JDJ Jujutsu Grading System Analysis Series #3: Shodan Shinken Shobu no Kata #2

The previous post in this series explained how the Jan de Jong shodan shinken shobu no kata grading was originally developed to produce black belt instructors that would accompany him to teach in Europe. 

We also saw that the grading was unique in terms of (a) the extraordinary number of attack-defence combinations included in the grading (see graph below), and (b) the use of an attack class-defence class matrix.

Let's now consider the grading implementation under JDJ.

The first wave (3) to attempt the grading did so based on a demonstration basis. A kata basis where specified defences are performed against specified attacks in a specified sequence (without the traditional formalities in this case).

The first candidate of the second wave to attempt the grading was Debbie Clarke. 

Instead of adopting the same format for the grading as with the first wave, DC's grading was conducted in true 'reflex' fashion where the attacks were executed in a random sequence to which the specified defence was required to be performed. Needless to say, with 140 attack-defence combinations required to be performed in this new format, the number of attack-defence combinations performed far exceeded 140 and the grading was overly time consuming.

DC successfully completed the grading and is the only person in the JDJ school to have performed this grading in that format. (PS: Debbie Clarke is a true trailblazer within the JDJ tradition and her accomplishments far exceed this solitary one. She deserves far more recognition within the JDJ tradition than she has received in the past.)

After observing DC's grading, the other candidates (all male) on the day cancelled their grading so that they could go away and practice the grading in this new format. They would never get the chance to do so because, based on the DC experience, JDJ had second thoughts about conducting the grading in this manner.

The first change that JDJ implemented was to divide the grading into two with 63 and 77 attack-defence combinations respectively. The second change was to the 'reflex' format.

You will recall from the previous post that the shodan SSnK grading is unique in JDJ's grading system in being based on an attack type-defence type matrix. The modified format for the shodan SSnK gradings had the first attack in an attack type-defence type group to be executed at random, however, the remaining attack-defence combinations in that group were basically demonstrated in a demonstration fashion. The candidate knew what type of attack would be coming after the first one, and there were a limited number of those attack types.

There are questions that could be, and should be, raised based on this analysis of the shodan SSnK grading(s). For instance, was there any need to divide it into two gradings given the change to a reflex format?

I was recently involved with mentoring two candidates from a JDJ ryuha (branch of the stream) whose principal has recombined the two gradings. I initially thought it was a regressive move given that JDJ had found that including the 140 attack-defence combinations in one grading was a mistake. However, upon reflection, and with the assistance of this analysis, I concluded that the 140 attack-defence combination grading performed under the modified reflex format was the equal of or less onerous than the 57 attack-defence SSnK grading of ikkyu (59% less combinations than the shodan grading).

What I would advise, and in fact did in this case, any future candidates for the shodan SSnK grading conducted under the modified reflex format, whether it be in one or two gradings, 'don't stress' because of the extraordinary number of attack-defence combinations in the grading. Conducted under the modified reflex format, it is actually easier than the previous gradings conducted in true reflex fashion.

This analysis and insight leads to other questions. For instance, where is the progression? Is the only progression in the number of attack-defence combinations in the SSnK grading(s)? After all, the degree of difficulty in the defences is not significantly higher in the shodan grading. There are no greater insights provided by the grading other than to learn new 'tricks', as Hancock and Higashi describe them in The Complete Kano Jiu-Jitsu (Judo).

This analysis and question raising will no doubt raise the ire of some senior and relatively senior members in the JDJ tradition. My question to them would be, why haven't you studied the JDJ grading system? After all, the original JDJ grading system is the equivalent of the Motorola 8900X-2.

Studying the development of JDJ's grading system does not only provide the opportunity to gain insights that can lead to improvements in that grading system, it can also be used as a case study to better understand all martial arts grading systems.

The argument that has been presented at times is in terms of 'preserving' JDJ's teachings. Is that just laziness, lack of original insight, or wanting to 'slip stream' behind JDJ's reputation, as so many do? JDJ was a pioneer and his accomplishments are not diminished by studying and concluding that his grading system is a Motorola 8900X-2, however, do the JDJ ryuha want to continue using the Motorola 8900X-2 or do they want to make improvements that lead to the modern day smart phone that is far more useful? 

 

JDJ Jujutsu Grading System Analysis Series #2: Shodan Shinken Shobu no Kata #1

This post is the second in a series dedicated to an analysis (or limited exploration) of the Jan de Jong jujutsu grading system.

The core of the JDJ jujutsu grading system is the shinken shobu no kata (SSnK) gradings.

The phrase shinken shobu no kata was probably appropriated from Kodokan judo which has an actual kata that goes by that name*.

Shinken shobu is translated as 'real fighting' and so SSnK is a kata of real fighting, which is the intended purpose of JDJ's SSnK gradings. 

The Kodokan SSnK is a traditional kata where a series of specified attacks and defences are demonstrated. 

JDJ's SSnK in his gradings is a kata in the sense that there are a series of prescribed attacks and defences, however, they are 'demonstrated' in a random order as directed by the examiner without tori's (executor of defence) knowledge (not in a Cato Pink Panther fashion 😀). Tori stands with their back to the examiner who signals a specified attack to uke ('receiver' of defence) at random which tori is expected to respond with the required defence.

This type of grading, and indeed training, is designed to simulate a 'real' attack-defence situation. On a continuum from solo kata to 'free fighting,' this type of training is designed to rest more towards the 'free fighting' end of the spectrum.

Where JDJ got his SSnK format from is a mystery. The closest that I have seen to it is Mas Oyama's Kyokushin karate's one-step sparring. 

The following is an analysis of the JDJ jujutsu grading SSnK attack-defence combinations:

There is a 146% increase in the number of attack-defence combinations from ikkyu to shodan before reverting back to the norm in nidan and sandan. 'What's going on here?'

One possible/probable answer to that question may lay in an understanding of the development of the JDJ jujutsu grading system. 

The JDJ jujutsu grading system was developed piece-meal based on JDJ's needs at the time.

JDJ commenced teaching jujutsu in Perth in the 1950s and needed a grading system, so he developed one from rokkyu to ikkyu. He had no need for a shodan grading because he was the only instructor and his students were a long way off completing the kyu system that he had developed.

As students were graded ikkyu and were instructing in his expanding school ... here we can put to bed an 'urban myth' propagated by some of JDJ's senior students and instructors over the years (I'm still being asked the same question from students and instructors of JDJ's ryuha (branch of the stream) these days). It was/is suggested that JDJ did not grade anyone shodan at that time out of fear that they would go off and teach in competition to his own school. That is ascribing a devious nature to JDJ, which may or may not be true, however, it would also suggest some forethought on JDJ's part which was definitely not part of his psychological makeup. 

JDJ was a product of his experiences during WWII  and his focus was on the here-and-now. The motto he lived by could be expressed in: 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That's why they call it the present.' JDJ lived in the present.

JDJ visited Europe in the late 1970s to explore the jujutsu scene there. He found a vibrant scene and that many were extremely interested in his teachings, however, he also found that all of the instructors in Europe were black belts and he had none; so he developed a shodan grading to produce black belt instructors that could accompany him to Europe. 

The first black belts (3) were graded in 1981 and the second wave (4) in 1982. JDJ's first teaching tour of Europe was conducted in the European summer of 1982, accompanied by most of his newly minted black belts.

JDJ's shodan grading was developed as a one-off grading with no thought as to a dan grading system. It was also designed to produce instructors. 

The traditional approach of the Japanese martial arts is that shodan means that the student has mastered the 'basics' and now the 'real' learning begins. That is why in most Japanese martial arts there is relatively few gradings before shodan and then they are relatively basic. This is in complete contrast to JDJ's pre-shodan gradings.

An 'instructor' in the aforementioned martial arts is at least sandan if not godan. JDJ needed black belt instructors so he developed a shodan qualification that might be equated to those martial arts sandan-godan levels, at the very least. A unique feature of the JDJ dan grading system is that it is designed to produce instructors; most if not all other martial arts grading systems are not so designed, in which case, where do their instructors come from?

JDJ's senior instructors were graded shodan whereas mid- to senior level instructors in Europe were more highly graded. JDJ considered his senior instructors to be at least the equivalent of the more highly graded instructors in Europe and so wanted to 'upgrade' his senior instructors. He was, however, hampered by the idea that in the style of jujutsu that he learned from his original instructors, shodan to sandan were technical grades and that all higher grades were awarded on an honorary basis. So JDJ had to develop nidan and sandan grades before he could promote his senior instructors to higher grades. This he did.

The first nidan was awarded in 1991 (10 years after the first shodan) followed by the first sandan in 1999 (nearly 10 years after the first nidan) when JDJ's health was in decline and he needed a sandan grading so that he could award his senior instructors higher honorary grades before he passed away. JDJ awarded his three senior instructors rokudan (sixth dan) in March 2003 and he passed away in April 2003.

Aside from the number of attack-defence combinations in the shodan SSnK grading anomaly which is illustrated in the graph above, there is another anomaly in that grading.

The structure of all of the SSnK gradings, with the sole exception of the shodan grading, is based on attack-type categories, e.g., kubitsukame shime, kubi shime, atemi waza, etc. 

The shodan grading, and only the shodan grading, was structured in the form of a matrix. Attack-type categories were juxtaposed against defence-type categories, e.g., kubitsukame shime attack-type divided into atemi waza, kansetsu waza, nage waza defence-type categories. This matrix needed to be populated with attack-defence combinations. The addition of the defence-type categories to the grading structure necessitated an increase in the number of attack-defence combinations included in the grading, hence the disproportionate 146% increase.

These insights, this new and better understanding that arises from these insights, has significant implications for those who teach in the JDJ tradition, the JDJ ryuha, which will be explored in future posts.

*The Kodokan SSnK is known as kime no kata in Kodokan judo, which is translated as 'kata of decision' or 'forms of decision.' JDJ used the phrase KnK in his dan grading system to refer to revision gradings. 

Jan de Jong Jujutsu Grading System Analysis Series #1: Insights and Understanding

I am going to post a series of articles on this blog based on an analysis of the Jan de Jong jujutsu grading system. Why? Because it will produce insights that lead to a new and better understanding which can change the way the reader understands, thinks, feels, acts, and desires.

The above answer to the above question is based on Klein's (2013) work in Seeing What Others Don’t: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights. 

Klein explains that insights lead to a new and better understanding. It is a new understanding because it did not exist before and it is better because it is a better understanding than the one that existed before. It is more accurate, more comprehensive, and more useful than the understanding that existed before.

Klein suggests that insights transform us in several ways and that in some ways they make us different people. They

change our understanding by shifting the central beliefs … in the story we use to make sense of events. … our new understanding can give us new ideas about the kinds of actions we can take; it can redirect our attention, changing what we see; it can alter the emotions we feel; and it can affect what we desire. (Klein 2013, 148; emphasis in original)

One of the paths to gaining insight that Klein identifies is curiosity, which he describes in terms of a 'What's going on here?' reaction. He explains that the reaction itself does not produce the insight but it can start the person down the road to gaining insight. It can start the person down the road to gaining insight when they go in pursuit of an answer to their initial 'What's going on here?' question.

As it turns out, I am all too familiar with this path to gaining insight. It describes how my first book on the science behind all fighting techniques came about, as it does with the second book, Fear and Fight: A New and Better Understanding of Our Natural and Learned Responses to a Threat. It also explains how I gained unique insights into the JDJ jujutsu grading system that produced a new and better understanding which is more accurate, more comprehensive, and more useful than the one that existed before.

I was recently mentoring a couple of students training for their shodan in the JDJ jujutsu tradition. It's been a while since I graded and taught shodan so my memory was a bit hazy on some of the attack-defence combinations in the practical grading. The practical grading in the JDJ jujutsu grading system is referred to as Shinken Shobu no Kata. SSnK is the foundation of the JDJ jujutsu grading system and will be the main focus of these posts. 

When the abovementioned students demonstrated some of the shodan attack-defence combinations they had been taught, they produced a 'What's going on here?' reaction which led me back to JDJ's original grading(s). A lot of the answers to my questions were found there, however, a lot of other 'What's going on here?' reactions in relation to JDJ's original shodan grading were also generated.

That is how this series of posts came about.

But as Robert Hymas used to frequently say, 'having said that,' curiosity and asking 'What's going on here?' in relation to an instructor's teachings is generally not encouraged in the martial arts, in fact, it is often actively discouraged. There are many possible reasons for that, one of which is that the instructor simply does not have any insight nor understanding. They may be able to perform what they have been taught but that is as far as their knowledge and understanding extends. Another reason may be that having their teachings being questioned and the instructor being unable to answer those questions challenges their authority and self-image. 

Isaac Newton famously said that if he has seen further, it is only because he has stood on the shoulder's of giants. First, it is amazing how most martial artists are reluctant to say that they have seen further than their instructors. One reason is that they probably have not. Second, you can see further than your giant-instructor by gaining insight and a new and better understanding by questioning the giant-instructor's teachings when appropriate.

Case Studies

While many will/have seen any analysis of JDJ's teachings that is not unquestioningly supportive as being an attack on him and his teachings, such analysis not only shines a light on his teachings, it also shines a light on all other martial arts, combat, sports, self-defence, close combat, law enforcement, security, etc. teachings. It does so by being a case study in the area of preparing a person to engage in a violent encounter.

A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context.[1][2] For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or ailment; case studies in business might cover a particular firm's strategy or a broader market; similarly, case studies in politics can range from a narrow happening over time (e.g., a specific political campaign) to an enormous undertaking (e.g., a world war).

Karl Friday (1997) in Legacies of the Sword uses the Kashima-Shinryu as a case study to understand the bugei (military arts or martial arts). By studying one and gaining insights and understanding of the one, this provides the ability to have insights and understanding of the many similar but different phenomena, in this case martial arts grading systems. This is what an analysis of the JDJ jujutsu grading system provides in terms of an opportunity.