Tokimune Takeda
Third son of Sokaku Takeda, head of the Daito-ryu school from 1943, who founded the Daitokan dojo in Abashiri, taught Daito-ryu aikibudo and introduced dan grades to the school.
Quick Facts
JapanBiography
Tokimune Takeda was a Japanese master who led the school Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu after his father. He was born in 1916; he died in 1993, according to Japanese sources on 2 December. He was the third son of the school's founder, Sokaku Takeda.
After his father's death in 1943 he became head of Daito-ryu. According to Japanese sources he worked for the Hokkaido police and later at the company Yamada Suisan, and in Abashiri on Hokkaido he founded the Daitokan dojo. He taught a style that he called Daito-ryu aikibudo and that combined the swordsmanship of the Ono-ha Itto-ryu school with traditional Daito-ryu techniques. For students' progress he introduced a modern system of dan grades. He stressed controlling a downed opponent through the joints with the help of the knee, so that the hands stay free for a weapon or another attacker. He described the concept of aiki in these words: "aiki means to pull when one is pushed and to push when one is pulled; it is the spirit of slowness and speed, of harmony of one's own movement with the ki of the opponent."
In 1987 he received the Abashiri city culture award. He died without naming an official successor. The school then split into two main branches: one led by Katsuyuki Kondo, the other by Shigemitsu Kato and Gunpachi Arisawa, who from the original Daitokan headquarters led the organisation Nihon Daito Ryu Aikibudo Daito Kai. In 2010 the monthly magazine Hiden published his literary estate with historical documents.
Teachers, students and family
Associated Martial Arts
Organisations
- DaitokanChief instructor