Asayama Ichidensai Shigetatsu
Existence disputedA Japanese jujutsu master, founder of the Asayama Ichiden-ryu school focused on atemi strikes, gyakute joint locks and fighting with a short wooden staff.
Quick Facts
JapanBiography
Asayama Ichidensai Shigetatsu, also known as Asayama Mitsugoro Ichidensai, is the founder of the Asayama Ichiden-ryu school. He was the third son of Asayama Genban Minamoto no Yoshitada Ichiyosai, a military expert in the service of lord Akai Aku Uemon Kageta of the Amada and Hikami districts.
Sources differ on who his teacher was: one tradition names Marume Mondonosho Norikichi, another Kamiizumi Hidetsuna, Okuyama Saemondayu Tadanobu, Nakamura Senjuro and the Yoshioka family. According to tradition, at the age of twelve he had a dream of the deity Fudo Myo-o that led to his enlightenment; this is a handed-down, unverified story.
The Asayama Ichiden-ryu school focuses on atemi (strikes) and gyakute (joint locks and turns) and includes jujutsu as well as techniques with a short wooden staff. According to the source, he spread his tradition throughout Japan.
The accounts of his life are contradictory. The source states that he founded the school in 1566, and also that he died on the 5th day of the first month of the 4th year of the Jokyo era, that is in 1687, at the age of 78. Such an age would mean he was born around 1609, that is after the school was founded; we have not been able to determine which figure is correct.