was a Japanese

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

lord during the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

. He served as Governor of Kai Province. He is credited as the ancient progenitor of the

Japanese martial art 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 ...

, Daitō-ryū aiki-jūjutsu and Takeda-ryu.

Biography

Yoshimitsu was born the son of '' Chinjufu-shōgun''

Minamoto no Yoriyoshi was a Japanese samurai lord who was the head of the Minamoto clan and served as '' Chinjufu-shōgun''. Along with his son Minamoto no Yoshiie, he led the Imperial forces against rebellious forces in the north, a campaign called the Zenkunen War, ...

(988-1075) of the

Minamoto clan was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during th ...

. His brother was the

Minamoto no Yoshiie Minamoto No Yoshiie (源義家; 1039 – 4 August 1106), also known as Hachimantarō, was a Minamoto clan samurai of the late Heian period, and '' Chinjufu-shōgun'' (Commander-in-chief of the defense of the North). The first son of Minamoto ...

. He was also known as Shinra Saburō (新羅三郎), a

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

that comes from the Shinra Zenjindo Hall of

Mii-dera , formally called , is a Buddhist temple in Japan located at the foot of Mount Hiei, in the city of Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture. It is a short distance from both Kyoto, and Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. The head temple of the Jimon sect ...

Temple, where he had his coming-of-age ceremony. His

Dharma name A Dharma name or Dhamma name is a new name acquired during both lay and monastic Buddhist initiation rituals in Mahayana Buddhism and monastic ordination in Theravada Buddhism (where it is more proper to call it Dhamma or Sangha name). The nam ...

was Senkōin Shuntoku Sonryō (先甲院峻徳尊了). According to Daitō-ryū's initial history, Yoshimitsu dissected the corpses of men killed in battle, and studied them for the purpose of learning vital point striking (''

kyusho-jitsu derive from the supposed meridian points in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Indian Ayurveda and Siddha medicine, and martial arts. They refer to areas on the human body that may produce significant pain or other effects when manipulated in a specific ...

'') and

joint lock A joint lock is a grappling technique involving manipulation of an opponent's joints in such a way that the joints reach their maximal degree of motion and hyperextension. In judō these are referred to as, 関節技 ''kansetsu-waza'', "joint lo ...

techniques. Daitō-ryū takes its name from that of a mansion that Yoshimitsu lived in as a child, called "Daitō", in

Ōmi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the '' Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countr ...

(modern-day

Shiga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the north ...

). For military service during the Later Three-Year War (1083–1089), Yoshimitsu was made Governor of Kai Province (modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture), where he settled. Yoshimitsu's son, Minamoto no Yoshikiyo, took the surname "Takeda" and is also known as Takeda Yoshikiyo, and the techniques Yoshimitsu discovered would be secretly passed down within the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

until the late 19th century, when Takeda Sokaku began teaching them to the public.

Family

* Father: '' Chinjufu-shōgun''

* Mother: daughter of Taira no Naokata * Wife: daughter of Taira no Kiyomoto, of the Hitachi Heishi (Taira) branch * Children: * Minamoto no Yoshinori (Satake) * Minamoto no Yoshikiyo (Takeda) * Minamoto no Moriyoshi (Hiraga) * Minamoto no Chikayoshi (Okada)

References

Daito-Ryu Aiki Budo
Samurai People of Heian-period Japan 1045 births 1127 deaths Minamoto clan Deified Japanese people Heian period Buddhists {{samurai-stub