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Daito Ryu
Daito Ryu, or "Great Eastern School", is the most popular classical form of jujutsu practiced in Japan. Considered a national treasure of Japan, it maintains a lineage that extends more than 900 years and was popularized in the 20th century by Sokaku Takeda. The Daito Ryu lineage is the direct parent of Aikido.
Kodo Horikawa​
Kodo Horikawa was born on April 10, 1894 in Kitami, Hokkaido, Japan. He first began his training in Daito-ryu Jujutsu on May 12, 1914. His initial training began under his father Taiso Horikawa, but would continue directly under Sokaku Takeda. Kodo was very dedicated man, dedicating 6 hours a day to his training. He was also a man of short stature standing at 4' 11" tall and due to this, Sokaku specifically told Kodo that he needed to master aiki and instructed him mostly in the aiki principles. As a result, Kodo's techniques came to be known as very subtle, effective, and strong. It is said that Horikawa's Kodokai emphasizes aiki over strength to execute the higher-level techniques.​
In 1930 Kodo received the certificate of "The Acting Instructor" or Kyoju Dairi from Master Sokaku. Still, Kodo continued his training for six hours a day. One year later, he received the certificate of Hiden Mokuroku "The Secret Essence" - and a month after that, the final certificates of Hiden Okugi Mokuroku "The Secret Essence of Mysteries" and the Hiden Aiki Okugi Mokuroku "The Secret Essence of Aiki". The final certificate, the Daito-ryu no Menkyo Kaiden was awarded to him years later. In 1950 he established the Daito-Ryu Aikijujutsu Kodokai in Hokkaido attaching great importance to teaching on a one-to-one personal basis. In 1974 Kodo Horikawa received the Eisei Meijin "Order of Eternal Mastership", which is the highest title of the Budo society. Kodo Horikawa passed away on October 30th 1980.
Sokaku Takeda​
Sokaku Takeda was born in 1860 in Aizu, Fukushima Japan. where he received instruction in the traditional o-shiki-uchi arts of the Aizu clan from his relatives and from Tanomo Saigo (the last minister of the Aizu domain, 1830-1903). Sokaku is considered the thirty-fifth Grand Master of the Daito-ryu tradition stemming from Kunitsugu Takeda.​
In addition to the Daito-ryu system, Sokaku studied many other martial arts, and acquired firsthand combat experience in street fights all over the country. Around the turn of the century, Sokaku began teaching the Daito-ryu system (which by then included some new elements that he himself had incorporated) to select groups of military officers, police officials and aristocrats. Sokaku was based in remote northern Japan but made occasional trips to Tokyo and western Japan. In the course of his travels, Sokaku defeated all challengers. It is said that thirty thousand martial artists received instruction at Sokaku's hands. Of this vast number, only twenty or so received formal teaching licenses from the Daito-ryu Grand Master. Several of Sokaku's students themselves became extremely distinguished teachers.
It is recognized that Sokaku Takeda did not teach each student in the same way, nor was the way of performing the techniques identical in each line of Daito-ryu. It is speculated that Sokaku taught each student according to their individual learning styles, and varying needs of each learner. He changed methods and techniques at will and each change has developed into a particular trademark for each style of Daito-ryu, as well as the techniques of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. Sokaku Takeda passed away on April 25th 1943.
Mushinkan's Daito Ryu Lineage
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Sokaku Takeda
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Kodo Horikawa
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Yusuke Inoue
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Hayawo Kiyama
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Roy Goldberg
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Martin Brzykcy
