Switzerland
Origin
Motoha Yōshin-ryū is a traditional Japanese martial art whose roots reach back into the feudal period. It was developed in the Tokugawa period under the name Takagi Ryu in the first half of the 17th century by the samurai Takagi Oriemon Shigetoshi, who combined techniques from various martial arts such as Jūjutsu, Kenjutsu and Sōjutsu into this style.
Motoha Yōshin-ryū belongs to the family of Takagi-Ryu styles. The training system centres on Jūjutsu, unarmed combat against armed or unarmed opponents, and includes striking, joint-locking and throwing techniques. In Motoha Yōshin-ryū the strikes, throws and locks are carried out in a manner of their own, and the footwork is unique as well.
Motoha Yōshin-ryū is the only school in Switzerland that teaches the authentic Takagi Ryu.
The curriculum
- Jūjutsu — strikes, throws, joint locks
- Kodachi — short sword
- Hanbō — wooden staff, 90 cm
- Tantō — knife, 30 cm
- Torinawa — binding techniques
- Suwari Shime — strangulation techniques
- Katsu — resuscitation techniques
The guiding principle is jū, "yielding": the opponent's force and momentum are taken over rather than broken. It is complemented by seishin tanren, the training of the mind — concentration, resilience and endurance as a training aim in its own right alongside technique.
A line of its own
For centuries this transmission ran within Hontai Yōshin-ryū. In 1990 Yasumoto Akiyoshi separated from it and has since carried the line on independently as Motoha Yōshin-ryū — within the Takagi family, but with its own Sōke and its own organisation. Yasumoto Akiyoshi holds Menkyo Kaiden of the Takagi Ryu.
Related lines
The Takagi family is a branched one. For anyone who wants to understand how the schools are connected:
- Hontai Yoshin Ryu — the main line, no school in Switzerland
- Takagi Ryu — member of the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, no schools outside Japan
- Kukishin Ryu — separated off in the 1980s
- Takagi Yoshin Ryu — the term used in Bujinkan, Genbukan and Jinenkan
In Switzerland
The line is carried by the Yoshinkan Dōjō Zug in Cham, affiliated to the Shinden Motoha Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu International Association.