Takamatsu Toshitsugu’s Martial Rewriting of the Kōdōkan-ki By Sean Askew
What was Takamatsu Toshitsugu Sensei communicating when he wrote 武風 (Bufū) for Hatsumi Masaaki Sensei?
In this historical and textual study, Sean Askew explores the remarkable connection between Takamatsu’s Bufū and the Kōdōkan-ki, the 1838 founding manifesto of the Mito domain’s Kōdōkan school.
Through a detailed comparison, Askew reveals how Takamatsu preserved the original document’s structure and philosophical framework while transforming it into a distinctly martial statement about budō, inheritance, and the responsibility of transmission.
Inside this study, you will discover:
- The Original Text: Japanese transcription, pronunciation, English translation, and explanatory notes.
- The Historical Connection: How Bufū relates to the 1838 Kōdōkan-ki.
- Martial Philosophy: The meaning of Kajō Chikusei (花情竹性) and its connection to the ideal martial artist.
- The Meaning of Transmission: Why Takamatsu shifted the focus from ancestral rulers to ancestral martial teachers.
- The Bujinkan Connection: What the document reveals about Hatsumi Sensei’s inheritance and the preservation of a living martial tradition.
Drawing on Japanese textual analysis, historical research, and more than 30 years of Bujinkan experience under Noguchi Yukio Sensei, Askew examines what the document actually says, what its historical connections reveal, and what we can reasonably understand from it today.
A martial tradition is more than techniques. It is something meaningful to preserve and pass on.
