Timeline Summary of Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu (SYRJ) lineage, headmasters, branches, menkyo kaidens, etc.

Table of Contents by Section:

1) Compiler’s Notes for this gathering of info

2) Succession Lines of Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu: Matsuoka-Inose-Fujiwara, & Obata-Takamura, Nakayama-Otsuka, Takashi-Grose)

3) All known Menkyo License  dates and recipients

4) Personal thoughts on the promulgated mis-assertation, of Hironori Otsuka being the ‘4th Headmaster’ of Shindo Yoshin Ryu

Section 1) Compiler’s Handful of Notes:

Note A.  My background is coming from several decades study in Wado Ryu, but always with much interest in the prior SYR lineage, since Hironori Otsuka’s longest tenured sensei was Tatsusaburo Nakayama.

Note B.  I am making an attempt at a historical correction of the flawed assertion of Hironori Otuska being 4th Headmaster and Tatsusaburo Nakayama being 3rd Headmaster.

Note C.  This is my personal attempt at reviewing all of the extant records and histories publicly available, to create a somewhat time-lined sumary of the SYRJ lineage, and headmasterships, and Menkyo Kaidens given.

Note D.  For clarity of understanding, I will refer to Shigeta Obata’s grandson as Yokiyoshi Obata-Takamura or simply Yokiyoshi, so his mid-life surname change doesn’t create confusion in following the 2 different lineages.

Note E.  I am English speaking, and will attempt to retain the informal English format for naming (given name, surname), for people of Japanese or English heritage.

Note F.  My intent is to honor and respect all those listed below, who forged the early pathways that our later feet have  trodden, and our the paths that our children will one day continue.

(Info gathered and assembled below, into this summary sourced primarily from the dutiful writings of SYRJ and Wado historians Toby Threadgill, Shingo Oghami, Ben Pollock, various other sources, and as last resort myself)

The modern Kyu/Dan system created by Jigoro Kano in 1883 initially for Judo, and introduced in 1924 into karate by Gichin Funakoshi, is relatively young compared to the Classical Japanese Licensing of Koryu as used in SYR, which goes back to the 8th century.

• Shodan Menkyo = initial level technical license

• Chuden Menkyo = middle level technical license

• Okuden Menkyo = secret/inner mastery level technical license

• Joden Menkyo = upper level full mastery of the technical curriculum license, not of administrative authority(headship)

• Menkyo Kaiden = license of total transmission, may or may not include administrative authority (headship)

Section 2) Lines and Branches

Original Matsuoka-Inose  SYRJ Main Line Timeline (Official):
*as of the death of Ryozo Fujiwara in 2017, the Main Line Lineage appears concluded

Main Line Timeline

• 1864 1st Headmaster Katsunosuke Matsuoka (1836–1898), samurai, founded SYRJ, New Willow School (from Ryus of: Hozoin, Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage, Yoshin, Jikishin Kage, Hokushin Itto, Tenjin Shinyo.

• 1878 Motokichi Inose (1852-1921), awarded Menkyo Kaiden by Matsuoka (sometimes spelled Motoyoshi Saruse).

• 1895 Shigeta Obata (1863-1945), awarded Menkyo Kaiden by Matsuoka, with a letter of permission to separate and form his own SYR line as headmaster.

• 1895 Tatsusaburo Nakayama (1879-1945) awarded Joden Menkyo by Inose.  Menkyo Kaiden details unknown. (an email letter by Toby Threadgill to Mike B. Johnson on E-budo, dated 8-14-2003, confirms “ Tatsusaburo Nakayama was awarded a menkyo kaiden this did not make him the 3rd headmaster of the mainline”. Nakayama’s MK date or document, as I understand, has not publically surfaced to date.

• 1898 1st Headmaster Katsunosuke  Matsoka dies.

• 1900 2nd Headmaster awarded to Motokichi Inose, by Matsuoka family with heir contingency upon majority (Tatsuo Matsuoka receives later in 1918).

• 1900 Obata line splits, with Matsuoka family acceptance and authentication.

• 1903 Hironori Otsuka (1892-1982) starts training under Tatsusaburo  Nakayama at the Shimotsuma Middle School and later his neighboring Genbukan dojo.

• 1908 Nobuatsu Matsuoka(1896-1976), cousin of Tatsuo Matsuoka, joins Shimotsuma Middle school, and trains with Hironori Otsuka under Tatsusaburo Nakayama.

• 1917 Founders grandson, Tatsuo Matsuoka (1892-1989) graduates college. 

• 1918 3rd Headmaster Tatsuo Matsuoka (1892-1989) awarded  by Motokichi Inose.

• 1919 Tatsuo Matusoka invites Nakayama to join the Matsuoka dojo to teach kendo, and is given a Jitsu Shomeisho license (bonesetting).

• 1921 2nd Headmaster Motokichi  Inose dies.

• 1921 Hironori Otsuka (1892-1982) awarded Menkyo Kaiden by Nakayama, who never teaches SYRJ as a stand-alone art, but incorporates SYRJ principles into what will become his new Wado Ryu Karate Jutsu style.

• 1922 Hironori Otsuka begins training Okinawan Shuri-Te (karate) with Gichin Funakoshi.

• 1924 Hironori Otsuka awarded  first karate shodan promotion by Gichin Funakoshi(1868-1957), teacher of Ryuku Kempo Tode.

• 1934 Hironori Otsuka opens his first Wado Ryu Karate Jutsu dojo.

• 1937 3rd Headmaster Tatsuo Matsuoka re-opens the original Matsuoka family honbu dojo, until retirement in 1963.

• 1945 Tatsusaburo Nakayama dies.

• 1970 3rd Headmaster Main Line Tatsuo meets Obata/Takamura Line  2nd Headmaster Yokiyoshi (Obata) Takamura. Tatsuo was unaware the Obata/Takamura line still existed.

• 1975 Ryozo Fujiwara (1925-2017) awarded Menkyo Kaiden by Tatsuo Matsuoka.

• 1982 Hironori Otsuka dies.

• 1989 3rd Headmaster Tatsuo Matsuoka dies, with no heir, and appoints no successor.

• 1989 Ryozo Fujiwara (1925-2017) becomes the director of the Shindo Yoshin-ryu Domonkai, formed from Tatsuo Matsuoka’s remaining students.

• 2017 Director Ryozo Fujiwara dies, present mainline Domonkai lineage status undetermined/unknown, with no apparent living Headmaster nor known living licensed Menkyos.

Obata-Takamura Second SYRJ  Line Timeline (Official Matsuoka family authorized):

2nd Obata Line Headmasters 

Second Obata Line Timeline

• 1898 Katsunosuke Matsuoka (1836–1898) Founder of SYR, dies.

• 1900 1st Headmaster Shigeta Obata (1863-1945) separates from Main Line with Matsuoka family authorization and creates Obata Line.

• 1944 Shigeta Obata’s son and planned heir Hideyoshi Obata, dies in WWII.

• 1945 2nd Headmaster Yokiyoshi Obata-Takamura (1928-2000) awarded by Shigeta Obata  to his grandson.

• 1945 1st Headmaster Shigeta Obata dies, Matsuhiro Namishiro (1900-1974),Shigeta Obata’s senior student, assumes training of Yokiyoshi.

• 1952 Yokiyoshi moves to Sweden, and changes his surname from the Obata surname,  to his mother’s maiden surname of Takamura.

• 1964 Yukiyoshi moves to Haywood, CA.

• 1968 Yokiyoshi renamed his Obata Budoken style to Takamura ha SYR.

• 1970 Yukiyoshi travels to Japan, to meet Nobuatsu Matsuoka (1896-1976) a cousin of Main Line 3rd Headmaster Tatsuo Matsuoka, who opens the original Honbu dojo. 

• 1974 Iso Takagi (1926-2005), awarded  Menkyo Kaiden by Yokiyoshi, who was a student in his grandfather Shigeta Obata’s dojo Eibukan.

• 1974 Matsuhiro Namishiro (1900-1974) dies.

• 1976 Nobuatsu Matsuoka (1896-1976) dies.

• 1986 Toby Threadgill (1959-) awarded Shodan in Wado Ryu by Gerry Chau, and meets Yokiuoshi’s senior student David Maynard, at a Wado seminar in Dallas, TX.

• 1996 David Maynard (1952-) awarded Menkyo Kaiden by Yokiyoshi.

• 1996 Yokiyoshi retires, and names David Maynard head director, with Iso Takagi and Toby Threadgill(1959-) as branch directors.

• 1998 Aikido Journal interview on SYRJ and the life of Yokiyoshi, released in summer of 1999.

• 1999 Toby Threadgill issued future Menkyo Kaiden by Yokiyoshi, effective 2001 upon turning 42 years old.

• 2000 2nd Headmaster Yokiyoshi Obata-Takamura dies.

• 2001 Iso Takagi retires.

• 2003 3rd Headmaster Toby Threadgill commences, headquartered in Evergreen, CO, following the retirement of David Maynard.

• 2005 Iso Takagi dies.

Main-Line Nakayama-Otsuka Branch (Unofficial branch, not authorized as separate branch by Matsuoka Family or Inose)

American Branch, Takashi-Grose-Roensch-Price (Unofficial branch, not authorized as separate branch by Matsuoka/Inose/Obata families)
This lineage appears to have begun in 1942 in Las Vegas, NV, USA.  No documentation of this branch is known to exist within the writings of the Matsuoka, Inose, Obata, Takamura, Nakayama, or Otsuka families, prior to or after 1942.  
This American branch is more an eclectic blend of 1940s American Jiujitsu and Robert Trias Shuri-Ryu, based on lineage associations, than the traditional Japanese Koryu SYRJ, nonetheless, it has a sizeable USA membership in Illinois, Florida, and South Carolina.
This branch describes Mr. Douglas L. Grose (1922-2006) as meeting and privately training Shinto Yoshin Ryu Jiujitsu (spelled with 't' not traditional 'd' and American 'jiujitsu' not Japanese koryu 'jujutsu' spelling) from a Mr. Ueshi Takashi (alternate spelling Uke Takaski) birth and death date unknown, in Las Vegas, NV in 1942.
One public source from a member school, Sheridan's Martial Arts, in regard to the Grose lineage, states that "Our Shinto Yoshin line follows the path of Motokichi Inose" and after 1921, "Nakayama and then finally Otsuka elevated "Uke Takesi'(sp)  to a fully licensed instructor."  No more detailed information is given or found of these meetings, and the extent of their training and who else was present.  Nakayama died in 1945, and Otsuka has no public available records of this meeting and training.  Typically in SYR "fully licensed instructor" would mean either a "juden menkyo" or "menkyo kaiden" license, but nothing states this specifically in the information sourced.  It also states that Mr. Takashi moved to the USA (Las Vegas, area "in the early 1940s", trained Mr. Grose, and was sent to a Japanese  internment camp, where the two were never reunited", by 1945. 
Mr. Grose then independently in 1945 formed an organization called the American Jiu-Jitsu Karate Association (AJJKA), and held judan dan ranks in 'jiujitsu' and "Shin Mei Shorin Ryu karate".  Japanese SYR never and presently doesn't grade via the modern kyu/dan system.  According to that same source, "Grose received instructors in SYR from Japan to continue his training. Hirinori (sp) Otsuka in time along with Shujiro Hatta presented Douglas L. Grose with the Menkyo Kaiden of SYR Jiujitsu".  The Same website states that Mr. "Grose awarded a Menkyo Kaiden to Steve Roensch(1949-)". Mr. Grose passed away shortly afterwards in 2006.  Troy Price(@1960-, another instructor of this SYR lineage, appears to have trained under Steve Roensch, per the USJJF website bio.
More information of specific associating this 1940s American line started by  Mr. Takashi and Mr. Grose to the traditional koryu Japanese SYR lineages of the late 19th and early 20th century is welcomed.

Section 4) All known SYRJ Full Menkyo Licenses (full mastery of technical corriculum)

• 1864 Katsunosuke Matsuoka (1836–1898), Founded SYRJ, previously awarded Menkyo Kaidens in Jikishinkage Ryu, and Tenjin Shinyo Ryu
  1878 Motokichi Inose (1852-1921) Menkyo Kaiden awarded by Katsunosuke Matsuoka

• 1895 Shigeta Obata (1863-1945), awarded Menkyo Kaiden by Matsuoka

• 1895 Tatsusaburo Nakayama (1870-1945) awarded Joden Menkyo by Inose

• 1917 Tatsuo Matsuoka (1892-1989) awarded Menkyon Kaiden by Inose

• 1921 Hironori Otsuka (1892-1982) awarded Menkyo Kaiden by Nakayama

• 1944 Yokiyoshi Obata -Takamura (1928-2000) awarded Menkyo Kaiden by grandfather Shigeta Obata

• 1945? Matsuhiro Namishiro (1900-1974) awarded Menkyo Kaiden by ?Obata

• 1974 Iso Takagi (1926-2005) awarded Menkyo Kaiden by Yukiyoshi

• 1975 Ryozo Fujiwara (1925-2017) awarded Menkyo Kaiden by Tatsuo Matsuoka

• late 1970s Ronaldo Ermita awarded Joden Menkyo by Yukioshi

• late 1970s Tetsuro Hashimoto awarded Joden Menkyo by Yukioshi

• 1996 David Maynard (1952-) awarded Menkyo Kaiden by Yukiyoshi, retiredq

• 1996 Henri Gembelliot (unk-) awarded Joden Menkyo by Yukiyoshi

• 1999 Toby Threadgill (1959- ) awarded Menkyo Kaiden by Yukiyoshi, effective in 2001 on 42 birthday

Section 5) Personal thoughts on the promulgated mis-assertation , of Hironori Otsuka being the ‘4th Headmaster’

By the mid-later 1900s, Hironori Otsuka (1892-1982), founder of Wado Ryu and holder of a 1921 Menkyo Kaiden License in SYRJ,  spoke and wrote of his being the 4th Headmaster of SYRJ.  This assertion has been erroneously repeated (much to the proliferation via the internet) across the later 20th century and into the internet age, but this assertion in later years hindsight has been proven incorrect and is most likely the result of timing and limited access to contrary knowledge otherwise. We should work to accurately represent history, and correct.

Otsuka in the early years pre-WWII, knew that his SYRJ master was Tatsusaburo Nakayama(1870-1945), and that he was trained by 2nd Headmaster Motokichi Inose(1852-1921), who was trained by the founder an 1st Headmaster Katsunosuke Matsuoka (1836–1898).  Taking this alone into consideration, it would seem reasonable to conclude a 1-4 Headmaster lineage, assuming that no other rightful Main Line, or 2nd Obata-Takamura Line of succession was known to exist (at that time, by Otsuka).

In a letter shared later in life with student and Wado Historian Shingo Oghami (1941-2019), Hironori Otsuka mentioned in his Kanji writing, that the system of SYJR was dead/abandoned, and he assumed that headship, and chose to incorporate it in the 20s-30s into his training that would become the new Wado Ryu blending of jujutsu, kendo, and okinawan shuri-te (karate). In that early era, Menkyo Kaiden often meant transferal of Headmastership along with full technical master of the style.  Hironori Otsuka may likely have assumed this, in absence of other knowledge of other line continuations.

What Hironori Otsuka in the early years seems likely unaware of, was that  in 1895 SYRJ had branched off a second line, which ended up continuing to the modern day, the Obata-Takamura  line.  Also, since Nakayama’s sensei Inose died in 1921 (the same year Tatsusoburo Nakayama awarded Otsuka his Menkyo Kaiden), he may have thought that he was the only remaining fully licensed teacher of SYRJ.  Otsuka also was likely aware in 1921 that his sensei Nakayama, had been moving away from SYRJ training, and focusing more on swordsmanship. (1919 Bonesetting license, 1923 4th dan in Kendo,  1923 Kendo Seirensho certificate, 1932 retired from school, 1939 5th dan in Kendo, died in 1945).

Hironori Otsuka also, may not have been aware that 2nd mainline headmaster Inose, had promised to return the headship to the next heir of the founder Matsuoka’s family.  This happened a few years prior to Inose’s death in 1921, and Otsuka may not have been aware of this, nor of the transfer of a true Matsuoka 3rd Headmaster of the mainline to the founder's grandson Tatsuo Matsuoka(1892-1989). Also, we know that both Obata and Nakayama died in 1945, and the succession of the Obata line did not occur until just before his death, when he awarded a Menkyo Kaiden to his grandson Yokiyoshi Obata-Takamura, whose planned heir and father Hideyoshi had just died during WWII.  Soon after this, Yokiyoshi assume his mother’s name of Takamura, dropping the Obata name, and moving to Sweden.  Otsuka possibly wasn’t aware of any of this continuation.

All of this is my own deduction: --more accurate and evidenced correction is welcomed.

sincerely and humbly presented,
David Taylor, student of Wado Ryu, Nashville, TN USA, Dec 12, 2024