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)
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Tanabe Mataemon
sports_martial_artsFusen-ryū
Confirmed
fact_checkassessed by FSMverified
3 sources
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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
2 sources
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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
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Handa Yatarō
sports_martial_artsDaitō-ryū Jūjutsu
Confirmed
fact_checkassessed by FSMverified
4 sources
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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。”
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person
Onodera Sakataro
sports_martial_artsKitō-ryū
Probable
fact_checkassessed by FSMverified
1 source
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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
Ranks (2)
-
military_tech5 dan
Confirmed
Dan-Kyu System
fact_checkassessed by FSMverified
2 sources
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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。”
-
military_tech8 dan
Probable
Dan-Kyu System
fact_checkassessed by FSMverified
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
visibilityFirst-hand
Tani, Yukio; Miyake, Taro. (1906). The Game of Ju-Jitsu: For the Use of
Schools and Collegesinfo
“Other establishments in London at that time were the Japanese School of
Jujitsu, on Oxford Street, where the teachers were Tani, Miyake, Eida, and
Kanaya [...] Roberts appeared in Sporting Life in 1906, along with Miyake,
Hirano, Yamashita, and Omura, demonstrating at the headquarters of the Japanese
School of Ju-jitsu on Oxford Street.”
— Callan, Mike; Heffernan, Conor; Spenn, Amanda.
(2018). Women's Jūjutsu and Judo in the Early Twentieth-Century: The Cases
of Phoebe Roberts, Edith Garrud, and Sarah Mayer
link
info
Identifiers
https://martial.is/entity/01M0A7YYEFMKPM42VNW79WTSWR
Cite and reuse
CC BY-SA 4.0expand_more
Plain text
Muñoz, Frederico (YEAR_PLACEHOLDER). Miyake Tarō. In Martialis: Martial Arts
Lineage Database. https://martial.is/entity/01M0A7YYEFMKPM42VNW79WTSWR - CC
BY-SA 4.0. Accessed ACCESSED_DATE_PLACEHOLDER.
BibTeX
@incollection{martialis_01M0A7YYEFMKPM42VNW79WTSWR, author = {Muñoz, Frederico},
title = {Miyake Tarō}, booktitle = {Martialis: Martial Arts Lineage Database},
year = {YEAR_PLACEHOLDER}, url =
{https://martial.is/entity/01M0A7YYEFMKPM42VNW79WTSWR}, urldate =
{ACCESSED_DATE_PLACEHOLDER}, note = {CC BY-SA 4.0} }
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