Eternal Master: Epilogue
Article from the Daitokan Newsletters and other records
This article was written as part of a series dedicated to the certificate and title of Eisei Meijin awarded to Horikawa Kodo in 1974. You may want to jump to the summary article first for context or have a look at the other articles in this series.
- Part 1: Document Analysis
- Part 2: Historical Context
- Part 3: Linguistic Breakdown
- Part 4: Interpretations, Extrapolations, and Myths
- Part 5: Epilogue
Please feel free to leave a comment on any of those articles!
Previously in this series
In this series, we’ve gone through everything we could find connected to the title awarded to Horikawa sensei. We then have provided an interpretation of the facts and artifacts we discovered and contrasted it with what others have said regarding this title.
Testing our theory
We’ve been able to discover a whole lot throughout this series! However, much of what we have to work with at this point remains circumstantial. We have little in lieu of testimony or records about the document and title at hand, and while we can feel fairly certain about our findings, there is absolutely nothing definitive about them.
But what if we found such records later on? How would we go about comparing our past analysis with them?
The Daitokan Newsletters
Those familiar with this blog might remember an article — meant to be the first in a series — regarding the Daito-ryu news leaflet, a publication from the Daitokan that ran between 1971 and 1991 documenting various events related to the organization and its branch dojo.
I haven’t taken the time to continue the series yet, unfortunately, but I frequently use them as a source of new content for Instagram, where I post historical pictures and documents on a semi-regular basis, along with short one-paragraph articles. I’m also working on digitizing them at some point, so to both ensure their preservation and make them quicker to dig into through OCR and indexing.
A timely discovery
I had almost completed this article series and was in the process of making last-minute corrections when I ran into the article above. The article, titled Eisei Meijin’i ni kagayaku Horikawa Kodo sensei (Horikawa Kodo sensei celebrated with the Eisei Meijin title), provides a record of the events surrounding the awarding of the title.
How could I have missed this? I thought to myself, fearing that I would have to throw away much of the work I had already done. As dedicated to the truth as I can be, I have to admit this was a prospect I was decidedly dreading.
I guess I should work harder on digitization efforts after all.
But another part of me, of course, was absolutely happy for the random yet timely opportunity to compare my previous analysis against the content of this article. It would either be a demonstration of how much can be determined through circumstantial analysis, or a cautionary tale about reading too much into public documents lacking private context. Either way, I thought to myself, something good would come out of this, on top of getting closer to the truth.
To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact — Charles Darwin
Article highlights
Here below is the translated article, with elements of importance emboldened.
昭和四十九年九月十五日北海道北見市の市民会館ホールに於て大東流合気柔術幸道会創立三十周年記念並に堀川幸道先生長寿（八十歳）を況う会を堀川先生門下及朝野名士に依り発会式引き続き幸道会員の演武並に堀川幸道先生の数々玄妙なる演技が公開此の盛大なる会に招かれました。当日此の席に於て次の各位。
On September 15, 1974, an event was held at the Civic Hall in Kitami City, Hokkaido, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Kodokai and the longevity of its founder, Horikawa Kodo (80 years old). Students of Horikawa sensei along with numerous guests and dignitaries were invited to assist at the event. Following the opening ceremony, Kodokai members held a demonstration (embu); Horikawa sensei also performed many of his mysterious and occult techniques. The following people were present.
- 名誉会長 (幸道会）[…] 石田和外
Honorary chairman (Kodokai) […] Ishida Kazuto - [The rest of the list is the same as the one included in the first article of this series, and is omitted here for brevity]
右八名の諸先生連名に依る永世名人位の祢号を堀川幸道先生に贈られました。
The aforementioned eight people presented the rank and title of Eisei Meijin to Horikawa Kodo sensei.
絃に堀川幸道先生の御健勝と幸道会の益々御発展を御祈りいたします。
We wish the best of health to Horikawa Kodo sensei and continued growth to the Kodokai.
かえり見るに武田惣角没後三十年間に其の大東流の流れを汲み此道の普及に尽力されて来られた故植芝盛平氏を始め久琢磨氏今又堀川幸道氏の諸氏を生む
Along with Ueshiba Morihei [founder of Aikido] and Hisa Takuma, he has greatly contributed to the diffusion of Daito-ryu and its traditions.
堀川幸道氏の御尊父泰宗氏は北海道に於て堀川牧場、砂金山、旅館等手広く事業経営され更に渋川流柔術剣術の二道に達せられた古武士の風格をそないた立派な地方有志として徳望家であった。
Mr. Horikawa Kodo’s father, Horikawa Taiso, a businessman involved with farms, gold mines, hotels, and other endeavors, was also a man of virtue and a practitioner of both kenjutsu and Shibukawa-ryu jujutsu.
大正二年武田惣角門下として大東流に精励され教授代理として惣角に随行し道東各地を巡回教授に当って居られ斯道発展に其の功績は誠に大きかった其の御子息幸道氏は親の伝習より大東流の道に入り本格的には昭和三年惣角門下となり各地中小学校長として子弟教育専念の傍、大東流に精進普及に努められ数多くの公職歴を有し社会事業にも貢献され昭和四十五年一月勲五等瑞宝章の恩賞に浴され文武両道の達人として地域社会に知られて居たが今回日本の朝野の名士より永世名人位の称号を贈られた事は堀川幸道氏の人徳の賜ものであると心より御慶びを申し上げます。
In 1913, as an assiduous student of Sokaku Takeda, he was appointed kyoju dairi and traveled all around the eastern part of Hokkaido [東道各地] to teach the art. His son, Kodo, would be trained by his father and himself become a student of Sokaku in 1928, contributing to the popularization of Daito-ryu while working as a director of various schools over the years. In January 1970, Mr. Horikawa was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fifth Class, and is well known in the community as a man of both literary and martial abilities [文武両道]. I would like to congratulate Mr. Horikawa Kodo on being awarded the Eisei Meijin rank by dignitaries of Japan in recognition of his virtues.
武の最終標は何んであるかをかみしめる大東流の為め父子二代にわたり精励し且又恩師惣角没後斯道発展に貢献して居る事に対し厚く御礼を申し上げると共に名実共に其の輝き武人の味香に接する。
I am grateful to be in touch with such a brilliant martial individual and am thankful for the continued devotion of two generations of the Horikawa family in spreading the late Sokaku [sensei’s] art.
Corroborations
Photographic evidence of the event along with descriptions have been provided by the Kodokai in a number of publications over the years. Thanks to that, we can confirm that such an event occurred, but also that Tokimune was invited as a guest of honor.
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One small detail the article got wrong is the number of years commemorated: the event celebrated the 25th anniversary, not the 30th. While most other publications I could find mentioning this event didn’t mention specifically the awarding of the Eisei Meijin title, all other circumstantial details mentioned are corroborated. Not only that, but the date of the event matches the date on the Eisei Meijin certificate.
One last thing
Since good luck seldom comes alone, I noticed the picture above when doing corroboration research on the above event. The caption stated:
石田氏から幸道翁へ贈られた祝辞の額
A mounted congratulatory address from Mr. Ishida to the Horikawa Ou [note: Ou is a Japanese honorific for elder men].
Source: Gekkan Hiden, February 2007
Interestingly, the bulk of the content itself is not unique. The Budo Zenshu (also known as Budo Gokui) published in 1934 includes a copy of this text, albeit written in contemporaneous Japanese instead of in pure kanbun. Ishida sensei would also refer to this text in two different places in his own book, which he would publish in 1980.
「。。。」また鬼一法眼、九郎判官源義経に与うるの書という武術の極意の中に、来則迎去則送対則和一九十二八十五五十以是可知天下無不和英という面白い言葉がある。激しい剣の修行においてさえ、心ある人たちは、そのような心境への借入を目標としているのだ。
[…] there is an interesting expression: “Meet those who come, let those who leave go. Go along with those who confront you. […]”. Even during intense sword [ken] training, the goal is to imbue oneself with such state of mind.
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Source: Ishida Kazuto’s Memoirs
For reference, the document this quote would be coming from is the 鬼一法眼虎の巻, reportedly written in the 1100s (the copy I linked to here is from 1733). It has found popularity in Kendo circles during the early 1900s, but also in Aikido ones from the second half of the 20th century onward; people such as Ueshiba Kisshomaru have quoted this sentence in a few publications, for instance. Modern interpretations in Japan are varied with people stating it is a gokui (or essence of their practice) like Ishida sensei did, while others use the text as a dojokun (or dojo creed).
Unless some portion of the document is being omitted, framing it as a congratulatory address seems a bit strange on the surface. It could have been given to commemorate a moment or event, perhaps.
Nonetheless, what does interest us here are the date and the title used for Horikawa sensei:
- The date: 昭和甲寅秋九月 (Showa era, Wood Tiger, Autumn, September)
The document is dated September of 1974 (no day of the month) - The title: 合気道大東流名人
The title used to address Horikawa sensei is of Aikido Daito-ryu Meijin.
This document alone, I would argue, might provide a huge missing piece of context. It was awarded around the same time the Eisei Meijin certificate was awarded, was presented to Horikawa sensei directly by Ishida sensei, and while it was used as a title the formulation does feel a bit more colloquial than an official title or rank would, in some ways. You’ll also notice that the kanji used for rank (位), which we’ve seen attached in the certificate we’ve been analyzing, is omitted here.
Comparative analysis
What did we learn? We’ve now learned the specific circumstances in which the certificate was awarded: a commemorative embu organized by the Kodokai to celebrate the organization’s 30th anniversary as well as Horikawa sensei’s 80th anniversary (he was born in 1894). The certificate and title were awarded by various dignitaries (the article uses the term 朝野の名士) in recognition of Horikawa sensei’s virtues. Combined with the publication we found from the Kitami Budokan, it strongly hints that the certificate was one awarded by the Kodokai in some way. Additional findings also now strongly suggest Ishida sensei was the instigator behind the creation of this certificate.
What’s left unknown? We still have little idea of how the title of Eisei Meijin came to be, and whether there might have been other reasons and motivations to award this title to Horikawa sensei. The article speaks of virtue, but it’s entirely possible that additional reasons may have been mentioned privately between the parties specifically concerned with this certificate and title.
What did we get wrong? I felt initially that this document was more collective in nature, but the evidence seems to suggest that Ishida sensei brought the other signatories along. Additional testimonies would be required to confirm this, however.
How does this change our previous analysis? In the first article of this series, we hypothesized that the award may have been awarded by Ishida sensei in his official capabilities as the Kodokai’s honorary chairman. The content of this article along with further findings not only strongly suggests this was the case, but further emphasizes this was a commemorative title given the circumstances.
The End?
With this, we reach the end of our five-part breakdown.
Initially, this series was meant to be limited to four parts; this fifth and last part came in late in the writing and editing process, and due to pure luck.
The article we found ended up corroborating many of our theories and other findings, thus helping us get closer to a preponderance of facts. But it’s important to keep in mind that we’re always potentially one new finding away from having to pivot and change our analysis and assumptions. The last finding regarding another document from Ishida sensei referring to Horikawa sensei as Meijin is an example of that.
Historical research is no exact science, after all.
We need to be comfortable with the idea that we may be wrong and celebrate any findings that further help us accurately preserve the memory and legacy of those who came before us. We do not do this for ourselves. We do this for all of us.
Now that you’ve read all five parts, time to go back to the main article, where it all started!
