By Ellis Amdur & Lance Gatling
The Ancestors of Takeuchi Santo-ryū
This extinct jūjutsu ryūha was founded by the Yano family, which, for generations, operated a famous jūjutsu dōjō in the Higo domain (currently, the area around the city of Kumamoto on the western Japanese island of Kyushu). Its name denotes its origins: santo 三統 means ‘three traditions’, in this case, two lines of the Takenouchi (AKA Takeuchi)-ryū active around Higo, and a third tradition either Araki-ryū or a line of Takenouchi-ryū strongly influenced by the former. The two lines of Takenouchi-ryū are classified by Takeuchi Santo-ryū as the Sakushū tradition, which is the home district of the Takenouchi family, and the Kobayashi tradition which traces back to an early shihan of Takenouchi-ryū. In a document among the personal effects of Shimada Hideki, last known instructor of Takeuchi Santo-ryū, various sections of the Takeuchi Santo-ryū mokuroku are designated as descending from either/both the Sakushū or Kobayashi kei (lines), others from the Araki-kei, and some as ‘unique to Takeuchi Santo-ryū.’