World Ju-jitsu federation

Hi,
At a seminar, I met a couple of people who were part of WJJF and was quite impressed with their level of fitness and some of the self defense techniques.
Is WJJF the name of the style? Or is it more like an umbrella organisation that houses several different styles?

 

WJJF is an umbrella ju jitsu organisation through which people receive licences, gradings, access to courses, competitions, etc. The BJJA is another one.

 

So which style(s) of jujutsu are practiced within the WJJF? The reason I ask is that the guys I met told me their style was called WJJF, which I thought was a bit odd.

 

Robert Clarke learnt ju jitsu mainly under James Blundell at Lowlands Ju Jitsu Club in West Derby, Liverpool. James Blundell was a merchant seaman (born 1921). Before the advent of container ports, it used to take a long time to offload cargo from ships, and between this and other delays sailors used to spend up to three months in a port between journeys.

James Blundell is reported to have spent time training with Japanese Ju Jitsu teachers while in Shanghai and Hong Kong. It is worth bearing in mind that Ju Jitsu was banned in Japan by the Americans following the Second World War and that there was a moderate sized Japanese community living and working in Chinese ports. Over the course of several years, he spent a great deal of time training and on leaving the navy in 1955, he founded a ju jitsu club in Liverpool, based in West Derby.

It was worth noting that there were ju jitsu clubs in Liverpool prior to the second world war run by Japanese teachers, but most Japanese people left the country or denied their nationality during/ after the war as there was a great deal of anti-japanese sentiment as a result of the war. One of these schools was on Maryland Street where the current John Moores student Union is based.

It is possible that Blundell studied at one of these, although they were aimed mainly at rich people- merchants and gentleman- who felt threatened by Liverpool 'scallywags'. It's important to remember that Liverpool was the richest and busiest port in Europe in the 1930s. One interesting result is that there are a number of instructional manuals written by members of the upper classes from the period 1912 - 1930 based around the Merseyside area. Some of them used to be in the Education Library at Liverpool University.

It is likely that Blundell had trained in boxing or wrestling as these were popular sports for young men at the time. There are are a number of techniques derived from Catch Wrestling in the BJJA/ WJJF syllabus as it stands and the first 'fighting stance' that most people learn is similar to an old style boxing stance. There are a also a number of stories of him taking on bare-knuckle boxers in various ports around the world.

Lowlands Ju Jitsu Club was hugely succesful in the 50s, 60s and 70s, and satellite clubs started all over Britain, including the south-east until his death in the late 80s. Unfortunately, since then the whole thing is obscured by marketing material, fall-outs and political in-fighting.

James Blundell founded the BJJA (British Ju Jitsu Association) to cover all of his schools and others that allied to it, but others went on to form organisations within that, such as the WJJF from which the BJJA split during the 90s. Basically, there are now numerous different ju jitsu organisations in the UK, but around 90% of them come from this same root, even though they have often modified their techniques and training methods following exposure to other Martial Arts.

The style should be called 'British Ju Jitsu' (or 'Mongrel British') according to its roots, but it has been given japanese style names retrospectively when people have gone to Japan to train, or sought validation there. Hence you will see some Japanese style names bandied around. Some of them are valid, others not.

The syllabus of the WJJF has barely changed since the 1960s. Do a search on the syllabus of the WJJF, most BJJA schools, Jikishin Ju Jitsu and the SJJA and you'll find that they are fairly similar. What is different is the commercial emphasis from school to school, the way people execute the technique, and their training methodologies, which at the end of the day is the most important thing.

 

Great historical post Ghost Frog.
Although being from a Wing Chun (33 years), JKD (28 years) and BJJ (16 years) background I am exempt from politics *oh hummmm :Angel: *
However, I was once invited (around 1983) to a Jewish youth club in Illford (I think) to do a demo of JKD and kickboxing (I was a PKA coach at the time). There was a Ju-Jitsu class on prior to my demo and once they annouced a week prior that I was going to do a demo (as a favour for my students girlfriend who ran the club), Richard Morris decided to take the class. So, arriving early with my student, we sat and watched the JJ class. Richard Morris came in and (no disrespect intended) looked ridiculous. Some of the techniques were so impractical they were embarrassing. For example, when running away from a pursuer, you were supposed to do a diving front roll, get up, turn around and then throw a reverse punch at the attacker. This was just one of the techniques and we heard several students say they had never seen these techniques demonstrated. I remember several attempts at a high kick by Mr Morris which just looked exceedingly weak and when the class instructor blocked one of them, he bounced off losing his balance. I am not saying that he wasn't good because obviously (IMHO) anyone who teaches and has students appreciates what they are learning, is totally valid but this seemed like a demonstration that wasn't very well thought out. Shortly afterwards, we went to Epping Forrest Country Club and met a couple of really nice guys who I believe were black belts under him (if memory serves me right, they were the owners of the KP company or something!). Anyway one of these really nice guys said that they were quite surprised at Mr Morris turning up unannounced and with the content of what had been taught. When they chatted to him afterwards they got the impression he was worried we were trying to move into his territory He had no reason to worry because we lived about 400 miles away!
Sorry... completely off thread but I have been waiting for years for a reason to tell that story! lol

 

LOL. Cheers fightgear! I think everyone has some stories like that.... I am also completely exempt from politics and my view is the only valid one. :Angel:

At the end of the day, there are lots of people training hard and thoughtfully in clubs that make up the many different organisations and this sometimes gets obscured by the antics of the people at the top.

The sad thing is that this sometimes means that students lose the opportunity to experience the best aspects of other styles, and training methods, as well as the opportunity to meet new people and broaden their horizons.

 

I've just read a bit of biog on my former Aikido Sensei, Eddie Stratton (deceased). It seems he trained with the WJJF and its founder at some point and was awarded a 6th Dan. His Aikido pedigree was excelllent (taught by Shioda Sensei, who was taught by O Sensei, the founder of Aikido) and I'm sure he would not have been associated with a Mc Dojo organisation.

Incidentally, anyone from WJJF know any more about this link?

 

So true!

This thread is a perfect example of how politics and organisations detract from the art you learn.

Organisations are supposedly set up to retain the quality and standard of instruction, but in reality they are nothing more than money makers for the heads of the organisations and have very little bearing on the day to day running of the clubs. The bigger they get, the harder it is to achieve what they intend and the more disagreement between members. That doesn't make them Mcdojos

If you like it, train there. If you don't...don't.

 

I need to train longer, so that I can be exempt from politics and maybe one day I can levitate too! lol

 

I've trained in Jujutsu in Singapore which was related to the WJJF. It was most definitely not a McDojo. SGD50 per month for two lessons a week. Very low cost for very high quality instruction.

 

Hey LEO fellow WJJF scool 'goer' here have to agree that it is not a 'McDojo'.
And would it be possible for you to give me the details of the JJ is singapore trip like if its still on, total price, accomodation, etc.

 

Uhh, I live in Singapore, so I have a house here, I don't really know about accommodation. (Although I could find out for you if you really want) Cost of living here is really low, you can get a decent meal here eating out for about USD 2.00. (A McDonalds meal here is about USD 3.50) The club is a permanent building so it will still be "on" as long as it's successful and it's doing quite well. The fees are SGD 50.00 (USD 29.87) a month for one lesson a week. (Around USD 358 a year) The website is here:

http://www.jujitsu.com.sg/

I'm surprised you want to come to Singapore especially to study JJ, most people want to go to Japan where JJ was created or Liverpool where the WJJF was founded.

Where are you from?

 

I'm from Glasgow, Scotland myself, but I have some family out in Singapore who i'm considering visiting and doing some traveling on my own. It would be a waste to let my JJ skills to go to pot when i'm away.

 

Righto, well enjoy yourself while you're in Singapore, make sure to try the local cuisine, it's excellent. Incidentally I'll be heading over to Scotland soon enough to study for my BSc.

 

Thanks for the help Leo. Where and what is it you'll be studying, I'm currently doing a Bsc in Electronic Engineering.
Hope you'll find a good club to keep up your JJ.
Once again thanks for the information.

 

Hi All, I used to train in WJJF in Aigburth under Sensei Fred Fitzgibbons 6th dan. I'm not sure if he is still alive but his jj was fantastic. I'd also like to say that Kenny Blundell (James' son) is the best jujutsuka I have ever seen. I wonder where he is now? So I think that the WJJF had some great teachers in the old days. Now having done some traditional jujutsu and aikido I can see some of its faults. Nevertheless I think that WJJF is better than some of the other organisations in the UK. Particularly the art foundation.

 

Kenny Blundell still teaches at Lowlands Ju Jitsu Club, Hayman's Green in West Derby.

 

Fred is still alive and teaching, though unfortunately he did have a stroke just before Christmas.

 

Hello,

I train under the Jikishin Association - which was formed from the WJJF after the *ahem* insurance incident. Our syllabus is fairly similar to the WJJF. My own class is slightly difference as my teacher incorporates bits of Judo into it as well at times. He also run a separate Judo class. All good stuff!