| Toshitsugu Takamatsu | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 10, 1889 |
| Died | April 2, 1972 (aged 83) |
| Style | Ninjutsu |
| Notable students | Masaaki Hatsumi, Shoto Tanemura |
Toshitsugu Takamatsu (高松 寿嗣 Takamatsu Toshitsugu) was born on 10 March 1889 (the 23rd year of Meiji) in Akashi, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan and died on 2 April 1972.[1] He was a martial artist who taught future Bujinkan founder Masaaki Hatsumi. He has been called "The Last Shinobi" by Bujinkan instructor[2] Wolfgang Ettig.[3][4]
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Toshitsugu (Chosui) Takamatsu, also known as Moko no Tora (蒙古の虎 Mongolian Tiger), was a martial arts master.[5] His inheritor was Masaaki Hatsumi, who founded the Bujinkan system and it's art of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu[6] Takamatsu died in 1972 of illness.
Toshitsugu Takamatsu (高松 寿嗣 Takamatsu Toshitsugu)'s real first name was Hisatsugu but he changed it later to Toshitsugu using the same Kanji but different pronunciation. His posthumous name is Junshokakuju Zenjomon.
He was married to Uno Tane. They adopted a girl named Yoshiko. His father (Takamatsu Gishin Yasaburo) owned a match-factory and received Dai-Ajari (Master) title in Kumano Shugendo (a type of Shingon Buddhism). His dojo was named "Sakushin" (Cultivating Spirit). His house was in front of Kashihara Shrine in Kashihara, Nara.
Takamatsu's grandfather (on his mother's side), Toda Shinryuken Masamitsu, was a well known martial arts instructor who owned a dojo and bone-setting (sekkotsu) clinic in their home town. At 9 years old Takamatsu, often called a cry-baby by his peers, was sent to his grandfather in Kobe for strength training. By the age of 13 he had become a student without peer in Kobe. From his grandfather he learned several martial arts
According to a Video prduced by the Bujinkan's founder Hatsumi, Takamatsu traveled through Mongolia to China at the age of 21, taught martial arts and fought many life or death battles.[7] He taught martial arts at an English school in China and had over 1000 students. He was the bodyguard of the last Chinese Emperor Puyi. He became a Tendai Buddhist priest in 1919. In 1921 he was permitted to copy the Kukishin-ryū and Amatsu Tatara scrolls of the Kuki family. He was also a good friend of Jigoro Kano (Kodokan Judo).
During the Second World War Takamatsu says that his original scrolls were destroyed. In 1949 he presented new scrolls to the Kuki family which he had rewritten based on his copies and memory. He was deaf in one ear also due to one of his fights. He said that a Shaolin fighter and a Shorinji boxer were the most dangerous enemies he ever met. He was buried on Kumedra cemetery in Nara. He used to write articles for the Tokyo Times newspaper. He was well known in Japan as a grandmaster of Ju-Jutsu and Bojutsu.
In May 1950, Toshitsugu Takamatsu established Kashihara Shobukai in Nara prefecture. In the post-War era Takamatsu spent his time developing successors to his martial tradition. He often sponsored Magokuro-kai-musubi tsudoi meetings and lectures about Amatsu Tatara, especially Izumo Shinpo. He reared many martial artists and religious leaders.
Toshitsugu Takamatsu's claims to have a lineage related to the historical ninja in Japan are not supported by research independent of his student Hatsumi Masaaki's Bujinkan organization. [8][9] Neither Takamatsu , nor Hatsumi have been recognized as having any historical relation to ninjas or ninja schools.[10] The 1963 version of the Bugei Ryūha Daijiten indicates of Takamatsu's Togakure-ryu "this genealogy refers to various written records and oral transmissions and there are many points/places where embellishments have been added and people appearing in the genealogy are also made older than they actually are".[11] In the words of martial arts author Donn Draeger:
The late Fujita Seiko was the last of the living ninja, having served in assignments for the Imperial Government during the Taisho and Showa eras. No ninja exist today. Modern authorities such as T. Hatsumi are responsible for most research being done on ninjutsu.—Donn Draeger, Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts, p 130, 1969