Professor "Henry" Seishiro Okazaki:

A history of the originator of
Kodenkan Danzan Ryu Jujutsu

Seishiro Okazaki, later taking the name "Henry", was born on January 28, 1890 in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan. While still a young man, he moved from Japan in 1906 to Hilo, Hawaii with his family. In 1909 Okazaki was examined by a doctor and was diagnosed with incurable tuberculosis.
Desperate and in defiance of death he began studying Jujutsu under Master Yoshimatsu Tanaka in 1910. Seishiro studied hard, practiced deligently and with time his tuberculosis, against all odds, healed. Okazaki believed his sincere study of Jujutsu had cured him and given him "a strong, iron-like body." He felt he owed his life to Jujutsu and devoted the rest of it to the teaching and promotion of the art.

During the years that followed, Okazaki studied and mastered various styles and techniques of Jujutsu as well as many other martial arts, to include a third degree black belt in the study of Judo awarded by it's originator, Prof. Jigoro Kano.
Okazaki combined the Jujutsu systems and techniques with techniques from Okinawan Karate and Phillipino knifing to form the Danzan Ryu school of Jujutsu. He also studied Mushi-Jutsu (boxing with intent to kill), the Hawaiian secret killing art of Lua, western boxing and wrestling, and Spanish dirk(dagger) throwing.
In addition to martial studies, Okazaki also mastered Kappo; the Japanese healing arts, and Seifukujutsu; Adjustment and Restoration massage therapy.
He felt that one of the merits in learning such devastating techniques(Jujutsu) was in learning how to reverse their effects.

In 1929 Okazaki moved to Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and opened the Okazaki Seifukujutsu Inn (translated as the "Okazaki Adjustment and Restoration Clinic"). In addition to being Okazaki's clinic for Seifukujutsu, it was also the site of the Kodenkan Dojo from where Okazaki taught his art of Danzan Ryu Jujutsu.

Okazaki was also one of the first teachers to break from tradition and teach Japanese martial arts to non-Japanese. For this he was severly reprimanded by his instructors and was ostracized by other Japanese for some time.
He believed that everyone should have the opportunity to learn Jujutsu, regardless of their heritage, age, gender, or disability.

In 1948, Okazaki suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. As a result, most of the Kodenkan instruction was done by his senior instructors for his remaining years.
On July 12, 1951, Professor "Henry" Seishiro Okazaki died as the result of a consecutive series of strokes.