Isamu Takeshita 竹下勇

(4 December 1869-6 July 1949). Born Yamamoto. B. Hayato-cho, Aira-gun, Kagoshima Prefecture. Imperial Navy Admiral. As a second son unable to succeed his father he was adopted into the Takeshita family as a boy. Takeshita entered the naval academy in December 1892. He was a military attaché posted at various times in Washington, D. C. , and several European countries. Fluent in English, and also French, Takeshita was active in the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Portsmouth ending the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. He was a personal friend of Theodore Roosevelt and arranged for Yoshiaki Yamashita, a JUJUTSU expert, to be sent to provide martial arts instruction to the U. S. President. Takeshita became a patron and enthusiastic student of Morihei UESHIBA in 1925. He recorded hundreds of pages of detailed notes of classes taught by Ueshiba in the late 1920s to early 1930s. In 1935, Takeshita gave a lecture-demonstration on DAITO-RYU AIKIJUJUTSU at the First Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai demonstration as a representative of the KOBUKAN DOJO. He was later a president of the Sumo Association. Takeshita also served as the first president of the KOBUKAI Foundation in 1940. In 1941, he arranged for Ueshiba to demonstrate at the Saineikan Dojo within the imperial grounds before members of the Imperial family.