Otsuka Hironori’s martial arts evolution Part 1.
The first instalment of a personal and speculative view of how the founder of Wado Ryu karate developed as a martial artist.
In this part:
Earliest influence.
Ebashi Chojiro, speculations.
Asayama Ichiden Ryu.
His initial jujutsu training.
Why kendo never happened for young Otsuka.
Shinkage Ryu kenjutsu.
Wado and the sword school influences.
Image; late 19th, early 20th c. anonymous jujutsu students.
Trying to unscramble spaghetti.
I would refer anyone interested in this almost impossible enterprise, to the previous pieces on Otsuka Sensei’s personal backstory. But for this I intend to shine a light on to Otsuka as a martial artist and make some speculations on the evolution of his skills and ideas.
I am going to explore the involvement of various characters and throw in some (hopefully) informed guesswork on their influences on the developing martial artist.
As with my previous pieces on master Otsuka, the sources of these articles are from past histories, anecdotal material (always difficult to verify) with a specific mention to the well-researched book sources produced by Toby Threadgill, Shingo Ohgami and Ben Pollock.
To do this job properly you would need a native on-the-ground researcher with a nose like a bloodhound and the tenacity of a limpet. The late Ohgami Sensei in his research over the years tried repeatedly to get to the heart of the matter and was able to communicate directly to a surprising number of sources, but was only in a position to go so far. I am fairly sure he must have had to see past the ‘Otsuka mythology’, not an easy task. The reality is that I don’t think we will ever know the fuller story.
Basic facts.
I wonder how many people are prepared to ponder on the simple fact that Otsuka Hironori didn’t actually start training in karate until he was twenty-nine years old? Even by today’s standard that makes him a late starter. In Japan there was almost an expectation that the serious martial artists had been studying their specific art since infancy; very similar to how we think that serious musicians have been playing their instrument since they were old enough and big enough to pick it up.
Now you could argue that all he did was jump disciplines, and that would be a fair point, but what we are talking about here are unarmed body to body systems, which, in terms of their cultural origins were not so hugely different. Put simply, Otsuka Hironori did not have to make a dramatic adjustment from one cultural background to another, it wasn’t like he was skipping from a warrior system founded in Fiji or Tonga to one in Middle Europe. Okinawan karate was not so far removed from indigenous Japanese Budo/Bujutsu. Though, as we will see, they are not exactly cut from the same cloth.
The beginnings.
As mentioned in the previous piece, Otsuka Sensei’s early family environment set the background for his developing interest in martial arts training. The springboard for this was his contact and teachings received from his mother’s uncle, Ebashi Chojiro.
Ebashi Chojiro.
There are very few facts known about Ebashi Chojiro, but the ones we do know are vital for this explanation of Otsuka Hironori’s development as a martial artist.
We have no dates for Ebashi, but we do know that he was an experienced samurai who served the Tsuchiura clan, then based in Ibaraki and disestablished in 1871. Ebashi was the martial arts instructor for the clan and allegedly fought in Japan’s later 19th century civil wars which stretched out in various forms from 1868 to 1877. So he may well have been born in the first quarter of the 19th century.
Research took me down a rabbit hole looking for the Tsuchiura clan. If I have it right, the clan was disestablished after the last feudal lord gave up his lands in 1871. It looks like he was Tsuchiya Shigenao (1854-1904) who was the 17th son of Tokugawa Nariaki by one of his concubines (yes, THAT Tokugawa clan) Tokugawa Nariaki was daimyo in what is now Ibaraki prefecture, which was where the Otsuka family lived, so it all fits. The disestablishment came as a result of the 1871 administration shakeup, when the domains were officially abolished and replaced by a prefecture system that has remained in place to the present day. All feudal class privileges were abolished as well. No need therefore for an old retainer.
Of course, I reiterate, this is speculation and guesswork on my part and I am quite happy to be proved wrong.