Itto Ryu U.S.

[megumisita]

After doing some research it seems that my school is the only representative of Kogen Itto Ryu in the United States. I must say this makes me sad. My research also indicates that the same holds for Itto Ryu but I'm not sure. If anyone knows of any Itto Ryu schools or branches in the united states, could you please give a shout out. Thanks.

[R A Sosnowski]

I have heard of a Kogen-ha Itto Ryu group in Columbia, MD, under Dr. Bill Dvorine - it is known as the Washington Kendo Club. They teach iai and kenjutsu from the ryuha I am told by a member with whom I practice Atarashii Naginata. In addition to Kendo and KIR, they also practice Shinto Muso Ryu Jodo.

HTH.

[megumisita]

Do they have a website?

[smith]

Try the same request on e-budo.com. They have a much bigger subscriber base than KWF.

[R A Sosnowski]

Originally posted by megumisita
Do they have a website?

Yes, but I don't have it off hand. Try a web-search on "Washington Kendo Club" or "Maryland Kendo."

I cannot recall if all the arts are listed on the web-site -- my recollection is that it is basically Kendo-oriented. My information comes from two of his students with whom I do Atarashii Naginata -- they both do Kendo; she also does SMR Jodo and he does KIR Iai & Kenjutsu.

HTH.

[megumisita]

I would be very interested to find out more. I checked their url but it doesn't work anymore. All KIR lines have gone extinct save my schools and the main line. The only other one I knew of was Hiruma-ha Kogen Itto Ryu and it went extinct. Mainstream KIR doesn't practice iaido so I'm curious to know where their iai kata came from. My school practices iai but I have yet to find out from where. Do you know what rank Dr. Dvorine is?

[R A Sosnowski]

Dr. Dvorine is yondan in kendo, sandan in jodo. I don't know about the others. He's also yudansha in Judo.

Contact info. at http://www.kendo-usa.org/statedojolist.htm#MD.

HTH.

[megumisita]

thanks!

[Saitama Steve]

Just for your information, there are no Kogen Itto ryu groups outside of Japan. At least none endorsed by the Soke of the ryuha, Henmi Chifuji Sensei.

For clarification, have a look at these sites.

http://www.koryu.com/guide/kogenitto.html


http://www.e-budo.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=10874&highlight=Kogen+Itto+ryu

Regards

[megumisita]

Yeah, I would imagine there are non endorsed by Henmi Sensei. However, that does not preclude their existence as my school is a prime example of that. Thanks for the additional information though Saitama Steve.

[R A Sosnowski]

Originally posted by megumisita

Do they have a website?



Originally posted by R A Sosnowski


Yes, but I don't have it off hand. Try a web-search on "Washington Kendo Club" or "Maryland Kendo."

I cannot recall if all the arts are listed on the web-site -- my recollection is that it is basically Kendo-oriented. My information comes from two of his students with whom I do Atarashii Naginata -- they both do Kendo; she also does SMR Jodo and he does KIR Iai & Kenjutsu.

HTH.

Well, they did have a website - I found the URL in my bookmarks, but it does not work now. I also came across a hard copy that I had printed out from the website - at the time that I accessed it (mid-September 2002), it was strictly Kendo - the button they had for "Iaido/Jodo" did not work.


BTW, back in 1998, I met David Diguangco, Instructor at the Sakurai-Ha Kogen Itto Ryu Ogden Kendo Club, during the USNF (Naginata Federation) annual Seminar at Weber State in Ogden, UT. I believe that he maintained a website called United States Classical Kendo Federation (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/6305/), which currently is being updated. As I recall, there were three Dojo listed there, some place in Ohio and another in Florida along with the Ogden Dojo.

Although I did have a chance to play with them, I had to pass because I was exhausted due to a combination of jet lag, lack of sleep due to a very late arrive (about 5 hours on a late evening flight), and adjusting to the altitude.

I also came across an old post linking Dr. Dvorine with the group in Ogden:

THE IAIDO NEWSLETTER, Volume 7 number 6, #58, JUN 1995

KOGEN ITTO RYU SEMINAR


April 7, 8, and 9, 1995. The Ogden Kendo Club is very pleased to announce a very successful Itto Ryu Seminar with Kotaka Sensei. It was attended by 15 people, the furthest participants were Brian Wright and Dr. Bill Dvorine from Washinton, DC, and the remainder from Idaho and Utah. ...

[megumisita]

Hahahahahah, its funny how paths cross and recross during life. Diguangco Sensei is one of Kotaka Sensei's first two students. Unfortunately I have never met him because I train at the Ohio Dojo. I have met the other of the first two students but it is my loss that I have not had the opportunity to meet Diguanco Sensei.

[saychezenow]

After doing some research it seems that my school is the only representative of Kogen Itto Ryu in the United States. I must say this makes me sad. My research also indicates that the same holds for Itto Ryu but I'm not sure. If anyone knows of any Itto Ryu schools or branches in the united states, could you please give a shout out. Thanks.
Dr. Bill Dvoring (godan) teaches iaido ( with Kogen Itto Ryu as the koryu) on Sundays at 10 AM at the Baltimore Judo Club in Catonsville, Md. On any given Sunday there are betweeen five and fifteen students. Dr. Dvoing has one nidan, one shodan, two ikkyu, and several lesser ranks, and a few beginners. Dr. Dvoring also teaches kendo on Saturdays in Columbia MD. His informations can be found on the US Kendo Federation web site. I hope that this is of some help to you.

Andy Raum
nikyu

[R A Sosnowski]

Dr. Bill Dvoring (godan) teaches iaido ( with Kogen Itto Ryu as the koryu) on Sundays at 10 AM at the Baltimore Judo Club in Catonsville, Md. On any given Sunday there are betweeen five and fifteen students. Dr. Dvoing has one nidan, one shodan, two ikkyu, and several lesser ranks, and a few beginners. Dr. Dvoring also teaches kendo on Saturdays in Columbia MD. His informations can be found on the US Kendo Federation web site. I hope that this is of some help to you.

Andy Raum
nikyu

Out of curiousity, who is the governing organization that is doing the gradings?

[A.J. Bryant]

Just out of curiosity, have any of you practiced or seen the "Chuden no Bu" set of Sakurai-ha Iaido? These 5 waza (Like the frist two sets) appear to be related to MSR as well (i.e., Nidan Torabashira, Kabutowari (Itomagoi), Zengo Sayugiri (Shihogiri), Etc.). Are they performed in tatehiza (kiza) or tachi?

Regards,

Andrew Bryant

[Priam]

Andrew,

The "Chuden no Bu" series is probably the most unlike MSR of the series. There are certain similarities, but it's quite a departure. These kata in the series actually start in seiza, however are executed tachi. The directional cuts of the 'giri' styles in the list (zengo giri, sayu giri, zengo-sayu giri and happo giri) are large sideways sweeping cuts executed from kneeling to standing to kneeling in each direction. Nidan Tobashiri is most like Tora Bashiri of MSR, however, involves an additional cut at the beginning. Kabuto wari is very similar to Itomagoi, however, the draw is slightly different.

Hope that settles your curiosity...

[Santiman]

It is http://www.usfkenjutsu.com/main.htm. Although, it is not the same as "U.S. Classical Kendo Federation" referred to. Is there any connection here?:confused:

[Neil Gendzwill]

Yes, that's still Kotaka's organization.

[xvikingx]

I'm sorry but is any of this stuff legit? Looks a little dodgy to me. There's some guy on the site sporting a zekken with 悪魔 printed on it.

[Rennis]

I'm sorry but is any of this stuff legit? Looks a little dodgy to me. There's some guy on the site sporting a zekken with 悪魔 printed on it.

About 10 years ago or so the Sakurai people were discussed at length on various forums and the general consensus among those in a position to know was "they claim to be Kogen Itto-ryu. Head of Kogen Itto-ryu has never heard of them, a lot of these claims make little to no sense". I believe a lot of this was discussion on Iaido-l so a search through the archives there might turn up some more details.

Rennis

[xvikingx]

Cheers.

10 characters....

[A.J. Bryant]

Since this old thread has been revived...

I started my sword studies under Kotaka sensei in the mid 1990’s and left “about 10 years ago”. I have remained in contact with sensei’s senior students however and those you see online are not these individuals.

Kotaka sensei is no longer teaching and has retired from his professional life as well for the most part. About 10 years ago, he developed a health issue that affected his cognitive abilities. This was eventually diagnosed, surgery was performed, and he is doing much better now, though the damage was done.

Unfortunately, while he was still teaching during that period, a few unscrupulous people took advantage of his ill health and the organization/art imploded. One very prominent website is operated by one individual who, with only a few years of study, somehow convinced Kotaka sensei to award him “menkyo kaiden”... I believe the Florida club has/had a connection with this person.

The best resource for Kotaka sensei’s art is David Diguangco in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was ranked rokudan and is preserving Kotaka sensei’s art intact.

What I have pieced together is that Kotaka sensei studied under a certain Sakurai Fumitaki in ‘something’ while he was a youth (probably Ono-ha or Nakanishi-ha Itto-ryu and Muso Shinden-ryu), but it likely was not Kogen Itto-ryu as they look nothing alike. Was this person a member of the Shinsengumi? Who knows. A lot of young men joined during their last days and even more claimed some connection later in life. Regardless, probably because of Kotaka sensei’s family lineage as Kai Genji, a connection with Kogen Itto-ryu was claimed for whatever reason...

[xvikingx]

Kotaka's teacher's teacher was Shinsengumi? It says on the Int Classical Kendo Fed site that his sensei was a member.

Excerpt from an article:" The Relativistic Quantization of a Classical Kendo"
by Sadao Kotaka, Ph.D., Sakurai-ha Kogen Itto-ryu Soke

We practice Kendo/Iaido based on one of the most powerful Kendo schools that ever existed. I can say this with confidence, because my Sensei, Sakurai Gen'noshin Fumitaka, was a member of the Shinsen-gumi during the Civil Wars of the Meiji Restoration.
*From http://www.internationalclassicalkendofederation.org/index.htm
Either way I've got to ask, how freakin' old is Kotaka?! Because that was a loooooooong time ago. Around 1870 to be more specific. Ulysses S Grant was president. The Franco-Prussian war is going on. Construction of the Brooklyn bridge has just begun.The great Chicago fire breaks out. I'm talking OLD! So let's say Kotaka sensei is currently 80 (that seems like a nice reasonable age), that means he would have been born in 1929. And let's say his sensei, Fumitaka, did join the shinsengumi at the very end, at a nice young age of 15 (again a reasonable nomber I think), that would already make him 74 years old when Kotaka was born.
You'll have to excuse me for being a little skeptical, but it seems a bit far fetched.

[Abramo]

Is that article for real, or the title is just a word-play? Because it sets off all sorts of nasty bells.

I wouldn't trust someone writing about the "relativistic quantization" of anything. It's pseudo-scientific name-dropping of the worst kind. :angry:

[xvikingx]

Not to mention the article is wrought with nationalism and historical inaccuracies.
Having dug up old discussions on this (google is your friend), I think I am just going to let this dead horse rest in piece.

[Abramo]

Sorry, double post. Read the excerpt in the site, no word play. Such pearls as:

"In a real sword fight, transform the huge wave of your opponent's spiritually oppressive tsunami into a set of miniscule points like photons."

:rolleyes:

[A.J. Bryant]

Gentlemen,

I don't think I expressed myself well in the last post. Kotaka sensei's teacher was named Sakurai Fumitaki. Sakurai sensei was supposedly a member of the shinsengumi.

Kotaka sensei in now in his seventies. He studied with Sakurai sensei starting after the war and up until Sakurai sensei's death in the 1950's. According to Kotaka sensei, Sakurai sensei was very old at that point. It is said he was in his early teens during his involvement with the Shinsengumi and one of the last members to join.

You guys might want to rethink the witch hunt. Kotaka sensei was also a member of the AUSKF and ranked 5th-dan Renshi I believe before leaving sometime in the 1980's. He was general secretary of the Midwest Kendo Federation and quite good in keiko... I visited Hajime Sugawara in Indianapolis a few years back. When I mentioned Kotaka sensei, his eyes lit up...

As to the article, Kotaka sensei has a PhD in physics--Quantum Physics I believe.

Personally, I feel the entire situation was very unfortunate; however, his instruction was excellent and his iai allowed me to easily convert over to Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu when I moved on.

Cheers,

[Abramo]

[snip]
You guys might want to rethink the witch hunt. [snip]
As to the article, Kotaka sensei has a PhD in physics--Quantum Physics I believe.

Personally, I feel the entire situation was very unfortunate; however, his instruction was excellent and his iai allowed me to easily convert over to Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu when I moved on.

Cheers,

Look, I'm sure you are sincere and he was a great teacher to you. I don't doubt he had serious training and martial skills.

But PhD or no PhD, "relativistic quantization of Kendo" is, like I said, name-dropping and the article excerpts prove it is just that. Serious scientists do not do this. See here (http://physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/) for further discussions on the misuse of science and scientific terms and concepts.
This may have nothing to do with Kendo but it's my pet-peeve, so to speak.

[xvikingx]

You guys might want to rethink the witch hunt.
No witch hunt here. I'm just trying to make sense of this claim. The war ends in 1945, hypothetically you could make Sakurai 10 years old at the end up the boshin war joining the shinsengumi and he'd still be 86 when he started instructing Kotaka, dying at 91 years old. Now that's plausible but according to what has been written he would have been even older than that.

[A.J. Bryant]

Gentlemen,

Kotaka sensei was a physicist for the US Navy in California, then Honda in Ohio. I'm not a scientist, nor do I play one on TV, or even care about academic issues in the field.... :wink: FYI, that article is at least 15 years old.

As to Sakurai sensei's age, yep, I understand he was about that old...

It is what it is... Cheers,

[Yoshisada]

I’ve only made a few posts on the internet since its inception, and I’ve regretted every one of them. I am the unscrupulous person you have referred to in your previous posts in this thread.
However, I must defend Sadao Kotaka-sensei and myself from your attacks. I started to train with Kotaka-sesnsei and his senior student at the time, Craig Campbell, in 1985. Both were swordsmen of the highest skill and character long before Kendo became popular in the United States. We trained constantly at The Ohio State University and at Kotaka-sensei’s home. Due to the tugs of family responsibilities, Craig Campbell attended training less and less in the 1990’s and I became Kotaka-sensei’s senior student. For the last five years of his active Kendo life, I hosted Kotaka-sensei’s Dojo at the High-School where I teach.
Kotaka-sensei did certify that he had taught me all he new, and that I had the right to teach his swordsmanship. He did this without any pushing from me at all. In fact, I practiced with him for fifteen years before he brought up the subject of "rank." I still feel I did not deserve this honour, though I do my best to carry out his instructions. I claim no superiority of rank or knowledge of swordsmanship beyond the boundaries of my own Dojo. If you asked my very few students what "rank" I hold, I bet you that they do not know.
The Dojo and Kotaka-sensei’s art have not “imploded” as you say. Only the Ohio State Kendo/Iaido club was abandoned, mostly because it became too difficult for non-students to attend practices at Ohio State facilities.
Sensei retired from Kendo and left his school of swordsmanship in my care in 2006. By my count that makes at least 20 years of (more-or-less) weekly instruction from Kotaka-sensei, not “a short time!”
In those years I saw a quiet, gracious Samurai, dedicated to his art, and obviously blessed with deadly skill with the sword. Many came through the Dojo, sometimes high-ranking Japanese Kendoka, and without exception they gave him their deepest bows as they left. I myself never came close to defeating him in shinai-geiko, even though I am 20 years younger.
Kotaka-sensei was one of the founding fathers of the Midwest Kendo Federation, and left when, as he said, “shinai Kendo became more like a Figure Skating Tournament than a tool to practice swordsmanship.”
Kotaka-sensei did teach what he called "Kogen Itto Ryu kata," and I have listed them below. Since he only taught them to a select two or three students in his entire life, many of the internet postings are somewhat shy of the mark, if not outright wrong. Sensei's family's association with the Hiruma and Henmi families had been stretched and broken in the early 1900's, but his great uncles, grandfather, father, and brother kept the family swordsmanship alive. It was very much connected to Kogen Itto Ryu (see below).
Kotaka-sensei ought to be revered and not sniped at by people who should spend more time swinging a bokken and shinai in the Dojo and less time tapping keys on their computers. Every time you post personal attacks, I assure you that he reads them and is wounded by them. If you whip out your swords as quickly and thoughtlessly as you open your Internet mouths, you are practicing bad strategy.
As for some of the half-truths you post, I will answer a few. The founder of Kogen Itto Ryu was Henmi Tashiro Yoshitoshi (1746-1828). He was taught by Sakurai Gosuke Nagamasa. Sakurai Gen’noshin Fumitake was directly descended from him.
The ninth headmaster of Kogen Itto Ryu (Henmi Chifuji) provided a lineage chart, reproduced in Nihon Budo Taikei vol. 2, page 343). This chart lists Kotaka-sensei’s ancestor, Kotaka Shinsaemon Hidemichi as a Kaiden Menkyo. Hidemichi was probably born in the early 1800’s but we don’t know the dates. He passed his Kogen Itto Ryu swordsmanship down through his family and Kotaka-sensei began his education at three years old in the Japanese embassy in Peking. It was there that Kotaka-sensei learned Iaido from Konagaya-sensei.
Sakurai Gen’noshin Fumitake (I don’t know the exact dates) was born sometime in the 1850’s. As a youngster (8-12 years old) he was a messenger boy for one of the Shinsengumi troops. He began his swordsmanship training with them. He later trained in his birth-right swordsmanship, Kogen Itto Ryu. Kotaka-sensei was sent back to Japan during the war, and there he trained (as a middle-school aged kid) under Sakurai-sensei, who was in his eighties. Sakurai-sensei died in the 1950’s at close to 100 years old.
Kotaka-sensei received his Doctorate in Biochemistry from Tokyo University and immigrated to the US in the early 1960’s. His research on air-borne ions is still widely cited.
Are you really that angry about Kotaka-sensei’s article? Perhaps we should next decide to see what damage we can cause by cutting up more important writings, say, the Bible, or The Old Man and the Sea, or Hagakure, or some of Lorca’s poems, etc. I’m sure you could do a great demolition job on any text you choose.
Why don’t you, instead of living your lives as clever destroyers, try to build something by training, and teaching, and writing your own articles? I’d love to read what constructive things you have to say about swordsmanship!
Today, the Dojo I lead meets beneath a 200 year-old Green Ash tree in my backyard in central Ohio. We ask for no money and we make no money from our art. We practice the UNIFIED Japanese sword arts: Iaido (Seiza-no-bu, Kiza-no-bu, Chuden-no-bu, and Okuden waza), Kogen Itto Ryu Kumitachi (Goten-gohon, Chinpin-gumi, Zanshin-gumi, Hagiri-iai-gumi, and Kodachi), Shinken-shobu shinai Kendo, and Tai-yoho.
I hope this information quiets your troubled minds, and that you don’t make me regret making this post.
Donald M. Yehling, Ph.D.
Sakurai-ha Kogen Itto Ryu

[pgsmith]

However, I must defend Sadao Kotaka-sensei and myself from your attacks.
If you see questions on years-old threads as attacks, then it tells me you've either got paranoia problems, or are ashamed of something.

I hope this information quiets your troubled minds, and that you don’t make me regret making this post.
If all your other posts are as sarcastic and whining as this one was, it's no wonder you've regretted them all.

I thank you for the information you provided, as information is always a good thing. I can honestly say that I don't like all of your whining and hand-wringing. This is the information age, and discussion forums abound. This means that a lot of people are out looking at information, and a lot of people are discussing things. If you get bent out of shape (as you obviously have), and accuse people of having "troubled minds" because they are discussing things that you are involved in, then you should stop being involved in things. It will be much better for your heart.

Just my opinions as someone that read the posts, but doesn't really care one way or the other about the subject.

[Yoshisada]

Very well. Perhaps you have a point. Nobody likes to be accused of manipulating his teacher and taking things that don't belong to him (A J Bryant's June 2009 post). Nor does he like to see very interesting things his teacher has written about a subject he holds dear ridiculed.

There does need to be some accountabilty about what is said on these forums. I give them much more weight than I ought to, and perhaps you are right that I shouldn't read them or respond to them until I develop a thicker e-skin. Should anyone who loves swordsmanship, and has dedicated his life to it, have to ignore insults without responding?

You say people are hungry for information and I've got it. You have confirmed for me that "face-to-face" on the Dojo floor is the best and only place to pass along your art.

間一髪
Yehling

[pgsmith]

There does need to be some accountabilty about what is said on these forums.
Therein lies your problem. There is no, nor should there be, accountability on your average internet forum. There are merely faceless masses. Does it matter that much what the faceless masses believe that you should get so upset over it?


Should anyone who loves swordsmanship, and has dedicated his life to it, have to ignore insults without responding?
Not at all. However, how you respond is what tells the tale. After a lifetime dedicated to Japanese sword arts, I would have thought you'd have learned a bit more about Fudoshin. The faceless people that happened to read the information here knew nothing about you except for what rumors and second-hand knowledge has been posted here. Now, however, they have your own words to add to their very small store of knowledge. If your words are all bitter and complaining, that is exactly how they will see you. Life is not what you know, it is what you do with what you know.


You have confirmed for me that "face-to-face" on the Dojo floor is the best and only place to pass along your art.
That should go without saying. It's impossible to pass along an art other than face-to-face. However, the internet is a good place to gather information about an art. The trick is to make sure that the information is accurate, which very often it isn't. It is also a good place to have discussions with like-minded people that may happen to live in other countries.

[Neil Gendzwill]

I thought Dave Diguangco was Kotaka's senior student? At least, he was the only one I ever heard from back in the early days of internet correspondence. He was quite actively promoting his organization in the early 90s IIRC through iaido-l and other media. Not sure what's going on with him, haven't heard from him in a long time.

At any rate, Donald, seems like this is a matter between you and A.J. Everyone else is just curious as to what the truth is.

[Yoshisada]

I don't know if I can help with the truth, but here's some of what I know. A group of guys got to know Kotaka-sensei in the early to mid-1970's. They pestered him to start training them in Kendo and Iaido, etc., and formed a club, first in Kotaka-sensei's garage and then at the Ohio State University. By the time I joined up in 1985, David had moved away (he ended up in Ogden, Utah), and Bill Divorine(?) had moved out East. I never met David except on a couple of his visits to Ohio when he came to the Ohio State Dojo. Craig Campbell was Kotaka-sensei's senior student from that time until I took over. I believe Craig still teaches shinai Kendo at a local (Columbus, Ohio) Jujutsu place, but we've lost contact. David eventually started a branch Dojo in Utah and kept in touch with Kotaka-sensei over the years. I don't know how long David trained daily/weekly with sensei in Ohio. David did try to get a wider audience for our school of swordsmanship by posting on the Iaido listserv in the early 1990's. Kotaka-sensei even joined in (as I just did on this forum) and was upset and angered by his treatment there. I guess he and I are alike in our incompatibility with this venue! Accountability was a key Samurai virtue that Kotaka-sensei taught me, though apparently others think little of his teachings on Samurai conduct. Kotaka-sensei even went out to Utah (we prepared for his trip together, but I did not go) to give seminars, and he was interviewed by Dr. Karl Friday.

The whole issue of "senior student" has to take a back-seat to (in spite of some personal animosities among his remaining students and some craziness from me) making sure Kotaka-sensei's treasure trove of swordsmanship gets passed along.

What I know, others may not know, and what others know I may not know.
Don

[Abramo]

Kotaka-sensei received his Doctorate in Biochemistry from Tokyo University and immigrated to the US in the early 1960’s. His research on air-borne ions is still widely cited.
Are you really that angry about Kotaka-sensei’s article? Perhaps we should next decide to see what damage we can cause by cutting up more important writings, say, the Bible, or The Old Man and the Sea, or Hagakure, or some of Lorca’s poems, etc. I’m sure you could do a great demolition job on any text you choose.
Why don’t you, instead of living your lives as clever destroyers, try to build something by training, and teaching, and writing your own articles? I’d love to read what constructive things you have to say about swordsmanship!


He should have stuck to writing about biochemistry and ions then! It's quite preposterous to compare that article to Hemingway and Lorca. And if you think they (not to mention the Bible!) don't get their fair share of criticism you should look harder. It does the western culture a lot of good.

Seeing you identify yourself as a Doctor, it's very weird you refering to criticism as a "demolition job". Maybe we should just believe whatever people write without any critical thinking. Science is not budo Dr. Yehling! There's a lot of doubting and second-guessing, as it should. There are no authorities to be followed.

Praise the memory of your sensei and his swordsmanship, but don't expect his scientific mumbo-jumbo to be taken seriously.

[A.J. Bryant]

Mr. Yehling,

As you know, my time training in Kotaka sensei’s school was short and focused mainly on Iaido, which I could practice between visits. I actually did not know Kotaka sensei that well and my primary source of instruction and information was from Craig Campbell sensei, who you correctly mentioned as Kotaka sensei’s senior student (rokudan & okuden). Campbell sensei actually spent several days at my school a few years ago where, in addition to covering kumitachi and iai, including Chuden no Bu and a few Okuden waza unrelated to the official “Okuden no Bu” (which actually has no formal waza), we touched base on several things, both technical ‘and’ historical...

I have also kept up communication with David Diguangco sensei over the years and, ironically, we last spoke on the phone a few weeks ago about an unrelated topic. However, as things do, the conversation eventually led back to Kotaka sensei. Contrary to what you may think, he has also kept in touch with the Kotaka family over the years. You’ll be happy to hear that David is doing quite well. He had been teaching at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, but now leads a small dojo in Salt Lake City. Regardless, if anyone wants to research David’s history with Kotaka sensei, they can search the Iaido-L archives and find out for themselves. He was quite open about his history. Better yet, feel free to contact him.

During my short time commuting back and forth to train at the OSU dojo and a local Karate school Campbell sensei was also teaching Karate at, the senior students I met and that were listed on Kotaka sensei’s rank lists were Craig Campbell, Pat-san (sorry, can’t remember his last name right now!) and David Diguangco (actually listed on his own list that Kotaka sensei had given him). Mr. Yehling, your name was certainly not near the top. What rank you held (if any) at the time is unknown to me. Sorry. Apparently you held none and while Kotaka sensei did not issue menjo, student’s ranks were routinely listed on these rank lists.

All of the knowledge I have is from Kotaka sensei’s senior students, Craig Campbell and David Diguangco. They are more than capable of speaking up and defending themselves, and I’m sure they have read this thread. For me, my short time studying Kotaka sensei’s art was a long, long time ago. I really have little interest in rehashing these politics. I’m sure you will continue to preserve what you learned from Kotaka sensei to the best of your ability; however, I maintain that the best source of knowledge regarding Kotaka sensei’s art is either of the two gentlemen listed above.

[A.J. Bryant]

I have been asked to post this on behalf of the undersigned and have done so unaltered. I suspect that when Dr. Clarke mentions “Sakura sensei”, he means Sakurai sensei and likely misunderstood Kotaka sensei…



I have followed the discussions on Kotaka Sensei on a couple of Iaido fora, but not being a member of any of them have been unable to respond. I hope you will be kind enough to post these few random thoughts that may answer some issues related to the discussion:

First, I can claim seniority over almost everyone who has been involved or mentioned in these discussions, though I left Sensei's dojo relatively early and trained there only about 6-7 years. I trained with Kotaka Sensei in his garage long before he opened the club at Ohio State under Craig Campbell, whom I knew quite well as an Isshin-ryu karate black belt (I was a Shorin-ryu yudansha) before Craig began training with Kotaka. Sensei no doubt had a number of students in California when he lived there before the early 1970s, but at that time he was practicing standard kendo and had made no attempt to reconstruct or build a Kogen Ittoryu organization. I trained with Sensei from about 1972 to about 1978 (perhaps even a little later), leaving Columbus in 1980. I understood that Joe Doles, a veterinarian and Isshin-ryu practitioner from Cleveland, had trained with him before me and attained black belt status. While I was there, there were one or two Taiwanese men who trained infrequently, as well as (occasionally) Sensei's son, then about five years old. I trained one to two days a week with Sensei (it was a very long drive), and usually we trained alone for 3-4 hours with minimal breaks. We trained diligently in the Omori-ryu (seiza-no-bu as taught by Kogen Ittoryu) and shinai kendo.
I can attest to the extremely high quality of Sensei's martial ability. I was already a 4th or 5th dan in karate and Okinawan kobudo, so I could tell quality when I saw it. I was also in my mid- to late 20s and he (I would guess) was in his mid-50s. He left me completely exhausted at the end of every class, yet never seemed winded or fatigued himself. I was in terrific shape (running 3-6 miles a day, doing karate daily, lifting weights, and playing racket ball), and he did not play "tricks" on me like having me do endless repetitions before engaging with me. He was simply so efficient that he ran me ragged trying to find an opening, then pounced with a devastating and quick strike. Several times we had visitors, including some very competitive young yudansha from Japan. He simply made them look silly, playing with them like children. (But he was always polite and encouraging in doing so, a real gentleman.) He arrived from California ranked 4th dan (as I recall) by the national ranking committee. Shortly before I left, he attended a senior tournament in Canada where he is said to have thoroughly and unambiguously beaten three visiting Japanese 7th dans. His skill in iaido and shinai kendo was simply unsurpassed in my experience.
I can only relay what he told me about his background. What follows is what he told me. It leaves a lot of unanswered questions. He started kenjutsu at a very young age. He only mentioned Sakura Sensei as his teacher (it is only in the recent postings that I heard he trained with anyone else, though one would expect he may have learned some basics from his family). Sakura Sensei was indeed very old and Kotaka very young. Kotaka Sensei told me nonetheless that he had received menkyo kaiden from Sakura. This would be highly unusual but not unheard of, as other styles speak of founders or senior members receiving menkyo kaiden in their early 20s. Kotaka Sensei told me he did not practice kendo from the time of his sensei's death until he linked up with the modern kendo group in California. (Again, this strikes me as very odd and raised questions about how well he would have remembered the unique kata and techniques of Kogen Ittoryu, learned as a teenager and not practiced for several decades). When discussing his background with me, he did not emphasize the Shinsengumi connection (though I would not have recognized its significance then in any case).
After he moved to Columbus, he began to build a small following, training in his garage. During the time I trained there, I do not recall any of the seniors of today (except Craig Campbell, who started about the time I was leaving). His intention was to reconstruct the Kogen Ittoryu system. Despite the fact that I trained with him for quite a few years (perhaps 6-7), he taught me only the seiza-no-bu (Omori-ryu), Tate Hiza-no bu (Eiishin ryu), Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei Kendo no kata (the formal two-man bokken form, ending with three techniques using the wakizashi), and shinai kendo. On a few occasions, he pulled out the unique Kogen Ittoryu Kote and Bokken and showed me a few of the style's two-man techniques. He did not teach them to me, however, and I sensed that he was still reconstructing them and not yet ready to teach the full style. Perhaps if I had remained longer, he would have passed them on to me. But I received a job offer in Washington DC and had to leave.
In any event, Sensei nominated me for shodan in both kendo and iaido, for which I received certification from the national association (dated 1974, I think). Shortly before I had to leave, he verbally promoted me to nidan, but I never received written certification. Neither rank specified "Kogen Ittoryu," just kendo and iaido. About that time, Craig Campbell became his most serious student, served as Sensei's right-hand man, and progressed very far.
A few years later, I did have the opportunity to run across Sensei at a clinic he was teaching near Baltimore. Unfortunately, I found that he had made many changes to what he had earlier showed me. Not having the desire nor the opportunity to train with him to make the changes, I have continued to practice and teach as I remember being shown in the early 1970s. I claim no grade in Kogen Ittoryu not any expertise in or affiliation with the style.
I have nothing but the highest praise for Kotaka Sensei as a gentleman and a kenshi. I had, and still have, many questions about the background of the style and his place in it, but the language barrier and my ignorance as a youth prevented me from probing for answers. Nonetheless, no one can dispute the quality of his martial ability.
I would add just a few personal notes that may not be known about Sensei.

He tragically lost a daughter to cancer shortly after I left Columbus. She was a beautiful, young, and talented lady and it was a real tragedy. Sensei hung up his sword for about a year as a sign of mourning.
Sensei also developed a problem that for some time prevented him from wearing his bogu. Eventually his doctors found he was allergic to the horsehair stuffing of his old men or do (I'm not sure which). When he traded it for one without horsehair, he was again able to practice.
Sensei worked for Batelle Institute for many years and was widely respected as a scientist.
He never attempted to make a living out of teaching kendo as far as I know.
Lastly, Sensei was an accomplished judoka, ranked sandan I believe.

I hope you will find this information interesting and that it may clarify some of the issues about Sensei. I wish him the best and am sorry to hear he has retired.

Regards,

Christopher M. Clarke, Ph.D.