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.
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