In the 1899 Hamada-kan (浜田鑑) edited by Muneo Fujii (藤井宗雄) published by Adachi Kyoeido (安達共栄堂) we find details of Takahashi Hatsuji (高橋初次) (Fujii Muneo 1899) :
“In this town [Nishikimachi 錦町] there is a man called Takahashi Hatsuji, a former domain retainer. A senior disciple of Fukui Ichirōemon, master of Araki-ryū jūjutsu, he served as a patrolman in the time of Hamada Prefecture; subsequently he served as patrolman concurrently with instructor in jūjutsu and tōjutsu, resigning in February 1890. In September 1897, at the age of sixty, he presented himself at the Butokukai in Kyoto and, fighting bouts with several men, won against them all. He was thereupon granted a certificate, reading:
Dai Nippon Butoku Kai Bujutsu Shōjō One: Araki-ryū jūjutsu — Mr. Takahashi Hatsuji, sixty years The above certifies the refinement (seiren 精錬) of his technique among the participants of the Third Butokukai Demonstration. 7 October 1897 President: Grand Cordon, Golden Kite Second Class, Prince Akihito
He was also granted a cup by the Butokukai, and received an iron fan from the Governor of Kyoto Prefecture. The foregoing is a summary account of Hamada town.”
Imperial Prince Komatsunomiya Akihito (小松宮彰仁親王), an army general, was the founding president; the chairman was Watanabe Chiaki, governor of Kyoto, and the vice-chairman Mibu Motoosa, head priest of Heian Jingū. So the “Prince Akihito” of your certificate is Komatsunomiya Akihito, and the decorations match — Grand Cordon of the Chrysanthemum, Golden Kite 2nd class. Note also that the Kyoto governor who gave Takahashi the iron fan held the Butokukai chairmanship ex officio, so that gift is an institutional one rather than a separate civic courtesy.
His sword art is listed as tōjutsu (刀術) not kenjutsu (剣術). He taught jūjutsu and tōjutsu. Given the Araki-ryū context — where the printed compilations classify the school under torite/kogusoku and where the 1699 densho we examined bundles 捕手, 小具足, and 縄 — 刀術 here may well be Araki-ryū’s own sword component rather than a separate school. That would make him a transmitter of the full Araki curriculum, not a jūjutsuka who also happened to fence.
He was a patrolman under Hamada Prefecture (浜田県, which existed only until its 1876 absorption into Shimane) — so he entered police service in the early Meiji; then patrolman-cum-instructor; resignation February 1890; his Kyoto appearance seven years into retirement. Takahashi provides an example of a domain retainer’s martial competence absorbed into the new prefectural police, formalized as an instructor post, and then validated a second time by the Butokukai after he had already left service.
