Sorry Bruce, I had no intention of trying to force you to conform. Far from it in fact and trust me, I can tell you all about not giving a crap about fitting in with society's expectations of normal so as to gain acceptance I was simply trying to point out that using capitals is quite a harsh tool of emphasis in written communication. There are softer tools of emphasis that create less friction in the eyes and mind of the reader. One example I gave was the use of italics. That's quite common of course. Another example that I come across and sometimes use myself is to add * to the start and end of the word(s) I'm trying to emphasise. Do *you* see what I mean? If you think of that in terms of a spoken sentence, it's like extending the pronunciation of a word so as to emphasise it. Underlining tends to be quite a harsh method of emphasis too, possibly because it's a tool that our school teachers used to use to show where we were wrong. It's like saying "this is wrong, end of story" and it truncates further discussion. From context, using capitals to emphasise the words and terms you have doesn't give the impression that you were distinguishing them as being different from the main text (for example, using a different method to indicate Japanese language words from English.) That's why I raised the issue. Your methodology just seems disjointed and creates friction as you read your posts and that means you run the risk of part or all of your message being lost along the way. Just some thoughts
That website totally isn't. How's that for the laziest answer ever?! Daito ryu has two sides, it seems there were two schools formed to make one. I'm no expert, but from what I remember the oldest half had little/anything to do with being combative. It was more about etiquette and philosophy. That being said, most schools did not have techniques written down prior to Edo (and yes that includes Tenshin-sho Den Katori Shinto ryu); they did have strategy and combative techniques, however very little was recorded. So if you want to think Daito ryu is a koryu bujutsu, that is fine. It's probably best to consult with some folks who actually know what they are talking about (unlike me, who is recalling conversations ages ago without anything to back it up but opinion).
From what I read somewhere, the jujutsu section of Daito Ryu was passed along continuously but the weapons section was not. Sokaku Takeda learned the use of sword and different weapons from other schools. Daito Ryu was supposedly a complete system that includes the use of different weapons, unarmed fighting methods, strategy and tactics.
It is a very popular pass-time in the Pacific Rim countries to represent a given practice as being of great age and having some sort of unbroken lineage. Most practices simply don't bear-up under close scrutiny. Still its a popular activity just like earning organizational bragging rights for having the largest membership. The DAITO-Ryu practiced today was invented by TAKEDA Sokaku and named by him. It was given structure by his son, Tokimune. Thats pretty much the whole story. As far as the DAIDO-Ryu of the Takeda clan going back to the 9th Century, if thats what people find fun to believe, thats fine. There was probably a handful of YOROI UCHI techniques for grappling around with other people wearing armour. Evidence of YAWARA after the fashion of what we call JU JUTSU today seems to have come into the Japanese culture during the 13th or 14th. Century. As far as the clan itself goes, it was defeated in the power struggles leading to the TOKUGAWA Period. The Aizu branch that continued wound-up on the wrong side of the SATSUMA Rebellion in the 19th Century and was dissolved. There's no big secrets about any of this. Most of this history has been churned a number of times over on the AIKIDO JOURNAL forum. If I was looking for some sort of definitive answers thats where I would look. FWIW. Best Wishes, Bruce
It also tradition in Hakkoryu for shodan and above, when wearing hakama, to have the obi on the outside. Black through yondan, purple for Shihan and above (purple is higher than black in Hakkoryu).
When the photo gallery looks that bad (referring to the techniques) I'm not sure the historical authenticity matters anymore, LOL. Also, they spell it Jujitsu, but jitsu means truth in Japanese, jutsu means art or skill, so it should be jujutsu if they are trying to be historically correct.
