It was founded by Ito Sukesada, based on techniques that he learned from an ascetic named So Unryu.
[1] Takagi was already a teacher of jutaijutsu, an unarmed grappling system similar to the Chinese art of taijiquan.
[1] The Takagi-ryū was influenced by other arts, particularly Takenouchi-ryū and Kukishin-ryū.
A match between the headmasters of the Takagi and Kukishin styles in the 17th century led to further cross-training between the two schools.
[1] This article related to the martial arts is a stub.