-Takamatsu Toshitsugu (高松 寿嗣)-

(1889-1972) 

an autobiography

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My age will be 68 this year the 41st year of showa (1966). Until two or three years ago I had no idea of what my age was this simply because I did not want to know, however I do know that I was born in the twenty third year of showa (1889) I am bewildered by the appearance of my face as it looks now but the reason for this is, I have not looked at myself in the mirror in some thirty years. Even with this bedraggled look I am still what most people would consider an energetic man. If most people were to go for a walk for an hour they would usually cover about four miles however I usually cover that in about half of one hour. 

I like to walk and do so naturally with my dogs. We walk together everyday. I am very bad for time, but everyday I am punctually in bed at nine o'clock with my pet cat whom I have appointed the name of Jiro. I awake at half past six in the morning and take a cold friction wash. This is something that I have not missed in the past forty years and is why I have never been sick in bed, this is not to say cold washes alone stop you from being sick. I enjoy painting very much and even now I continue painting as a form of play. I am not very skilful but still I enjoy it, for me its a pleasure. No one possess the knowledge concerning the events of tomorrow, this means we do not know when our life will cease. Due to the impetuousness of youth I made lots of errors regarding my life this was until the age of forty. I learnt my mistakes and now take my cold washes and go for a walk with my dog every morning. 
After this I dedicate some time to writing and painting this also is balance. (Exercise, rest, study and pleasure).

Those who are evil minded will always do bad things, even bad intentioned ninja would be banished. This is applicable to any martial system not just ninjutsu.
My teacher of the Koto ryu koppo jutsu and the Togakure ryu ninjutsu was TODA SHINRYKEN MASAMITSU SENSEI. Toda sensei began teaching me first koshi jutsu when I was nine years old. Whilst I was young I had a few too many fights these I have to say were in my own protection. When I was fifteen I had a fight with two masters of Musashi ryu during which my ear drum was ruptured this later stopped me from joining the children's army.

When I was seventeen, my family had a match factory, during this time an elderly man by the name of Ishitani called by the factory using a bokken as a walking stick. He was a very famous martial artist, but as will all other martial artist's he could not earn a living from it during this period. So my family employed him as a guard at the factory. Together with another person we made a dojo at the factory and Ishitani sensei began teaching us Kuki Happo Biken no jutsu as well as other martial arts including a variety of weapons, such as swords, bo, shuriken etc. But above all he trained me in the art of ninjutsu. He was already a very old man and after two years died upon my lap.
I trained in Karate koppojutsu and this training is very difficult. At first you should train the fingers and toes using sand. Next you use small pebbles and then a rock, at first your nails and finger tips will flow with blood, it will be very painful and difficult to persevere. I developed very strong 
fingers and toes from this practice, however this sort of training is useless nowadays and just a little Makawari training is sufficient. I say this because it is very easy to damage the joints causing problems later on in life.
I started my Ninjutsu training when I was thirteen years of age. I began by using a plank of wood 3cm thick by 4m in length. I started with the plank at 45 degrees and gradually increased it to 60, then 70 until I could run up it at ninety degrees.

Ninjutsu is not only the art of invisibility. The wide ranges of techniques were only named after a long time had passed. The origin goes back to the pre history period of the gods. The exact formation is very difficult as I was not alive then.
The Kuki family kept registers of this period under the title of KUKISHIN RYU HAPPO BIKEN JUTSU and they are part of the most advanced teachings of the YAYU RYU. Within the IGA RYU it is also possible to find the HAPPO BIKEN JUTSU, it is the essence of the NINJUTSU. 

 

These are the Happo Biken Jutsu.
1. Tai Jutsu - Hichyo Jutsu - Nawa Nage
2. Karate Jutsu - koppo Jutsu - Ju tai jutsu 
3. So jutsu - Naginata jutsu
4. Bo jutsu - jo Jutsu - Hanbo Jutsu
5. Senban Nage Jutsu - Ken Nage Jutsu
6. Ka Jutsu - Sui Jutsu (Together)
7. Chikujo Gunryakuheiho
8. Onshin Jutsu

 

Biken is the designation for the group comprising of Ken Jutsu Kodachi Jutsu and Jutte Jutsu. The Jutte Jutsu is the highest of the sword techniques. The offensive and the defensive use of the 
tessen and the jutte are found in this category.
There is also TOAKO NO JUTSU which enables you to over come an opponent from a distance.
There are secret scrolls and books with explanations about this skill but they are hardly intelligible. There are three KIAI used these are:

A - which produces a breaking effect of the opponents Ki
Ka - which produces same effect in his technique
Ei - which breaks body movement.

Any way the most important thing is to keep the essence of a true heart.
In the martial arts there is no need to concentrate only on the aspect of winning when fighting. However not to commit ones self to the fight is not a Martial art - it is simply violence and such a person does not have an honest heart and is antihumanist. Now days their is a sport of Judo which concentrates upon the pleasure of fighting and the building up of their bodies. They only want to win and because of this they bend at their waist when fighting rather than maintaining their bodies upright. When I think of this Judo sport since its birth from real Martial arts l feel ashamed and it gives me a chilling sensation.
A true martial art wins by using the natural movements of the highest quality techniques and if one moves the body according to this theory then one will of course win. In Martial Arts you need three points these are:

1. Body power
2. The learning of techniques
3. the spirit power

With these you can truly win.

After I had finished helping my father in his match making factory I attended an English school by the name George Bundow School. I also attended a Chinese culture school. After this I would train with Ishitani sensei in the art of HONTAI TAKAGI YOSHIN RYU, as well as other arts. Seven generations before his family had been the advisor to the famous Ninja Hattori family. 
When I had been training for some time I decided that I wanted to know more about myself and Ninjutsu, so I went to a mountain know as Maya San in Kobe prefecture. At the mountain I lived by a waterfall called Kamenotaki for a period of one year. I stayed in a cottage the size of two tatami mats and lived on beans with no boiled rice. My training partners were the rocks around my cottage. Sometimes I would exercise my finger tips by hitting the rocks. I would jump up onto the rocks with my kiai and then jump off. During this time I developed a special sense, for instance I could stand at the top of the mountain and know how many people were coming up, I could tell if they were men or women or otherwise. I became known as the sennin or tengu of the mountain. I went to China in the CHIN era and travelled through Mongolia and northern China, for a period of about ten years. During this period I met a shorinji boxer named Choshiro, we had a fight and I beat him. We became very close friends, like brothers. This was how I was introduced to the president of the Sino Martial Arts Association.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My memories of these times are a little bit confused especially the exact dates and times but I do recall that I once decapitated someone. On one occasion I faced and fought a group of mounted bandits which happened to be members of the local army division. I used the Ninjutsu on many occasions and was once tried for murder but proved my innocence (Self defence).
I recall that one time I was walking through an area known as Santo Sho, it was pitch black and suddenly I could feel something coming at me from behind. I turned to look and saw a huge dog running straight at me. Before I could move he had lunged at me and his head was next to my left ear. He growled viciously but I did not move a muscle because I knew that if I did he would attack me. After a while he stopped, maybe because he knew this human was not against him. At that instant I hit him right between the eyes with my right fist using my Koppo Jutsu technique. He yelped for a second and then fell to the ground not moving at all.

This experience can also be applied against a human attacker. Always be ready for when your attacker drops his guard, then counter attack, without giving any warning or opportunity for a second chance. This is the way I handle this type of situation. I wait for my opponent to attack me then I just wait for him to drop his guard or make him relax. This is an important point. The Sakki or intent to kill is felt through a system comparable to radar the one who is not able to receive these emissions will not be able to reach a high quality state of a martial artist. 
This is what I can guarantee through my experiences, for so many times I have stepped over the line that separates life from death. This with your techniques is the line. I once fought a man who was very skilled in many techniques, after I had beaten him we sat down and talked. He indeed knew many techniques and many ways to stop techniques and I have to say that the names alone I would have easily forgot. Truly he had a large amount of knowledge but his knowledge was wasted in the direction in which it was used.

This is an important point when we talk of techniques we are not talking about moving the body in an exact direction. There's a phrase in the Chinese book of strategy. "UTSU RYO SHI" that says how the victorious soldier is like water. This is because the water is both weak and soft and yet if there is a strong influence on it like a hill even the hill can be decimated. On the surface it appears like the soft cannot win. And yet soft can be stronger. This is like individual techniques, they are strong on the outside but weak within.
If you know the name of a bird then you know nothing because this tells you nothing about the bird. The Kito Ryu in the early part of the Edo era was under Fuko No Shichiro Uemon Masakatsu (Yuzan) and Ibaragi Mata Zaimon Sensei (Toshifusa Sozen). Together they founded the Ryoi Shinto Ryu. 
This was the beginning of the Kito Ryu, then later Ibaragi Sensei changed the name the Ryoi Shinto Ryu. From the fourth generation master Takino had a very famous student called Kuki Nagato. This school eventually became known as Kuki Shin Ryu.

When I returned home from China my father had taken his tenth wife so I went back to China where I became very ill and returned home to Japan, then I went to the Maya mountains. During that time I trained both Karate and Ninjutsu using my own theories. An old man of whom I know nothing about not even his name or who he was taught me many things. He made the to - in sign together with a Kiai and then said after two or three days the tape worm will be gone. Within ten days he had me walking again. He taught me many things about myself and nature. After that year I thought back and realised that to do anything I needed money and therefore returned once again to China.
In China I earnt my living by teaching at the English school, I had over 100 students of Martial Arts, during this time I taught many people the arts of war, but I also taught them the art of peace. I had many matches against very highly ranked martial artists of these I did not lose once, although some were called a draw. I left China having made a lot of money. 

I later became a monk but have to say that not all religions are good, the people within them become corrupted and then the religion itself becomes corrupted. Sometimes when a crime was committed within my region the police would seek my help in solving the mystery I was always able to do this and never once failed. Because of my knowledge and practical experience I have often done work for the government. This has only been in cases where it was for the good of my country or my people. Sometimes the work was very hard and dangerous.
With the period of change, I was asked to help form the Minkoku Seinen Botoku Kai. ( The association of Martial Arts for the Japanese arts. Present day Budokhan). There were many masters on the organisation mostly from old schools of martial arts. I was was elected as the president of this association. My official recognition was as a master of Jutaijutsu ( art of self defence ) and Bojutsu ( The art of using a stick as a weapon ). I have also helped on movie productions and at the theatre where I have worked as a technical officer.

There are many who try to copy our skill and they do this badly. There are schools of the short stick ( jojutsu ) but they do not understand I will tell you. Just as a man ( Ninja ) can and does disguise himself so does the art of the stick. Since the Jo is for travellers on the road it is a means of self defence. It is not nor has ever been a weapon or tool of the battlefield. It is disguised as an aid in moving but is for self defence. Jo - do is not for self defence it is for doing movements with the stick! They are too big and glamorous for self defence, they have no taijutsu. When I was president of the Seinen Botoku, many Martial Arts people would ask if the Do ( way of ) was also a method of hiding the true techniques. I have always been honest and had to tell them that Do is very different to jutsu and not of any use save that of learning the dance of the Kabuki theatre. But sometimes you cannot find a master of true arts then what teacher you find will have to do. There are some people who give them selves a certificate in the Menkyo or higher but it is not the scroll that gives the ability it is ones own knowledge with past knowledge. Some of these people surround themselves with government senators and high ranking people of authentic arts to make there own arts seem better. This is wrong. Often they use strength or say they have special powers to win but they loose anyway, where it is more important in their heart.

I have had many fights with these so called masters not only with the body but with words. Two of them even swapped techniques to try and make their own styles but when I pointed out the error of this they denied any such thing.
To train you must do so at any time in any condition. I remember my Grandfathers training hall was lit by candles and you had to use all your senses to know who had entered and if they were friends or not. Sometimes we would get ready for training and he would take us outside ( in the winter ) if you did not have on your outside clothes you would die from the cold so you had to know before. This also teaches bravery and courage. Use all your senses all of the times. You must train like fire because this is how the sword is made if you sweat this is like the cooling and forging process. You must keep your vision broad even after practising a skill for a long time if you fail to anything else then your vision will become narrow. If when training you think you are not learning then wait ten years this will change. On injuries I have had many too many to remember them all, for if you truly have to fight for your life this is bound to happen. 

The old scrolls talk of Kiatsu or life giving powers my teacher Ishitani
( Kuki shin yo ryu ) became very ill and died in my arms. These skills could not help him as no one has such power. If you hurt your foot or hands ( limbs) then you must use water at different heat ( hot and cold ? ) then you rub into the skin herbs from sweet plants. For the back you can roll on the floor 
to soften the joints between the bone. Sometimes it is good to have someone to rub and push these joints. If you have lots of pain then you must dream about this because your body has the answer on its own. This is the eyes and ears of god. You must drink plenty of water and still train even if you are in great pain. If you cannot leave your bed then train in the mind this is called Sankaku jutsu.
Some people talk of breathing but I tell you that if you control your breathing then it will ever become real ( natural ) when you eat it is the same breathing. You do not have to remember to stop breathing to drink from a cup. Breath is the life force of the body I have heard some people refer to it as the power of their technique if so I am very pleased for them ! If they ever have to fight for three hours it would be nice to see them controlling how they use the air. Too much air will blur the eyes and mind so take care. 
The eight gates of the Ninja are the way to train, I have trained in these for over 70 years this is the true way. 

Toshitsugu Takamatsu 33rd grand master of Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu 
and Hatsumi sensei's teacher.