E-Judo

Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.
E-Judo

Judo network and forum


5 posters

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Jihef
    Jihef


    Posts : 222
    Join date : 2013-09-06
    Location : Brussels, Belgium

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Post by Jihef Thu Jul 31, 2014 3:15 am

    Nice little footage.
    Looks like Tomiki sensei ?

    afja_lm139
    afja_lm139


    Posts : 152
    Join date : 2012-12-30
    Age : 83

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Re: American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Post by afja_lm139 Fri Aug 01, 2014 10:55 am

    Kotani sensei; brings back fond memories of those days.
    NBK
    NBK


    Posts : 1298
    Join date : 2013-01-10
    Location : Tokyo, Japan

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Re: American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Post by NBK Fri Aug 01, 2014 1:43 pm

    Starts with Kotani sensei.  

    Tomiki sensei at 0:11 seconds, teaching aikibujutsu, which they called 'aikido'.

    I think that is Ishikawa sensei in one shot, large young man to the left in the background.

    My judo instructor, Sato Shizuya, was a young man in the Kodokan International Division at the time, and was an assistant aikido instructor under Tomiki sensei for the Strategic Air Command combatives training program, as well as a regular in the judo training sessions.

    Here's an excerpt describing the Kodokan SAC program from this website on the origins of Nihon Jujutsu Nihon Jujutsu origins

    "
    The Kodokan and SAC

    Meanwhile, during WWII, the Kodokan emphasized self-defense techniques over the sporting and spiritual aspects of judo; there also was a special self-defense kata developed for women during this period called joshi goshinho. The focus changed again after WWII largely to focus on sporting competition and eliminate the controversial self-defense aspects likely to draw negative attention from the Occupation authorities.

    In 1952, the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC) sent two initial groups of airmen to the Kodokan to study judo, karatedo, aikido, and police techniques. This program was expanded through 1956, and by its end hundreds of U.S. Air Force martial arts instructors had trained under Sato sensei, who instructed both aikido (under head aikido instructor Tomiki) and taihojutsu techniques (under taihojutsu head instructor and senior Tokyo Metropolitan Police taihojutsu / judo instructor Hosokawa Kusuo). Other notable instructors included such Shotokan karatedo legends such as Funakoshi Gichin, Nakayama Masatoshi, Obata lsao, and Nishiyama Hidetaka.

    In the early 1950’s, Sato sensei began teaching judo and self-defense at U.S. military facilities around Tokyo. In 1957, Sato sensei founded the U.S. Embassy Judo Club where he continued to develop and refine the techniques that ultimately evolved into Nihon Jujutsu.

    During the same period, Tomiki sensei led the Kodokan committee that developed the Kodokan goshinjutsu series of techniques, an advanced self-defense curriculum. Nihon Jujutsu and Kodokan Goshinjutsu feature many similar techniques, which is unsurprising given their extensive common roots in traditional jujutsu, judo, taihojutsu, and aikibujutsu, and the influence of Tomiki sensei.  
    ....."

    NBK
    NBK
    NBK


    Posts : 1298
    Join date : 2013-01-10
    Location : Tokyo, Japan

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Re: American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Post by NBK Fri Aug 01, 2014 2:09 pm

    Here's an excellent expanded history of the SAC program.  It's hard to overstate the impact of this program on the development and spread of Japanese martial arts around the world as these young Air Force men went home and abroad, teaching judo and karate to military and civilians around the world.  

    NBK

    US Military and Martial Arts

    Photo captions:
    George Harris & Robby Robinson                    
    O'Sensei Phil Porter                          

    Photo: Lifetime friends and military colleagues with SAC, Olympian George Harris (left), 9th Dan - USJA and Sensei Robby Robinson, 9th Dan - Traditional Kodokan Judo at Corey Station, Pensacola Florida, 1988.

    A History of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and Its Combative Measures Program

    The strategic Air Command or SAC (1946-1992) was the operational establishment of the United States Air Force in charge of America's bomber-based and ballistic missile-based strategic nuclear arsenal, as well as the infrastructure necessary to support their operations (such as tanker aircraft to fuel the bombers and, until 1959, fighter escorts).

    On 21 March1946 the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was divided into three separate commands: Tactical Air Command (TAC), Air Defense Command (ADC), and Strategic Air Command (SAC). SAC's original headquarters was Bolling Field, the headquarters of the disbanded Continental Air Force, in Washington, DC. Its first commander was General George C. Kenney.

    General Curtis E. LeMay took over as commander of SAC in October 1948 and set about a dramatic rebuilding of the command's forces, as well as their mission. LeMay, who had masterminded the American attacks on the Japanese mainland during the war (including the firebombing of Tokyo and other cities), was a staunch believer in the power of strategic bombing: the destruction of an enemy's cities and industrial centers. LeMay believed that the existence of the atomic bomb made this type of warfare the only workable strategy, rendering battlefield conflicts essentially obsolete.

    During World War II, US bomber groups in Europe suffered more combat casualties than did the US Marine Corps in the Pacific. Many of the lost airmen ended up in German POW camps, and as a result a generation of US Air Force officers were firm believers in tough, realistic escape and evasion training. So, when Lt. General Curtis LeMay took over the Strategic Air Command (SAC), he was determined that all of his flying personnel would have some working knowledge of hand-to-hand combat to aid in escape and evasion. He felt that Judo would be a foundation for this training and that Judo combined with other phases of a conditioning program would keep crew members physically and mentally alert, thus helping them to endure the pressure of long missions.

    In 1950 General LeMay directed the setting up of a model physical conditioning unit at Offutt Air Force Base, Omaha, Nebraska, the home of SAC headquarters. So successful did it prove during its test run that by January, 1951, LeMay directed that similar units be set up at other bases as rapidly as possible.

    Although the value of training in purely combative measures was recognized, the finding of qualified instructors proved an especially difficult problem. Gen. LeMay appointed Emilio ("Mel") Bruno, a former National AAU Wrestling Champion and 5th-degree in judo, to direct the command-wide judo and combative measures program for SAC in 1951. Bruno formulated a new approach to military combat training, integrating parts of aikido, judo, and karate into a systematic unarmed combat technique. To implement his idea, he suggested a pilot program to Gen. LeMay, who was also one of Bruno's judo students. To assist Bruno in the field, SAC was able to find qualified civilian judo instructors to staff only six SAC bases; the rest had physical conditioning units, but no judo instructors. As a solution, SAC decided to train its own instructors.

    In 1952, Air Training Command (ATC) took over the Strategic Air Command program. In direct charge of the judo and conditioning program for SAC was Gen. Thomas Power, later honorary chairman of the National AAU Judo Committee. Because of the obvious deficiency of instructors, Power sent two classes of airmen (24 men) to the Kodokan Institute in Tokyo, the Mecca of judo, in 1952 for several weeks training. This was the first such training for any Armed Forces group.

    In 1953 Emilio Bruno invited ten martial arts instructors of judo and karate to participate in a now famous four-month tour of every SAC base in the U.S. and Cuba. The tour was of course financially backed and supported by SAC. The touring group included seven judoka (Sumiyuki Kotani, Tadao Otaki, Kenji Tomiki, Kusuo Hosokawa, Tsuyoshi Sato, Takahiko Ishikawa and Kiyoshi Kobayashi) and three karate dignitaries (Hidetaka Nishiyama, Toshio Kamada, and Isao Obata, a Japan Karate Association [JKA] co-founder and senior disciple of Gichin Funakoshi). Mr. Kotani was the leader as well as organizer of the group.

    The purpose of this tour was to train judo instructors and combat crews and to give exhibitions on and off base. Many civilian judo clubs had their first visit from high-ranking judo teachers as a result of this tour. One of the highlights of the tour was a demonstration at the White House on July 22.

    With Gen. LeMay's endorsement and SAC's sponsorship, Bruno also initiated eight-week training programs for Air Force instructors at the Kodokan. A few hand-picked airmen, with previous experience in physical training or combative sports, were sent to the Kodokan for advanced combatives training by the world’s foremost experts. This course was a Japanese-designed mix of Judo, Karate, Aikido and Taiho Jutsu. Kodokan officials contacted the JKA to manage the karate instruction. The JKA responded by sending the famed delegation of Nishiyama, Obata, Okazaki, and Terada. Judo instruction was provided by Kodokan greats Kotani, Otaki, Takagake, Sato, Shinojima, and Yamaguchi. Aikido instruction was led by Tomiki, along with Yamada and Inuzuka, while the all important instruction in Taiho-Jutsu was given by Hosokawa and Kikuchi. The SAC airmen attended class at the dojo for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and at the end of the course had to compete against and be evaluated by ten Black Belts. Upon returning to the United States, these airmen became instructors at every SAC base where it was important to develop combatives courses for crewmen in training.

    A poster for this 320 hour program listed the following “Combative Activity Training Values”:

       Physical Coordination, Balance, Relaxation, Combative Skill and General Physical tuning up
       Mental and Physical Alertness as required under combat conditions
       Confidence, Self Assurance, Courage, Aggressiveness and Self Control
       Ability to Escape / Defend while in dangerous areas
       Knowledge of Leverage as applied to situations requiring techniques of restraint

    In 1955 seventy men from SAC and the Air Research and Development Command (ARDC) journeyed to the Kodokan for instruction. In 1956 SAC and ARDC sent 280 Air Policemen to the Kodokan to participate in four week classes.

    Curtis LeMay left SAC to become USAF Vice Chief of Staff in 1957, and was succeeded by General Thomas S. Power, who served as SAC commander until December 1964. He was followed by General John Dale Ryan (1964-1967).

    From 1959 until 1966 the Air Force Combative Measures (Judo) Instructor Course was held at Stead Air Force Base in Reno, Nevada. The 155 hours course consisted of the following: 36 hours fundamental Judo, 12 hours Aikido, 12 hours Karate, 12 hours Air Police techniques; 12 hours air crew self-defense, 18 hours Judo tournament procedures, 5 hours Code of Conduct and 48 hours training methods. There was also a 20 hour combative measures course and a 12 hour combative survival course for air crew members.

    By 1962 SAC had more than 160 Black Belt Combative Measures instructors and more than 20,000 crew personnel had been trained in combative measures. The US Air Force Survival School history acknowledges that the "Combative Measures course was extremely successful but, in an effort to reduce aircrew training time [during the Vietnam buildup] and to reduce spending, it was dropped from the [Survival School] course."

    Today, while there are many Americans who learned the arts of judo, karate, aikido, and taiho-jutsu as part of this unique and arguably unparalleled program, there is, sadly, no institutional memory of the program within the active Air Force or its historical branch.

    In 1992, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, SAC's goal of Cold War victory was achieved and it was eliminated in a reorganization of the major Air Force commands. SAC, TAC (Tactical Air Command), and MAC (Military Airlift Command) were reorganized into two commands, AMC (Air Mobility Command) and ACC (Air Combat Command). These two commands were essentially given the same missions that MAC and TAC held respectively, with AMC inheriting SAC's tanker force and ACC inheriting SAC's strategic bombers. The nuclear component was combined with the Navy's nuclear component to form USSTRATCOM (United States Strategic Command) which is headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base (SAC's former headquarters).

    ##
    noboru
    noboru


    Posts : 839
    Join date : 2013-08-26
    Age : 45
    Location : Czech Republic

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Taiho Jutsu

    Post by noboru Fri Aug 01, 2014 9:03 pm

    Thank you a lot for informations.
    If I understand well the Nihon jujutsu system of Sato Shizuya sensei contains the techniques from Taiho Jutsu too. Is it true?

    I found the one old video of Taiho Jutsu of Hosokawa demonstration:

    Classic Taiho Jutsu


    youtube user Taiho Jutsu wrote:This demonstration of Taiho Jutsu features Kusuo Hosokawa. He and Kikuchi were responsible for the Taiho-Jutsu instruction during the eight-week training programs for Air Force Combative Measures Instructors at the Kodokan. Karate instruction was provided by JKA instructors Nishiyama, Obata, Okazaki, and Terada. Judo instruction was provided by Kotani, Otaki, Takagake, Sato, Shinojima, and Yamaguchi. And Aikido instruction was led by Tomiki, along with Yamada and Inuzuka.

    The Strategic Air Command students attended class at the dojo for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and at the end of the course had to compete against and be evaluated by ten Black Belts. Upon returning to the United States, these airmen became instructors at every SAC base where it was important to develop combatives courses for crewmen in training.
    NBK
    NBK


    Posts : 1298
    Join date : 2013-01-10
    Location : Tokyo, Japan

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Re: American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Post by NBK Fri Aug 01, 2014 11:57 pm

    noboru wrote:Thank you a lot for informations.
    If I understand well the Nihon jujutsu system of Sato Shizuya sensei contains the techniques from Taiho Jutsu too. Is it true?

    .................

    Yes - all the techniques are in Nihon Jujutsu. Not in the same sequence as the police taihojutsu demoed in the video, and the ultimate tanbo (short truncheon) sequence basic kata is against an unarmed opponent (versus the bokken / wooden sword seen here), but all of the techniques shown, plus others, are in the syllabus, including idori (seated techniques).

    We have affiliated dojo in Europe that teach Nihon Jujutsu - none in the Czech Republic, but one in Vienna, Hungary, a number in Germany, Holland, etc.

    When this was filmed, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police judo instructors taught taiho-jutsu (arresting techniques). I understand that after Hosokawa sensei retired he was replaced by a jodo (50cm wooden staff) instructor. That continues today - my former jodo instructor was the head of the taiho-jutsu instruction group.

    NBK

    NBK

    noboru
    noboru


    Posts : 839
    Join date : 2013-08-26
    Age : 45
    Location : Czech Republic

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Nihon Jujutsu WELS

    Post by noboru Sat Aug 02, 2014 12:34 am


    We have affiliated dojo in Europe that teach Nihon Jujutsu - none in the Czech Republic, but one in Vienna, Hungary, a number in Germany, Holland, etc.  

    Thank you a lot. I found your affiliated dojo in Wels in Austria - Mr. ARMIN KOPPLHUBER - it is about 100 km from my hometown.
    afja_lm139
    afja_lm139


    Posts : 152
    Join date : 2012-12-30
    Age : 83

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Re: American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Post by afja_lm139 Sat Aug 02, 2014 1:47 am

    Wow, it has been 53 years since attending the SAC/ARDC Combative Measures course at the Kodokan.  While several of us airmen stationed on Okinawa were not in SAC at the time and not officially qualified to attend the course our friend at the Kadena AFB Judo Dojo managed to get us into the program with the Kadena Air Police squadron.  It has been so long ago that remembering it all is impossible.  These videos help to revive some of those memories, so thanks.  

    An old buddy and long time Judoka, Rick Mertens, had a library of old photos and films of most of the Air Force Martial Arts activities and much of the training methods of what they taught us at the Kodokan.  When he passed all his stuff went with his children so it is virtually lost to us.  I lost much of the certificates. orders and paper work associated with the Combative Measures course and since I did not retired from the AF the records of such things are not archived, but would love to have that stuff.  Oh well.
    BillC
    BillC


    Posts : 806
    Join date : 2012-12-28
    Location : Vista, California

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Re: American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Post by BillC Sat Aug 02, 2014 6:31 am

    noboru wrote:


    NBK ... I am not familiar with that last attack. You?
    NBK
    NBK


    Posts : 1298
    Join date : 2013-01-10
    Location : Tokyo, Japan

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Re: American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Post by NBK Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:38 am

    I have practiced it so much all the hair is long gone ... What's your story?
    NBK
    NBK


    Posts : 1298
    Join date : 2013-01-10
    Location : Tokyo, Japan

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Re: American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Post by NBK Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:44 am

    noboru wrote:

    We have affiliated dojo in Europe that teach Nihon Jujutsu - none in the Czech Republic, but one in Vienna, Hungary, a number in Germany, Holland, etc.  

    Thank you a lot. I found your affiliated dojo in Wels in Austria - Mr. ARMIN KOPPLHUBER - it is about 100 km from my hometown.
    Dr. Noisier also practices Nihon Jujutsu - she is the national director of Austria for the International Martial Arts Federation www.imaf.com

    Sato sensei was the Managing Director of IMAF.  

    I'm trying to find the post Billc has on the seminar by Sato Tadayuki sensei in southern California - that would be closely related to Nihon Jujutsu.

    NBK
    BillC
    BillC


    Posts : 806
    Join date : 2012-12-28
    Location : Vista, California

    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Re: American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Post by BillC Sat Aug 02, 2014 10:04 am

    NBK wrote:

    I'm trying to find the post Billc has on the seminar by Sato Tadayuki sensei in southern California - that would be closely related to Nihon Jujutsu.  

    NBK

    http://www.pacificsouthwestjudo.com/?p=589

    Sponsored content


    American airmen of the Strategic Air Command Empty Re: American airmen of the Strategic Air Command

    Post by Sponsored content


      Current date/time is Wed May 08, 2024 12:19 am