[huerta]

Hmmm, I have just received this email from another KW member:

Thank you for you question regarding what exactly the Sakura Battojutsu sword system is.

We do occasionally receive a slagging off from a number of martial arts related forums, to be honest I no longer pay any attention to them. The vast majority are ill informed, opinionated elitists who have never actually taken the time to speak to us, let alone visit our dojo and see the training for themselves.

That said I will do my best to give you an honest answer.

What is now known as the "Junsei Ryu Sakura Batto" school, aka Junsei Ryu Battojutsu, aka Junsei Ryu Sakura Batto Kenjutsu" is a hybrid school founded by the sensei of my sensei (who also happened to be his father) at some stage between 1973 and 1975.

His name was Brian Wrightson and the original system of martial arts he founded was known as Hankyo Kempo-Jujutsu. Within this system the sword art was then called Hankyo Sakura Battojutsu.

During his life he had studied with a number of swords masters all across Europe and the Far East. Before he took early retirement and went into teaching full time; Brian Wrightson had worked for the special intelligence service, and whilst I doubt he was ever a James Bond style secret agent, what parts of his service records we have managed to get hold of do indicate that he spend a great deal of time working throughout the far and middle east.

One of his most influential Sensei was an elderly Japanese gentleman (you will have to forgive me as I do not know his name) allegedly from the Sakura region of Chiba, Japan. He was to all account a gifted swordsman from a local sword school but following a disagreement with his sensei at some stage immediately after WW2 was thrown out of his dojo. Obviously if this actually ever happened this gentleman would have been stripped of any teaching rank / title… If he ever had them; and as such should not have really been teaching anybody.

It is in memory of this man that Brian Wrightson named his sword system Sakura, although at this time we are still researching into exactly what sword system this man studied. We have certainly found similarities with other sword schools within the Chiba region, but non that match the Kata we teach. It is my aim to visit Chiba at some stage in the near future and research the matter further, but until that time it is just a case of trawling through a lot of old books and black and white video footage.

Aside from this elusive gentleman Brian Wrightson also studied the sword systems of Muso Shinden Ryu, Nippon Kempo Kokusai and Nippon Koden Kobudo to name but a few (The last two of which he held both a Rokudan grade and teachers certificate). I know that he studied Iaijutsu for a time under a Yamashita sensei in London, but all I know about him at this time is a portion of his name. I also remember Brian telling me that he trained under a David Turner sensei and a David Tse (Tze) Sensei, but I do not recall exactly what systems they studied. I suspect it to be Muso Shinden Ryu as it has many hundreds of unofficial Dojo, a number of which are in Eastern Asia.

Again this is speculation, but I am researching into it and have been since 2005.

I realise that not knowing the entirety of my own Batto / Kenjutsu history is rather poor on my behalf. However when Brian Died suddenly in 2005 we were just not prepared for the shock, and as such had never took the time to write down the intricacies of that portion of our lineage. Our Jujutsu Lineage has thus far been relatively easy to trace, but the Batto & Kenjutsu side is rather more difficult, largely due to the fact that Brian rarely ever wrote anything down and I probably did not listen as closely as I should have.

Something that I still deeply regret.

Obviously you have taken a look at the Junsei website (hence this email) and I am interested in your opinion of its content and layout. As you can see we make no claims at being an ancient school, rather a modern school with ancient values.

It does get rather annoying when people slag of what we are doing on forums, but never have the decency to contact us in person. However as you have had the decency to contact us, I will say thank you. It is very much appreciated.

If you are ever in Shrewsbury, please feel free to pop in for a chat or perhaps a spot of training? New friends are always welcome at my Dojo and I enjoy talking with likeminded martial artists.

I realise that this email has probably not really answered your questions particularly well, but I do tend to waffle on a bit.

Anyway if there is anything further that I can help you with please do not hesitate to contact me again.

All the best

NAME WITHHELD Normally I wouldn't post private emails, but it seems to contain only school history and nothing confidential, so....