Denoaikido
Green Belt
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2018
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- 13
There I'm sure are so many I was just wondering if people could name off most of them that are still alive and functioning
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Are you looking specifically for Koryu styles. or any style? In general, are you including made in the West styles? Define your question, easier o get the answer you seek. @ Chris Parker will be along shortly.There I'm sure are so many I was just wondering if people could name off most of them that are still alive and functioning
I'll leave the Koryu styles to Chris Parker. I'm a Yondan in Can- ryu jiu jitsu, a style developed in the 60's from a base of Kawaishi jiu jitsu, Chito- ryu karate and Military Combatives. There's Wally Jay's Small Circle, there's Jukoshin from England, Goshindo from France, there's tons of them. We even have the Ninja-ryu, who have been around since the 70's, prior to the ninja craze.I know for instance aiki jujitsu diato ryu and style I'd love to hear I do Budoshin it's a American made style from jj any styles you know tenshin and fusion & danzan come to mind any more I'd love to hear it
Great reply and recommendations its much appreciatedGodsdammit, guys, I go on holidays for a fortnight, and you immediately try pulling me back in? Okay...
To begin with, @Denoaikido, there's a few things that need to be clarified... firstly what you are meaning by "Japanese Jujitsu". To me, that doesn't exist (the reasons I say that should be apparent from your other thread... I'll head there in a bit), as the term would be "jujutsu"... but that's getting a bit semantic. More. importantly, clarifying what is meant by "jujutsu" in the first place is required... it's a largely generic term applied to a wide array of schools, systems, approaches, concepts, and more, after all.
In a simple sense, it could be understood (historically) as being a skill or system of skills based around unarmed or lightly armed combative methods that developed in Japan. This does deny the prevalence and presence of many modern Western iterations of "jujutsu"... for a variety of reasons, I discount them myself in the main, but their presence cannot be dismissed entirely. We may touch on that, let's see how we go.
From there, it seems that you're asking about koryu (as you're asking about which arts/ryu-ha are "still alive"), so let's see what we have there. Koryu are arts that pre-date the modernisation of Japan, typically signified by the Meiji Restoration, where ruling power reverted back to the Emperor and Imperial family (the Emperor in question being given the court name of Meiji, hence the name of the time period), being taken back from the Shogunate, a military bakufu ruling system headed by the Tokugawa clan. That isn't the whole story, of course, but it's a good start. Of course, it does raise a few issues...
Even within the concept of koryu, there are arts that date from the Sengoku Jidai (or slightly prior), a period of intense civil war throughout Japan, but more date from the relatively peaceful time of the Tokugawa (or Edo) period. These two time periods, with wildly different requirements and applications, lead to some very different approaches in combative systems... those from the Sengoku period tended to be more over-all curriculums, being what are called sogo bujutsu (composite schools), teaching a range of weapons and skills with a unifying construct, and those from the Tokugawa period tended more towards shorter, easy to carry weaponry, or unarmed methods, often with more specialisation in a particular area, rather than trying to do everything. As a result the majority of koryu jujutsu systems will fall into this second category... but there were still quite a few Sengoku arts that at least had a jujutsu component, if not being jujutsu "schools". All that said, let's look at a list. This is off the top of my head, so I'll probably miss some (for the record, I don't think you'll ever get a truly comprehensive list, for a variety of reasons, but this is a start). Here we go.
Takenouchi Ryu - today, surviving in three primary branches, being the Soke line, the Sodenke line, and a third which branched from the third generation, known as Takeuchi Ryu Bitchuden. There were other lines and branches, such as Takenouchi Santo Ryu and Takenouchi Hangan Ryu that are no longer extant. This school is often described as the earliest jujutsu school, and, while well known for it, the school is really a sogo bujutsu system, with very wide and deep weaponry teachings, and covering concepts and contexts from pitched battle to personal defence, to methods of acting as policing forces, as well as how to engage and behave as a high-ranked member of the samurai class, and everything in-between.
Kiraku Ryu. Again, a number of different branches, this school is related to Toda Ryu, along with other schools such as Araki Ryu, and while it's primary focus is on jujutsu, there are a large number of weapons, including personal duelling items (kusarigama, chigiriki), sword, bo, tessen, hojo, hanbo, and more.
Takagi Ryu. Multiple different branches, the mainline Takagi Ryu is taught alongside a line of Kukishin Ryu Bojutsu. It is also found in related lines in many of the Takamatsuden schools (Bujinkan, Jinenkan, Genbukan, and their off-shoots), although I have personal concerns as to whether I would still classify them as genuinely Takagi Ryu... but that's another conversation entirely. There is also the Hontai Yoshin Ryu, a more modern re-working of the school, and the Moto-ha Yoshin Ryu, an off-shoot began by a Menkyo holder of Hontai Yoshin Ryu.
Kukamishin Ryu. Formerly known as Kukishin Ryu, this is the mainline school. A sogo bujutsu system, the emphasis is on bo and sword, as well as their form of jujutsu, known here as "taijutsu" (I'm using "jujutsu" as a shorthand for anything within this grouping, but few schools actually use that term... more commonly, particularly in older schools, you would come across Taijutsu, Yawara, Wajutsu, Hade, or any of another two dozen or so terms). Very closely related to the previous Takagi Ryu due to their history together, this form is not what is found in the Takamatsuden schools by and large (they often focus on a jujutsu form of Kijin Chosui Ryu Kukishin Ryu Dakentaijutsu as their "Kukishin Ryu Jujutsu" syllabus... the exception being the Genbukan, where there are a number of related Kuki ryu-ha taught).
Asayama Ichiden Ryu is a fairly well known early Edo school that once boasted tens of thousands of students across Japan. Today, there are a couple of branches from these widely distributed lines, including Asayama Ichiden Ryu Heiho, who focus on weaponry, particularly sword, and some more jujutsu based lines such as the Yokohama-den. Much of what is now taught in that vein came through Ueno Takashi, and is found independently, as well as in the Genbukan.
Araki Ryu. A very complicated art to focus on, with there being a range of schools, with different attributed founders, different curriculums, and different histories all using this name, such as Araki Ryu Gunyo Kogusoku, Araki Ryu Torite, and so on. One reason is the concept in a number of lines of "one domain, one ryu", where there would be different Araki Ryu in different domains. To that end, well respected American koryu teacher Ellis Amdur, being a certified shihan in his line of Araki Ryu Torite, is considered to be the head of his own line now, based in the US, with with some students in Europe.
Tenjin Shin'yo Ryu is one of the most famous koryu jujutsu schools, even though it's also one of the youngest, having been founded in the early part of the 19th Century. This school was one of two primary arts that Kano JIgoro studied prior to creating his Kodokan Judo.
Rather than take each art bit by bit, let's just start listing them...
Kito Ryu
Fusen Ryu
Sosuishi Ryu
Iga Ryu-ha Katsushin Ryu
Sekiguchi Shin Shin Ryu
Shibukawa Ryu
Shibukawa Ichi Ryu
(Katayama) Hoki Ryu
Hasegawa Ryu
Shingetsu Muso Yanagi Ryu
Yagyu Shingan Ryu Katchu Heiho
Yagyu Shingan Ryu Taijutsu
Ishiguro Ryu
Konshin Ryu
Sho Sho Ryu
Nanban Kito Ryu
Wado Ryu (often classed as karate in the West, but listed with it's full name, it's Wado Ryu Jujutsu Kenpo, as it's a synthesis of Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu and Shotokan Karate)
The various schools found in the Takamatsuden arts, including Koto Ryu, Gyokko Ryu, Togakure Ryu, Shinden Fudo Ryu, and others, depending on the organisation.
There are the "modern" jujutsu schools that don't use the name as well, such as
Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu
Ueshiba-den Aikido (incorporating Iwama Ryu, Aiki-Kai, Yoshinkan, Tomiki, Ki Society, and more)
Hakko Ryu
Hakko Denshin Ryu
Fuji Ryu
Then we get a range of ryu-ha that include jujutsu and jujutsu-like methods in their syllabus, including:
Tenshinsho Den Katori Shinto Ryu
Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu
Suio Ryu
Tatsumi Ryu
And other schools that have elements of Jujutsu in them, but don't necessarily refer to them as such, such as Muso Shinden Ryu and Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu who have some of their upper level kumitachi being essentially jujutsu responses to someone trying to take your sword...
The point is that this is still a fairly basic list, and I am not including modern Western arts such as Can Ryu, Danzan Ryu, Minami Ryu, Sanuces Ryu, Vee-jitsu, and the almost literally countless little one-off mixtures of judo, aikido, karate, and invented whatever-the-hell that you can find in many countries...
I can go into more detail on much of these systems, but it's probably more than we need to get into here... for your own further research, I'd start with Professor David Hall's Encyclopaedia of Japanese Martial Arts.
Have you written a book on JJJ Chris? If not, you need to.Godsdammit, guys, I go on holidays for a fortnight, and you immediately try pulling me back in? Okay...
To begin with, @Denoaikido, there's a few things that need to be clarified... firstly what you are meaning by "Japanese Jujitsu". To me, that doesn't exist (the reasons I say that should be apparent from your other thread... I'll head there in a bit), as the term would be "jujutsu"... but that's getting a bit semantic. More. importantly, clarifying what is meant by "jujutsu" in the first place is required... it's a largely generic term applied to a wide array of schools, systems, approaches, concepts, and more, after all.
In a simple sense, it could be understood (historically) as being a skill or system of skills based around unarmed or lightly armed combative methods that developed in Japan. This does deny the prevalence and presence of many modern Western iterations of "jujutsu"... for a variety of reasons, I discount them myself in the main, but their presence cannot be dismissed entirely. We may touch on that, let's see how we go.
From there, it seems that you're asking about koryu (as you're asking about which arts/ryu-ha are "still alive"), so let's see what we have there. Koryu are arts that pre-date the modernisation of Japan, typically signified by the Meiji Restoration, where ruling power reverted back to the Emperor and Imperial family (the Emperor in question being given the court name of Meiji, hence the name of the time period), being taken back from the Shogunate, a military bakufu ruling system headed by the Tokugawa clan. That isn't the whole story, of course, but it's a good start. Of course, it does raise a few issues...
Even within the concept of koryu, there are arts that date from the Sengoku Jidai (or slightly prior), a period of intense civil war throughout Japan, but more date from the relatively peaceful time of the Tokugawa (or Edo) period. These two time periods, with wildly different requirements and applications, lead to some very different approaches in combative systems... those from the Sengoku period tended to be more over-all curriculums, being what are called sogo bujutsu (composite schools), teaching a range of weapons and skills with a unifying construct, and those from the Tokugawa period tended more towards shorter, easy to carry weaponry, or unarmed methods, often with more specialisation in a particular area, rather than trying to do everything. As a result the majority of koryu jujutsu systems will fall into this second category... but there were still quite a few Sengoku arts that at least had a jujutsu component, if not being jujutsu "schools". All that said, let's look at a list. This is off the top of my head, so I'll probably miss some (for the record, I don't think you'll ever get a truly comprehensive list, for a variety of reasons, but this is a start). Here we go.
Takenouchi Ryu - today, surviving in three primary branches, being the Soke line, the Sodenke line, and a third which branched from the third generation, known as Takeuchi Ryu Bitchuden. There were other lines and branches, such as Takenouchi Santo Ryu and Takenouchi Hangan Ryu that are no longer extant. This school is often described as the earliest jujutsu school, and, while well known for it, the school is really a sogo bujutsu system, with very wide and deep weaponry teachings, and covering concepts and contexts from pitched battle to personal defence, to methods of acting as policing forces, as well as how to engage and behave as a high-ranked member of the samurai class, and everything in-between.
Kiraku Ryu. Again, a number of different branches, this school is related to Toda Ryu, along with other schools such as Araki Ryu, and while it's primary focus is on jujutsu, there are a large number of weapons, including personal duelling items (kusarigama, chigiriki), sword, bo, tessen, hojo, hanbo, and more.
Takagi Ryu. Multiple different branches, the mainline Takagi Ryu is taught alongside a line of Kukishin Ryu Bojutsu. It is also found in related lines in many of the Takamatsuden schools (Bujinkan, Jinenkan, Genbukan, and their off-shoots), although I have personal concerns as to whether I would still classify them as genuinely Takagi Ryu... but that's another conversation entirely. There is also the Hontai Yoshin Ryu, a more modern re-working of the school, and the Moto-ha Yoshin Ryu, an off-shoot began by a Menkyo holder of Hontai Yoshin Ryu.
Kukamishin Ryu. Formerly known as Kukishin Ryu, this is the mainline school. A sogo bujutsu system, the emphasis is on bo and sword, as well as their form of jujutsu, known here as "taijutsu" (I'm using "jujutsu" as a shorthand for anything within this grouping, but few schools actually use that term... more commonly, particularly in older schools, you would come across Taijutsu, Yawara, Wajutsu, Hade, or any of another two dozen or so terms). Very closely related to the previous Takagi Ryu due to their history together, this form is not what is found in the Takamatsuden schools by and large (they often focus on a jujutsu form of Kijin Chosui Ryu Kukishin Ryu Dakentaijutsu as their "Kukishin Ryu Jujutsu" syllabus... the exception being the Genbukan, where there are a number of related Kuki ryu-ha taught).
Asayama Ichiden Ryu is a fairly well known early Edo school that once boasted tens of thousands of students across Japan. Today, there are a couple of branches from these widely distributed lines, including Asayama Ichiden Ryu Heiho, who focus on weaponry, particularly sword, and some more jujutsu based lines such as the Yokohama-den. Much of what is now taught in that vein came through Ueno Takashi, and is found independently, as well as in the Genbukan.
Araki Ryu. A very complicated art to focus on, with there being a range of schools, with different attributed founders, different curriculums, and different histories all using this name, such as Araki Ryu Gunyo Kogusoku, Araki Ryu Torite, and so on. One reason is the concept in a number of lines of "one domain, one ryu", where there would be different Araki Ryu in different domains. To that end, well respected American koryu teacher Ellis Amdur, being a certified shihan in his line of Araki Ryu Torite, is considered to be the head of his own line now, based in the US, with with some students in Europe.
Tenjin Shin'yo Ryu is one of the most famous koryu jujutsu schools, even though it's also one of the youngest, having been founded in the early part of the 19th Century. This school was one of two primary arts that Kano JIgoro studied prior to creating his Kodokan Judo.
Rather than take each art bit by bit, let's just start listing them...
Kito Ryu
Fusen Ryu
Sosuishi Ryu
Iga Ryu-ha Katsushin Ryu
Sekiguchi Shin Shin Ryu
Shibukawa Ryu
Shibukawa Ichi Ryu
(Katayama) Hoki Ryu
Hasegawa Ryu
Shingetsu Muso Yanagi Ryu
Yagyu Shingan Ryu Katchu Heiho
Yagyu Shingan Ryu Taijutsu
Ishiguro Ryu
Konshin Ryu
Sho Sho Ryu
Nanban Kito Ryu
Wado Ryu (often classed as karate in the West, but listed with it's full name, it's Wado Ryu Jujutsu Kenpo, as it's a synthesis of Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu and Shotokan Karate)
The various schools found in the Takamatsuden arts, including Koto Ryu, Gyokko Ryu, Togakure Ryu, Shinden Fudo Ryu, and others, depending on the organisation.
There are the "modern" jujutsu schools that don't use the name as well, such as
Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu
Ueshiba-den Aikido (incorporating Iwama Ryu, Aiki-Kai, Yoshinkan, Tomiki, Ki Society, and more)
Hakko Ryu
Hakko Denshin Ryu
Fuji Ryu
Then we get a range of ryu-ha that include jujutsu and jujutsu-like methods in their syllabus, including:
Tenshinsho Den Katori Shinto Ryu
Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu
Suio Ryu
Tatsumi Ryu
And other schools that have elements of Jujutsu in them, but don't necessarily refer to them as such, such as Muso Shinden Ryu and Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu who have some of their upper level kumitachi being essentially jujutsu responses to someone trying to take your sword...
The point is that this is still a fairly basic list, and I am not including modern Western arts such as Can Ryu, Danzan Ryu, Minami Ryu, Sanuces Ryu, Vee-jitsu, and the almost literally countless little one-off mixtures of judo, aikido, karate, and invented whatever-the-hell that you can find in many countries...
I can go into more detail on much of these systems, but it's probably more than we need to get into here... for your own further research, I'd start with Professor David Hall's Encyclopaedia of Japanese Martial Arts.
Agreed very insightful thanksHave you written a book on JJJ Chris? If not, you need to.