The year was 1898 and Prince Yoshihito sat watching an exhibition match in Kyoto that would forever change the landscape of Japanese martial arts. On the mat, Mataemon Tanabe, a master of the Fusen-ryū school, faced off against judoka Yuji Hirooka in what appeared to be a routine demonstration. What happened next sent waves through the martial arts world. After successfully executing his second morote gari attempt, Tanabe applied what was recorded as an “ashi garami” – a leg-locking technique that left Hirooka‘s leg injured with an audible noise before he could submit. The judoka was unable to walk properly after the match, highlighting a glaring weakness in Kodokan judo’s defensive arsenal.
This dramatic encounter was just one chapter in Tanabe‘s remarkable career of exposing the vulnerabilities of Kodokan practitioners on the ground. Born in Okayama in 1869, Tanabe had developed his approach through unconventional methods, describing his style as
“devised by practicing catching eels in his bare hands and watching snakes swallow frogs.”
His method centered on patience and endurance – allowing opponents to exhaust themselves before countering with devastating ground techniques.
The consequences of that exhibition match were immediate and far-reaching. At the next Butoku Kai meeting in May, Jigoro Kano, founder of Kodokan judo, proposed banning leg-locking techniques from regular competition due to their potential for lasting injury. Tanabe objected, arguing that
“the entire martial art could be considered dangerous as well.”
However, he found little support among the assembled masters, with only Kaisuke Masuda from Shinnuki-ryū agreeing with his position.
From the book The Way of Judo by John Stevens.
Tanabe‘s dominance over Kodokan practitioners wasn’t limited to this single encounter. His most famous victories came against Takisaburo Tobari, a 3rd dan Kodokan judoka whom he defeated three times between 1891 and 1892. In their first encounter at Hisamatsu police station, Tanabe reversed Tobari‘s osoto makikomi attempt and, after securing kami-shiho-gatame, rendered him unconscious with a juji-jime choke. The rematch followed a similar pattern, with Tobari making
“the mistake to try to engage him voluntarily on the ground,”
allowing Tanabe‘s superior groundwork to prevail once again.
These victories established Tanabe as what would later be called “Newaza Tanabe” and “The Master of Groundwork.” His success was built on a strategic approach of
“enduring his enemies’ holds long enough to get them tired, and then coming back and making them submit with chokes and joint locks.”
The impact of Tanabe‘s dominance forced Kano to confront an uncomfortable reality about his martial art’s limitations. Historical accounts suggest that Kano
“reluctantly adopted much of Tanabe’s Fusen ryu groundwork into Kodokan judo”
after recognizing how consistently his top students were being defeated. This adaptation came despite Kano‘s personal philosophy that
“Human beings were made to walk, not crawl,”
and his belief that extensive groundwork was “largely detrimental to Kodokan judo.”
The integration wasn’t without controversy. Tanabe‘s training included what observers called an
“alarming training principle: Never submit, never surrender”
– a mindset that produced incredibly resilient ground specialists but also increased the risk of serious injury during training and competition.
By 1900, Tanabe‘s influence on the martial arts landscape was undeniable. His systematic defeats of prominent Kodokan practitioners, including victories over Yoshitsugu Yamashita, Kunisaburo Iizuka and others, had exposed fundamental gaps in judo’s ground game. Even when he finally met his match in judoka Soji Kimotsuki, Tanabe demonstrated his adaptability by securing revenge the following day through superior ground positioning.
The legacy of these early encounters between Fusen-ryū and Kodokan extends far beyond individual victories and defeats. They represented a clash between different martial philosophies – one emphasizing standing techniques and throws, the other specializing in the patient, methodical domination that could only be achieved on the ground.
Today, more than a century later, the tactical problems that Tanabe posed to standing-focused martial artists continue to resonate in training halls around the world, proving that some innovations in human movement and strategy are truly timeless. In modern jiu-jitsu many question the place of leglocks and guard pulling and expamples like this one prove this has been a relevant question for much longer than any of us anticipated.
