Minoru Mochizuki
(April 11th, 1907 - , May 30th, 2003)
The following biography is quoted in a number of different sources on the internet. The original author is undetermined.
Minoru Mochizuki was born in Shizuoka in 1907. In 1912-13 he began his study of Judo with Master Takeda Sokaku (1858-1943), a pupil of Master Jigoro Kano. In 1924, he joined the Kendokan dojo of the legendary Judo and Kendo master of the time Sanpo Toku (called "the demon of Kodokan").
In 1926 he attained his Shodan in Judo at the Kodokan. Here he came to the attention of Judo Master,
Kyuzo Mifune. Master Mifune asked Master Toku to allow Mochizuki to become his personal student and eventually assistant instructor.
The leader of the Kodokan, Jigoro Kano, wanted to preserve the traditional martial arts of Japan by creating a special section of the Kodokan devoted to their practice. Master Kano selected Minoru Mochizuki to learn a variety of martial arts disciplines that were to be added to the Kodokan syllabus. He studied Aikijutsu with Morihei Uyeshiba; Katori Shindo Ryu with Yazaemon Hayashi; Kendo under Hakudo Nakayama; and Shindo-muso ryu jujutsu under Takaji Shimizu.
OSensei Morihei Ueshiba & Minoru Mochizuki
In 1930, Uyeshiba asked Kano to send Mochizuki to him as a permanent assistant and the following year he helped Uyeshiba teach Aikijustu to the Japanese military. In 1931, Mochizuki became ill and returned to Shizuoka to recuperate. In the meantime the plan to create a bujutsu ( martial arts ) section in the Kodokan had been abandoned.
In late 1931, Mochizuki founded his own dojo in Shizuoka, the Yoseikan dojo. Here he began to teach everything he had learned to his own students. He was awarded two Daito-Ryu scrolls by Ueshiba in June 1932 ("Goshinyo no te" and "Hiden ogi no koto"). The award of these scrolls act as an acknowledgement that Mochizuki was accepted as a master of the system.
In Mongolia, he was also active as an educator and entrepreneur of projects to improve communications and irrigation. His idea of combating communism with the application of the principles of "mutual welfare and prosperity" and of "the best use of energy" of Jigoro Kano contributed to the development of his region. His irrigation project was even completed after the Second World War by the Chinese authorities.
According to Hanshi Masayuki Kukan Hisataka's book, "Essential Shorinjiryu Karatedo", Minoru Mochizuki was the regional governor for the Japanese Government in Sarachi during World War II. It was there that a martial arts center was established where Judo sessions were held regularly. Both Kaiso Hisataka and Master Mochizuki taught at these sessions. After the session they stayed behind, and Kaiso Histaka would give Master Mochizuki instruction in karatedo . They did this for two years until Kaiso Hisataka was transferred. Master Mochizuki said at that time Kaiso Hisataka called his karate style Kudakaryu and emphasized a training form called Happo ken so as to pass along as much as possible in the short time, to Master Mochizuki.
After the War, Master Mochizuki returned to Japan and gained his 6th Dan in Judo . In 1950, Mochizuki reorganized the Yoseikan dojo in Shizuoka, and two foreign students arrived for intruction. In 1952, the two students returned to France where along with Henry Plee they founded the French Federation of Karate. In the 50's, 60's and 70's , Mochizuki continued to expand his martial arts knowledge receiving a 5th Dan in Kendo and Jo-do in 1956, 7th Dan in Judo in 1959, 8th Dan in Judo in 1977, and 10th Dan in Aikido in 1979 from a member of the Japanese Imperial Family.
In 1984, two American karateka students visited the Yoseikan dojo and described the following:
" He is nearing eighty years of age - but in the dojo his mien, icily stern, suggests hidden depths of power. He is a short compact man who sports two cauliflower ears and a host of scars - mute testimony to decades of austere discipline. He is a meijin - not only a grand master of judo, jujutsu and aikido, but the founder of his own school of martial art - the Yoseikan budo. He is possibly the toughest old gentleman we met in our odyessy through the martial art world of Japan ".
The Yoseikan tradition of a broadly based type of training rather than a single art approach is maintained by the modern followers of Minoru Mochizuki. To receive a black belt from the Yoseikan it is necessary to study at least three of the major arts and have a working knowledge of as many as possible. This approach was formed by Mochizuki's own experience and continues the genuine tradition of Japanese budo.
Minoru Mochizuki, circa 1992
Master Minoru Mochizuki spent the last years of his life in France with his son Hiroo.
For additional information I recommend the following link about Master Minoru Mochizuki:
http://www.yoseikanbudo.com/
also
The Aikido Journal.
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