Rob Hymas was one of the senior jujutsu instructors for Jan de Jong from the late 1970s until JDJ's passing in 2003. He was one of three that JDJ promoted to sixth dan shortly before he passed away. After JDJ passed, RH formed his own school, Indian Ocean Dojo. The 'welcome' page of the IOD website states: 'This school teaches the strategies, tactics, and techniques of Tsutsumi Hozan-ryu jujutsu.' Does it?
Before JDJ passed away, the Jan de Jong Self Defence School promoted that it taught Tsutsumi Hozan ryu jujutsu. Did it?
Jan de Jong Martial Arts Fitness is an offshoot (ryuha - see below) of the JDJSDS when JDJ passed. The principal of JDJMAF is JDJ's daughter, Maggie Connelly (nee de Jong) (1st dan) with the head instructor being Paul Connelly (6th dan) who was a contemporary of RH. Their senior instructor is Daryl Cook who the JDJMAF website states: 'Holds dan grades in Jan de Jong Ju Jutsu.' Does he? And how does JDJ jujutsu fit in with THR jujutsu?
DC is shodan. I have fond memories of doing part of my shodan with DC. One particularly memorable part was the Kentai Ichi no Kata, a Yoseikan kata, conducted in JDJ's backyard. Before we could commence the grading, the poo of JDJ's great dane, Sasha, had to be removed from the grading area. I suspect that not many martial arts gradings commence with the removal of dog poo. And dear God that dog could poo! I was uchi deashi with JDJ and it was my job to clean up Sasha's dog poo most mornings. A price you pay to be uchi deashi within the JDJ tradition it would appear.
The ude hiji nage defence that DC demonstrated on me, the uke, had me thrown into the pot plants at the front of the sliding doors into the JDJ residence. A challenge was not to be distracted when recovering from the throw, in a formal matter, with dirt and leaves falling off me.
Hasso gamae ... resulted in me stabbing a lemon above me hanging from the lemon tree that I was standing under at this end of the grading arena. I had to surreptitiously try to remove the tip of my sword from the hanging lemon before attacking DC. And then trying to concentrate when a fly was crawling up my nose was a challenge that I suspect few have had to contend with when performing this kata, ... although, is it something Japanese swordsman had to contend with back in the day?
DC was #15 on the list of shodans awarded by JDJ, one after me, and without taking into account the shodan JDJ awarded in Holland during WWII. DC and I were awarded shodan in ... Tsutsumi jujutsu. JDJ never, to the best of my knowledge, awarded a grading of any rank in Tsutsumi Hozan ryu jujutsu. 'What's going on here?' as Gary Klein would say in respect to gaining insight.
Tsutsumi Hozan ryu and Tsutsumi ryu are two different traditions according to James Shortt and Serge Mol, the latter being the more authoritative book. 'What's going on here?'
JDJMAF appears to be walking the association with THR back when they state, 'The style of Ju Jutsu taught at Jan de Jong Martial Arts Fitness is based on Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu Ju Jutsu whose origins can be traced back to 14th century Japan' (emphasis added). What does 'based' mean? What style of jujutsu are JDJMAF teaching? With that they are not explicit, although their reference to DC's qualifications would suggest JDJ jujutsu.
Where did 'JDJ jujutsu' come from? It started with Greg Palmer, another contemporary of RH and PC and who was awarded 4th dan by JDJ shortly before he passed away. GP always explained that JDJ referred to his teachings as THR jujutsu out of respect for his instructors, the Saitos, even though he'd considerably changed what he had been taught.
I have argued throughout this blog that JDJ developed the entire jujutsu grading system and it would be a difficult exercise to identify what is uniquely THR within that grading system. I was discussing a change of name for what he was teaching with JDJ shortly before he passed away given the considerably changes that he had made to what he was taught. JDJ obviously took that approach when awarding RH, PC, and Peter Clarke 6th dan and GP 4th dan in JDJ jujutsu shortly before he passed away. It would appear that only JDJMAF have adopted that ryu name when grading jujutsu students, although I cannot be sure.
The assertion that the JDJ tradition is teaching THR jujutsu has been 'questioned' in the past, most visibly now in various internet forums. Fraud! they say. That's fair enough. So how do we respond to that accusation. Here I refer to Karl Friday in Legacies of the Sword:
Dr. Friday defines the term ryuha as "branch of the current," representing the onward flow of a stream of thought; the branches betoken the splitting off that occurs as insights are passed from master to students, generation after generation.Martial arts ryuha ... have historically tended to practice total transmission, in which all students certified as having mastered the school's kabala are given 'possession' of it. ... such students normally left their masters to open their own schools, teaching on their own authority; masters retained no residual control over former students or students of students. Each new graduate was free to modify their master's teachings as he saw fit, adding personal insights and/or techniques and ideas gleaned from other teachers. It was common practice for such graduates to change even the names of their styles, in effect, founding new ryuha and independent branches of ryuha in each generation. (1997, 18)
To be sure, since time immemorial people have attempted to gained credibility by associating themselves with authoritative sources. There are many in the martial arts who attempt to gain credibility for what they are teaching by associating themselves with JDJ even though they only did a few lessons with him. I could do the same with the well-known and world-wide respected Wally Jay because I attended a seminar of his while I was living in London (but I don't).
