The Hontai Yoshin Ryu Takagi Ryu Jujutsu lineage dates from the founder TAKAGI Oriemon Shigetoshi who was born in 1635.

The techniques use the principles of gyaku (joint locks), kuzushi (breaking balance), nage (throwing techniques), atemi (striking), taisabaki (body movement) and irimi (entering). At the heart of any classical ryu are weapons skills,

Weapons are not only at the core of the teaching, but also the armed kata teach and improve the basic body movement and timing skills used in the unarmed techniques, and the regular practice of weapons kata greatly effects your Jujutsu skill level.

By correctly training in the basic kata the a student learns to read an opponents body language and breathing and to feel an opponents direction and as a result to instinctively blend with an opponents attack in order to break the attackers balance while maintaining their own, and although the kata contain many effective techniques in truth it is the skills of the practitioner that make the techniques successful in application, and the secret to learning these skills is the correct training of the kata.

As former students of Hontai Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu we have retained the full Hontai Yoshin Ryu curriculum within our group including long and short staffs, long and short swords, knife and sword defence.

The core teachings of Hontai Yoshin Ryu Takagi Ryu are Jujutsu, stick, and short sword.

The study of weapons also have major self defence benefits and while the practice is safe, practitioners are naturally exposed to a higher level of stress. From a practical point of view students also develop an understanding of attack angles and timing that can only be grasped by training in long range weapons.

For a historical comparison of martial arts click here.