Iso Mataemon
A Japanese jujutsu master (1787–1863) who around 1830 founded Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu by merging the Yoshin-ryu and Shin no Shinto-ryu schools.
Quick Facts
JapanBiography
Iso Mataemon, in full Iso Mataemon Ryukansai Minamoto no Masatari, lived from 1787 to 1863 and is known as the founder of the jujutsu school Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu.
He studied Yoshin-ryu under Hitotsuyanagi Oribe and Shin no Shinto-ryu under Homma Jouemon. Around 1830 he merged the two schools and created Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu.
According to one source, he was never defeated in a duel. He taught approximately 5000 students and became a jujutsu instructor of the Tokugawa government. Between 1848 and 1864 his school was the most popular jujutsu school of its time.
According to tradition, he survived a clash with a hundred attackers, and this experience deepened his school's emphasis on striking techniques; we have not been able to verify this account. He should be distinguished from Iso Masatomo, one of Kano Jigoro's teachers, who died in June 1881; he was probably a later head of the same school.