"Shiro Saigo was one of these "deck-stacking" students of Kano. He was really a master of Daito-Ryu Jujutsu."
Shiro Saigo was born on Feb 4, 1866, making him just 16 years old in 1882, when he became the eighth student to sign the enrollment register at the newly-established Kodokan dojo. So if he was a "master" of anything at age 16, it doesn't speak very highly for what he was a "master" of, does it?
Quite often while researching this article, I would run across 'factoids' that are self-evidently wrong. Take for example:
"In 1888 the youngster entered the Inouye dojo which taught Tenjin Shin'yo Try. Kano, who held a menkyo kaiden in the ryu, met Shida there and contested with him. Kano was greatly impressed by Shida's proficiency. Kano asked Shida, who was by then 16, to help him build up the Kodokan." (Ref #3)
The dates are quite obviously wrong, since Saigo was born in 1866, which made him 22, not 16 in 1888. And since Saigo was one of the Judo representatives in the 1886 tournament, for him not to have even met Kano until two years later seems strange. But this paragraph is actually quite typical of the mistakes found routinely while researching Shiro Saigo's life.
But in spite of numerous errors, it is possible to sort through the chaff, and figure a few things out. The first thing that must be done is to establish just what connection there is between Shiro Saigo, and Daito-ryu. Since Daito-Ryu was really an invention of Sokaku Takeda (1858-1942), there must be some contortions to allow Shiro Saigo to learn anything of Daito-Ryu. So a short history of Daito-Ryu lineage is in order here:
(A short comment is in order here... although it seems to be a consensus among martial art historians that Sokaku Takeda is the originator of Daito-ryu, students of Daito-ryu do not generally agree. Strangely enough, this tends to downplay the true martial genius of Sokaku Takeda.)
The lineage that is recorded in the earliest mokoroku of Takeda stops with his grandfather, Soemon Takeda (1758-1853). Takeda himself does not state where he received his training in what he was the first to call Daito-Ryu. It is important to keep this simple fact in mind, as it indicates the degree to which various Daito-ryu lineages are at least partially based on hypothesis. As Stanley Pranin states:
"Except for his training in Ono-ha Itto-ryu kenjutsu, the specific content of the various arts Sokaku was taught by his father or others in Aizu remains unclear. Whatever the martial arts formation he received within the clan may have been, Sokaku's training at the dojos of famous swordsmen Kenkichi Sakakibara and Shunzo Momonoi, and his lengthy journeys for self-training (musha shugyu) over more than a decade surely played a major role in shaping the sophisticated martial system which would later emerge. All evidence points to the conclusion that the Daito-ryu arts Sokaku taught over a span of more than half a century are as much a synthesis of his vast training experience and technical innovation as they are a faithful continuation of the Aizu clan martial tradition." (Ref #4)
Interesting to keep in mind when following this lineage, is that Sokaku Takeda's father, Sokichi Takeda, was a sumo wrestler weighing in at 240, and held the provincial rank of Ozeki (in Aizu). He was also an expert swordsman and expert in Bojutsu. He had been taught Hozoin-ryu Takada-ha sojutsu (Art of the Spear) form his father-in-law, Dengoro Kurokochi. He'd also had practical fighting experience, fighting in the Boshin Civil War at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in Kyoto, and later in the battle at Aizu Wakamatsu Castle. He had his own dojo on his property, where he taught others. May I suggest that what early training Sokaku Takeda received, he received from his father? Is it reasonable?
I would like to mention at this point, that Sokaku Takeda quite certainly did not learn anything from his grandfather, Soemon Takeda. In researching for this article, I frequently ran across references stating that he did. 'Samurai Aikijutsu' for example, states this. But, as Soemon Takeda died in 1853, and Sokaku was born in 1858, if Sokaku was taking lessons from his grandfather, it was via a Ouija board...
Now, we need to see what possible connection Sokaku had with Shiro Saigo, to determine if it is reasonable to assume that Shiro Saigo ever learned Daito-ryu.
The connection is to be found in the name of Tanomo Saigo (1830-1903 who later changed his name to Chikanori Hoshina). Shiro Saigo was the illegitimate son of Tanomo Saigo according to some sources, who in any case adopted Shiro.
Chikanori was the chief councillor and governor-general of the Aizu clan. He was thus a quite politically powerful and important man. It is an historical fact that Sokaku Takeda spent some time with Chikanori, learning what Sokaku called "Oshikiuchi". Leaving what that may have been until later, the theory is that Soemon taught, not his son Sokichi, who would teach Sokaku... but that Soemon taught Chikanori, who admittedly *did* teach Sokaku Takeda something.
The problems with this theory are several, and the main problem is that the deduction is being made that Chikanori is a martial arts master not based on historical evidence, but on the fact that he is closely connected to two martial geniuses. His son Shiro Saigo, and the founder of Daito-ryu, Sokaku Takeda. This seems to be akin to placing the cart before the horse. As Stanley Pranin points out:
"Chikanori Hoshina's life is well-documented and even his diary has been preserved. Hoshina scholars have, however, found no evidence of Chikanori having undergone any extensive martial arts training or having taught such arts. Had Chikanori been a skilled martial artist in his own right, surely some record of his talents and exploits would have survived." (Ref #5)
If you accept that Chikanori was *not* a martial artist, and non-Daito-ryu history certainly doesn't proclaim him one, then what is "Oshikiuchi"? It is the testimony of Sokaku Takeda that he learned Oshikiuchi from Chikanori. One of the better discussions of this point is:
"A further unresolved issue is the matter of the term used historically to refer to Daito-ryu techniques transmitted within the Aizu clan. Tokimune and others have written that Sokaku learned secret techniques called oshikiuchi and that it was these arts that form the essence of Daito-ryu. The characters used for oshikiuchi, "o" (an honorific) + "shiki" (ceremony) + "uchi" (inside),, represent a rather curious combination and do not convey any obvious meaning. They were probably recorded based on the oral testimony of Sokaku who was himself illiterate. One theory is that the correct Chinese characters are actually,, "o" (an honorific) + "shikii" (threshold) + "uchi" (inside). According to this view, what was actually referred to as oshikiuchi were not martial techniques at all, but rather the court etiquette or manners that trusted subjects of the inner circle who were allowed "inside the threshold" were expected to observe. If this is indeed the case, what Chikanori Hoshina taught Sokaku during the latter's visits had to do with matters of samurai etiquette." (Ref #6)
Another reference to this same point is:
"There is some question about the proper reading/pronunciation of this term. The form Sokaku taught his son Tokimune translates as "honorable ceremony inside," and the term came to be equated with gotenjutsu, literally "self-defense techniques for use within the palace." Usually, however, groups of Japanese characters used as words have some sort of intrinsic sense that indicate their meaning, and a number of Japanese scholars have noted that this particular version of oshikiuchi is essentially nonsense. Some researchers now believe that the correct characters are "within the honorable threshold" , oshikiiuchi, and that it refers to the behavior of those permitted within the threshold of the palace, be it domainal or that of the Shogun" (©1997 Diane Skoss). (Ref #7)
(For those who don't know any Japanese, the difference between the verbal pronunciation of "Oshikiuchi" and "Oshikiiuchi" is small! It's a lengthened "i" sound, instead of the short 'i' sound. Japanese is a language where it can frequently not be possible to know the meaning of a word without seeing the written form.)
So if Chikanori is not known to history as a martial artist, and did indeed teach samurai etiquette to Sokaku Takeda, we are left without anyone to teach Daito-ryu to Chikanori's son, Shiro Saigo. Shiro Saigo did not have any known historical contact with Sokaku Takeda...
Only two students of Sokaku Takeda received menkyo kaiden in Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu directly from Sokaku. One of them was Takuma Hisa (1895-1979 Menkyo Kaiden, 1939) One of his students was Hakaru Mori, awarded Hachidan in 1973, and appointed Director of the Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Takumakai in December of 1978. Here is what he had to say on the subject:
"Question: Sensei, you've been pursuing some historical research on the Daito-ryu. Can you tell us about the relationship between the famous Shiro Saigo and Daito-ryu?
Answer: Shiro Saigo was adopted by Tanomo Saigo, who was said to have been one of Sokaku's instructors. Thus it is natural to assume that Saigo had some kind of connection to Daito-ryu. However, Shiro Saigo studied Judo at the Kodokan starting when he was a child, and there is no evidence that he learned Daito-ryu. But he later left the Kodokan, and there are many theories on why he did so. He was one of the students left in charge of the Kodokan while Jigoro Kano was on a trip, but he ran away. We simply cannot prove that he used Daito-ryu techniques at the Kodokan. Some people say the yamaarashi is a variation of shihonage, but the technique introduced by the Kodokan as yamaarashi is totally different. Besides, I doubt that you can actually bend an arm in that way. When you try to apply the technique to someone, you will discover that it is very difficult to bend a judoka's arm that way. Thus, I am not convinced by the theory that yamaarashi is a variation of shihonage. Furthermore, there is no evidence that Saigo used Daito-ryu after he left the Kodokan. Although it is said that his adopted father taught him Daito-ryu, it is difficult to judge whether or not this is true." (Ref #8)
So we can see that one of the top sensei in Daito-ryu doesn't believe that Shiro Saigo knew any Daito-ryu, let alone being a "master" of it. The current headmaster of mainstream Daito-ryu, Katsuyuki Kondo, also doesn't believe that Shiro Saigo ever knew any Daito-ryu. (See his statements below)
One other source can be found on the Internet that claims that Shiro Saigo was a master of Daito-ryu, and that is an art that is titled "Saigo Ha Daito-ryu" Here's what they have to say:
"Tanomo Saigo taught his adopted son Shiro Saigo the traditional art of the Minamoto and Aizu clans and groomed him as his official successor. (This included all the secret aspects of this art including the religious and cultural operations of the system), but, due to some romantic pressures, Shiro ended-up reclining the offer to become the new headmaster of Daito-Ryu. At this point, Tanomo approached his bodyguard, the grandson of his teacher (Saemon Takeda) to ask him to train in his art and assume the headmastership of Daito-Ryu. The bodyguard was Sokaku Takeda, who was already a master of several fighting systems and was trained in some aspects of Daito - Ryu under both his grandfather and his father. The rest is history: Shiro Saigo relocated to Nagasaki and assumed a low public profile, still teaching Daito-Ryu, along with other arts, while, Sokaku Takeda, assumed the title of grandmaster of Daito-ryu and became very well-known until he died in his early 80's." (Ref #9)
Unfortunately, history doesn't record that Sokaku Takeda was a bodyguard for anyone, let alone the chief councillor for the Aizu clan. Neither does history record that Chikanori was the "headmaster" of any martial art. Sokaku Takeda almost certainly learned some martial skills from his father, who was a Sumo Ozeki and Bojutsuka, with his own dojo... but it's rather doubtful if Sokaku Takeda learned anything at all from his grandfather. After all, Sokaku was born in 1858, while his grandfather had died five years earlier in 1853. Furthermore, history *does* record that Shiro Saigo gave up his study of Judo, but other than becoming a master of Kyudo (Archery), history says nothing at all about his knowledge of, or teaching of, Daito-ryu.
The current leader of mainstream Daito-ryu, Katsuyuki Kondo, had this to say about the claims of Saigo ha Daito-ryu:
"Properly speaking, there is no connection whatsoever between the Saigo-ha and Daito-ryu schools. They should not call themselves Daito-ryu because there is no relationship at all between Daito-ryu and the version of history they are offering." (Ref #10)
So, did Shiro Saigo ever learn any Daito-ryu? I think history is fairly clear here, no, he didn't.