Ha Ha Ha... holy crow fellas!!
Jeez. How are all of you?
Okay, well then. humph. I got some news for all of ya, I HAD NO IDEA THOSE REMARKS POSTED BY MR. FIGGIS EXISTED AT ALL!! ha ha ha!!
It's been about two or three years since I logged onto the AFJ website... I had no idea it made such remarks. I DON'T MIND THE REMARKS BUT I WASN'T INVOLVED IN THEIR AUTHORING AND DIDN'T KNOW THEY EXISTED UNTIL TODAY. Heh heh heh, what a hoot!!
I AM NOT THE AUTHOR OF THE REMARKS ON THE AFJ WEBSITE AND DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THEY EXISTED. I do not mind or object to the remarks, Master Moore was more than welcome to enter them, and I openly accept them... BUT I HAD NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH THOSE REMARKS AND SO CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR COMPLAINTS AGAINST OR DISAGREEMENT WITH THEM.
I do like what Moore entered there on the AFJ website... but I had no idea he entered that!! WOW.
(1) I didn't restructure or revive my school (Shinden yoshin ryu, Jujutsu.) But I do know exactly what Master Moore is talking about (it wasn't in regard to our SYR, it was in regard to other things.)
(1-a) I've been practicing the same kata techniques since 1977, as per the description of those techniques posted on
my angelfire home page here. I didn't need to re-enact or revive them BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I WAS TAUGHT AND HOW I WAS TAUGHT TO DO THEM.
(1-b) I do know exactly what re-enactment and revival Master Moore was talking about, but it isn't related to the SYR I've studied and practiced for some 30 years now!! I've been involved in American revived systems before, including various forms of Yoshin ryu BUT THIS WAS RELATED TO GENDAI DOJO JUJUTSU AS INDICATED IN THE REMARKS I POSTED ABOVE. What those instructors wanted was to create a listing and structure in Japanese language for their material content... I am a linguist and martial artist with some knowledge of the Japanese schools and practices so I helped them to do so. WE REVIVED THE JUJUTSU TAUGHT ORIGINALLY BY THEIR INSTRUCTOR BY TRANSLATING THE TECHNIQUE NAMES BACK TO JAPANESE when those instructors had lost the original Japanese names.
This presented certain difficulties since kanji for the kata names can be ryuha specific... in the end I opted for common kanji usage and so that nomenclature was drawn straight from Japanese language dictionaries as a standard language term UNLESS THE KODOKAN TENDED TO USE SOME OTHER KANJI in which case that was deferred to instead. This is no doubt the "revival" on my part that Master Moore referred to.
(2) Shinden Yoshin Ryu is just a crappy little gendai school, post-war doctrines of civilian and military service are the only thing that makes it at all interesting (otherwise it just isn't.) ANY PARTY CLAIMING THAT I STATED OR IMPLIED KORYU CONNECTION OR RELEVANCE IS OBVIOUSLY LYING DESPITE THE OBVIOUS PROLIFERATIONS OF REMARKS POSTED ALL OVER ALL THREE WEBSITES I POSTED TO THE INTERNET and in forums all over the net whenever addressing the subject of my jujutsu school. LOOK AT HOW THIS ITEM OF ENTRY BEGAN (item two, here): it says and I quote: "Shinden Yoshin Ryu is just a crappy little gendai school" GENDAI. Gendai. gendai.
Gentlemen, ONLY YOU stated that I ever claimed koryu relationship of any kind. The website you sited is
right here. On the same website linked to this
page here, it reads clearly:
"The SYR is a very small school and a lot of such small break away schools occured after the turn of the century, in response to the Meiji restoration. If the identities of persons as quoted in the body of the text are in any way incorrect, again I offer my apologies. This is unverified information, the result of searching for the roots of the Shinden Yoshin Ryu and definetly should not be understood as a claim of any kind. I am well aware of issues of authenticity and legitamacy as concerns the Koryu schools. I make no claims and do not defend the (reality of the) roots of the Shinden Yoshin Ryu. I am just a Martial artist, nothing more." YOU OUTRIGHT IGNORE SUCH OBVIOUS REMARKS in favor of making biased and unprecedented claims against me AND YOU IMPLY MISCONDUCT ON MY PART!!!!! The very website authored by me that you cited SPELLS IT OUT!
For example, same page says also: "
This Gendai (Modern era) style of Jujutsu is often classified as "Goshinjutsu" (Modern Self Defense Jujutsu) it was rumored to have been founded in Osaka, Japan in 1911 ".
Do you see the word "gendai" there?
And again on my angelfire website,
it clearly states here that: "
INSERTED THE FORM OF SHINTO YOSHIN RYU THAT OUR SCHOOL WAS SAID TO HAVE DERIVED FROM IS NOT ONE OF THE KORYU. Our school is not derived from any form of Koryu school, and NO SUCH CLAIM HAS EVER BEEN MADE that would be a misrepresentation. The other remarks which identified the Shinden yoshin ryu as possibly being a break away from Takagi ryu, likewise. The form of Takagi ryu mentioned WAS NOT a Koryu school. WHAT MANY PEOPLE DO NOT UNDERSTAND OR APPRECIATE is that these schools "Shinto yoshin ryu" AND "[+]Takagi [+] ryu" are both Koryu and Gendai, occurring very very commonly in and outside of Japan. Our school, Shinden yoshin ryu is Gendai goshin jujutsu, and was derived from a previous Gendai school itself. "
Gentlemen, you keep insisting that I am entering remarks and claims that are the exact opposite of what is quite obviously spelled out, in black and white ALL OVER THE NET wherver I've posted.
You are chasing your own misclaims and misremarks: I certainly NEVER said any such thing nor EVER implied it.
As for the websites of the gendai dojos teaching the schools listed above, in my former post: LOOK IT UP YOURSELVES. How do you think I found them?!? THERE REALLY IS THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES ON THE NET all you gotta do is a kanji search on Google (Japanese language only) and review the various links to find the dojo webpage. These three listing can be found:
Takeuchi ryu, Jujutsu
Takenouchi ryu, Jujutsu
Takagi ryu, Jujutsu
Those three I know FOR A FACT are gendai dojos posted to the net COMPLETE WITH PICTURES OF THE JAPANESE FOLKS practicing jujutsu in the dojo. In one photo, one can see the Japanese countryside clearly through the large front window of the dojo.
Jujutsu schools like these are on record (books and magazines) since the 1950's till date! The American and British service men used to frequent these dojos between 1951-1985 because it was cheaper to train with these gendai dojos (kodokan was very expensive and the Koryu wouldn't usually take foreigners). The gendai dojos teach and always have taught "Yoshin ryu", "Shinto yoshin ryu" (in fact, this was the more common ryuha name given until 1976!!!!), "Tenshin ryu", "Tenshin shinyo ryu", "Shinkage ryu", "Takeuchi ryu" and so on.
Yessir, you look them up yourselves (I know for a fact that they are there, I was recently looking right at the pictures on those websites and translating the Japanese text myself.) I KNOW THAT THEY ARE POSTED TO THE NET.
And hell no I won't post a link for ya!! Look it up yourselves!