from cover

Sokaku Takeda was one of the outstanding figures of twentieth-century Japanese martial arts. For over fifty years he taught his art of Daito-ryu aikijujutsu to nearly thirty thousand students, including aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba. Today, Daito-ryu is probably the best known of the Japanese jujutsu styles, but there has been surprisingly little information n print in any language on this fascination and complex art. Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu: Conversations with Daito-ryu Masters is the first book in English to explore the life of Takeda, the history of his art, and the techniques that are practiced in Daito-ryu today.

Stanley A. Pranin is a fifth degree black belt in aikido and editor-in-chief of Aikido Joukrnal. Pranin began his aikido training in 1962, and began serious research into Daito-ryu in 1985, when he frist discovered the strong connection between aikido and Daito-ryu. Pranin is author of The Aiki News Encyclopedia of Aikido, editor of Aikido Masters, and co-author of Takemusu Aikido: Background and Basics.

Contents

An Introduction to Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu
Modern-day Bokuden
Tokimune Takeda
Yukiyoshi Sagawa
Kodo Horikawa
Takukma Hisa
Katsuyuki Kondo
Seigo Okamoto
Daito-ryu Technical Sampler
Appendix: Daito-ryu Organizations
Index