'Let's don't think that we can learn this in 20 days'

My plans to terminate this blog are not going according to plan.

This blog accumulating the information and telling the story of Jan de Jong has and is attracting contributions from those who knew him and/or trained under him. The latest is a membership card from JDJ's school in Rotterdam in 1946.

Would love a current photo, and even a 1940s photo, of Leede 60, Rotterdam Zuid.

 The left hand side says: Please bring this card with you every first lesson of the month.

The right hand side says: The development of jiu jitsu has taken 20 decades. So lets don’t think that we can learn this in 20 days.

The card is dated 1946 and is number 69. 

The card is for Kees (Cees) Kranendonk. The Nationale Veteranen Commissie Budo in Holland published a eulogy for Kees on their Facebook page as he passed away this month. It would appear that he was still active in judo in Holland. Nearly 75 years in jujutsu and judo starting with JDJ right after WWII ended. JDJ would be chuffed.

 This photo is apparently a young Piet Hesselink who JDJ handed his school over to when he left Holland for Indonesia. Hesselink was reputedly the first shodan that JDJ graded.

This photo is reproduced for atmospherics about the time period we are discussing. It is of JDJ and Rienier Hulsk who he trained with when he arrived in Holland in 1940 before teaching for him and ultimately branching out with his own school.

One of the photos in the set with JDJ and RH has been reproduced in Naverteld verleden: Jiujitsu in het verzet in Nederland 1940-1945 (Retold past: Jiujitsu in the 1940-1945 resistance) by J.H.G. Smits. Most of the information in that book about JDJ was taken from this blog.

Secucing and Killing Nazis: Hannie, Truus, and Freddie

For those following this blog, you'd have read the series of posts on the three Dutch female teenagers who were part of the Dutch Resistance during WWII. They are now the subject of a book.

You will recognise all of the information in this news article on the book and its subject matter.

According to the authors home page, it is the best seller ever on Amazon in Dutch history.

And of course there is a Facebook page.

Ave Atque Vale Wim Zwiers

My previous post was about shutting down this blog. That is still my intention. The delay has been in part due to avoidance and in part, mundanely, old-man wise, I don't know how to do so without losing the content.

I don't want to lose the content because I've found that people are interested in this work and are referencing it. I posted how part of my Jan de Jong story was included in a book about jujutsu in Holland during WWII. Someone else recently contacted me about my source of information about Hannie Schaft, the girl with the red hair, and her two teenage accomplices in the Dutch resistance. Apparently I have sourced more material than is currently available in any one source. Others have kindly contacted me to express their gratitude for developing and informing on the story of Jan de Jong.

However, another milestone has occurred this week that needs to be recorded and acknowledged as part of the Jan de Jong story. I was informed that Wim Zwiers passed away.

Wim was a friend of Jan de Jong's from WWII. He designed an ex libris (see above) for Jan de Jong which then went on to become the logo for his school. Please follow this link to my post about Wim and this logo.

Wim and Jan de Jong told me the story of how they met during WWII. Wim went to complain about the noise coming from a party that Jan de Jong was hosting. Jan de Jong responded by folding him up in a bed that folded into the wall and wouldn't let him out until he agreed to join the party. He agreed and they became life long friends after that.

I met Wim with Jan de Jong on one of our teaching tours throughout Western Europe. It was a highlight of my trip. He was an amazing artist, a down-to-earth character, an incredible intellect. Just check our some of his work on this link.

His lounge room was an amazing collection of art. Some of his, but some from others who had created and gifted them to him in memory of his departed wife. All of the art had a story and meaning, and I was fortunate enough for Wim to share with me those stories and meanings.

Wim showed me how he created his ex libris. They are etched on a copper plate before they are printed on a paper by an old hand-cranked printing press. They are limited quantities as the printing process eventually wears down the copper plate. A fascinating aspect of this process is that he had to etch the copper plate in reverse, a mirror image. The etching he was working on when he was giving me the tour of his studio was a commissioned work of a person's deceased cat, however, he was using pointillism to etch the image.

I was fortunate to be gifted a work by Wim which now sits proudly on our wall and which is included at the top of this post.

Ave atque vale, I salute you and farewell, Wim Zwiers.

Naverteld verleden: Jiujitsu in het verzet in Nederland 1940-1945

Naverteld verleden: Jiujitsu in het verzet in Nederland 1940-1945 (Retold past: Jiujitsu in the 1940-1945 resistance) by J.H.G. Smits

A chapter is devoted to Jan de Jong in Smits' book about jujutsu in Holland during WWII and its role in the Resistance.

The information and photographs reproduced in that book have been sourced from this blog and with my permission. The source, this blog, and my contribution has been acknowledged in Smits' book.

It is a source of satisfaction that I can contribute and add to Shihan Jan de Jong OAM 9th dan's memory and that others recognise and appreciate that contribution and addition.

I received many expression of gratitude and interest in that work in response to my previous post on de Jong's shodan grading evolution.

I would like to leave the readers with a quote from The Name of the Rose: 'Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry.'

My work is not meant to be definitive and should be subject to (informed and thoughtful) inquiry in order to challenge the foundations of the work and possibly to add to the body of knowledge that it seeks to contribute to.

Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu International

The jujutsu taught by Shihan Jan de Jong OAM 9^th Dan was referred to as Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu (THR) jujutsu. De Jong began the internationalisation of his teachings in the early 1980s when he started conducting seminars throughout Western Europe and Australia.

De Jong’s jujutsu grading syllabus is one of, if not the most extensive martial arts grading syllabuses I have ever seen. The aim of the yudansha (black belt) portion of his jujutsu grading syllabus is not only to develop proficient (world-class) practitioners but also to produce proficient (world-class) instructors. To this end, the yudansha grades contain numerous parts that are specifically aimed at producing said proficient (world-class) jujutsu instructors.

Towards the end of his life, De Jong often discussed his ideas of developing two yudansha streams with me. He was never impulsive when it came to developing or changing his grading systems (he also developed aikido and pencak silat grading systems) and he used me as a sounding board for the development of his ideas about a dual-streamed yudansha grading syllabus. De Jong passed away (April 2003) before he could realise his ideas in this regard.

The impetus for De Jong’s dual-stream syllabus was the fact that certain individuals would never teach nor want to teach the jujutsu that they were so proficient in. Why subject those jujutsuka to the instructor-oriented gradings when they would never teach jujutsu? Why deny them the opportunity of grading shodan (1^st Dan) if they did not have the opportunity to assist instructing classes (one of the grading requirements)?

Sensei Daniel Newcombe 5^th Dan Tsustumi Hozan Ryu Jujutsu and 1^st Dan Shotokan Karate (see right) is the driving force behind Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu International (THRI). Newcombe was introduced to De Jong’s jujutsu in 1986 and has been teaching THR jujutsu since 1996 and continues to train under De Jong’s son, Shihan Hans de Jong 8^th Dan. Following Jan De Jong’s passing, Newcombe established Colosseum Martial Arts, of which he is the principal, and then THRI.

THRI was established in 2015 by Newcombe and Sensei Wim Mallens (see below), Principal Tadashii-do Karate ne Jiu Jitsu based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, with Hans de Jong being appointed Patron of the organisation. Mallens has a long association with the De Jong family being the first to host a De Jong seminar in Holland when De Jong was denied that opportunity because he did not belong to any Dutch judo or jujutsu organisation. Mallens continued to host De Jong seminars annually for two decades.

THRI is a non-profit organisation formed to provide a forum and framework for the preservation of the original THR jujutsu system, techniques, method of instruction and standard of Jan de Jong and Hans de Jong. Other goals of THRI are to restructure and modernise the original THR gradings, standardise teaching practices for greater consistency in practitioner and instructor standards, provide pathways for clubs and Instructions to affiliate with THRI and introduce the grading and assessment framework within their own teachings.

In this way, Newcombe and Mallens are realising De Jong’s vision and are extending it further.

Another initiative introduced by Newcombe within the THRI syllabus is the separation of the weapons grades in the yudansha grades into a separate stream. In this way, those not engaged in the THRI jujutsu grading stream can obtain training and qualifications in the use of various weapons.

Newcombe has also tackled a dilemma that De Jong grappled with without coming to a resolution before he passed away. That dilemma was the transitioning of jujutsu yudansha in other systems into the THR (now THRI) system without compromising the high standards associated with THR/THRI. Newcombe has developed a bridging course that culminates in the awarding of a THRI shodan grade. Higher THRI yudansha grades are contingent on completing the instructor-stream grades which ensures that the candidate is familiar with the rest of the THRI syllabus.

The Science Behind All Fighting Techniques

Gracie and Gracie in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Theory and Technique (2001) suggest that by the time a student attains a black belt their knowledge and skill are of the highest class and that their depth of knowledge makes them a fully qualified teacher. Further, they suggest that ‘rather than merely knowing how to perform the moves, the black belt is expected to know why a given move works. That is, he [or she] understands the biomechanical principles that underlie the move’ (emphasis in the original). While the expectation that black belts are expected to know why a given move works in addition to how to perform the move is laudable, it is definitely not realised if the martial arts literature is anything to go by.

De Jong’s original instructor-oriented gradings which THRI has isolated in a separate stream of gradings is a greater step towards realising Gracie and Gracie’s expectations that yudansha are qualified teachers, however, they can still be improved upon in order to realise Gracie and Gracie’s expectation that yudansha know the why in addition to the how of jujutsu techniques.

I am very excited by Newcombe’s THRI grading syllabus approach as it demonstrates the utility of the science that I have developed for a book that I have tentatively titled, The Science Behind All Fighting Techniques. The theory that I have developed provides the biomechanical (and other) understanding of all techniques taught by all fighting activities and relates it to practice in a meaningful way.

Two Sisters In The Resistance

I published previous posts about Hannie Schaft (the 'girl with the red hair') and the Oversteegen sisters and their involvement in the Dutch Resistance. Vice Netherlands published an interview with Freddie Oversteegen (right in 1945), the younger of the sisters, and refer to a new documentary on these extraordinary women who were only young girls when they fought during WWII: 'Two Sisters In The Resistance.' Let's hope we get to see it.

The Way of Kaizen

The Way of Kaizen is the title of my article published in this month's Blitz magazine. It is what I consider to be Shihan Jan de Jong OAM 9th Dan's legacy. Would love to hear some feedback on the article.