1660: Founding of Yoshin Ryu













A young Japanese physician sets of on a journey to China. His name is Yoshitoki Akiyama. He settles in the Chinese coastal town of Tientsin and starts to practice medicine. During his stay in China he learns Chinese healing methods as well as Chinese fighting techniques, no doubt based on ancient Chinese ch'uan fa. Damage and repair were considered to be one trade in those days....
Akiyama returns to Japan and retreats in the Tenmangu monastery at Tsukushi where he devotes himself to meditation during 100 days. During those days he also practices and perfects his technique. One snowy day during winter, Akiyama sits gazing at a willow tree. It suddenly occures to him that the willow tree, unlike some other trees, doesn't have any broken branches, despite the heavy snow. The willow branches simply yield and allow the snow to fall off. Sturdier trees with unyielding branches suffer much heavier from the elements of nature.
After this revelation he developes 303 techniques of his own which eventually evolve into 'Yoshin Ryu Jujitsu' or 'Willow Heart Style'. The yielding principles have since then been perfected through the test of time in the Yoshin Ryu style of jujitsu.
(see: Serge Mol in  'Classical Fighting Arts of Japan', A Complete guide to Koryu Jujutsu'

1784: Ku Shanku
A Chinese by the name of Ku Shanku, living on Okinawa, shows his martial arts abilities to a delighted Okinawan public. Ku Shanku lives on in the name of the famous Okinawan kata Kushanku which is still widely practiced today and is part of the Wado curriculum.
(The legend of Kushanku has been recorded in the 'Oshima Hikki', a book by the samurai Tobe Yoshihiro.)

1864: Founding of Shindo Yoshin Ryu
A man called Katsunosuke Matsuoka is one of the finest practicioners of Yoshin Ryu Jujitsu. Apart from Yoshin Ryu he is also a student of several other styles of jujitsu. He decides to merge some of the techniques and concepts of the other styles with Yoshin Ryu to make it more combat effective. A new style emerges and he calls it Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujitsu. 'Yoshin' means 'new' so it becomes the 'New Willow Heart Style'. In later years the first character 'shin' is canged from the meaning 'new' to the meaning 'sacred'. And so then it becomes the 'Sacred Willow heart Style'.

june 1, 1892: Birth of Kuo Otsuka
Kou Otsuka is born who is later to become famous under the name of Hironori Otsuka as founder of Wado Ryu.

1897: Otsuka starts training
Hironori Otsuka starts training jujitsu with his uncle Choujiro Ebashi.

april 1901: Karate for the masses
The Okinawan karate instructor Anko Itosu introduces Karate at the Shuri Jinjo elementery school as method of physical exercise. By doing so he opens the thusfar secret art to the public. Karate, or Tode as it is still called in those days, is regarded too dangerous for young children, so Ituso takes out the most dangerous techniques and simplifies the remaining. In the process Itosu developes the pinan katas that consist of modified Tode.

1905: Otsuka joins Nakayama
As Otsuka enters junior high school he attends the dojo of the renowned master Tatsusaburo Nakayama to learn Shindo Yoshin Ryu jujitsu.

1906: ‘China’ hand becomes ‘empty’ hand
The Karate master Chomo Hinagi publishes a book titled: 'Karate Soshu Hen'. This is the first time the character 'Kara' is replaced by another character which is also pronounced as 'kara' but which has a totally different meaning. While the previous meaning was 'Chinese' which indicates the Chinese origins of Tode, the new meaning is 'empty' and so 'Chinese hand' becomes 'empty hand'.
(see: 'Karate's history and traditions' by Bruce Haines, page 20/21)

october 1908: Anko Itosu letter
Anko Itosu sends a letter to the Prefectural Education Department in which he writes:"....The reason I write this letter is because I'm convinced that all the students of the Okinawa Prefecture Teacher's Training College should learn Tode, so that when they graduate they can teach the children the same way I thought them. Within ten years Tode will have spread across Okinawa and the Japanese mainland. This will be a major contribution to our militaristic society......"
Picture: Anko Itosu

1910: Otsuka enters university
Picture: The Otsuka family around 1910
Hironori Otsuka enters Waseda University to study commerce and spends four years of training in many different jujitsu schools. But after a while he decides that all these styles are basicly not that much different and sticks with Nakayama's Shindo Yoshin Ryu from then on.
















1912: Job at kawasaki bank
Otsuka's father passes away and he takes a job at the Kawasaki bank.
(1912 according to Jiro Otsuka, 1917 according to Tatsuo Suzuki.)

1913: Bone setting and Kappo
Otsuka starts to study bone-setting and kappo. Kappo is a system of resusication used in Japanese martial arts.

Next: The early days

 
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