The following article was prepared with the kind assistance of Brian Workman of the USA. The article below is reprinted with the kind permission of Tokimune Takeda Sensei, Headmaster of Daito-ryu Aiki Budo and son of Sokaku Takeda Sensei.

Sokaku Dispatches Evil Bandits

In the region between Aizubange and Yanaizu there was a mountain pass with many bends and the road connecting the two was extremely steep and in bad repair. In the Autumn of 1876 Sokaku, who was carrying his kendo protective gear on his shoulder, climbed to the foot of the mountain pass on his travels for self-training. He stopped at a teahouse built at the entrance of the pass to take a rest when an old man of about 60 came out from an inner room of the teahouse. He asked, “Young swordsman! Are you going to cross the pass now?” Sokaku answered that it was his intention to do so before the sun set. The old man advised him in a kindly tone, “That’s impossible. The pass road is very steep and desolate and it will become dark if you attempt to cross now. It would be better to set out with the other travelers tomorrow morning. Recently, the road has been infested by three bandits who often menace travelers. Because of this, travelers often form groups to cross the pass. The bandits don’t attack groups, but when there are only two or three persons or women in the group, they have often been robbed and hurt. The bandits watch them from high positions. It is especially dangerous for those traveling alone. A great swordsman once went up along the pass in great eagerness to punish them, but he came back here injured and stripped almost naked. Another swordsman went up into the pass alone but was never seen again. There is a rumor that the three have expensive swords and that someone was killed and buried by them. It’s already nightfall so I think it would be best for you to cross with the other travelers tomorrow morning.”

Sokaku was not in a particular hurry, so if he had not heard of these notorious three bandits, he would have crossed the pass with the other travelers the next morning. However, having just heard the story from the old man, Sokaku disregarded his advice due to his natural sense of justice and spirit of adventure. The pass crossing the mountain was in bad condition and narrow. By the time he reached the summit, he had failed to find even a single bandit. At that point he began to descend. It was gradually becoming darker as the sun had set. Then, as he rounded a curve, he suddenly encountered the so-called three bandits who looked very strong as they carried mountain swords at their waists. One of the bandits was lying with his arms and legs spread out in a section of the road about nine feet wide. A second was on a stone at the head of the reclined bandit. The third was also sitting on a stone at the prone man’s feet. Both were smoking.

On the right was a cliff and the valley was on the left. Sokaku could not pass without disturbing them. The three had been watching from on high waiting for his approach and had set a trap for him. Certainly no one likes to initiate a fight, however, if he had withdrawn to avoid trouble, they would have chased after him as a coward and picked a quarrel. On the other hand, if he asked them to allow him to pass, they would have criticized him for having awakened them or something similar. Sokaku thought then that in any event a fight with them could not be avoided and understood immediately that the two swordsmen mentioned before had fallen into this trap. As they passed through, the two bandits on either side sitting on stones held them from both sides. As a result, they could not draw their swords to fight. Sokaku perceived the reason for their defeats and decided to use the following tactic. He intended to deal with the situation by taking quick countermeasures as called for.

Sokaku slowly approached them with this plan while the three watched his every move carefully and silently. He raised his right foot up high pretending to step over the prone man, but instead stomped on his side breaking his ribs using a killing-art called denko no satsu which he executed in a flash. He then delivered a single blow to the middle of the forehead of the man on the left with his left fist using a techniques called uto no satsu (sun and moon killing art) executed with the speed of an arrow. Then, at an unguarded moment, he executed a blow to the cheek of the man on the right with his iron-fan which he had quickly drawn with his right hand (kasumi no satsu: sword art for killing in the mist). The iron-fan that Sokaku used in the surprise attack against the three bandits was made of solid iron into a fan shape and weighed approximately 750 grams. The bandit struck in the cheek fell over on his back. Sokaku used ippondori to pin the bandit on the left who had drawn his broadsword intending to kill him on top of his prone accomplice on the right. He then broke the right arm of the man on the left with his iron fan. Sokaku next kicked the sides of the three men breaking their ribs and broke their feet with his iron fan. They wailed and begged him to help them, however, he kicked them one after the other down into the valley.

Holding his protective kendo gear on his shoulder, Sokaku finally descended the mountain pass where it was already dark and reached an inn to stay overnight. The inn-keeper knew he had just come down from the mountain and asked him if he had encountered the three notorious bandits. Sokaku thinking he would become involved in trouble if the villagers knew he had defeated them answered that he had heard of them but did not meet them.

“You’re very lucky, aren’t you?”, the inn-keeper remarked in the same manner as the old man in the teahouse at the foot of the mountain.

Sokaku stayed the night at the inn and the following morning visited friends in Yanaizu where he stayed for about five days. On his way back, he again stopped at the inn and stayed the night. The innkeeper said to him, “Two days after you were here, one of the three bandits was found dead downstream. They disappeared from the mountain pass so the villagers went to look for them, but they seem to have had a big quarrel. Also, the other two were found with broken arms and feet, moaning in pain. Their injuries are serious and it will take them two or three months to recover. Even if they heal, they will be deformed and can never again harass travelers. And so, we the people of the village are celebrating the fact that they will not attack us anymore and have prepared steamed rice and red beans.”

Sokaku was not a conceited man and echoed his agreement. His thinking was that it was true that the scoundrels had in the end to be punished by kami (deities). The next morning when he checked out of the inn to cross the mountain pass, he saw travelers in twos and threes walking pleasantly up and down the mountain.

When Sokaku arrived at the place where he fought with the three bandits, he clasped his hands in the direction of the valley to pray for the peace of their souls and continued over the pass.

Sokaku visited Master Chikanori Hoshina [aka Tanomo Saigo]. The Takeda family had for generations been servants of the kami of the branch shrine of the Ise Shrine [where the ancestors of the imperial family are enshrined] in Miike, Aizu.

On September 2, 1876, Sokaku’s elder brother Sokatsu who was a Shinto priest at the shrine died. Sokaku was taken there by his father Sokichi to succeed his late brother as the priest of the Takeda family. He began his duties as priest as an apprentice under Chikanori Hoshina, the head priest of Tsuzukobetsu Shrine in eastern Shirakawa County, in Fukushima Prefecture. This was around the autumn of 1876. Chikanori Hoshina’s former name was Tanomo Saigo and he was the chief counselor of the Aizu clan. After the defeat of the Aizu Castle, he entered the Hoshina family of his ancestors and assumed the name of Chikanori Hoshina.

Sokaku heard accounts of Chikanori’s hardships during the turbulent times of the end of the Tokugawa shogunate and was advised about the trends of the times. In those days, civil wars called the “Jinpuren Riots” in Kumamoto Prefecture and the “Hagi Riots” and other conflicts were raging. As a result, there was great social unrest at that time. In addition, people were focused on the uprising led by Takamori Saigo. Sokaku, who was full of youthful passion, had always respected Saigo and sympathized with Chikanori’s feelings in his support and felt encouraged by this. Sokaku flatly decided to abandon his practices as a Shinto priest in order to become a member of Saigo’s troops. Finally, he left the priest Chikanori for Kyushu.

On the way to Kyushu, Sokaku stopped at the dojo of Kenkichi Sakakibara, the Tokyo swordmaster, for a farewell visit on the pretext of traveling for self-training. It had been a long time since Sokaku had taken lessons from Kenkichi Sensei and trained with his disciples and this visit cheered him up a great deal. The students held a farewell party for Sokaku and gave him a large sum of money as a parting gift. At the same time, Kenkichi also handed him a letter together with a farewell gift. It was a letter of recommendation on behalf of Sokaku to Shunzo Masanao Momoi, headmaster of the Kyoshin Meichi-ryu, who lived in Sakai City, Osaka.

Sokaku thanked Kenkichi sincerely for his kindness and wrapped the letter of recommendation up in persimmon tanned paper and placed it next to his body. After saying good-bye to Headmaster Kenkichi, Sokaku left for the western region of Japan. Headmaster Kenkichi had immediately understood that the reason for Sokaku’s farewell visit before setting out on a self-training journey was actually in order to take part in Saigo’s army and intended to stop him from becoming a soldier through the good offices of Shunzo Momoi.

Shunzo Momoi opened a dojo in 1872 or 1873 in Tenman City in Osaka, but actually lived in Sakai City when Sokaku visited him in 1876. He was famous for his “dignified Momoi” sword style.

When Sokaku took lessons in the Sakakibara dojo earlier, he had not yet had an opportunity to meet Shunzo Momoi. Headmaster Kenkichi always used to tell him that Momoi had a noble character and that he was a master skilled in civil and military matters. As Sokaku had always wanted to meet Momoi, he left for his dojo with great anticipation on his way to Kyushu.

Visit with Shunzo Momoi

On his visit to the western area, Sokaku also made a tour of various fencing schools. Around the beginning of November, he at last met Shunzo Momoi and handed the letter from Kenkichi to him. At that time, Momoi was 52 or 53 years old while Sokaku was in his 18^th year. He was shown into the dojo to receive a sword lesson from Momoi. As mentioned above, Momoi’s sword style was considered “highly dignified”. He employed a style which was serene yet sharp and always used the horizontal seigan stance. Sokaku adopted the lower seigan stance of the Itto-ryu School as if he were using a real sword.

Shunzo struck at Sokaku’s face and wrist from the horizontal seigan stance, but Sokaku also made rapid counterattacks consisting of face thrusts and left and right body cuts. It was a severe lesson. Although Shunzo was a great swordmaster, he could not hit or cut Sokaku because of the latter’s many clever and swift maneuvers to avoid Shunzo’s techniques. Shunzo was taller than Sokaku’s five feet two inches, but the latter’s techniques were superior. Sokaku had previously had a letter of recommendation written by Kenkichi for sword training and had traveled to various cities in the Tohoku Edo [=Tokyo], and Osaka districts. Moreover, he defeated many swordsmen of different schools in matches. Thus, Shunzo was impressed with his skills and let him, as a guest, take charge of giving training to his students and at the same time treated him very warmly. Since Shunzo was devoutly respectful of the emperor and his family, he served as the head of the flying column of the Tokugawa shogunate during the Toba-Fushimi Civil War together with Kenkichi Sakakibara, escorting the Shogun Yoshinobu in Osaka. However, when he learned that the shogunate army had become the enemy of the emperor, he escaped alone from the Osaka Castle and hid himself in the mansion of the Tosa Clan. Furthermore, Momoi had served as a fencing teacher at the Gyobukan Dojo of the Metropolitan Police. Hence it was at Kenkichi’s request that he endeavored to dissuade Sokaku from participating in Saigo’s army.

Sokaku did not change his mind even though he knew of the intentions of Kenkichi and Shunzo. He devoted himself to the practice of the sword in the Momoi dojo in hopes that Saigo would rise up.

At the same time, there was a certain swordsman about 30 years old who was a retainer of the Shonai Clan in the Momoi fencing school. Both the Shonai and Aizu clans had participated in the Toba-Fushimi Civil War as the vanguard armies of the Shogunate. Since the Shonai Clan was saved through the paternalism of Saigo, as recompense for Saigo’s kindness, this swordsman of the Shonai Clan was prepared to participate in Saigo’s army and to risk his life in the face of the enemy if Saigo were to rise up. The swordsman confided his secret resolution to Sokaku who also confessed to him that he had come there with the same determination. The two were pleased to become comrades sharing the same secret. The Shonai swordsman was fairly skilled, but was second to Sokaku. Sokaku devoted himself more and more to the practice of fencing. As a result, he succeeded in winning three out of five matches with Shunzo. There was no one superior to him in the Momoi dojo. He was often called the “Aizu Tengu” (a small mythological goblin with a long nose and red face).

Sokaku Abandons His Plan

Sokaku continued training in the Momoi dojo. As soon as he learned that Saigo had risen up against the enemy, Sokaku, against Momoi’s advice, wrapped up his swords in a straw-rice mat. He and his fellow swordsman from the Shonai clan disguised themselves and left for Kyushu. They passed through police cordons at many points on the way to Kyushu. Having finally arrived, the police troops set up roadblocks and whenever they tried to pass through secretly they were found out and sent away. The police seemed to focus on the small stature of Sokaku. It seemed that Momoi, in an attempt to protect Sokaku, had contacted the police to prevent him from joining Saigo’s army. The Shonai swordsman perceived this and made the following promise when parting from him saying, “Takeda, you seemed to be wanted by the police because of Momoi Sensei’s request, so we haven’t been able to pass through the police cordons together. Let’s act separately and we’ll see each other again in Saigo’s army.” Sokaku tried to penetrate the police lines again and again but was unsuccessful.

Later, on the Taharazaka slope, there was a report that Jigen-ryu Batto corps of Saigo had annihilated Nogi’s regiment and another report saying that the same corps had been defeated by maneuvers of Kampei Sagawa and his other companions who were organized by Aizu retainers of the imperial sword fighting corps. Sokaku considered that participating in Saigo’s army meant fighting against swordsmen of the Aizu clan. Hence, he was forced to abandon his plan to join Saigo’s army. The swordsman from the Shonai clan who parted from Sokaku succeeded in passing through the cordon to join the army. Sokaku learned that he engaged in battle and was killed by the enemy.

Training as an Acrobat

When Sokaku Takeda went to Kyushu just after the end of the Seinan Civil War, the police had tightened up considerably on the control of weapons. Martial arts teachers also abstained from practicing fencing. As a result, almost all fencing schools virtually suspended their activities. Naturally, Sokaku was also unable to practice fencing. As he was traveling for self-training, he happened across a troupe of acrobats who were very popular at that time. The group consisting of about 12 acrobats made their headquarters in Nagasaki Prefecture. The head of the troupe asked Sokaku to help them with their act if he did not have any pressing business.

Sokaku had been small in size since childhood but quite nimble. He was skillful at somersaults and had been nicknamed “Kozaru” (little monkey). Since he was interested in acrobatics, he joined the troupe and toured with them performing acrobatic stunts. The most popular attraction was tightrope walking on a unicycle. Sokaku absorbed himself in practicing riding the unicycle on the tightrope every night until dawn after the others had fallen asleep. Finally, he mastered the technique in about seven days. The leader of the troupe was amazed at his skill in acrobatics in such a short time. He also perfected other acrobatic skills in addition to riding the unicycle.

Amazing Feats of Okinawa-te

Sokaku continued traveling to many locations with the acrobatic troupe and finally arrived at Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu. There was a man of about 30 who was an exponent of Okinawa-te (Karate) and who belonged to a different troupe. When this karate man would execute a strike, Sokaku could hear the sound produced and also saw smoke rising from his fist. Moreover, he would jump up from the seated position, execute a somersault and kick up the ceiling board eight feet high and land seated again. He showed the audience many amazing feats. To cite examples, he would break ten stacked tiles to pieces, break planks, etc.

There were two reasons why Sokaku had come to Kyushu. One was to support Takamori Saigo and the other was to observe the wonderful techniques of Okinawan karate. Sokaku had often heard of the popularity of this art and at last had a chance to see these amazing techniques. However, he perceived instinctively that the velocity of the four-inch wide fist and kicks of the karateka were inferior to the sword and spear. The blades of the sword and spear are thin. When the blade is drawn from the sheath by a swordmaster in an instant, it has the capability of decapitating the opponent. The speed of the sword cutting through the air can be heard from all directions. The speed of a spear wielded by a master is very rapid and produces a sound. One spear can appear to be several and the target ends up looking like a honeycomb. These speeds are unique to the sword arts. One must instinctively perceive whether the spearhead is thrust vertically or horizontally and then defeat the opponent by executing swift evasive movements. These skills can only be mastered through practice of the martial arts. Sokaku recognized that if the destructive powers of the fist, hand-blade or feet used to smash tiles should fail to strike the opponent’s body, they would be ineffective. Sokaku engaged in a barehanded match against the karateka. The latter attacked him using his favorite kicking technique, but Sokaku dodged the attack and at the same time skillfully struck the karate man’s right shin with his hand-blade. The Okinawa-te expert writhed in pain while holding his shin. In the second match, he executed a thrust with his right fist at Sokaku who countered with an Itto-ryu technique to his ribs, and then pinned him using a reverse throw. The karate man could not bear the pain and admitted his defeat and thus the match came to an end. Sokaku defeated the man because of his lightening-fast body movements developed through his practice of the sword and spear arts. Later, Sokaku toured the Okinawan Islands seeking karate masters in order to engage in matches.

This article is used with the permission of Aikido Journal and originally appeared in Aiki News #81 (July 1989).