While writing about various aspects of Takumakai history, I noticed some overlooked questions, so I researched them to the best of my knowledge.
◆The Osaka Asahi Shimbun Company
In the newsletters of Takumakai, it was often written as “The Osaka Asahi Shimbun Company” instead of “The Asahi Shimbun Company Osaka Headquarters.” My curiosity about why it’s referred to as “Osaka Asahi” led to this explanation.
Master Hisa initially worked at The Tokyo Asahi Shimbun Company, facilitated by Ishii Mitsujiro. Later, as introduced in past newsletters of Takumakai, he moved to The Osaka Asahi Shimbun Company. Prior to his newspaper career, he was employed at Suzuki Corporation. Suzuki Corporation was a pre-war international trading company of Japan that experienced rapid growth, with revenues at one point said to rival the national budget of Japan at the time. Unfortunately, unable to cope with the excessively rapid expansion, the company went bankrupt in 1927, just before the onset of the Great Depression.
I compiled the following based on references such as Asahi Newspaper Company’s website, other articles explaining newspapers from those times, and Wikipedia,.
The Asahi Shimbun Company was established in Osaka in 1879. It seems, initially, to have been more of a tabloid publication targeted at the general public. In 1888, it expanded to Tokyo and started publishing under the name The Tokyo Asahi Shimbun. At the same time, the original The Asahi Shimbun in Osaka changed its name to The Osaka Asahi Shimbun. Furthermore, at the same time, they also changed their company names. Each changed their names to The Tokyo Asahi Shimbun Company and The Osaka Asahi Shimbun Company, publishing newspapers in their respective regions. During this period, they reevaluated their management strategy, shifting from tabloids to serious reporting, successfully expanding their circulation. In addition to Tokyo and Osaka, various regions like The Central Japan Asahi and The Western Japan Asahi were covered by their respective The Asahi Shimbun Company. In 1908, all these companies merged, and once again the name became The Asahi Shimbun Company. However, the newspapers retained their names as they were and continued to be published with names that included prefixes like Osaka and Tokyo in the company names. The decision to unify the newspapers under the name “The Asahi Shimbun” without any such prefixes was made in 1940.
Due to such circumstances, from the year Hisa entered employment at The Asahi Shimbun Company in 1927 until he resigned from the company in 1943, there were changes in the newspaper’s name. However, on the other hand, the company’s name had already been unified under The Asahi Shimbun Company by this time. The use of the term “Newspaper’s name” instead of “Company’s name” in describing old articles might be because, at that time, it was customary to refer to the newspaper’s name rather than the company’s name for people in those days.
Master Hisa spent approximately 16 years at The Asahi Shimbun Company, during which, in the span of just 5 years, he encountered Master Ueshiba in 1934, received a visit from Master Takeda Sokaku in 1936, and obtained the Menkyo Kaiden in Daitoryu in 1939. From our perspective today, it’s truly remarkable how these encounters and events unfolded in such a short span of 5 years.
Interestingly, there’s a well known anecdote about Sokaku’s rebelling against his father in childhood, declaring that he would never study reading and writing, and would have others write for him when necessary. From then on, he devoted himself exclusively to martial arts training.
According to former Somucho Mori Hakaru, Master Hisa often witnessed Master Sokaku reading newspapers. In fact, newspapers in the past were printed with Furigana(＊) attached above or beside Kanji characters in Japanese writing. Known as “fully Furigana attached”, so if one could read Hiragana or Katakana characters, they could read a newspaper. Surprisingly, because of this convenient system, many people seemed to have read newspapers during that time. On the other hand, Master Sokaku occasionally relied on others to read personal letters without Furigana, as handwritten documents back then were often written in old style cursive letters, making them more challenging to read compared to contemporary letter usage.
(＊”Furigana” in Japanese writing is small kana characters of Hiragana or Katakana accompanying Kanji(Chinese characters) to assist readers, providing pronunciation guidance, commonly used in materials for learners, children’s books, or to clarify readings in complex texts.)
On a personal note, my maternal great-aunt, who attended an all girls school in Malaysia before the war, had no trouble with English reading and writing. However, upon returning to Japan after the war, her proficiency in Japanese reading and writing was a bit uncertain for a while. Nevertheless, she diligently read newspapers every day, as they had Furigana, which helped her navigate through the text without fail.
◆ Ishii Mitsujiro
Mr. Ishii used to be such a famous politician that no introduction was necessary. However, these days, most people may not be familiar with him. Mr. Ishii’s name repeatedly comes up during Master Hisa’s significant life events.
Ishii Mitsujiro was born in 1889, a politician who served as Minister of Commerce and Industry before the war. Subsequently, he took on roles as managing director of The Asahi Shimbun Company and the first president of The Asahi Broadcasting Company. After the war, he returned to politics, holding various positions including Minister of Transport, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of International Trade and Industry, Minister of Justice, and Speaker of the House of Representatives. He passed away in 1981.
Hisa Takuma had a connection through his role as the captain of the sumo club during his time at Kobe University (then Kobe Higher Commercial School at that time). As Ishii used to be the former captain of the sumo club, he facilitated Hisa’s employment at Asahi Newspaper Company. This created the opportunity for the encounter between Hisa and Daitoryu. It is mentioned that lshii himself met and apprenticed under Master Ueshiba Morihei during his time at The Asahi Shimbun Company in Tokyo,
In later years, Hisa was said to have worked in a role resembling a secretary for Ishii. He served as a sort of personal secretary, handling various responsibilities in the Kansai area.
Actually, Ishii indirectly played a role in the establishment of Takumakai. Hisa, at Ishii’s suggestion, founded the predecessor of Takumakai, Kansai Aikido Club. That was when Hisa was 64 years old.
In retrospect, Ishii Mitsujiro connected Hisa with The Asahi Shimbun Company, let Hisa invite Master Ueshiba to The Osaka Asahi, which lead to the encounter between Hisa and Takeda Sokaku. This eventually inspired Hisa to establish Kansai Aikido Club, then decades later, laying the foundation for what would become Takumakai. It’s a curious twist of fate that a distinguished politician who served as a minister played a role in sowing the seeds for our Takumakai on multiple occasions.
