Lieutenant House of Takeda, the Noro-Saigusa clan and
Yashin Mon. Yakami no Taijutsu
The history of the total system has officially developed over several main periods:
System wise
over 1,000 years in
Japan
- Step 1: 999
Yashin Mon - Step 2: 1450
Yakami no Taijutsu - Step 3: 1575
Yashin Mon Yakami no Taijutsu
System wise
Europe, including
Scandinavia
- Step 1: 1967
Gensei Karate-do - Step 2: 1988
Yakami-ryu Shinsei Karate-do - Step 3: 2008
Yakami Shinsei-Ryu
Organizationally
Japan &
World
- Step 1: 1988
Jokokan Yashin Mon Yakami no Taijutsu.
Japan, South Africa, USA, Europe, Scandinavia.
Approx. 3,000 practitioners. - Stage 2: 1988-2018
Bujutsu Kodosokukai
Japan & the World.
Approximately 20,000 practitioners + a six-figure number of associated practitioners
Organizationally
Europe, including
Scandinavia
- Step 1: 1967
BKK Gensei Karate-do - Step 2: 1988
Jokokan Yakami-ryu Shinsei Karate-do - Step 3: 2008
Shindenkan Yakami Shinsei-Ryu
Systemically over 1,000 years in Japan
Yashin Mon's first Soke (founder) and Grandmaster was a landowner and Shinto priest from Izumo Province (today's Shimane-Ken) with the surname Noro. Before he died on September 9, 999, he had 7 sons, each of whom was given their own surname. One of the oldest sons, Morimasa took the surname Noro and is considered Yashin Mon's second Grandmaster and Soke.
The system was then only passed on to family members and carefully selected "outside" students who could later become Sodenker (non-blood related Grandmasters).
For about 450 years, Yashin Mon Yakami-ryu Taijutsu was a Shinto martial art system for the few. It was divided into two groups: Those who were at least Menkyo Kaiden (8th Dan – 10th Dan) and those who were not, but were well on their way.
The group of Menkyo Kaiden and above trained at the temple, while the other group trained at the Noro clan's smaller estate, which belonged to the ruling lord (Daimyo) of all or part of Izumo province at any given time.
Yashin Mon's first Soke
Minamoto Seiwa genji, the Takeda clan which had three provinces: Kai, Aki and Wakasa, was asked by the Shogun in 1441 to establish three independent Takeda clans: Kai, Aki and Wakasa.
In practice, Wakasa was ruled by Aki, as this was the tradition of Takeda Aki. This meant that the Wakasa Takeda Daimyo was more nominal and therefore lived most of the time in the Imperial City of Kyoto.
This gave free rein to Takeda Aki, who immediately began expanding his territories. Since Aki borders Izumo province, where the Izumo Taisha Shinto temple area is located, it was obvious to conquer bit by bit parts of Izumo.
It went beyond the Noro temple family, who had their smaller shomyo (minor lord) fiefdom on the border of Izumo and were therefore constantly under threat. The Noro clan is mentioned in the Kojiki as famous and renowned Shinto priests. Later they also became famous for their martial arts in the service of the Takeda clan.
The external circumstances forced smaller sheriff lords to many strategic and tactical considerations in order to keep their sheriff territory intact. The same conditions and considerations also applied to the Noro clan, which had a smaller county area in Izumo province.
Japan's Middle Ages were quite turbulent with many wars.
Izumo province belonged for almost 200 years under the Yamana clan's fiefdom, but after the ONIN war and thus the beginning of the Sengoku Jidai (1467-1600 “Age of Warring States”), Izumo changed owners several times; Ouchi, Amago, Yamana, Mori. As a result, the Noro clan also changed county princes several times.
Therefore, Yashin Mon Soken, Noro Suke no Kami, decided in the middle of the 15th century to build a "new" martial art system based on Yashin Mon. The new fighting system, which he called Yakami no Taijutsu, was based on Yashin Mon's 8 powers, but explained in terms of 12 more comprehensible main principles. He made this "break" from the family's Yashin Mon tradition in recognition that all of his clan's samurai needed extraordinary skills in a shorter time in this turbulent time. This was the actual beginning of the total martial art system Yashin Mon Yakami no Taijutsu, and Noro Suke no Kami is considered the first Soke of Yakami no Taijutsu.
The 21st Yashin Mon Soke and Noro Suke no Kami's great-great-grandson, Noro no Moritsuna had 4 sons. His eldest son Torayoshi inherited the family's smaller county area after his father and on his death became Soke No. 22.
There was constant war from 1330-1600
In 1519, the 22nd Soke of Yashin Mon. Yakami no Taijutsu, Noro Torayoshi's fief area attacked by the fief prince Takeda Nobutora (1493-1573), who was the head of the Takeda clan over most of the province of Kai, and thus also Aki and Wakasa. The young Torayoshi's samurai fought bravely – so bravely that Takeda Nobutora offered Torayoshi that he could keep his smaller fiefdom if he would recognize the Takeda clan as fiefdom and at the same time become his vassal. Torayoshi accepted this in mutual recognition, as the Noro clan's 300 or so samurai warriors could not stand much against the Takeda clan's combined clan strength of over 25,000 samurai warriors. Had he not done this, the entire Noro clan would have been wiped out.
The Sheriff Prince Takeda Nobutora concluded that it was not wise to have 300 elite warriors trained to fight as one unit with local knowledge and forced loyalty in his backyard, and so Noro Tarayoshi was moved to a new and larger sheriff area in the province of Kai, - surrounded of all the Takeda clan's closest generals. This is how the Noro clan became direct vassals of the powerful Takeda clan from the province of Kai and quickly rose through the ranks of senior officers to end up as a general under the name Saigusa. Torayoshi was the grandfather of Saigusa Moritomo.
It also fit well with the fact that, traditionally in the Takeda clan, Takeda Aki and Wakasa had one main task as the Takeda clan's martial arts supervisors; to ensure that the Takeda clan's samurai were always trained by the best martial arts grandmasters in Japan. This is why Takeda-ryu Yabusame comes from here and other surviving koryo systems. That the Japanese martial art systems were superior to the martial art systems of other countries at the time was proven outside of Japan in 1598 in Korea and China, and in 1632 on Okinawa.
The Takeda of Wakasa had gone from allies to vassals of the Yamana clan when they had lost their Wakasa fiefdom to the Asakura clan. The story is as follows: The clan head of the Takeda of Kai, Takeda Nobutsugu's (Chikanaga, 1466-1507) great love of life was his wife Keiko, who was the daughter of Yamana Masatoyo. Yamana Masatoyo was the daimyo and clan head of the entire Yamana clan after his very famous father, Yamana Sozen (1404-1473). The clan head of the entire Takeda clan was also his son-in-law. Takeda Wakasa lived most of the time in Kyoto, as Takeda Aki was the actual daimyo of Wakasa. The Takeda Wakasa clan supported Hosogawa Katsumoto (1430-1473), who was Yamana Mochitoyo's (Sozen, 1404-1473)) son-in-law during the ONIN War (1467-1477). Hosogawa and Yamana were the most powerful county princes (Great Kings) of the time, both in rank class 1+ under the imperial house and had a common ancestor in Minamoto Yoshikuni (1082-1155).
Right up until 1994, when Markis Morihiro Hosogawa became the last Prime Minister of the two families of a long line of Prime Ministers over 1000+ years, the two families intermarried at different levels. In 1531 the Hosogawa clan established a new family temple in Kyoto and in 1556 it became the Yamana clan's and it is to this day located in the Unesco World Heritage temple area; Myōshin-ji with the name Tōrin-in.
Both Hosogawa and Yamana each had 100,000 samurai in Kyoto and each more than 200,000 more around Japan. As was customary, hostages were exchanged in the alliances. For 10 years, Nobutsugu was a hostage of Yamana Masatoyo, who was the son of Yamana Sozen.
Masatoyo had the most adorable and graceful little daughter, Keiko. Nobutsugu was struck by lightning, but Keiko thinks he was a little ill-mannered and dirty brat who doesn't like Yamana's ritual bathing traditions. It could only end one way: They became each other's best friends in childhood while the war raged around them. Nobutsugu adored the land Keiko walked on and constantly defended her name and honor.
The ONIN War ended in 1477 and Nobutsugu was sent back to his father, Daimyo Takeda Nobumasa (1447-1505) in Kai. He was heartbroken at the separation from his best friend, Yamana Keiko. He was therefore sent to war as a page when he was 12 years old.
A rather romantic story.
At the age of 20, he was appointed by his father to the vacant post of daimyo of Takeda Wakasa and married Yamana Keiko. Nobutsugu was happy, but the marriage was political first and foremost according to a plan laid out by his father, Takeda Nobumasa. In 1496, Nobutsugu became supreme clan leader of the entire Takeda clan.
In 1540, the grandson became the supreme clan leader of Takeda. His name was Takeda Harunobu (1521-1573), better known as Takeda Shingen. Shingen went on to become one of Japan's most famous general Daimyo. One of his 24 generals was: Saigusa Moritomo, Yakami's 23rd Soke. The ring for Shindenkan has ended. And yet… Wakasa Takeda had been direct vassals of the Yamana clan for almost 50 years. Virtually none of Wakasa Takeda was family related to the Yamana clan, but it was the main Takeda clan in Kai at the "great cousin level".
In 1545, Takeda Wakasa Kuninobu was the project manager for the construction of the mountain castle in Tottori, with the builder Yamana Nobumichi in charge. However, Kuninobu was asked to commit seppuku as he exhibited most peculiar treacherous behavior.
In 1563 Daimyo Yamana Toyosada died, who was the supreme sheriff of the Yamana clan. His 15-year-old successor was Yamana Toyokuni (1548-1626), who was now totally dependent on the family's loyal vassals as the time was rather turbulent with war on all sides. The only one who took advantage of the situation was Wakasa Takeda Takanobu (1529-1573, son of Kuninobu), who was known as one of the absolute martial arts masters of the Takeda clan and an extremely feared samurai lord in battle. He rebelled, took the castle castle of Tottori and allied himself with the Yamana clan's greatest threat: the Mori clan. This forced the Yamana clan to make peace and ally with the Mori clan.
10 years and many wars later, the opportunity presented itself to Yamana Toyokuni, who had never forgotten Wakasa Takeda Takanobu's total failure when he most needed loyal support. A lightning war and a peace treaty meant that Wakasa Takeda Takanobu and his 500 samurai were given free rent out of the Tottori castle. When the castle gate opened and Wakasa Takeda Takanobu was about to march out at the head of his men, they were met by one determined 25-year-old Daimyo, Yamana Toyokuni with the words "The agreement applies to your men who are now my men, but not to you! " and with those words he advanced towards 44-year-old Takeda Takanobu.
Both sides knew very well what this meant and stood perfectly still to watch the coming sword duel. But it was very short. Yamana Toyokuni drew his sword in one motion and then it was over. He did not even turn to honor his dying enemy, but showed his contempt by marching into Tottori castle in the same movement and issuing orders. Everyone obeyed and looked at the dead Takeda Takanobu – One stroke, One kill. This martial arts master's competence would later open some vital doors for Yamana Toyokuni, but also repeatedly save his family's life.
The liege prince Takeda Motoshige of Aki and his son Takeda Mitsukazu attacked in 1517 with 5,000 samurai one of the last minor liege princes of Aki, Mori Motonari. It was a really bad idea, as Mori Motonari was later recognized as one of the best generals in Japanese history.
Both Mori and Takeda Aki were vassals of the Ouchi clan. The Ouchi clan had been the Yamana clan's vassals and allies during the ONIN War (1467-1477), but had now become the most powerful clan in southern Honshu.
The ONIN War ended in 1477 and Nobutsugu was sent back to his father, Daimyo Takeda Nobumasa (1447-1505) in Kai
Mori was still a vassal of the Ouchi clan, but Takeda of Aki had in 1515 switched his loyalty to the Amago clan, which was on the rise. That was another really bad idea. The Takeda Aki clan's attack led to the Battle of Arita-Nakaide with Takeda's 5,000 samurai, and Mori and allies' 1,150 samurai. It was 20-year-old Mori Motonari's first fight and he won it. At the end of the battle, the top generals of the Takeda Aki clan lay dead, including Daimyo Takeda Motoshige. Takeda Mitsukazu became the new daimyo of the now greatly reduced Aki domain.
In 1539, Mori Motonari could match both the Ouchi and Amago clans and was able to easily take the Takeda Aki clan's castle, Kanayama, which forced Takeda Aki Nobuzane (1522-1575) to flee to Wakasa Takeda and later as the burgomaster of Izumo for Amago, then ending up with his half-brother, Takeda Shingen with close ties to Saigusa Moritomo, Yakami's 23rd Soke (that story comes later). It only lasted until 1540 when Mori attacked, and then the history of the Takeda Aki clan was over. Now only the main clan of Kai was left – a staggered time 
.
In 1566, Mori Motonari became the sheriff of 8 provinces after defeating both the Ouchi and Amago clans, and his sons and grandsons came to play a leading role in the development of Japan's history. First, however, the Mori clan's biggest rivals had to be addressed: the Oda and Yamana clans. But before that we have to go back to the history of Yakami Shinsei-ryu and the Noro/Saigusa clan, as well as the end of the Takeda clan.
Count Takeda Motoshige of Aki and his son Takeda Mitsukazu attacked in 1517 with 5,000 samurai
The Noro clan's samurai warriors were among Takeda's elite units, and were especially known for their deadly but very beautiful skills with the Yari (spear) and short Katana (sword).
It is said that during the famous Kawanakajime battles 1-5 in the period 1553-1564, Uesugi Kenshin had become so tired of the Noro clan's war tactics and Bujutsu skills as "Saviors of the day" that he ordered Lord Nagao to secretly develop a versus the Bujutsu system, which could match the Noro clan's martial arts skills.
According to legend, Lord Nagao was also known for his strong connections to the Hattori-ryu of Iga, and was also the cousin of Uesugi Kenshin, who was originally named Nagao Kaketora before being adopted by the Uesugi clan, which was constantly at odds with the Takeda clan.
As a Yakami-ryu curiosity, Bujutsu studies led to a more formal establishment of Nagao-ryu Taijutsu by Nagao Kenmutsu in the late 16th century. Nagao Kenmutsu had also trained in both Itto-ryu and Shinkage-ryu Kenjutsu. Nagao-ryu is particularly known for its beautiful and effective kenjutsu, but also for the use of hidden weapons and techniques.
But in 1575 it was over: "In three waves, bullet rain after bullet rain hammered into 10,000 attacking samurai knights who, due to the conditions, were forced to charge into a funnel by their leader, Damiyo Takeda Katsuyori. In the narrowest point of the funnel, 3,000 elite shooters waited in three rows, so that volleys of 1,000 bullets could be released with a very short interval between them from a distance of less than 50 m. An experiment has shown that the death rate from a shooting distance of 50 m is approx. . 20-25 % and on 30 meters, 100 %.
Despite this knowledge, Takeda Katsuyori continued to attack the fortifications, with 3,000 of the Musket Corps standing behind three lines of three guns each, well protected by spear-armed samurai warriors. Only when over 4,200 of the Takeda clan's famous and feared elite cavalry lay dead in the mud did he call off the attack. Samurai knights trained from childhood, and loyal to an incompetent and arrogant leader.
When the battle was over, over 10,000 Takeda samurai warriors lay dead in the mud, along with 54 lords and generals, including eight of the original 24 famous Takeda Shingen elite generals. A death rate of 67 % of the army and 56 % of all participating Takeda generals. In comparison, 6,000 of the opponent's samurai warriors lay dead in the mud, corresponding to a death rate of 14%. Very few of the enemy's higher officers lay dead.
Along with all his elite samurai warriors present was also Yakami's 23rd soke (Saigusa Moritomo) death. He had the day before, together with the other leading generals, tried to talk his leader out of launching the suicidal attack against an army 5 times their size and on the premises of very competent opposing leaders”.
Nashinokidaira (1526) – Un no Kuchi (1536) –
Sezawa (1542) – Uehara (1541) –
Kuwabara (1542) – Fukuyo (1542) –
Nagakubo (1543) – Kojinyama (1544) –
Takato (1545) – Ryugasaki (1545) –
Uchiyama (1546) – Odaihara (1546) –
Shika (1547 )- Uedahara (1548) –
Shirojiritoge (1548) – Fukashi (1550-51) –
Toishi (1551) – Katsurao (1553) –
Kiso Fukushima (1554) –
Kannomine (1554) – Yoshioka (1554) –
Matsuo (1554) – Kawanakajima (1553, 1555, 1557, 1561, 1564) –
Musashi-Matsuyama (1563) –
Kuragano (1565) – Minowa (1566) –
Hachigata (1568) – Odawara 1569 –
Mimasetoge (1569) – Kanbara (1569) –
Hanazawa (1570) – Fukazawa (1571) –
Futamata (1572) –
Mikata ga Hara (1572) – Iwamura (1572)
Noda (1573) – Takatenjin (1574) –
Yoshida (1575) – Nagashino (1575) –
Omosu (1580) – Takatenjin (1581) –
Temmokuzan (1582) – Takato (1582)
How could that happen? What led to Nagashino, 1575 – the hail of bullets?
One of Torayoshi's sons took the name Saigusa at the behest of Takeda Shingen when he was appointed Ashigaru Taisho (infantry general) at the age of 19. Saigusa Moritomo (1537-1575), showed such good strategic and tactical abilities that he became one of the Daimyo Takeda Shingen's (1521-1573) 24 famous elite generals.
In 1566, he was ordered to attack Minowa Castle, which, after siege and repeated attacks by the Takeda clan's troops, had not yet fallen. This despite the fact that less than 1,000 samurai defended it, and that more than 1,600 of the Takeda clan's samurai lay dead in the area in front of the castle.
The main problem was the caliber of the defending burg general. A 53-year-old general who was definitely not “Mr. whoever". His name was Kamizumi Nobutsuna, the founder of Shinkage-ryu Kenjutsu. At this time he already had a master's license (Gokui Menkyo Kaiden) from the spear and sword school Kage-ryu, the Sword Master Bokuden's (1490-1571) Shinto-ryu and from the sword school Kashima Shinto-ryu (Shinto temple).
Shortly after, the castle's Daimyo was killed and Kamizumi Nobutsuna decided to surrender the castle. In recognition of Kamizumi Nobutsuna's clever defense and martial arts skills, he was allowed to travel around Japan at will to spread and improve his Shinkage-ryu. Before that, he gave a presentation of his system to selected high-ranking Takeda generals, including the 23rd Yakami Soke, Saigusa Moritomo (1537-1575).
It was strongly characteristic of Takeda Shingen that he invited all martial arts experts to his Province Kai to give instruction and a presentation of their system. He did not squint at "officially recognized favorite systems", as the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867) did, but only at what they could offer.
Whenever a martial artist visited Kai, Yakami Soken always attended. This was not because they were better than him, but in deep recognition that you were never too old or too good to learn, and you had to constantly create new techniques and tools for the benefit of the system and other people. This tradition and philosophy still exists within the system.
As a footnote, it should be noted that Kamizumi Nobutsuna along with Tsukahara Bokuden (Shinto-ryu), Miyamoto Musashi (Niten-ryu), Ito Ittosai Kagehisa (Itto-ryu), Ono Tadaki (Ono Itto-ryu) and his student Yagyu Muneyoshi ( Yagyu Shinkage-ryu) are probably the most famous and legendary swordsmen in all of Japan's history.
Saigusa Moritomo's father-in-law was the legendary Takeda general and daimyo (lieutenant) Yamagata Masakage (1524-1575), who was a close friend of Takeda Shingen. Masakage is particularly known for his skills in battle and that all his samurai warriors were decked out from head to toe in deep red armor and equipment. He was also one of the main characters in Akira Kurusawa's film "Kagemusha".
Masakage died along with all his samurai warriors at the Battle of Nagashino, – a battle he found futile and twice dissuaded the new lord of Kai, Takeda Shigen's son, Katsuyori (1546-1582). All of his father's old 24 elite generals termed an attack and battle futile and suicidal for the entire Takeda clan, and an honorable and wise retreat was preferable, as the Takeda clan's spies had told that the respect and fear of the Takeda clan's well-trained and well-led samurai warriors were great in the opponents' camp from top to bottom. But Katsuyori chose to listen to his own heart and some of the younger inexperienced generals who wanted more battle experience.
On June 28, 1575, the Takeda clan's 15,000 soldiers faced 38,000 soldiers from the united army of Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) with the vassal Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) and the allied daimyo of Mikawa, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616). Nobunaga was the strongest feudal lord of the time, who was in alliance with the later shogun of all Japan, Ieyasu, who later founded the Tokugawa dynasty of Shoguns (1603-1867). Nobunaga had overall command of approx. 100,000 samurai warriors and contributed 30,000 to the Allied force. Hideyoshi is one of Japan's most famous generals and sheriffs, and was for a period the de facto ruler of Japan. In 1575 he was Nobunaga's most loyal and best general, and commander of Nobunaga's bodyguard division of 3,000 men.
The story of the greatest "unifiers" of the Japanese Middle Ages; Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) and Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada (1579-1632), you can read about in the section on the 2600-year history of the Yamana-Itotani clan - if so you want to.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was the daimyo of Mikawa Province, in which Nagashino Castle was located. At the time, he commanded 12,500 samurai warriors, of which 7,500 were part of the allied forces. In 1600 Ieyasu won all power in Japan and in 1603 was appointed Shogun by the Emperor. He became the founder of the Tokugawa shogun dynasty, which lasted until 1868.
When the battle was over, over 10,000 Takeda samurai warriors lay dead in the mud, along with 54 Takeda "Colonels and Generals", including eight of the original 24 famous Takeda Shingen elite generals. A death rate of 67 % of the army and 56 % of all participating Takeda “Colonels and Generals”. In comparison, 6,000 "allied" samurai warriors lay dead in the mud, corresponding to a death rate of 14 %. Very few of the higher officers of the "Allies" lay dead.
Along with all his elite samurai warriors present, Yakami's 23rd soke also lay dead. The day before, he and the other leading generals had tried to talk his nephew out of launching the suicidal battle against some of Japan's best generals of the time and their best samurai warriors. Including among a 3,500-strong elite musket corps, which was decisive for the battle, as they mowed down over 4,200 of the Takeda clan's famous and feared elite cavalry from a distance of less than 50 m.
An experiment has shown that the death rate from a shot distance of 50 m is approx. 20-25 % and on 30 meters 100 %. Despite this knowledge, Takeda Katsuyori continued to attack the fortifications, with 3,000 of the musket corps standing behind in three lines, well protected by spear-armed samurai warriors. The film adaptation in the film director Akira Kurosawa's film "Kagemusha" is not historically correct, but gives an insight into the effect of each shot round.
In addition, the Takeda army faced 38,000 men under the command of very experienced and skilled generals. With 3,000 men assigned to hold the 500-strong Nagashino garrison under the command of the Tokugawa vassal, Okudaira Sadamasa, 12,000 Takeda samurai warriors actually faced 35,000 "allied" troops - a factor of 1:3
Together with Moritomo's younger brother Saigusa Ujimitsu, they commanded an elite regiment of 33 horsemen and 80 spear-wielding samurai warriors. They were very accustomed to war and had fought together in many battles; Mimasetoge (1569) – Kanbara (1569) – Hanazawa (1570) – Fukazawa (1571) – Futamata (1572) – Mikata ga Hara (1572) – Iwamura (1572) – Noda (1573) – Takatenjin 1574 – Yoshida (1575) and now Nagashino (1575).
Together they had sacrificed their lives to cover the retreat of Takeda Shingen's half-brother, Nobuzane, who, along with 1,000 scattered samurai warriors, was stationed in the remote Tobigasu-yama hill opposite the Onogawa River, where Nagashino Castle was located.
Takeda Nobuzane, Takeda Shingen's younger brother and thus Takeda Katsuyori's uncle, had often acted over the years as his older brother, Takeda Shingen's, doppelganger – Kagemusha (hence also the name and plot of Kurosawa's film of the same name).
Yakami's Soke had also spoken against the folly of attacking an enemy who was generally outnumbered 3-to-1 in soldiers, and who was under the command of the best generals in the same league as the late Takeda Shingen, and who at the same time possessed in advance the best strategic and tactical positions in the landscape. That would be suicide and the end of the Takeda clan.
The response of Takeda Katsuyori was clearly against this advice, and so the "Takeda Shingen's old generals" held a farewell dinner where they said goodbye to each other as they would be loyal to the Takeda clan until death.
Saigusa Moritomo was tasked with protecting Takeda Nobuzane, along with his fifteen bodyguards, as it was considered highly likely that Takeda Katsuyori would also die during the suicidal battle, leaving the Takeda clan without a leader. The allies had also seen through this and therefore, at the suggestion of Sakai Tadatsugu, it was decided to carry out a surprise attack on Nobuzane.
Sakai, who had previously carried out similar command attacks, became the force's leader and Nobunaga supported the force with 500 of his 3,500 musketeers from Nobunaga's elite bodyguard corps. At 08:00 two hours after the main battle had begun, 500 of Nobunaga's elite musket corps Aka horo-shu under Kanamori Nagachika launched a surprise attack. This was quickly followed by the onslaught of 2,500 samurai warriors from Sakai's elite corps on Takeda Nobuzane's four-division 1,000-man force in such a way that the strength ratio in each surprise attack would be at least 1:10 and in the decisive attack on the Tobigasuyama wooden fort, where Nobuzane was between 1:12 to 1:25 depending on how successful the musket corps and arrow rain would be. Unfortunately for Nobuzane, it was very effective.
The surprise was total and so was the chaos when, without warning, the Takeda security force was attacked from behind in full force by one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's most seasoned and ablest generals and daimyo, Sakai Tadatsugu (1527-1596), supported by ten other seasoned "commando- raid” generals.
The surprise attacks were perfectly coordinated and executed. In a flash, the largest of Takeda Nobuzane's units was destroyed, after which the temporary wooden fort of Tobigasuyama was attacked with about 200 samurai warriors.
First with a concentrated and follow-up musket fire from 500 muskets, followed by a rain of fire arrows which caused incendiary chaos, followed by an onslaught of 2,500 elite samurai warriors under the competent leadership of seasoned generals who were now emboldened by the success of their first victory.
Takeda Nobuzane, could stand nothing against the superior power. Outnumbered by more than 30:1, many of Takeda's soldiers were dead and wounded under the relentless and continuous musket fire from 500 well-trained musketeers.
Now 2,500 "allied" elite samurai warriors attacked the barely 100 remaining Takeda samurai warriors, many of whom were wounded. The only regiment that was almost intact was Saigusa's, as they had quickly taken their precautions under their protection, as the bodyguard unit of Takeda Nobuzane.
Despite the extremely poor odds, it was agreed that Yakami's soke and his regiment would cover a hasty retreat to the main force of Takeda Nobuzane and his surviving bodyguards, knowing that a miracle would be needed, and all of Saigusa Moritomo's men including himself and his younger brother, would sacrifice his life for this plan. But it was carried out as it was the only chance.
Saigusa's remaining 100 samurai warriors faced an overwhelming and impossible task as they were surrounded and attacked by 2,500 elite samurai warriors who were constantly supported by 500 disciplined and experienced master marksmen.
The pile of dead was huge, but Nobuzane could not get away and then chose to die in battle. Luck was therefore not with them and fighting hard all fell one by one. Nobuzane of Aki was killed while Katsuyori survived another 12 years.
After the total fall of the Takeda clan in 1582, the Noro-Saigusa family had to flee to northern Honshu, Aomori. They found service in the Daimyo clan Tsugaru. Here they have since functioned as judges, county officials and Shinto priests.
Already at the death of Takeda Katsuyori in early 1582, which led to an invasion of the Takeda clan's main province Kai and the capital Kofu, by the armies of Oda Nobunaga, legends also arose in the defense of the capital Kofu. One of them was around the defense of the Noro-Saigusa clan's temple.
In order to give time for everyone in the clan to escape in fairly good order, a bridge had to be defended to hold the advancing Oda samurai. One man was assigned to this task, Noro sensei, a Yakami senior grandmaster and Sodenke Gokui Menkyo Kaiden.
Noro Sensei was a handsome older gentleman who had already served as a Bujutsu instructor for many years. With Yakami's characteristic shorter katana, he stood out on the bridge and challenged all the prominent and best Oda samurai who had the courage to take on the challenge, as was customary at the time.
The legend says that many accepted the offer, so many that the blood flowed down from the bridge in a steady stream, into the river, so that the river water was colored red. But it was to get worse.
As the Oda army lost some of their best samurai this way and this delayed their original goal of capturing Kofu and key figures, an Oda general ordered a full frontal attack across the bridge. According to legend, this became a disaster and the river was now blood red. The handsome elderly Noro Sensei had killed 100 Oda samurai and was beginning to tire.
At the same time, he had fulfilled his obligation to delay. He therefore called Oda the general forward, looked him in the eyes and said that since there was no one among Oda's samurai who was a challenge to him and they had come uninvited, he protested against this rudeness and said that he did not want to take the lives of more Oda samurai.
With these words he swung his sword and cut off his own head. Oda Nobunaga was deeply moved by Noro Sensei, and paid tribute to this episode by renaming the river and the bridge. They were called the Red Bridge and River.
With Yakami's characteristic shorter katana, he stood out on the bridge and challenged all the prominent and best Oda samurai who had the courage to take on the challenge, as was customary at the time.
With experiences from the past 60 years over 50 continuous war campaigns, as generals and samurai warriors in the Takeda clan, the whole system became; Yashin Mon. Yakami no Taijutsu now optimized and adapted to the "modern development requirements with firearms and cannons, and war on many fronts and ways".
In addition, the training and preparation of elite armies for both war and peace.
Yassin Mon is the original system and the pinnacle of the entire system.
Forced by the civil war-like conditions in Japan, Yakami-ryu Taijutsu was established around 1450, and from 1450 until 1600 the martial art system was constantly tested and developed in battle. Yakami-ryu Taijutsu is therefore a system which, based on Yashin Mon powers and principles, is very well documented and tested in combat, both individually and with armies of thousands of well-trained samurai warriors.
After the Tokugawa clan's total power and peace throughout Japan after 1615, Yashin Mon Yakami no Taijutsu was now once again only passed down and taught to family members and carefully selected Bujutsu people who were not related by blood to the Noro clan. This continued until April 1989, when the system was opened to all for the first time.
The 34th Yashin Mon Grandmaster and 18th Yakami no Taijutsu Grandmaster, Noro Tonegawa no Yukio (b.1938) had already made up his mind that the family system would die with him. But since 1986-88, three Yakami-ryu students with then 10-30 years of Budo experience had trained with him in Japan. To his surprise, they had not given up despite the high demands and the complexity of the system compared to the majority of today's systems.
SST – Soké Sensei Tonegawa
Therefore, he decided to open the system to everyone, as he now had three senior students from three different parts of the world. This led to Jokokan schools being established in the USA, South Africa, Japan and Europe in addition to his old Gensei-ryu schools in Denmark (Genshikan), Israel, USA and Australia.
The opening to all of the ancient martial arts system; Yashin Mon Yakami no Taijutsu saw the birth of a new martial art system. This system came to be called Yakami Shinsei-ryu Karate-do, and became the first step on Yakami Shinsei-ryu's then three-step rocket. Soke Tonegawa Sensei is the first Soke for this system.
The development of Yakami Shinsei-ryu Karate-do was necessary since Yakami Shinsei-ryu no Taijutsu (Yakami Hassei-ryu Taijutsu) was based on an already acquired knowledge which corresponded to a traditional Menkyo or 6-8. then level. Yashin Mon Shinsei-ryu is based on a traditional 8-10. dan, Menkyo Kaiden level and up.
Yakami-ryu Taijutsu was originally developed in a time when many samurai were educated and trained in one or more different martial arts and thereby had already achieved a 6-8. dan's level or higher.
Yakami Shinsei-Ryu Karate-do forms the bridge to the original
Times had changed and therefore Tonegawa Sensei "streamlined" the family system for the modern age.
A streamlining that still takes place, and always will take place.
