''Takagi Yoshin-ryū'' ("Takagi Heart of the Willow School") was a school of

Japanese martial arts Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts. The usage ...

. It was founded by Ito Sukesada, based on techniques that he learned from an

ascetic Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

named So Unryu. He taught this system to a samurai named Takagi Oriuemon Shingenobu, and Takagi's name was added to the school's. Tagaki was already a teacher of ''jutaijutsu'', an unarmed grappling system similar to the Chinese art of taijiquan. He was recognised as a shihan by Emperor Higashiyama in 1695. The Takagi ryū was influenced by other arts, particularly

Takenouchi-ryū is one of the oldest jujutsu koryū in Japan. It was founded in 1532, the first year of Tenbun, on the twenty-fourth of the sixth lunar month by Takenouchi Chūnagon Daijō Nakatsukasadaiyū Hisamori, the lord of Ichinose Castle in Sakushū ...

and Kukishin-ryū. A match between the headmasters of the Tagaki and Kukishin styles in the 17th century led to further cross-training between the two schools.

References

Japanese martial arts Jujutsu Ko-ryū bujutsu {{martialart-stub