Shiro Saigo: 1866-1922
By Tony Papenfuss, Copyright 2004
In 1886, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police organised a contest between Jigoro Kano's Kodokan Judo and the Totsuka branch of the Yoshin Ryu. The shiai was to decide who would teach unarmed defense techniques to the police officers. Judo, then only four years old, was represented by fifteen of its best students. These included the Shitenno or Four Heavenly Lords: Yokoyama, Yamashita, Tomita and Shiro Saigo.
Of the Totsuka-ha Yoshin Ryu, Kano himself later wrote: "When you mentioned the name Totsuka, you meant the greatest ju-jitsu masters of that era." It was to be a tough contest: no time limits, no half or quarter. More than just who would teach the Tokyo police jiu-jitsu was at stake. Of the fifteen fights on the day the Kodokan won twelve, lost two and drew one, but it is Shiro Saigo who is best remembered. Using his trademark Aiki-jitsu throw Yama Arashi, he defeated Entaro Ukiji, a giant by Japanese standards.
Shiro Saigo was born in 1868 in the northern province of Aizu. At birth his parents named him Shiro Shida. At the age of 9 he was adopted by Tanomo Saigo, a chief councillor and governor-general of the Aizu clan, and a Shinto priest. Tanomo Saigo was an expert in oshi-ki-uchi or palace techniques and taught Shiro. These were the unarmed techniques of the Aizu clan for use when the samurai had given up their katana or sword on entering a palace. When Shida later married Tanomo's daughter, he changed his name to Shiro Saigo.
In 1880, Shiro Saigo was sent to Tokyo to further his education. There he enrolled in a Tenjin Shin'yo Ryu Jiu-jitsu dojo, where he caught the eye of Jigoro Kano. Around 1883, Kano invited Saigo to join the Kodokan. Saigo is regarded as a driving force in the early years of Judo. However, in 1891 Saigo abruptly left the Kodokan. There are several conflicting \accounts of this. A few involve too much drink. One tells of a great \fight that broke out between a group of Judoka including Saigo, and some sumo wrestlers. The police were called to quell the uprising and were injured or thrown into a river by Saigo. Kano was the head instructor of the Tokyo police at this time and in order to avoid embarrassing his teacher, Saigo had to leave.
There is a much more compelling account, however. Shiro Saigo was a talented practitioner of two martial arts: first oshi-ki-uchi and second Kodokan Judo. In Japanese culture, when someone gives you something, you become obligated to that person. This is called giri, literally 'right reason'. It is said that you carry a burden or on for that person. This is especially true in the sensei-kohai (sensei-student) relationship and is where the concept of service begins. Shiro Saigo's first sensei was Tanomo Saigo, who possibly envisaged his adopted son inheriting the system of jiu-jitsu he taught. Saigo would have been doubly obligated. When Saigo accepted Kano's invitation to join the Kodokan, Kano became Saigo's second sensei. Saigo was perhaps Kano's right-hand man. Saigo carried a burden or on for two teachers. As the Kodokan rose to prominence in the late 1880's and early 1890's, Kano was busy with his schools, athletics and spreading Judo abroad and appointed Saigo as a director of the Kodokan. Saigo found that he was caught in a position where his obligations to Jigoro Kano and his father were in conflict. Leaving either would mean failing to carry out giri for that one. He chose to leave both.
Moving to Nagasaki, he became a reporter and later, the vice-president of a newspaper company. There he took up kyudo and at the time of his death in 1923 he was a hanshi in the art. Saigo was posthumously awarded a 6th dan by the Kodokan and officially forgiven by Daito Ryu in the 1980's.
It is not easy to get straight facts about Shiro Saigo; it seems that no two accounts of his life agree. There are many reasons for this, but chief amongst them is that there was a great deal of jealousy and politics between some practitioners of Kodokan Judo, other Jiu-jitsu ryu, Aikido and Daito Ryu Aiki-jitsu. In other words, everyone has something to gain by putting their own spin on Shiro Saigo's story.
Sometime after Shiro Saigo's and Jigoro Kano's deaths, the victory of Judo in the 1886 Shiai was used by the Kodokan propagandists, most notably Risei Kano, as proof of the superiority of Judo over all other forms of jiu-jitsu. This is most likely where the problems began. It seems Jigoro Kano's idea that the Kodokan would be a kind of 'clearing-house' for jiu-jitsu techniques, bound together by the principle of maximum efficiency with minimum effort (or best use of heart), was quickly forgotten.
On the other hand, some proponents of Koryu Jiu-jitsu (the ancient schools) and Aikido claimed that Judo was inferior since most of the Kodokan's representatives at the contest were already experienced in other Jiu-jitsu ryu. On top of this, some Aiki-jitsu masters have recently claimed that Shiro Saigo was only a boy when he went to the Kodokan and did not have any knowledge of Daito Ryu or that oshi-ki-uchi was actually court etiquette rather than a martial art. If this isn't confusing enough, add claims that Shiro Saigo was actually Tanomo's natural son and one Aiki-jitsu school now calls itself Saigo-ha Daito Ryu, claiming ancestry from Shiro Saigo.
At the end of the day, Saigo should be remembered as one of the driving forces in the early years of the Kodokan: a skilled fighter and perhaps Kano's second. Lastly, true or not, Saigo offers us a compelling story about the Japanese concepts of loyalty and service.
References
- Furyu: The Budo Journal, Judo's Decisive Battle, Wayne Muromoto.
- Shiai, Dave Lowry, Karate Illustrated.
- Living the Martial Way: A manual for the way a modern warrior should think, Forrest E. Morgan.
- Modern Bujutsu & Budo, Volume Three, Donn F. Drager.
- Beginning Jiu-jitsu: Ryoi Shinto Style, James G. Shortt & Katsuharu Hashimoto.
- Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu: Conversations with Daito Ryu Masters, Stanley A. Pranin.
- The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Donald Richie.
- Judo-L (mailing list for all aspects of traditional and modern Judo)
