Nippon Budō Seishin-Kan

The art of Daito-Ryū continued to be transmitted within the Takeda family together with the time-honored family banner and armor.  During the Edo period (1603-1867), the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu (1542-1616), officially recognized the Takeda-Ryū (Koshu-Ryū) military strategy of Takeda Shingen's retainer Obata Kagenori (1572-1663). Since that time, the achievements of the Takeda family in politics, military affairs, economics, and other fields were integral to the policies of the Tokugawa government.  Tokugawa Ieyasu's grandson, Komatsumaru, became an adopted child of Takeda Shingen's fourth daughter Takeda Kenshoin, and devoted himself to the practice of the Takeda martial arts. Later he became an adopted child of Hoshina Masamitsu and took the name of Hoshina Masayuki. In 1644 Hoshina Masayuki (1611-1672) was appointed to be the lord of the Aizu Han. He was famed as a wise ruler who governed successfully with great care and skill.

Hoshina Masayuki also mastered the Ono-Ha Ittō-Ryū school of swordsmanship, having studied under Ono Tadatsune, and transmitted both arts, Ono-Ha Ittō-Ryū and Daito-Ryu to the succeeding lords of the Aizu domain.  The Takeda family bloodline continued from Takeda Kunitsugu to Takeda Chikara, Takeda Nobutsugu, and after another four generations was inherited by Takeda Soemon (1758—1853).  Soemon's firstborn son, Takeda Sōkichi (1819-1906), inherited a piece of cultivated land that had been passed down through his family. He practiced sumo, kenjutsu (sword), bōjutsu (long staff) and Daitō-Ryū.  Sōkichi also ran a local elementary temple school (terakoya) and taught budō in a dōjō on his property. He was known for his courageous participation in the Battle of Hamagurimon (Kimmon) in Kyōtō in July of 1864, as well as two punitive military expeditions made by the Tokugawa bakufu against the rebellious Chōshu Han in 1864 and 1866. Sōkichi also participated in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in January of 1868 and in the Shirakawa battles in April-July of 1868. During the latter he led a special corps of sumo who had been conscripted as part of the artillery force.

The samurai were officially abolished in 1868 and subsequently stripped of their right to wear katana in public.  In 1871 all Japanese daimyō were ordered to vacate their castles, making a system of budō designed to defend castle occupants against armed samurai and ninja no longer necessary.  Without bodyguards and retainers to teach and train, Takeda Sōkichi and his son, Takeda Sōkaku,(1859—1943) began teaching Daitō-Ryū to members of the public in the late 19^th century, and the art was released from the bonds of secrecy. 

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Takeda Sōkaku kept meticulous records of his instruction and is known to have taught thousands of students during his lifetime.  Among them were Ueshiba Morihei (1883—1969), the founder of aikidō, Choi Yong-Sul (1904—1986), the founder of Korean hapkido, and Okuyama Yoshiji Ryuho (1901—1987), the founder of Hakkō-Ryū.

The successor to Takeda Sōkaku was his son, Takeda Tokimune (1916-1993).  Whereas his father had spread Daitō-Ryū throughout Japan, Tokimune set out to spread Daitō-Ryū to the world.  He was greatly aided in this endeavor by the tireless work of his most senior disciple, Kondō Katsuyuki (1945—), whom he appointed  kyōju dairi (instructional representative) in 1974.  Takeda Tokimune did not formally name a successor prior to his death in 1993, and several of his senior students now claim that title.  However, Kondō Katsuyuki was the only student of Tokimune's ever appointed kyoju dairi and he received a menkyō kaiden (diploma of complete transmission) in 1988 from Tokimune, clearly making him most qualified for that role, despite his refusal to accept the title.

Kondō Sensei has not only traveled extensively throughout the world promoting Daitō-Ryū and establishing study groups throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas, but has taught thousands of visiting students at his Tōkyō dōjō.  He makes numerous public appearances and demonstrations promoting the art, many of which have been filmed and distributed widely.  In addition, he has filmed his own set of DVDs with provide detailed instruction in some of the basic techniques of the art.  It can truly be said that Kondō Sensei has made Daitō-Ryū a global phenomenon.  Sadly, Kondō Sensei's health has deteriorated recently, limiting his activity, so his younger brother, Kondō Masayuki (1952—) now provides the majority of instruction and representation of hombu dōjō at public appearances.

Leonard J. Pellman Shihan was first introduced to an art derived from Daito-Ryu in 1964, when he attended a seminar in aikidō conducted by Tōhei Kōichi (1920—2011) in Los Angeles, California, where he served as uke to Tōhei Sensei.  His exposure to the art continued while an exchange student to Japan in 1968, when he trained on several occasions with Itō Toshiharu Sensei in Nagoya.  He returned to Nagoya in 1973 and spent three months there as an uchideshi (live-in student) of Ito Sensei.  He was introduced to Daitō-Ryū itself in 1996, when he attended a seminar conducted by Kiyama Hayao Sensei.  He returned several times to Kiyama Sensei's dōjō in San Luis Obispo, California for further instruction in Daitō-Ryū.  He has also received instruction from Kondō Katsuyuki Sensei.

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Daitō-Ryū is said to contain more than 2,700 techniques.  Fortunately, many of them are merely variations of other techniques or the burden to remember them all would be staggering.  the formal curriculum of Daitō-Ryū consists of the following groups of techniques:

  •  Hiden Mokuroku (118 techniques taught up to the rank of yondan [4th dan])
  •  Aiki no Jutsu (53 techniques taught only to godan [5th dan] and above)
  •  Hiden Ōgi (36 techniques taught only to godan [5th dan] and above)
  •  Goshinyō no Te (84 techniques taught only to godan [5th dan] and above)
  •  Kaishaku Sōden (477 techniques taught only to godan [5th dan] and above)
  •  Menkyō Kaiden (88 techniques taught only to those holding a  Hanshi title)

In addition to the forgoing known techniques, there are two other groups of waza that are taught only the those holding a Hanshi title:  the  Aiki no Nitō-Ryu , which include an unknown number of techniques, and the  Kuden (Secret verbally-transmitted techniques), of which there are also an unknown number, and which are  taught only to those holding both a Hanshi title and Menkyō Kaiden.

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