History

The origin of Daito-Ryu Aiki Jujutsu dates back nine hundred years to the Emperor Seiwa (reigned A.D 858 – 876) and his grandson, Shinra Saburo Minamoto No Yoshimitsu. Yoshimitsu is considered the founder of the tradition.

His family settled in the village of Takeda in Koma/Kai. (Now in Yamanashi Prefecture). There, the art passed through the Takeda clan including the famous warrior Shingen Takeda. His descendant, Kunitsugu Takeda, relocated to the Aizu district, in Fukushima, and the art was passed down through the Aizu Takeda family as Aizu Han O-Tome Waza. It was also developed into an art instructed to high ranking persons for use as secret techniques for indoor use and etiquette known as O-Shiki Uchi.

 In 1898, Sokaku Takeda received permission to teach the art openly from the chief steward of the clan, Tanomo Saigo (1830 – 1905) with the words: “the time of the sword is over.”

​From this point onward, Sokaku Takeda, who had until then practiced the sword arts, began to perfect the arts of jujutsu (unarmed combat). Sokaku Takeda is considered the Chuko no So (the founder of a ​renaissance) of the art.​

Sokaku Takeda had many students. Depending on body type, temperament and ability, Takeda would emphasise different portions of the art. Different students became proficient in different aspects of Daito Ryu: jujutsu, aiki jujutsu, aiki no jutsu and/or the sword. These are all part of the technical heritage of the art, and the schools who transmit these portions are to be respected.  The student who spent the longest time with him was Kodo Horikawa.

Horikawa’s particular emphasis was on the O-shiki uchi, body of indoor techniques. These utilize the aiki portion of the art.​

Hiroo Iida was a direct student of Kodo Horikawa and his successor, Inoue Kosuke, for a total of thirty years and received the rank of Shihan (master instructor) in the Ryu. In 2001, he set up a new Ryu-Ha, the Muden Juku. Iida concentrates on the

O-shiki uchi portion of the art, following on from Horikawa’s teaching.