Full-Time Dojo

When you were training for your gradings, particularly training for shodan, how did you train? Where did you train? Did you do more than attend classes, and if so, where did you train?

Attending classes should not be the standard that prepares a person for shodan. Particularly given that classes are at best a couple or few times a week. And within the JDJ tradition, even more so given that JDJ tradition classes are not training.

You don't pass school by attending classes. You're expected to do homework. The general rule of thumb when I attended University was for every one contact hour the student should do three non-contact hours of work. That is also true of the martial arts. If all a person does is attend classes, is that sufficient to be awarded a black belt?

JDJ told me the story of how Yoshiaki Unno wanted to fail a proficient student because he did not have the same attendance record of classes as that of another less proficient student. That is beaucratic nonsense. There are two interrelated aspects to a shodan awarding - proficiency (and understanding) which is the product of training. And that training is not necessarily conducted in classes, particularly when classes are dedicated to teaching and learning (as are those in the JDJ tradition).

I was unique. No doubt. I have never known anyone with the same training ethos (also known as 'obsession') as I possessed from day one.

In the third week of April 1983, I commenced training jujutsu at the Jan de Jong Self Defence School in Sensei Ian Lloyd's class on a Wednesday night at 6pm. I started by doing two classes a day, six days a week, plus extra training. I attended most of the classes at the JDJSDS located at 996 Hay Street, Perth (CBD) and made up others at suburban branches. But, all extra training was conducted at the full-time dojo at 996 Hay Street that was open from 9 till late five days a week and 9-5 on Saturdays where one could train in purpose built premises.

I was unique because I adopted that training schedule. I was lucky because I had the opportunity to do so which was facilitated by the unique opportunity of having access to a full-time, purpose built training facility. That was a unique opportunity that I have come to understand is not appreciated or valued by most people training martial arts.

The JDJSDS provided that unique training opportunity at 996 Hay Street. When JDJ passed and the Jan de Jong Martial Arts Fitness ryuha was established down the road and around the corner, it was a full-time dojo, but I'm not sure of the training opportunities. Now that they have relocated to renting space in a community hall in Melville, there is no training opportunities provided by the JDJMAF.

There is only one JDJ ryuha that does offer the opportunity of training at any hour in a full-time purpose built facility and that is Sensei Daniel Newcombe's Self Defence Central Dojo. While you can discuss the various merits of the training provided by the various instructors in the JDJ tradition, you cannot question the training opportunity provided by a true full-time training facility as that provided by DN's SDCD.

This is in no way a promotion of DN nor his SDCD. It is simply sharing an insight into the unique value that is afforded by a true full-time, purpose built training facility. 

Demos in the 50s

You will recall from my last post that Sensei Dan Newcombe, founder of Self Defence Central Dojo and Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu International, forwarded a number of photographs taken in the 1950s when his father and uncle trained under JDJ to me. This is the latest installment.

Jan de Jong and his school have been performing public demonstrations since the 1950s. Anyone who has gone through the Jan de Jong School and who were proficient would have participated in these demonstrations. There was a time in the 1990s when a formal demonstration team was attempted to be established and whose inclusion was by invitation only, however, that formality soon phased out.

The above photo is of JDJ performing a straight arm lock on the ground. The person sitting to the extreme left in the foreground is Dan's uncle and next to him is a young Margaret Kellond, later Margaret de Jong after she married Jan de Jong.



No mats for these intrepid jujutsuka.

This is Margaret Kellond performing in the demonstration. Not actually sure what is going on there. Margaret must have been a good practitioner as she is only a teenager in this photo.

This is a photo of the demonstration team. Not sure if Dan's uncle in present. Note the belts. I don't know what colour those belts were. At that time the rank was signified by coloured badges sewn onto the gis. Also note that the knots in the belts are not uniformly positioned. It may have been that they are as Mr Miagi suggested in The Karate Kid, just something to hold your pants up, or in this case the top of your gi closed.

Also, as I understand it, the gis were handmade by JDJ's first wife as no martial arts products could be purchased in Perth at that time. It would appear that three-quarter pants were the go in the 1950s.

Old School Wrist Twist Technique

This blog has become a lightening rod for sharing memories about Jan de Jong and his martial arts teaaching.

The latest is by Sensei Dan Newcombe, founder of Self Defence Central Dojo and Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu International, who forwarded a number of photographs taken in the 1950s when his father and uncle trained under JDJ.

Dan is the second of three generations of his family that have trained/studied the jujutsu taught by Jan de Jong. He is continuing on in the truest tradition of JDJ by establishing his own school, modifying the grading system so as to improve the outcomes for students, upholding the integrity and standards that JDJ espoused, and attempting to internationalise JDJ teachings.


Dan described the above photo as an 'interesting wrist twist knife pinning on the ground.'

Here is a history lesson for students of the JDJ tradition. That is the original finishing position of a wrist twist technique that JDJ taught. The wrist twist joint locking technique was applied to take the opponent to the ground and then continued in order to apply a wrist twist lock on the ground.

A similar technique is seen in Jiu-Jitsu: El Efectivo Metodo Japones de Autodefensa by Katsukuma Higashi in the early 1900s.

EN3. Higashi began his professional wrestling career in New York City, where he became the subject of articles and books by Irving Hancock and Robert Edgren. See, for example, H. Irving Hancock and Katsukuma Higashi, The Complete Kano Jiu-jitsu (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1924) and Robert Edgren, "The Fearful Art of Jiujitsu," http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_edgren1_0300.htm. Higashi's style, by the way, was not Kodokan judo but Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu jujutsu. 


JDJ changed the finishing to this technique because of the risks inherent in the opponent being on their back with legs and one arm free to attack if the joint lock is not applied expediently and effectively. He changed it to the current form where the opponent is turned over onto their front.

Now for the technical lesson. The evolved/tactically improved/later version of the wrist twist technique means that the wrist twist joint locking technique is now solely a takedown technique and the finishing technique is either a wrist crush or straight arm lock while the opponent is prone (lying on their front).

FYI. The wrist twist technique is never in itself a throwing technique as Shioda increasingly described in his books on aikido. One of his earliest books explained that tori had to jump to avoid injuring their wrist, which is technically not a throw.

Jan de Jong's Grading System First Draft

I have completed researching and writing The Science Behind All Fighting Techniques. I am currently in the process of completing the first draft of Fear and Fight: Understanding Our Natural and Learned Responses to a Threat. One thing that I have learned that no matter the amount of research, the first draft is always too long and lacking in focus.

Shihan Jan de Jong developed his jujutsu (and aikido and pencak silat) grading system. It was a first draft, and consequently, it is too long and lacking in focus. JDJ was the embodiment of the spirit of kaizen, continuous improvement. It behoves the instructors that follow on from JDJ to reflect on JDJ's work and improve on his grading system; that is providing that they can.

The namesake school continues to teach JDJ's grading system without any major modifications/improvements. I have been informed that they dropped the grading that examined sword use basics, which makes no sense at all. The basis of effective teaching is to teach basics and then progress from there. That is the underlying methodology of the mon grades that JDJ introduced was to introduced the basics before the student attempted the kyu or dan grades. How effective that was is another issue, however, it conformed to the modern, effective way of teaching as JDJ acknowledged in an interview. JDJ modified/improved his grading system accordingly, which the current incumbents have retreated from in this instance.

Another instructor has done away with the mon grades (see 'interview' above) altogether in order, as he says, to return to the original Tsutsumi (Hozan?) Ryu system. This modification is based on an incomplete understanding of the development of the JDJ jujutsu grading system as all of the grades above the first four kyu grades are heavily influenced by JDJ's Yoseikan exposure.

One instructor has significantly modified JDJ's grading system, changing it totally. While I might challenge the basis of the modification(s), I have to applaud his adoption of JDJ's kaizen spirit with regards to the grading system.

Another instructor has implemented an idea that JDJ had been contemplating for at least three years prior to his passing, even though said instructor was not privy to JDJ's contemplations. He has introduced two streams, a practitioners stream and an instructors stream. Not all yudansha will go on teach and therefore, why should they be required to undertake the instructor's gradings. This is something that JDJ wrestled with for a number of years prior to his passing. An issue that we discussed on many occasions without any resolution. JDJ would be very interested in this instructors efforts, which are in the best tradition of JDJ's kaizen spirit.

The original JDJ jujutsu grading system is a first draft. It is a lumbering, behemoth. The current instructors teaching JDJ's jujutsu grading system can continue teaching JDJ's first draft or they can use what JDJ attempted to provide his instructors' with - insight. The insight will provide for redrafts, until finally a sophisticated, efficient, succinct, and focused grading system is developed.

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.