Kitō-ryū Kumiuchi to Kitō-ryū Jūdō

Published on 17 October 2021 by Peter King

Kitō-ryū was an early derivative school from Ryōi Shintō-ryū.

This abstract of an article from University of Tsukuba (1994), details the change of nomenclature from Kumiuchi to Jūdō in 1741.

Kitō-ryū Jūdō (起倒流柔道について)

Origin of the name techniques and philosophy (流名. 術理及びその思想)

By Todo Yoshiaki & Komata Kouji (藤堂良 明・小 俣幸嗣)

"This study is aimed at explaining the origin of the name techniques and philosophy of

Kitō-ryū Jūdō founded at the about middle of Edo era and felt to be used the term Jūdō in its nomenclature.

The following results were obtained.

1)Kunitaka Suzuki the fifth successor of Kitō-ryū  Kumiuchi changed the name from Kitō-ryū Kumiuchi to Kitō-ryū Jūdō in 1741. He adopted Shinbu-no-Michi being transmitted from generation to generation in his family, and named Kitō-ryū Jūdō.

2)The doctrine of Kitō-ryū Jūdō included not only the mastery of techniques for battle but also a philosophical approach to conducting ones. life based on the law of nature and a way of virtue.

3)Kitō-ryū-no-Kata consisted of Omote 14 tricks and Ura 7 tricks. This Kata taught to keep balance and Kuzushi and Kake. Especially, Yokosutemi waza; Tani-otoshi and Seoi-nage have considerable influenced upon the Kōdōkan Jūdō."

The accompanying illustrations are taken from the Kōdōkan YouTube videos (as below):

For Tani-otoshi see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b9Me3Fohpk&t=14s

For Seoi nage see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIq0xI0ogxk&t=5s

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