Author: Christopher Li

Solo Training for Kokyu-ryoku and Ki in Daito-ryu Aiki Budo
Daito-ryu Aiki Budo 118 Techniques (大東流合気武道百十八ヶ条)
by Yoshihisa Ishibashi (石橋義久)
Yoshihisa Ishibashi (石橋義久) was born in Tokyo in 1938 and started training in Daito Ryu at the Daitokan dojo in 1964, learning Aiki Budo and Ono Ha Itto Ryu Kenjutsu directly from Sokaku Takeda’s son Tokimune Takeda. In 1969, together with Yoshimi Tomabechi (苫米地芳見) and Katsuyuki Kondo (近藤勝之), he opened the Katsushika Branch Dojo in Tokyo and was its first head instructor. He received an Ono Ha Itto Ryu license from Junzo Sasamori (笹森順造) and has a breadth of experience from zen to judo, kendo, Shorinji Kempo, and Chen Tai Chi.
The “118 techniques” in Daito-ryu cover the techniques contained in the Hiden Mokuroku (秘伝目録) certificate , from Ikajo to Gokajo, and were taught as the core curriculum of Tokimune Takeda’s Daito-ryu Aiki Budo. The book “Daito-ryu Aiki Budo 118 Techniques” (大東流合気武道百十八ヶ条) was written by Yoshihisa Ishibashi and published in Japanese in 2015 by BAB Japan publishing company (BABジャパン出版局), which also publishes the popular martial arts magazine Gekkan Hiden (月刊秘伝 / “Secret Teachings Monthly”).
This is the English translation of a section from Ishibashi Sensei’s book that deals with solo training exercises for the development of breath power (“Kokyu-ryoku”) and Ki development.
You may also be interested in “Sagawa Yukiyoshi, Masaru Takahashi and Breath Training in Daito-ryu” for a look at breath training in the tradition of Yukiyoshi Sagawa. (more…)
May 16, 2015
Interview with Yoshio Sugino of Katori Shinto-ryu, 1961

Director Akira Kurosawa observes Yoshio Sugino and Toshiro Mifune
on the set of “Yojimbo”, around 1961
Sometimes called “the Last Swordsman”, Yoshio Sugino (杉野嘉男 / 1904–1998) began his martial arts training in Kodokan Judo around 1918.
Becoming dissatisfied with Judo he began to train in traditional Yoshin Koryu jujutsu. Around the same time, in 1927, he also began to train in Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu with the four Katori Shinto-ryu shihan dispatched to the Kodokan at the request of Judo Founder Jigoro Kano.
Around 1932 or 1933 he began training with Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba, and received a teaching license directly from the Founder in 1935. After the war his Aikido dojo in Kawasaki was the second official branch dojo of the Aikikai (Kuwamori Dojo was the first). Below he talks about his time with O-Sensei and with O-Sensei’s instructor Sokaku Takeda:
I didn’t consider aikido to be just an ordinary art…..Those practicing aikido today say that Ueshiba Sensei was really amazing but also wonder if what he did was actually true or not. They say such a thing because they have never seen his technique directly….I am lucky because I saw Ueshiba Sensei directly.
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Although Sokaku Takeda Sensei seemed to have the type of body which could be easily knocked over, his demonstration was extraordinary. He was capable of easily throwing 4th and 5th dan holders of the Kodokan.
– From “Interview with Yoshio Sugino” by Stanley Pranin
Sugino Sensei would later become well known for his work as a choreographer of fight scenes for many famous movies and plays, including Akira Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai” and “Yojimbo”.
What follows is an interview with Yoshio Sugino (杉野嘉男) and his son Shigeo Sugino (杉野茂男) that originally appeared in Japanese in “Kengo Retsuden-shu” (Biographies of Kendo Masters) number 67 Futabasha Publishers Ltd. (剣豪列伝集 67号双葉社 1961年), 1961. This is the same year that the movie “Yojimbo” was released.
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April 18, 2015
Mr. Kimura’s Aikido Memories, Part 2
Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba at the Noma Dojo, around 1936
In 1938 the Prime Minister of Japan was Prince Fumimaro Konoe (近衛文麿) – he was a patron of Morihei Ueshiba and served on the board of directors for Morihei Ueshiba’s pre-war Kobukai Foundation.
In 1938, when he began training with Morihei Ueshiba at the Kobukan Dojo in Tokyo, Mr. Kimura was a 19 year old Japanese exchange student from Dairen (大連 / Dalian), the Japanese occupied seaport in Northeast China. At the time the art was called “Ueshiba-ryu Aiki-jutsu”, and the students were a laundry list of influential political and military figures.
What follows is the second part of a two part English translation of his memories of that time dated June 24th 1987 which originally appeared in the tenth anniversary edition of “Aikido Kodaira” (「合気こだいら」十周年記念誌), published on October 30th 1988. You may wish to read Part 1 before reading this section.
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March 14, 2015
Mr. Kimura’s Aikido Memories, Part 1

Morihei Ueshiba’s Technical Manual “Budo” – published in 1938
1938 saw the continuation of the Japanese war in China, increased economic sanctions against Japan by the United States, and and the formation of the precursor to the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” (大東亞共榮圏), the “New Order in East Asia” (東亜新秩序). It saw the passing of the National Mobilization Law (国家総動員法) in the Japanese Diet, putting the national economy of the Empire of Japan on a war-time footing.
1938 was also the heart of the golden years of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba’s Kobukan Dojo, known as “Hell Dojo” for the severity of its training.
Mr. Kimura began training with Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei in 1938, in an art called “Ueshiba-ryu Aiki-jutsu”, at the Kobukan Dojo that had been opened in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo in 1931. What follows is the first part of a two part English translation of his memories of that time from June 24th 1987 which originally appeared in the tenth anniversary edition of “Aikido Kodaira” (「合気こだいら」十周年記念誌), published on October 30th 1988. (more…)
March 1, 2015
A Leap of the Spirit – Moritaka (Morihei) Ueshiba in 1932
“Kami no Keshin” (“Embodiment of God” / 神の化身)
Kanzou Miura (三浦関造) – Ryuo Library (竜王文庫), 1960
Kanzou Miura was born in Fukuoka, Japan on July 15th 1883, just five months before Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei was born in Wakayama Prefecture.
After graduation from Aoyama Gakuin’s Theological School he spent one year working as a Methodist minister in the southwest of Aomori Prefecture, in Hirosaki City. He became active in the Rikugo Zasshi (六合雑誌), a Christian magazine started in 1880 by the Tokyo YMCA, and went on to publish a large number of books and translations, including translations of works by Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. He also become interested in researching India’s first Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore.
Rabindranath Tagore in Tokyo, 1916
seated, middle of the first row
After the Second World War he organized the Ryuo-kai (Dragon King Society) and introduced theosophical teachings (including Alice Bailey and Agni Yoga) to Japan with his Synthesis Yoga practice (綜合ヨガ団体竜王会). He also translated “The Voice of the Silence” by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and a number of other works.
Mokuroku (目録) issued by Moritaka Ueshiba in 1934
Stamped “Aiki-jujutsu”
From “Aikido Kaiso Ueshiba Morihei-den” (合気道開祖植芝盛平伝)
What follows is a section of a book published in 1932 by the publishing company Nito Shoin (日東書院) called “The Spirit Leaps Forward – Emergence of the Superhuman” (心霊の飛躍 – 現出の超人”/ “Shinrei no Hiyaku – Genshutsu no Chojin”). In this excerpt from that work Mr. Miura interviews Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba, who was then using the name Moritaka (守高). (more…)
February 8, 2015