In the name of the CNKB - Conselho Nacional de Kaze no Ryu Bugei (National Council of Kaze no Ryu Bugei), registered in Brazil, and under the request of superiors, we will attempt to clarify some of the various comments, in no certain order, made by unauthorized people on forums, blogs, and the internet…most of whom:
The story of our style, formerly called “Kaze no Ryuu Bugei”, starting in the Kamakura age - 1192 A.D. - 1333 A.D., with the Shizen people at that time, living in the northern part of Japan near Hokkaido. The Shizen or Ainu people who are known as the first natives of Japan. The Shizen people were comprised of the repressed Ainu, as well as, other discontented within the feudal regime, such as Ronin and Farmers among others. Notably, as rebels, all efforts were made towards keeping themselves hidden and silent.
Mr. Oscar Ratti, author of many known books, mentions in his book, “Secrets of the Samurai”, that the Ainu people were pushed back into the northern lands of Hokkaido. According to this source, this knowledge has been passed down from teacher to student, as is the custom, for at least three generations.
Mr. Ratti’s book, however, is not the only available source for researching the fact that the Ainu people and culture existed, and that they opposed and resisted the rules of the Japanese Emperors. Many citations and explanations can be found in the Encyclopedia Britannica and there are several books written about their history.
The term “Emishi” was used, at that time in Japan, to designate those tribes and to differentiate between the culture, habits and language of the “nihon jin” or Japanese people. With the constant need to learn and develop a martial art, an effective system called “Uchiuu Shizen” was created that provided effective means for when a life was threatened during conflicts and combat.
Naturally, due to the differences that many Bushi had for the martial arts, other arts such as calligraphy, painting and meditation among others, were incorporated into the style and studies.
The teachings from our school say that the name “Kaze no Ryu” (style of the wind) was baptized by Yorike Mizuguchi because of the strategic knowledge that aimed to deceive the enemy, that is, moving forward and backward, as the wind. The writing of the kanji for wind, “kaze”; and style or method, “ryu”, in its Chinese readings, onyomi, respectively, “Fuu” and “Ryuu”, although makes a lot of sense in Japanese, could lead to a misunderstanding, since “Fuuryuu”, with exactly those kanji, is a word of common use, meaning “elegance”, or something like “refinement”, being a noun or an adjective. Be that as it may, the name “Kaze no Ryu” has been taught at least since Ogawa Sensei.
History reveals that although Ogawa Hiroshi was known as a martial arts genius, he was also a man that went through many frustrations and bitterness in his lifetime, notably being a person quite difficult to live with. From this point of view, in the story of Ogawa Sensei, there are three versions: his own, the one from his enemies and the true one. With that said...We only know his version.
This small résumé, however, may be seen as legend, and there is no way to prove it. There is no way to attest that the style is definitively ancient, nor that the grandparents of Ogawa Sensei practiced in this fashion.
Henceforth, we his students, deal with the responsibility of passing forward what was transmitted from him. We are not affiliated with any kind of organization, because Ogawa Sensei did not like to appear at events very often and did not allow his students to frequent events either. This feeling was adopted by everyone active in the group. It was only later, in the latter 90’s that Shidoshi Jordan Augusto started to gradually disclose our order. Although, as mentioned, we are not affiliated with any kind of organization, at the same time, we continue the method of Ogawa Sensei in a very organized manner.
Ogawa Sensei always said he taught Koryu; and for every movement and sequence of Koryu there was a precise explanation for that movement, at that certain time in history and according to the line of thought of the ancient warriors…which is still held to this day. Because of the very large amount of details and references to ancient things like objects, weapons, situations and ways of thinking, it was always clearly taken, that what was studied, was from ancient times.
Ogawa Sensei developed several studies beyond the classical sequences, which made his students quite different technically from the other students of Kaze no Ryu Bugei. As a matter of preserving what was taught by Ogawa Sensei, his students began to refer to it as Ogawa Ryu, and probably at that time, the most correct interpretation was Ogawa Ryu Ha.
In the same way, aiming to preserve what was taught in Brazil, all of the Seiteigata was cataloged and photographed and it is kept officially as internal documents of our school.
Anyway, if it is a Ryu, a Ryu Ha or a method created by himself, we do not know for sure and it’s extremely hard to prove.
The study of Ogawa Ryu, since Ogawa Sensei’s time, was developed under subjects, or arts. Many of them are briefly described on our website.
Under the subject “Jujutsu”, for example, all the postures, breathing, disposal of hara, angles, ma-ai, timings and peculiar characteristics will be according to the specific ways of thinking present in Jujutsu. In our style, Jujutsu is typically an art of self-defense, used most generally in situations of aggression, attacks or everyday situations. The sequences and movements prove this historical feature, and so do all of the details surrounding the study. We note that the characteristics of this example may be applied to our Jujutsu only; because of the so many existing styles of Jujutsu, there are certainly some that were not developed mostly for self-defense.
For each subject there are different studies, different exercises, and different explanations.
On the other hand, the school has two kinds of study and practice: The classical sequences and the other is the free form in which Ogawa Sensei stood out the most. In the free form, logically, every student and teacher makes an effort to polish and improve himself, with constant changes pursuing the maximum reality, but never adulterating the Koryu Seiteigata forms.
We have videos and documentaries that are available on our various sites, as well as thousands of videos on Youtube and other social media. All of the public videos made in our institution are available to the public and may be found there. There are many videos showing Seiteigata forms, and others showing free forms. Some are performed by Shidoshi Jordan Augusto, and others by older students and also by beginners. The purpose of each one is different.
We truly admire researchers who share their opinions in a serious way with other people and believe that this can lead to great discoveries and study. Nevertheless, because of the clandestine nature of our organization, it is not usual for our institution to reply to any kind of forums, blogs or digital platforms, regardless of its aims, purposes or contents. Thus, even though we know that many questions will still be raised in forums with so many experts and researchers, we guard the right to remain silent.
As said, the institution is open to whoever wants to know or study the style in a serious and ethical way, according to our purposes. We do believe that even with the experience that great experts may have, having your own experiences about something, especially a style or school, is the first minimum step to be able to evaluate it.
- Have never been to any of our schools from around the world.
- Have gone to one of our schools but had misguided expectations.
- Have given their own opinion but acting like it is a fact.
The story of our style, formerly called “Kaze no Ryuu Bugei”, starting in the Kamakura age - 1192 A.D. - 1333 A.D., with the Shizen people at that time, living in the northern part of Japan near Hokkaido. The Shizen or Ainu people who are known as the first natives of Japan. The Shizen people were comprised of the repressed Ainu, as well as, other discontented within the feudal regime, such as Ronin and Farmers among others. Notably, as rebels, all efforts were made towards keeping themselves hidden and silent.
Mr. Oscar Ratti, author of many known books, mentions in his book, “Secrets of the Samurai”, that the Ainu people were pushed back into the northern lands of Hokkaido. According to this source, this knowledge has been passed down from teacher to student, as is the custom, for at least three generations.
Mr. Ratti’s book, however, is not the only available source for researching the fact that the Ainu people and culture existed, and that they opposed and resisted the rules of the Japanese Emperors. Many citations and explanations can be found in the Encyclopedia Britannica and there are several books written about their history.
The term “Emishi” was used, at that time in Japan, to designate those tribes and to differentiate between the culture, habits and language of the “nihon jin” or Japanese people. With the constant need to learn and develop a martial art, an effective system called “Uchiuu Shizen” was created that provided effective means for when a life was threatened during conflicts and combat.
Naturally, due to the differences that many Bushi had for the martial arts, other arts such as calligraphy, painting and meditation among others, were incorporated into the style and studies.
The teachings from our school say that the name “Kaze no Ryu” (style of the wind) was baptized by Yorike Mizuguchi because of the strategic knowledge that aimed to deceive the enemy, that is, moving forward and backward, as the wind. The writing of the kanji for wind, “kaze”; and style or method, “ryu”, in its Chinese readings, onyomi, respectively, “Fuu” and “Ryuu”, although makes a lot of sense in Japanese, could lead to a misunderstanding, since “Fuuryuu”, with exactly those kanji, is a word of common use, meaning “elegance”, or something like “refinement”, being a noun or an adjective. Be that as it may, the name “Kaze no Ryu” has been taught at least since Ogawa Sensei.
History reveals that although Ogawa Hiroshi was known as a martial arts genius, he was also a man that went through many frustrations and bitterness in his lifetime, notably being a person quite difficult to live with. From this point of view, in the story of Ogawa Sensei, there are three versions: his own, the one from his enemies and the true one. With that said...We only know his version.
This small résumé, however, may be seen as legend, and there is no way to prove it. There is no way to attest that the style is definitively ancient, nor that the grandparents of Ogawa Sensei practiced in this fashion.
Henceforth, we his students, deal with the responsibility of passing forward what was transmitted from him. We are not affiliated with any kind of organization, because Ogawa Sensei did not like to appear at events very often and did not allow his students to frequent events either. This feeling was adopted by everyone active in the group. It was only later, in the latter 90’s that Shidoshi Jordan Augusto started to gradually disclose our order. Although, as mentioned, we are not affiliated with any kind of organization, at the same time, we continue the method of Ogawa Sensei in a very organized manner.
Ogawa Sensei always said he taught Koryu; and for every movement and sequence of Koryu there was a precise explanation for that movement, at that certain time in history and according to the line of thought of the ancient warriors…which is still held to this day. Because of the very large amount of details and references to ancient things like objects, weapons, situations and ways of thinking, it was always clearly taken, that what was studied, was from ancient times.
Ogawa Sensei developed several studies beyond the classical sequences, which made his students quite different technically from the other students of Kaze no Ryu Bugei. As a matter of preserving what was taught by Ogawa Sensei, his students began to refer to it as Ogawa Ryu, and probably at that time, the most correct interpretation was Ogawa Ryu Ha.
In the same way, aiming to preserve what was taught in Brazil, all of the Seiteigata was cataloged and photographed and it is kept officially as internal documents of our school.
Anyway, if it is a Ryu, a Ryu Ha or a method created by himself, we do not know for sure and it’s extremely hard to prove.
The study of Ogawa Ryu, since Ogawa Sensei’s time, was developed under subjects, or arts. Many of them are briefly described on our website.
Under the subject “Jujutsu”, for example, all the postures, breathing, disposal of hara, angles, ma-ai, timings and peculiar characteristics will be according to the specific ways of thinking present in Jujutsu. In our style, Jujutsu is typically an art of self-defense, used most generally in situations of aggression, attacks or everyday situations. The sequences and movements prove this historical feature, and so do all of the details surrounding the study. We note that the characteristics of this example may be applied to our Jujutsu only; because of the so many existing styles of Jujutsu, there are certainly some that were not developed mostly for self-defense.
For each subject there are different studies, different exercises, and different explanations.
On the other hand, the school has two kinds of study and practice: The classical sequences and the other is the free form in which Ogawa Sensei stood out the most. In the free form, logically, every student and teacher makes an effort to polish and improve himself, with constant changes pursuing the maximum reality, but never adulterating the Koryu Seiteigata forms.
We have videos and documentaries that are available on our various sites, as well as thousands of videos on Youtube and other social media. All of the public videos made in our institution are available to the public and may be found there. There are many videos showing Seiteigata forms, and others showing free forms. Some are performed by Shidoshi Jordan Augusto, and others by older students and also by beginners. The purpose of each one is different.
We truly admire researchers who share their opinions in a serious way with other people and believe that this can lead to great discoveries and study. Nevertheless, because of the clandestine nature of our organization, it is not usual for our institution to reply to any kind of forums, blogs or digital platforms, regardless of its aims, purposes or contents. Thus, even though we know that many questions will still be raised in forums with so many experts and researchers, we guard the right to remain silent.
As said, the institution is open to whoever wants to know or study the style in a serious and ethical way, according to our purposes. We do believe that even with the experience that great experts may have, having your own experiences about something, especially a style or school, is the first minimum step to be able to evaluate it.