Takuma Hisa 久琢磨

(1895-31 October 1980). B. Kochi Prefecture. A sumo wrestler in his youth, he was later employed by the Osaka Asahi Newspaper office in the 1930s. He studied first under Morihei UESHIBA and then, in 1936, directly under Sokaku TAKEDA. Received KYOJU DAIRI or teaching certification in 1937 from Takeda. Eventually awarded MENKYO KAIDEN in March 1939, the only of Takeda’s students so honored, and went on to become one of the most well-known teachers of DAITO-RYU AIKIJUJUTSU. He published a series of eleven training manuals featuring photographs of the Daito-ryu techniques taught at that time. The first six volumes cover techniques taught by Morihei Ueshiba, seven through nine contain techniques taught by Sokaku Takeda, and books ten and Hisa cutting rice cake at kagami biraki celebration in Asahi Newspaper Dojo as Morihei Ueshiba looks on (c. 1936) eleven include police and self-defense techniques. In 1959 he established the Kansai Aikido Club which taught the combined techniques of Ueshiba and Takeda. The TAKUMAKAI, an organization of Daito-ryu dojos which developed around him, was created in August 1975.