Kawashima Takashi

Kawashima Takashi (Yao) [ 川島堯, 1883-1957 ] trained in Jiki Shinkage-ryū under Yamada Jirokichi. About Kawashima it is known from kyudō researchers that:

In 1904, Kawashima joined the navy and participated in the Russo-Japanese War. He moved to Taiwan in 1910 at the age of 27 and there became a kyudō disciple of Sakai Hitaro (酒井彦太郎; 1867-1951) in Heki-ryu Sekka-ha kyudō. In 1925, Kawashima was asked by Yamada Jirokichi to be his successor, but he declined. In 1927, he took employment as an educator in Tainan Commercial High School. In 1930, he worked with the Police Affairs Department and opened a kyudō school called the Mishinkan. In 1931, he was declared a kyudō master, following his teacher. In 1952 he published, "Kyudō Retrospective," in Kamisakai Village, Chiba Prefecture. He later died on August 17, 1957. He was buried in Yamamu City, Chiba Prefecture with the posthumous name "Butokuin Kyuu no Yoshisei." There is a monument to Kawashima at Kotohira Shrine in Chiba.

The Jikishinkage-ryū Hyakurenkai describe the event as Kawashima having declined to be Yamada’s successor due to guilt he felt from actions he undertook in Taiwan, saying he had killed many people. The circumstances of those actions are not listed. However, he then went on to teach at a high school and open a kyudō school, which he was active in until his death. There is likely something much more to his early story in Taiwan between 1910 and 1925 that is not currently available to researchers.

Ōnishi Hidetaka

wrote of Kawashima:

Mr. Kawashima Takashi, a kendō master in Tainan, had a great reputation as the best swordsman in Taiwan and had mastered both kendō and Kyudō. However, he was burning with a desire to further master the mysteries of kendō. By chance, he heard rumors about Mr. Yamada Jirokichi, a kendō master at Tokyo University of Commerce who was also from Chiba Prefecture, from Mr. Kojima Masashi, a kendō instructor at the Hualien Port Authority at the Taipei branch of the Dai Nippon Butokukai. He decided that this was the great teacher he should be taught by.

This indicates Kawashima returned to Japan to train with Yamada Jirokichi — it is unclear how many times and for how long.