Hello, I have had a Wado acquaintance of mine say that he fancies training with this group. www.jitsufoundation.org/jujitsu.asp...tion_-_Ju-jitsu_in_uk_and_worldwide_home_page I run out occasionally with a Daito group, but am a Wado boy at heart, so I don't feel can offer an objective view. Is he on the right track? Advice please. Gary
On the right track for what, exactly? TJF is a gendai jujutsu system. From what I have seen, it is mainly based (external view) on Kodokan judo techniques with applied atemi. Is your aquaintance actively looking for koryu or just jujutsu?
NOT Koryu, more of a judo based modern self defense jujitsu style often taught in universities. edit - posted same time as S.Delaney, pretty redundent now, What S.Delaney says!
Valid point, being koryu is certainly not a claim that the Foundation has ever claimed as far as I can tell.
If he's looking for a modern style that focuses on self defence, then give it a try. If he's looking for something traditional, he'd better look elsewhere.
Well, it's a style where the lessons are cheap with no tie-in period, the instructors don't get paid, there are no belt-achievement guarantees, no junior instructors wearing a black belt while only having a few months of experience, and the training isn't non-contact. All in all, very different arts...
Thank you. That's one weight of my mind, but I guess the issue of whether it is "koryu" enough for his requirements is down to him really. I know what floats my boat, but each to their own I guess.
Sorry I didnt mean to imply that, It was partially from the question being asked in the Koryu section, and partially from reading questions about its history over the years on ebudo.
No worries, and certainly no apologies necessary at all. I was only answering in case anyone thought that such a claim was being made. We've always been pretty honest about our status as a mongrel art, and if anything the instructors are fairly proud of that fact.
He is based in Shropshire UK. Reason why I asked on the Koryu section was 2 fold: 1. Because Photos on their site show them in Hakama and Tabard (sorry don't know the correct term). Not that bears any relevance really. 2. Mainly because as a 3rd Dan Wado-ka, I think he is looking at an artform to compliment his Wado. As Wado come from a Koryu art (Shindo-Yoshin Ryu), most Wado-ka who have a desire to enhance the Jujutsu side of their Karate - generally want to go down the classical line rather than the sport / modern line. Thanks Gary
I have experience with the The Jitsu Foundation. Its sylabus is what you'd expect from a westernised jiu jitsu. It's mainly judo tecniques with a bit of aikido and karate blended. Saying that, it's probably one of the best of that type. It's mainly a young adults martial art, it is physical demanding, and some say foolishly so, they do lots of heavy throwing and attempt a sort of realism that often results in damaged joints and broken noses. They produce pretty tough dan grades who certainly can fight. For me, I dislike their pseudo millitaristic discipline, which means you can be ordered to do punishment press ups for arriving 5 minutes late to the dojo, or as happened to me, not holding my hands in a respectful position. Conversly, they are also a little childish, mainly because they are based in the UK university system, and so the typical student age is only about 19 or 20. The last time I trained, part of the warm up involved doing vampire hops, which are as silly as you imagine. One reason their organisation is so large is that in order to gain a shodan you have to have taught a club for a year, which often means opening a new club just to be able to grade, which takes about 6 years in total. They are mainly honest about their judo background, but did for a long time imply a link to shorinji kempo, and all sorts of mysterious masters in their background (they still call their style 'Shorinji Kan Jiu Jitsu'). At the moment, on their own web site and their Wikipedia entry, they imply a link to Kito ryu, which is poppycock.
From what I've gathered this is because at some point they did a demo and someone said it looked like shorinji kempo. Evidently someone liked the name and it stuck. However, there is a very small connection to the style, as the founder's instructor in judo/jujutsu had also studied shorinji kempo at some point. I would suggest that this link got exaggerated for a while, probably for the most part by the very enthusiastic instructors pushing to expand the style, and this may well have been irresponsible without checking the exact history. There is still a link implied in places, but it's very indirectly implied now, and there doesn't seem to be any claim that we actually contain shorinji kemp techniques. Well, there is a link to Kito ryu. Almost all of Kodokan Judo's original throws were drawn from Kito ryu, together with a large part of the inspiration for the main underlying principles which were later formalised by Kano. I believe the link to Kito-ryu was drawn up at least partially to distinguish the way that we do our throws to those done in Judo. Kodokan judo typically requires the gi in order to do the majority of its techniques because of the way that it has become a sport first and self defence second. From the start our grips are geared towards being able to do the techniques on someone who is wearing clothes that will typically not give the grip required to do a typical Judo-style throw on them. The principles are the same, but the application is somewhat different. Personally I wouldn't have made the claim at all, as any Judo can claim to be linked to Kito-ryu in a similar manner, and as such it seems a little like boasting about who your great-great-uncle was if you're one of about a hundred eventual descendants in a fairly small community, but the link is definitely there. In any case, the only claim made is the phrase "relevant to us", which doesn't even necessarily claim direct influence, just that the techniques might appeal to a practitioner as something to compare our own to. I've never chatted to the author of the article about our style's history, nor does it make much difference. When people ask these days, I generally just refer to it as a hybrid of Australian and Yorkshire jujutsu and then I get on with the post-training drinks (is it just me or is this the only time students ever actually ask about the history?)
