Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 150

Kobujutsu, but not including the practice of specific old
weapons like Sai, Tonfa, Kama, etc. In this way, it is correct
to affirm that in these cases, the term Kobujutsu is utilized
to refer to practices with classic weapons, such as the Jo,
Bokuto, Tanto, etc., only being employed as “old art of war”.
There are many arts practiced in the Ogawa Ryu, among
them are, Kenjutsu, Iaijutsu, Battojuts, Jujutsu, Bojutsu,
Tanbojutsu, Tantojutsu, Yarijutsu (Sojutsu), Naginatajutsu,
Saijutsu, Kamjutsu, KusariFundo, Nawa no Gikko, and
Kyujutsu.
Tai Jutsu is a Japanese term that means corporal Martial
Arts, corporal art. Tai means body and jutsu, art. Despite
being quite an indeterminate word, Tai Jutsu is a very old
way of fighting, which endeavored to perfect and prepare
students for all kinds of situations in which they did not have
weapons or any other kind of protection except their own
body. With this intention, the art took very wide dimensions
due to the infinite situations that might arise in corporal
fighting.
So, as many weapons have been developed to offer
advantages in combat and through time and from the
diverse cultures one can find an immense variety with very
different ends, the human body has also improved in its use
of structural components, the head, trunk and limbs, with
attack and defensive aims.
In Japan, just as in other warrior countries, unarmed
combat techniques became so effective that they went on
to be studied and applied against any kind of adversary
whether armed or not. The study of angles, traction, impact
and bars that could be done with the body and the damage
that they could bring about in certain areas, have been
exhaustively studied to the point where the unarmed arts
could achieve the same advantages with an adversary with
the most dangerous of weapons. It is possible to find, for
example, the unarmed technical applications against an

adversary with knife (Tanto Dori) or with sword (Shinken
Shiraha Dori).
Tai Jutsu is basically divided into three arts of body
contact. The part that studies the way of grabbing
(immobilizations and chokes) is Jujutsu - a very old art
that descends from Kumi-Uchi (Yoroi Kumi-Uchi
in the case of using armor), a way of fighting
that sought to take the adversaries to the
ground, very effective for the development of
the mind-body connection. Still within
Jujutsu, for its immense number of
techniques and immobilizations, one
studies, with quite a lot of emphasis,
fighting with the feet, but with a
connotation closer to gripping.
Another part of Tai Jutsu is Kenpo,
an art that deals with aggression
and
bodily
strength.
The
philosophy of Kenpo is to look for
the naturalness of the body in
union with its aggression. This
violent way of corporal fighting
was developed with warfare
objectives.
And to complete Tai Jutsu, we
have Aiki Ju Jutsu, a very old
fighting technique based on
harmony and on the use of
internal energy, known as Ki.
Nonetheless,
some
characteristic sequences are
utilized within those of Jujutsu
and Aiki Jujutsu as forms of
Seiteigata. That art is known as
Koppojutsu and emphasizes