system. At
the time of Hisamori's gempuku (coming of age rites), the main Takeuchi
family residence was located somewhere near the intersection of Karasuma
and Imadegawa Streets, in Kyoto. Because of the tumultuous nature of the
warring era, Hisamori eventually became the lord of Ichinosejo Castle, in
Mimasaku Province, at the age of 29.
Exhausted, Hisamori used his bokken as a pillow and fell asleep. Suddenly, Hisamori was awakened by a vision. A mountain priest with a flowing beard and white hair appeared to him. The being said, "When you meet the enemy, in that instant, life and death are decided. That is what is called hyoho (military strategy)." The being cut Hisamori's long bokken into two pieces, creating short daggers. "Place this in your belt and call it kogusoku," the being said. The apparition then instructed Hisamori in the use of the short sword in grappling and close-in combat. It also taught Hisamori how to capture and bind an enemy without killing him. These methods were called the Shinden Toride Gokajo ("The five precepts of grappling derived from Heaven"). The details and origins of this ryu (martial system) creation myth is ancient; one of the first written accounts of it occurs in the Kesho Kogoden, the family records of the Takeuchi family, as well as the Soshi No Kengetsu, a document about the origins of the ryu. Hisamori believed that the vision was related to the guardian deity Atago-no-kami, who was worshipped at Mount Atago. That is how the ryu's guardian spirit became Atago-san. At the age of 64, Hisamori officially passed on the headmastership of the ryu to his son Hisakatsu, and subsequently to his grandson, Hisayoshi. In latter years, before the modern era, the ryu spread out throughout Japan and held thousands of students. It also became the foundation for many different jujutsu ryu. |
In order to better himself in the art of swordsmanship, Hisamori
secluded himself and trained at Sannomiya Shrine, in Haga-gun (gun is
a sub-district of a province). Legends say that he "wielded a bokken
(wooden sword) of some two-shaku, four-sun length, rather long for someone
of his short stature," swung it about, trained, and developed the
family's swordsmanship style, most probably based on older systems.
Hisamori trained for six days and six nights. What follows, Takeuchi documents
note, happened some 460 years ago, or in Temmon Gannen (1532 A.D.), in
the sixth month, evening of the 24th day.