Miyake Tarō · Lineage tree

Also known as

Taro Miyake · Miyake Taruji · Taruji Miyake · Tarro Myaki

Description

Japanese jujutsu fighter, instructor, catch wrestler and author, a protégé of Fusen-ryu ground-fighting master Mataemon Tanabe and, with Yukio Tani, one of the pioneers of jujutsu in Britain. Trained under Tanabe, then Uyemura in Kyoto and Yataro Handa in Osaka, he worked as an instructor in Nara and Kobe before a brawl led to his dismissal and departure for London in 1904. There he famously defeated Yukio Tani in a challenge match, then joined forces with him to open the Japanese School of Jujutsu at 305 Oxford Street and co-author "The Game of Ju-Jitsu" (1906). From 1914 he lived in the United States (Seattle, Chicago, New York), teaching alongside Kodokan judoka Shozo Kuwashima, and continued competing into his 50s at Madison Square Garden.

Teachers (4)

• 
  Tanabe Mataemon

  sports_martial_artsFusen-ryū Confirmed

  Confirmed

  Fusen-ryu jujutsu master Mataemon Tanabe named in the 1905 interview, EN Wikipedia and the BJS paper; his dojo's newaza expertise is well documented.

  The evidence establishes the claim: it is sufficient and consistent, and any conflicting evidence is resolved.

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  3 sources expand_more

  fact_check

  Fusen-ryu jujutsu master Mataemon Tanabe named in the 1905 interview, EN Wikipedia and the BJS paper; his dojo's newaza expertise is well documented.

  visibilityFirst-hand

  “Until I was twenty-one, and apart from my duties as instructor, I studied ju-jitsu under one of our most famous teachers, Tanabe, and, although I was still very young, he entrusted me with all the secrets of his school”

  — Miyake, Taro; Bartitsu Society. (1905). How I Became a Ju-Jitsu Champion by Taro Miyake (1905). The Bartitsu Society link history info

  “Miyake started his training under the famous Fusen-ryu jujutsu master Mataemon Tanabe, as well as Osaka master Yataro Handa, head of the 2000+ member Seibukan which had a very close connection to Tanabe's ground fighting newaza.”

  — Wikipedia contributors. (2026). Taro Miyake - Wikipedia (English). Wikipedia (English)link history info

  “Miyake had started to learn jujutsu with Tanabe before moving to Kyoto to train with a teacher called Uyemura, before moving to Osaka and training with Handa [Miyake 1905].”

  — Brough, David; Bradić, Slaviša; Callan, Mike; Gatling, Lance; Jones, Llyr. (2023). The British Ju-jitsu Society and the influence of Kodokan Judo on early jujutsu in the U.K.link history info
• person
  Uyemura

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  2 sources expand_more

  fact_check

  Uyemura's Kyoto school named in the 1905 interview and corroborated by the BJS paper; style and period not further specified.

  visibilityFirst-hand

  “When I was twenty-one, I was appointed instructor to the police at Kioto, and during the time I was there I still went on learning, studying at that time in the great Uyemura School.”

  — Miyake, Taro; Bartitsu Society. (1905). How I Became a Ju-Jitsu Champion by Taro Miyake (1905). The Bartitsu Society link history info

  “Miyake had started to learn jujutsu with Tanabe before moving to Kyoto to train with a teacher called Uyemura, before moving to Osaka and training with Handa [Miyake 1905].”

  — Brough, David; Bradić, Slaviša; Callan, Mike; Gatling, Lance; Jones, Llyr. (2023). The British Ju-jitsu Society and the influence of Kodokan Judo on early jujutsu in the U.K.link history info
• 
  Handa Yatarō

  sports_martial_artsDaitō-ryū Jūjutsu Confirmed

  Confirmed

  Yataro Handa's Seibukan in Osaka named in the 1905 interview, EN Wikipedia and the BJS paper. The BJS paper confirms Tani, Miyake and Uyenishi were all Handa students.

  The evidence establishes the claim: it is sufficient and consistent, and any conflicting evidence is resolved.

  location_onSeibukan badge

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  4 sources expand_more

  fact_check

  Yataro Handa's Seibukan in Osaka named in the 1905 interview, EN Wikipedia and the BJS paper. The BJS paper confirms Tani, Miyake and Uyenishi were all Handa students.

  visibilityFirst-hand

  “At Osaka I worked under another great teacher, Handa, and in this way I mastered the secrets of three distinct schools of ju-jitsu.”

  — Miyake, Taro; Bartitsu Society. (1905). How I Became a Ju-Jitsu Champion by Taro Miyake (1905). The Bartitsu Society link history info

  “as well as Osaka master Yataro Handa, head of the 2000+ member Seibukan which had a very close connection to Tanabe's ground fighting newaza.”

  — Wikipedia contributors. (2026). Taro Miyake - Wikipedia (English). Wikipedia (English)link history info

  “the early pioneers of British jujutsu credited with bringing jujutsu to the U.K. such as Tani, Uyenishi, and Miyake, were students from the dojo of Yataro Handa in Osaka, and were not from the Kodokan [Wolf 2016].”

  — Brough, David; Bradić, Slaviša; Callan, Mike; Gatling, Lance; Jones, Llyr. (2023). The British Ju-jitsu Society and the influence of Kodokan Judo on early jujutsu in the U.K.link history info

  “海外に柔術を伝えた上西貞一（大東流二段）、三宅タロー（大東流五段）、谷幸雄（大東流二段）は半田弥太郎の門人であった。”

  — 大東流柔術 - Wikipedia (Japanese). Wikipedia (Japanese) linkhistory info
• person
  Onodera Sakataro

  sports_martial_artsKitō-ryū Probable

  Probable

  Onodera Sakataro attested only in JA Wikipedia, which records study at his Meibukan in Okayama, a school teaching Kito-ryu, Takeuchi-ryu and Shinmyo-ryu; the precise style Miyake studied there is unclear, so Kito-ryu is used as the first-named tradition.

  The evidence favours the claim and nothing credible contradicts it, but it falls short of establishing it.

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  1 source expand_more

  fact_check

  Onodera Sakataro attested only in JA Wikipedia, which records study at his Meibukan in Okayama, a school teaching Kito-ryu, Takeuchi-ryu and Shinmyo-ryu; the precise style Miyake studied there is unclear, so Kito-ryu is used as the first-named tradition.

  “岡山県で起倒流・竹内流・真妙流を教えていた明武館の小野田坂太郎から柔術を学んだ。”

  — Wikipedia contributors. (2026). 三宅タロー - Wikipedia (JA). Wikipedia (Japanese)link history info

Lineage

• Fusen-ryū Tanabe Mataemon ← Tanabe Torajiro · 2 generations

Ranks (2)

• sports_martial_artsDaitō-ryū Jūjutsu

  military_tech5 dan Confirmed

  Confirmed

  The 1905 interview records that Miyake was admitted to the fifth degree in jujutsu at age 22, rarely attained before 35; JA Wikipedia records Miyake as 5th dan (五段) of Handa Yataro's Daito-ryu jujutsu, which is the same school.

  The evidence establishes the claim: it is sufficient and consistent, and any conflicting evidence is resolved.

  Dan-Kyu System

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  2 sources expand_more

  fact_check

  The 1905 interview records that Miyake was admitted to the fifth degree in jujutsu at age 22, rarely attained before 35; JA Wikipedia records Miyake as 5th dan (五段) of Handa Yataro's Daito-ryu jujutsu, which is the same school.

  visibilityFirst-hand

  “What I am specially proud of, however, is that at the age of twenty-two I was admitted to the fifth degree in ju-jitsu. This is rarely attained before the age of thirty five”

  — Miyake, Taro; Bartitsu Society. (1905). How I Became a Ju-Jitsu Champion by Taro Miyake (1905). The Bartitsu Society link history info

  “海外に柔術を伝えた上西貞一（大東流二段）、三宅タロー（大東流五段）、谷幸雄（大東流二段）は半田弥太郎の門人であった。”

  — 大東流柔術 - Wikipedia (Japanese). Wikipedia (Japanese) linkhistory info
• sports_martial_artsJūjutsu

  military_tech8 dan Probable

  Probable

  JA Wikipedia cites Sasaki Shigetsu that Miyake held 8th dan from the Butokukai in Okayama; the same article cites Judo magazine (1918) that he held no Kodokan rank at the time of the 1917 Santel match. The quotation names the grade and the granting body but not the art, so jujutsu is inferred rather than quoted.

  The evidence favours the claim and nothing credible contradicts it, but it falls short of establishing it.

  Dan-Kyu System

  granted by Greater Japan Martial Virtue Society

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  1 source expand_more

  fact_check

  JA Wikipedia cites Sasaki Shigetsu that Miyake held 8th dan from the Butokukai in Okayama; the same article cites Judo magazine (1918) that he held no Kodokan rank at the time of the 1917 Santel match. The quotation names the grade and the granting body but not the art, so jujutsu is inferred rather than quoted.

  “佐々木指月によると、岡山の武徳会で八段であった。”

  — Wikipedia contributors. (2026). 三宅タロー - Wikipedia (JA). Wikipedia (Japanese)link history info

Sources

Identifiers