Edo Machi-kata Taiho Jutsu江戸町形逮捕術
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Founder

Dr. Don Cunningham

7 March 1953 — 28 November 2014Source B35Source A40

Portrait of Dr. Don Cunningham: an older man with white hair, glasses and a moustache, in a dark suit and red tie
Dr. Don Cunningham. Photograph from the organization’s files; photographer not recordedSource D32

Don Cunningham came to the arresting arts through objects. While working in Japan for a telecommunications company in the 1980s he watched historical dramas on television, assumed the police officer’s jutte was invented — and then found one in an antique store. He spent the following decades collecting and researching the implements of Edo-period law enforcement.Source B33

He served as a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman with the Fleet Marine Force from 1971 to 1975, studied journalism at East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University–Commerce), and later earned a PhD in Technical Communication from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He taught technical and professional writing, latterly as an Associate Professor of English at Radford University in Virginia.Source B35Source B37

A competitor in Kodokan judo, he held a second-dan licence from the Kodokan Judo Institute and advanced ranks in judo, jujutsu and kendo.Source B35Source A7 For his book on the Edo police he spent nearly a month in Tokyo, working with curators and scholars at Meiji University’s criminology museum, the Fukagawa Edo Museum and what the newspaper called the Japanese National Museum.Source B33

He was also a public critic of invented credentials in the martial arts, writing on “flakes and frauds” and self-proclaimed masters.Source B31

In 2009 he founded Edo Machi-kata Taiho Jutsu and led it as director. In July 2013, dealing with serious illness, he handed responsibility to four regional directors and became Director Emeritus. He died at home on 28 November 2014.Source A26Source D39Source B35

Lecture and book signing, 2006

On 12 January 2006 Cunningham gave a lecture on Japan’s legal system and law enforcement in the Edo period at Borders Books in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and signed copies of Taiho-Jutsu. These photographs of the evening were published on his website; the photographer is not recorded.Source A8

Books

Articles

13 of his articles survive in the web archive and are reproduced in full in the reading room, alongside his 2001 conference paper on “flakes and frauds”.Source A5Source B31

A life in dates

  1. 7 March 1953

    Don Cunningham is born in Dallas, Texas.Source B35Source A40

  2. 1971–1975

    Serves as a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman with the Fleet Marine Force.Source B35Source B37

  3. 1980s

    While working in Japan for a telecommunications company, he buys his first jutte in an antique store — the first of many law-enforcement implements he would collect.Source B33

  4. 1992

    Earns a second-dan licence from the Kodokan Judo Institute.Source B35

  5. 2000

    Self-publishes Secret Weapons of Jujutsu; Tuttle obtains the paperback rights in 2002.Source B33

  6. 2004

    Tuttle publishes Taiho-Jutsu: Law and Order in the Age of the Samurai.Source B45

  7. 2005

    PhD in Technical Communication, Illinois Institute of Technology.Source B35

  8. 28 November 2014

    Dr. Don Cunningham dies at home after a decade-long illness.Source B35Source A40

Sources for this page

  1. A6“Books by Don Cunningham”. e-budokai.com/books/index.htm · capture 2013-10-01 · Original organizational material
  2. A7Book page, Taiho-Jutsu: Law and Order in the Age of the Samurai. e-budokai.com/books/taiho.htm · updated 2010-10-19 (capture 2013-05-21) · Original organizational material
  3. A8“Borders Event in Eau Claire” (book lecture and signing, 12 January 2006). e-budokai.com/taihojutsu/border-signing.htm · capture 2008-05-09 · Original organizational material
  4. A26Edo Machi-kata Taiho Jutsu, “Representatives” (18 dated versions). e-budokai.com/members/representatives.htm · versions 2009-08-22 to 2013-10-01 · Original organizational material
  5. B31D. Cunningham, “Flakes and frauds in the martial arts and the dangers they pose”, Guelph School of Japanese Sword Arts proceedings, EJMAS. ejmas.com · July 2001 · Independent source
  6. D32Photograph of Dr. Don Cunningham (centre panel of file Don-Cunningham-600x300.jpg). owner files, Website/ · undated; identified by filename · Owner-supplied file
  7. B33P. Powers, “Author lays down law on historical Japanese weapons”, Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, WI). scan at e-budokai.com/books/leader1-bw.pdf · 2006-01-12 · Independent source
  8. B35Obituary of Don Aaron Cunningham, Mullins Funeral Home & Crematory, Radford, Virginia. mullinsfuneralhome.com · 2014 · Independent source
  9. D36Owner’s confirmation of permission to republish the organization’s and Dr. Cunningham’s texts, photographs and graphics. project record, docs/rights-and-attribution.md · 2026-11-03 · Owner-supplied file
  10. B37Radford University, Veterans Living History Project: Don Cunningham. monk.radford.edu · 2014 · Independent source
  11. D39D. Cunningham, “Reorganization of Edo Machi-kata Taiho Jutsu” (email). owner files (private correspondence) · 2013-07-19 · Owner-supplied file
  12. A40taiho-jutsu.net, “Introduction” with memorial notice. taiho-jutsu.net/index.html · © 2013 (capture 2017-09-25) · Original organizational material
  13. B45Tuttle Publishing, Taiho-Jutsu: Law and Order in the Age of the Samurai, ISBN 978-0-8048-3536-7. tuttle.co.jp · 2004; accessed 2026-11-03 · Independent source

Full source register and method