3. Jujutsu Q's and A's

2. Origin of the Takeuchi-ryu

Before going any further in this online intro to the Takeuchi-ryu, I thought a Q and A page on jujutsu in general would be helpful for some readers who are curious about koryu jujutsu.

1. What exactly is jujutsu?
In the popular martial arts press, jujutsu (or jujitsu--which is kind of a meaningless term if retranslated into Japanese, or jiujiutsu, etc.) is one term out of a variety of terms used to describe primarily but not solely unarmed grappling methods of martial arts of Japanese origin. However, nowadays there are some instances in which jujutsu is used as a catchall for any kind of grab 'em and choke 'em martial art that do not fit into orthodox koryu jujutsu or modern Kodokan judo, even those systems which have been made up from scratch. If you grab 'em, it's "jujitsu" (sp: jujutsu or jiujiutsu). This is all owing to the popularity of the grappling arts made famous in free-for-all matches in which a majority of the winners used grappling methods to beat their opponents either into submission or into senselessness.

In Japan, koryu grappling methods are also called taijutsu, koppo, yawara, toride, hade, kempo, atemi, aiki, kumi-uchi and so on. Jujutsu is kind of a generic term which can encompass all of these, depending on the school's preferences in nomenclature.

2. What is koryu jujutsu?
Most martial arts historians will say there's a gray area between what is considered koryu (older martial arts) and shin budo (new martial ways), but in general, I've been told that the chronological difference is approximately that of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when Japan opened up to the West and began its modernization period. Martial arts systems developed after that time are shin budo, such as aikido, Japanese karatedo, Kodokan judo, and so on. Or, someone else told me it's a moving target and that koryu are about three generations removed from their founders. (If so, however, then by now even aikido is a koryu, because it's into its third generation of headmaster after Ueshiba Morihei).

As stated, there's a gray area. The famous Daito-ryu aikijujutsu may or may not be a shin budo, depending on whether or not one believes that its origins are wholly with Takeda Sohkaku, or with much older and more ancient masters. However, being a koryu or shin budo does not solely determine whether or not an art is more effective or not. There are some koryu jujutsu that to all intents and purposes, I would consider (if you got me drunk and interrogated me on pain of watching some bad Jim Carrey movies) to be curious antiques, of little practical use save for being a reminder that some koryu may be better left in the dust of ancient history.

3. What about Gracie jujitsu? It's very popular in the West. Is it any good?
What about it? Seriously, for what it claims to be and for what it has shown in those open matches, I guess they're good for what they are. They attract the kind of students they want, and they appear to develop some tough competitors. As far as the public persona of some of their representatives, well, if that's what they want to appear to the public, then they'll attract their own share of adherents and detractors because of their own making.

From what I can understand, the Gracie family learned the rudiments of their art from a "Comte Koma" Maeda, a traveling Kodokan judo player who was on a world tour taking on all comers in promoted wrestling-judo matches. At the time, judo was considered a kind of jujutsu, so afterwards, it was called "jujitsu," a corruption of jujutsu, and named after the family that developed it in Brazil for the free-for-all kinds of matches that were originally promoted by promoters looking to make a lot of money. Maeda eventually returned to Japan, the Gracies went on to establish a very popular school in Brazil, and later in the United States, and the rest is recent history.

Technically, a lot of the basics of the Gracie style seem drawn from basic judo that I learned years ago, especially newaza, before Olympic competition influenced orthodox judo to impose a lot of restrictions on its competitive techniques. I am sure, however, that the Gracies have innovated in their own right in terms of techniques and training methods.

While again I may have reservations about the public image of some Gracie figures as portrayed in the popular martial arts media, there is no denying that its proponents have beaten a lot of very tough people in a very tough style of competition. That's saying a lot about the style, and about the training of its competitors. The Gracie style seems to focus a lot on getting their opponent down to the ground and then working on chokes, pins and locks. It does not appear to have as many throwing and stand up techniques as orthodox judo, but I think it can more than hold its own on the ground in competitive style grappling.

4. What's the difference between koryu jujutsu like the Takeuchi-ryu, and the modern "jujitsu" styles?
Primarily, in my opinion, it's that most koryu don't have competition anymore, although up to the turn of the century, there was a kind of rough-and-tumble competition between different schools, which gave birth to the Kodokan judo style of randori and shiai. I think that eventually, the jujutsu shiai were supplanted by Kodokan judo shiai as more and more jujutsu teachers switched to judo to teach competitive play, and reserved koryu more for kata forms only.

Remnants of the competitive nature of koryu jujutsu still linger, though. There are some kata forms in the Takeuchi-ryu, for example, that are definitely for rough house competition, not for battlefield kill-or-be-killed situations. These kata focus on chokes, locks, and submissions that can be controlled so as not to permanently injure someone, as opposed to other kata where one throws someone on their head, breaking their neck, for example.

Again, which is "better" is more a matter of individual taste and expectations. If you're a young man and want to learn how to grapple and enter tournaments and work out hard, then a modern eclectic jujitsu style like the Gracie art might be better for you than a kata-based style that stresses more form and overall health and no-contest, self-defense type methods. If you want to learn Olympic style, clean and hard grappling, then Kodokan judo may be for you. And if you want to move in and muscle your opponent, then by all means, Western style amateur wrestling is perfect for you. (I wrestled a bit in high school and have the greatest respect for any amateur wrestler. Pound for pound, I think wrestlers are among the toughest and physically strongest amateur athletes there are, along with gymnasts.)

5. I want to learn a koryu jujutsu. How do I go about finding a teacher?
Outside of Japan, the pickings are still slim. There are only two recognized Takeuchi-ryu clubs in the United States. Many schools that claim to be teaching a kind of ancient jujutsu are very, very suspect, IMHO. There are a couple of Hakko-ryu and Daito-ryu schools. Even though technically the Hakko-ryu is not a koryu, and the Daito-ryu may or may not be a koryu, they are excellent systems and are very aikido-like, so a student with some aikido background may find it easiest to make the transition to those styles. Other than that, if you find a decent judo or aikido club, then start there and keep your eyes and ears open. If you have any questions regarding the legitimacy of a school, you could post a query on various sites, such as e-budo, and find some answers rather quickly. E-budo, in particular, have flushed out a lot of schools claiming fake origins. I know of people in the Shibukawa-ryu, Araki-ryu and Sosuishitsu-ryu who are teaching. But again, authentic koryu jujutsu is still quite rare in the United States.

If you have the cash, time and freedom, about the only other alternative is to go to Japan and somehow find your way to a koryu jujutsu school. And you would still have to learn the language, as such schools are quite small and do not have the resources to train a lot of foreign students in English, as do judo, aikido or karate.

1. Intro to the Takeuchi-ryu

2. Origin of the Takeuchi-ryu