Ju-Jutsu-Kan Profile

I've been going through some of the paperwork that Peter Canavan and Geoff Emery so generously gave me. They were students and instructors for Jan de Jong before my instructors time. I came across this wonderful piece of history written by the club.

Ju-Jutsu-Kan Profile.

The original name of De Jong's school was jujutsu-kan. Kodokan is the name of Jigoro Kano's judo school. Ko meaning to study, do the way, and kan the place - so it translates to the place to study the way. De Jong simply went for jujutsu-kan, presumably meaning the school of jujutsu.

The Ju-Jutsu-Kan was first formed in 1951 with just a handful of students. After some time the club moved to the Swan River Rowing Club, where the membership then rose to approximately 60 members. In 1961 we were fortunate to obtain more central premises in Hay Street, which also had the advantage of being available throughout the week. The number of members increased in three years to 260 and we soon outgrew those clubrooms.

In 1964, we moved to the present building [(996 Hay Street)], where we have about five times the previous area. Of course, with much better training facilities and greater mat-area more and more people were anxious to joining the club, and in July, 1965 the 500 mark was reached.

Jan de Jong: Studied jujutsu under the Saito brothers. Commenced professional teaching in 1941 in Europe. After the war he opened a schools in Djakarta and Semarang. Came to Perth in 1951 and has been teaching here ever since.

George Clarke: Recently appointed full time instructor, he joined the club in the early days. George was also a part time instructor at the Cottesloe Youth Club.

Margaret de Jong: Has been secretary of the club since 1957 and an instructor for some years.

Bob Russell-Browne: First started jujutsu in Sydney. Bob joined the club a few years ago, and has been teaching for some time.

The author of this document is not recorded.

History is important because it builds a strong culture. Culture is about telling stories around the campfire. I only heard about the instructors before my instructors mainly through Greg Palmer. It's important that we remember those who came before and instructed the senior instructors of De Jong who went on to form their own schools. They were also their instructors.

Note the number of students. Very impressive by any standards. The number exceed 1,000 in the 1970s, but that can be partly attributed to being in the right place at the right time. That was when the Bruce Lee/martial arts phenmenon took of in the movies. But 500 hundred pre martial arts boom has to speak volumes for De Jong and his Ju-Jutsu-Kan.