Bamboo

Fusen Ryu is a martial art originating in Japan. Founded by Takeda Motsuge, who lived from 1794-1867, Fusen Ryu is not one of the better known martial arts. Often overshadowed by judo and other such grappling styles, it is actually a comprehensive system of defence that often does not receive the respect it deserves.

Fusen Ryu is a type of jiujitsu.

Takeda Motsuge and Fusen Ryu

Takeda Motsuge was a Buddhist priest who studied classical styles of martial arts through his life. Later in his life, he developed his own style to strengthen weakness he found in these martial arts.

One of his disciples, the grandmaster of the 1890s, Mataemon Tanabe, further improved Fusen Ryu by concentrating on ground work and various submission holds. However, it is unknown whether he actually developed these techniques, or if they were already in place but not widely used.

Mataemon Tanabe is famous for challenging Kano Jigoro, the founder of Judo, to a competition in the early 20th century. In every bout of the competition, the Fusen Ryu practitioners defeated their opponents.

Nowadays, Fusen Ryu is more popularly known as the main martial art style Brazillian Jiu Jitsu is based upon. Mitsuyo Maeda, a Fusen Ryu practitioner, taught the founders of Brazillian Jiu Jitsu, the Gracie brothers.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 7th, 2006 at 6:21 pm and is filed under Japanese Martial Arts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.