Switzerland
Practitioners who train Bujinkan, Genbukan or Jinenkan are often puzzled as to why their traditional schools, such as Takagi Yoshin-ryū, are not recognised as Koryū schools in Japan.
The two umbrella organisations
In Japan there are two officially recognised umbrella organisations: the Nihon Kobudō Shinkōkai (日本古武道振興会 – Society for the Promotion of the Traditional Japanese Martial Arts) and the Nihon Kobudō Kyōkai. The Shinkōkai is one of the two authoritative associations for the preservation and recognition of legitimate Koryū, that is, of classical martial arts whose origins lie before 1868.
Both organisations examine the historical descent (lineage) and the authenticity of the schools strictly, in order to sort out fabricated or modern offshoots. They also hold large demonstrations (Enbu Taikai) each year in order to promote the Koryū schools and make them known to the public.
What happened at the examination
Masaaki Hatsumi, the head of the Bujinkan, presented himself to these organisations with his scrolls and his statements on lineage. None of his nine schools, however, met the relevant requirements. He had no historical scrolls, and the lines of descent he gave could not be traced.
This information was conveyed personally to the author of this article, Raoul Haldimann, 7th dan and Menkyo Kaiden of the Motoha Yoshin-ryū, by a Sōke, that is, by the head of one of the recognised schools.
My own assessment
I am personally convinced that certain connections exist between the Takagi Yoshin-ryū and the original Takagi-ryū. The transmission, however, never took place officially by way of a Menkyo Kaiden or a Sōke, but by way of middle dan grades. In the traditional Koryū such a transmission does not count as an official passing on of the school.
When I compare the techniques of the original Takagi-ryū today with the techniques as they are practised in the Bujinkan or the Jinenkan, essential elements are missing in my view. In my assessment even the fundamental core principles of the original tradition are missing.
As already mentioned, the essential background, however, is that Hatsumi was unable to produce sufficient evidence for the historical line of his schools. In my assessment this certainly applies to the Jissen Kobudō Jinenkan as well, and to most of the schools of the Genbukan.
Why not several schools at the same time
It is, incidentally, also not customary in the traditional Koryū for several schools to be taught together at the same time. Usually a student first learns a single system. Only when he has mastered it sufficiently does he perhaps learn a second.
Exceptions exist, for example, where a sword school and a Jūjutsu school are combined with one another. In such a case it can make sense to train two schools at the same time, since their contents do not overlap, or overlap only slightly.
Systems in which several different traditions are taught in parallel and mixed with one another are, from the point of view of traditional schools, as a rule not regarded as a serious passing on of a single tradition. The main aim of a Koryū is, after all, the preservation of the school in question and of its transmitted tradition – and not the mixing of different systems, or the extraction of individual elements and a new synthesis arising from them.
Raoul Haldimann, 7th dan and Menkyo Kaiden of the Motoha Yoshin-ryū, Yoshinkan Dōjō Zug. The text sets out the view of the author.