Australian Jiu-jitsu, Judo and Chinese Boxing Federation of Instructors

Mikonosuke Kawaishi: 1899-1969

By Tony Papenfuss, Copyright 1997

Mikonosuke Kawaishi was born in Kyoto in 1899. He studied jiu-jitsu at the Dai Nippon Butokukai (Greater Japan Association of Martial Virtue) in Kyoto. Beyond being a style of aiki-jiu-jitsu, it is not known exactly what style of jiu-jitsu he learnt.

In the mid-1920's he left Japan and toured the United States, teaching particularly in New York and San Diego. In 1928, he arrived in the United Kingdom and established a jiu-jitsu club in Liverpool, where he taught aiki-jiu-jitsu. At this time, Kawaishi supplemented his meager income from teaching by wrestling professionally under the name "Matsuda", taking on wrestlers and boxers in the ring and on stage in music halls. The style of aiki-jiu-jitsu that Kawaishi taught in his early days in Liverpool is still taught in Merseyside by Geoff Gorst (5th dan) and others at the Kawaishi Ju-jitsu Ryu.

In 1931, he moved to London, founding the Anglo-Japanese Judo Club and teaching Judo at Oxford University. Around this time Kawaishi was awarded his third dan by Jigoro Kano. It was common at this time for jiu-jitsu instructors to teach, or call what they taught, Judo. Moreover, Kano awarded many jiu-jitsu exponents Judo black belts in order to recruit them into the Kodokan. Professor Wally Strauss met Kawaishi while at Oxford University.

In 1936, then a fourth dan, Kawaishi moved to Paris where he taught jiu-jitsu and judo. During World War 2, Kawaishi returned to Japan and was imprisoned in Manchuria for a time, but he returned to Paris after the war to continue teaching.

Before the war, Kawaishi and his student Moshe Feldenkreis had prepared the photographs for a book on Judo. Feldenkreis had to flee France during this time. Kawaishi later used the photographs in Standing Judo, while Feldenkreis wrote Judo, and Higher Judo.

Kawaishi came to believe that merely transplanting the teaching methods of Japan to the West was inappropriate. He developed an intuitive style of instruction and a numerical ordering of the techniques that he felt was more suitable in the west. This seemed to catch on in France and there was a rapid growth of interest in Judo.

After World War 2 and through the 1950's, the Kodokan moved more and more towards the sport of Judo; banning techniques from Shiai and dropping them from the Kodokan syllabus. Kawaishi, however, continued to teach many of these techniques. This led to several political splits and critics suggesting he had departed from the spirit of Kodokan Judo. His proponents, on the other hand, say that his teachings remained closer to Kano's jiu-jitsu. In fact, the strength of his judo has led some jiu-jitsu historians to believe that he was a judoka who also taught a system of goshin-jitsu (self defence).

Wally Strauss brought Kawaishi's system of judo and jiu-jitsu, together with a knowledge of several other arts, to Australia from Europe. The Australian Federation of Instructors continues to use Kawaishi's numerical system, albeit in a slightly modified form.

Kawaishi placed special emphasis on kata training. He promulgated Kyuzo Mifune's Gonosen No Kata (The Kata of Counters) in Europe and possibly his own version of Go No Kata, a kata of blows. He also wrote the book Seven Katas of Judo. Gonosen No Kata remains comparatively common in Europe, but practically unheard of in the United States as a result of Kawaishi's and Gonji Koizumi's teachings.

Kawaishi Shihan died on January 30, 1969. Every year a group of his students visit his grave on the anniversary of his death to celebrate his contribution to the martial arts. His eldest son, Norikazu Kawaishi, still lives and teaches in France.

This article appears with permission at the Judo Info Site. The version there has been edited by Neil Ohlenkamp and we thank him for his excellent website.

Mikonosuke Kawaishi photographed in Liverpool. Kindly provided by Geoff Gorst.