What is Taiho Jutsu?

What is Taiho Jutsu?

By Robert Cowley

Robert Cowley describes the history and structure behind the martial art of Taiho Jutsu, which he practises and trains with the British Aikido team. 

Taiho Jutsu or ‘Arresting Art’ was born in 1947 in Japan.  Since then the system has been subjected to a number of revisions which have taken into account the changing requirements of what was then only taught to the police.  Officers were taught to use a five foot staff called a ‘jo’ and the police baton called ‘keibo’, which is approximately fourteen inches long.  In 1966 this was the system used for the Japanese police; they adopted the use of an extending tubular baton called ‘tokushu keibo’.

Taiho Jutsu in the UK was founded by Brian Eustace Sensei who moulded his style into the British Taiho Jutsu Associtaion (BTJA).  The BTJA is now part of the British Aikido Association (BAA) and we are known as the self defence section of the BAA.    Brian Eustace’s is a former police officer, a 9th Dan inTaiho Jutsu, 7th Dan Tomiki Aikido, 2nd Dan Judo.  He is also a technical expert for the BAA.  Putting all of this together with police training (PT) in arresting techniques, you can quickly see why he was responsible for establishing the Taiho Jutsu system.  This system was then taught to all British police including the Irish Garda siochana for a number of years.

In 1973 Taiho Jutsu was introduced to the United Kingdom by Sensei Brian Eustace who was also asked to review the self defence system for British police officers.  After finding that officers only received tuition in unarmed combat, Mr Eustace took control of the basic training at the start of each officer’s service, as well as introducing refresher courses to ensure the basic techniques were kept up to date and that senior members of the police training centres were competent whilst teaching in his absence.  Sensei Eustace taught a series of basic techniques that were to be practised regularly.  These techniques were subject to the same revision process as its Japanese counterpart.  This resulted in a number of changes to the basic techniques as some fell in or out of favour with the authorities due to the ever increasing demand in health and safety procedures and changes in how a would be villain is arrested.

Today Taiho Jutsu is a much richer and fuller system of self defence.  Not only does it still hold great relevance to basic police training, it is still in the forefront of training the Irish Garda siochana.
 
Techniques and Structure of Taiho Jutsu

There are a wide range of techniques which have been incorporated into a sporting aspect in order to gain a proficient effortless form of self defence.  Each separate aspect of Taiho Jutsu has a different role to play in self defence and sport.

Avoidance should always be the first instinct to be at the forefront of the mind when entering into what would be an adrenaline pumped situation, causing the body and brain to act irrationally when confronted with a possible attack. Avoidance could just simply be a step to the left or just slipping the rear foot in a half semi circular motion causing the strike, swing or grab to pass your head or torso. To firstly move in such a manner that the oncoming aggressor, if not totally but temporarily be disorientated for at least a split second to allow you either to escape unharmed or apply a suitable restraint, lock, hold or even a throw.

Kata - Patterns or Forms are still high on the traditional agenda based on the Tomiki style of Aikido.  Aikido techniques in Taiho Jutsu kata incorporate moves both attacking and defence followed by in some instances with Judo, Tanto or baton techniques. This allows for a more comprehensive and in some ways a more realistic way of mastering techniques.
  
Sport judo - Techniques both standing and on the ground are also incorporated in to the kata.  Along with this, Judo stands out in its own right having been incorporated in to a free play form both from standing and back to back ground work.

The knife (Tanto) – is my favourite aspect of Taiho Jutsu.  The tanto is much more than knife defence, it has to be because in the words of Sensei Eustace “you’d have to be barmy to think that defending against the knife would be a good idea!”  And I agree, so here’s what he has done.   The tanto is shown to students to promote good movement and posture, using the tanto gives the defender (tori) a slightly nervous edge which in turn automatically stiffens up the body making a real life situation a disaster for most normal untrained civilians.  Repetition of training with the tanto soon over comes this natural instinct to clam up and cover up.  After just a short time training a whole series of techniques flow as the tanto attacks, this also forms a basis for kata as Taiho Jutsu does not just train in unarmed techniques but also with the basic weapons people carry today.
 
Taiho Jutsu in a Nutshell
Taiho Jutsu teaches techniques to deal with real encounters, some which are excellent against lethal attacks.  There is also great confidence gained with regular training as these techniques are tried and tested methods of self protection proven in society from even the early days when Taiho Jutsu was the basis for police training.

I think Taiho Jutsu holds a key to the past and for me martial arts are all about history. Brian Eustace is writing history, his involvement with the evolution of tradition and the basics of simplicity are all that is really required.  Today I think that the doors are fast closing on what training should be all about, it’s all too easy to forget about how martial arts are formed and we should keep these traditions alive.

I would like to thank Sensei Eustace for taking the time to train me in his self defence system and hope that I can follow on and teach this system and continue with the success it has been to date.

To find out more about Taiho Jutsu in the UK visit: www.taihojutsu.org.uk