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History of Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu
The founder of Wado Ryu karate Hironori Ohtsuka said
and wrote on many occasions that he had trained in Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu under Nakayama Tatsusaburo (1870-1933). It is quite natural that our interest extends to
Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu and Nakayama Tatsusaburo, our roots.
Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu was founded by Matsuoka
Katsunosuke (1836-1898). He was a doctor (in Chinese medicine), and studied Tenjin Shinyo Ryu Jujutsu and Yoshin Koryu Jujutsu together with Jikishinkage Ryu kenjutsu and
Hokushin Ittoryu kenjutsu. He was fully licensed in Tenjin Shinyo Ryu jujutsu in 1855 and opened a dojo of Tenjin Shinyo Ryu in Tokyo in 1858.
In 1864 he started his own style of jujutsu, Shindo
Yoshin Ryu and in 1870 he opened the Shindokan Matsuoka dojo where he taught both kenjutsu and jujutsu.
Matsuoka Katsunosuke founded Shindo Yoshin Ryu, but it
has a long historical background that comes from the stream of Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu.
Unfortunately there is not very much material
regarding Shindo Yoshin Ryu except the names of techniques. The terminology in Shindo Yoshin Ryu is quite identical with that in Tenjin Shinyo Ryu, which is quite natural
when you look at the historical background. Today Tenjin Shinyo Ryu group is quite active and annually demonstrating at the Budokan. A book about Tenjin Shinyo Ryu was
published in 1893. Punch and kicks are included in any jujutsu school, but it seems like these are used more in the Yoshin Ryu stream. The impression is that the
techniques that are used in Kihon Kumite such as escaping (Nogare), avoiding (Sabaki), floating (Nori) and sweeping away (Nagashi) are often used in kenjutsu. This is
because Nakayama Tatsusaburo was a kendo instructor who trained in Jikishin Kageryu and Onoha Ittoryu kenjutsu. There is monument to the memory of Nakayama in Shimotsuma.
Wado Kai Karate
Wado Kai Karate was developed in 1934, originally
called the Karate Promotion Club. In 1940, when Ohtsuka was requested to submit an official name by the Butoku-kai in Kyoto he registered the name Wado Kai. This ceremony
took place together with Shotokan, Shito Ryu and Goju Ryu. This occasion is regarded as the first official naming of Karate styles.
Ohtsuka originally devised the name for his system as
Shinshu Wado Jujutsu. This was later shortened to Wado. The term wa means "peace" or "harmony", but it also represents Japan as a shortened form of
Showa, which was the name for the era of Emperor Hirohito. Do means "the way". By putting the two together you get the way of peace and/or harmony.
(The dove is also the messenger of Hachiman,the Japanese god of war)
Originally the style was referred to as Wado Kai which
is "Wado house or group" but upon becoming a hereditary system, the name became Wado Ryu which is "Wado style."
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