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.

Good Night, And Good Luck

This will be my last post on this blog.

I will share some rare photos from the past and then I will close it down.

The drama associated with attempting to document and preserve the Jan de Jong story, history, and legacy is taking too heavy a toll on my mental health.

Thank you for those who've supported me through this journey.

The best part of this journey has been connecting and reconnecting with those from Jan de Jong's past. Of particular note is Harry Hartman who trained with Jan de Jong in the 50s and who kindly forwarded his memorabilia from those times to me which I then gifted to Hans de Jong.

There are some who are continuing on in the best tradition laid down by Jan de Jong. Some are attempting some exciting things that builds on Jan de Jong's revolutionary work. Others are using his name to gain credibility and not necessarily continuing on in that best tradition. It is no longer my problem.

I am still white belt so this grading is Apr-June 1983. On the grading table is Ian Lloyd, Debbie Clarke, and Greg Palmer. All among the best instructors in the Jan de Jong Self Defence School. The sign above them is the old school name. The name had been changed to the Jan de Jong Self Defence School but I've been informed that this sign was brought out on grading days. I confess I do not remember that.

A young Debbie Clarke and Paul Connolly. Same time. Not a grey hair in sight. Behind them are the dodgy makiwara boards that virtually nobody used.

I am being gratuitous here because this is another photo of Greg Palmer. My mentor, teacher, eventual training partner, and very dear friend. Gone but not forgotten.

Young Deb with Jan de Jong, 'the Boss', and I confess I do not remember who the chap is on the left.

Only those who attended the 996 Hay Street dojo will remember this corridor. Fond memories.

Well, that is it. For those who are teaching and using Jan de Jong's name it is up to you to tell his story. I am done.

Good night, and good luck.

John Coles

The standard you walk past is the standard you accept

It would appear that a reminder is needed about who Jan de Jong was and what he stood for.

In 1991, the AJJA executive again approached Jan de Jong to develop a Dan ... grading system for AJJA members. The aim of the AJJA Dan grading system is to:

• enable progression to higher grades for those whose grading system do not provide such opportunities;
• enable continues learning for those who have reached the end of their own grading system;
• give credibility to higher grades; and/or
• standardise the qualifications of ju jitsu instructors within the AJJA.

Peter Clarke, a senior instructor with Jan de Jong, developed a system based on Jan de Jong's ju jitsu grading system but which does not seek to impose this system of ju jitsu onto other schools.

THAT is who Jan de Jong was. THAT is what his name should stand for. Unfortunately, there are those who are using his family name in total contradiction of who he was and what he stood for.

JDJ was vehemently opposed to black belts being dolled out like smarties (or M&Ms for the rest of the world). That was his platform when accepting the post of president of the AJJA. And yet today ... and all with the de Jong family name endorsement. JDJ would be turning in his grave, and those are the words of senior students and instructors of the original Jan de Jong Self Defence School. I of course endorse those sentiments.

JDJ was right. These actions devalue the worth of a black belt in the JDJ tradition. A JDJ black belt means something. What does it mean when it's awarded with his family name's endorsement but not in the truest traditions of JDJ.

This is the tip of the iceberg in a day that is the saddest in the JDJ tradition. Moral courage is most definitely lacking in some of the schools that link themselves with the JDJ tradition. I am ashamed and embarrassed how a member of the JDJ tradition abused a longtime friend of JDJ in public at the national AJJA conference with no defence whatsoever by JDJ tradition members or the AJJA. How a young female visitor was made to feel threatened and was in tears and nobody from the JDJ tradition or the AJJA stood up and said 'no.' I take this personally and feel ashamed and embarrassed for myself, JDJ, and all those that follow in the truest tradition of the man.

'The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.' I did not walk past. This is a standard that I do not, and I know JDJ would not, accept. I know that moral courage means standing alone. I stand proudly alone in standing up against this in the finest tradition of JDJ and say, 'no', 'this is not acceptable.'

PS: In an example of how far we have fallen, I have been threatened with violence by no less than two members of the JDJ tradition for doing so in relation to these matters.

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.

Jan de Jong's Shodan Grading

I recently had reason to study the Jan de Jong grading system and it proved quite enlightening.

Sensei Greg Palmer (my mentor) often said that in most Japanese martial arts systems, shodan was where you were considered to be a student but in JDJ's system, shoden was a 'master' grading. Greg was of course correct, however, my research now supports and adds substance to that contention.

The traditional 'rank' system in the Japanese martial arts is the menkyo kaiden system. Menkyo kaiden means teaching license and the licenses were awarded at the discretion of the soke of the system.

Jigoro Kano introduced the dan ranking system in 1883 when he awarded dan grades to two of his senior students. There were no formal examinations and they were awarded at  Kano's discretion. While the new dan ranking system retained the discretionary nature of the menkyo kaiden system, it did not signify mastery as the latter system did.

Kano was a professional educator and based on his professional experience he later introduced formal requirements and examinations into his Kodokan Judo grading system. It is not known when Kano introduced the formalised requirements and examinations for gradings in Kodokan Judo.

JDJ was graded sandan by his instructor, S. Saito 8th dan, in the 1930s. Folk lore has it that this grading was the final 'technical grading' in the system, however, there were no formal requirements nor examinations. The awarding was at the discretion of Saito. It was a Kano dan-menkyo kaiden system.

The first grading system for JDJ is seen in his seven kyu grades being taught in 1950. Where he was introduced to a formal examination system for his grades is unknown. It could have been while training with judoka in Holland during WWII. It could have been through the study of martial arts books that he commenced collecting during the same period. Either way, the JDJ grading system consisted of seven kyu gradings in 1950.

In 1978, JDJ introduced the mon system at the front end of his system and significantly modified ikkyu (blac & white). This is what JDJ had to say about that modification to his grading system when he answered Mike Clarke's question whether it was a good idea to change the system to suit students:


Yes, I know what you're saying, but you know you can learn all the time. And if the results are better one way than the other, why carry on in a way that gives poorer results? I'll give you an example. In 1978 a Major Greg Mawkes MBE asked me if I would go and teach the army self-defence. I said okay and soon afterwards found myself teaching members of the SAS and the Commandos. Shortly after I had started to do this the Major and I had a discussion about things. He told me that he thought the method of fighting was really good and he was pleased with that. But he said the men were having some difficulty understanding it all. I said this was the usual way of things and that my students were the same. He then explained the army did not have unlimited time to spend on this and that what he needed was quick results.

So it was at that point I had to think things through and see what I cold come up with. I looked at the usual way the army taught things and decided I would alter the way I was teaching and come more in line with the army way of doing things. Well, do you know, the people started to pick things up much faster than before, and they could do the techniques much better than before! So I had a talk with my Instructors and said I thought that we should change things so that we were teaching everyone like this. And at that time we changed the way we taught the students. ... And since then things have been much better.

In 1978, JDJ had a grading system to 1st kyu with no yudansha (black belts) in his school other than himself. His instructors were graded ikkyu with only JDJ being yudansha. That would be unthinkable in this day and age, however, he built a school of over 1000 students with no person/instructor being yudansha other than himself.

JDJ visited Europe in the late 70s and was invited to return by the WJJF. During that visit he saw that all of the schools had yudansha teaching students. JDJ did not. (a) He realised that his instructors would not be respected if they were not yudansha, and (b) he saw that his instructors were the equal of or better than the European higher graded instructors. So JDJ set about developing a shodan grading so that he could (a) appropriately recognise the expertise of his instructors, and (b) so that he could be accompanied by yudansha when he returned to Europe to teach. The first shodans were awarded in 1981 and JDJ's first European teaching tour was conducted in 1982 where he was accompanied by a number of his newly awarded yudansha.

What has to be understood is that JDJ did not develop his shodan as part of a dan grading system.  There was no thought of developing a dan grading system. The shodan grade was developed as a standalone grading. It was the top of the mountain. It was a teachers grade; a masters grade.

The Japanese marital arts grading system has shodan signifying a mastery of the basics of the system. Sandan (3rd dan) or godan (5th dan) is where the attainment of teacher or mastery was signified. JDJ's shodan was the equivalent of sandan or godan in most (all) other Japanese martial arts systems.

This is but the commencement of an understanding of the JDJ grading system. A study of the system will conclude that it was developed piecemeal by someone who had little or no experience or knowledge of the Japanese grading system approach. Consequently, the resultant grading system is disjointed, laborious, inefficient, and not 'benchmarked' with the Japanese martial arts grading system approach. For all of that, it is a remarkable achievement.

JDJ developed his grading system with no experience of a grading system with formal examinations and requirements. No knowledge of the Japanese grading system approach. He developed it while in occupied Holland during WWII, in Indonesia post WWII, and in Perth, Western Australia, where there were no examples to follow even if other schools would be willing to share their grading system with him. There was no internet to obtain precedents. Imagine if you had to develop a grading system under those circumstances.

What are the implications of this understanding of JDJ's shodan? One is that it could be argued that all of the former instructors who graded ikkyu and all students who did likewise are the equivalent rank of at at least shodan in other schools. Those graded shodan the equivalent of at least sandan in other schools.

Another implication is that if the JDJ dan grading system was to be benchmarked with other Japanese martial arts grading systems, that the formal gradings currently in ikkyu and shodan should be spread over three-five dan grades. There is only one offshoot of the original JDJ school that is currently doing just that so that the fall in line with current practice. Some of the other offshoots are compounding the problems inherent in the dan grading system by adding more and more grades.

Jan de Jong Pt 7: Yoshiaki Unno

Yoshiaki Unno is a fascinating off-shoot from the Jan de Jong story. The photograph to the right is a rare photograph of a young Unno presenting Branco Bratich with his 1st dan certificate in Yoseikan karate in March 1976 (more on Bratich below).

After De Jong returned from Japan in 1969-70, he asked Minoru Mochizuki to send an instructor to Perth. Mochizuki sent Unno who was a personal student of his, and a seriously credentialed martial artist. He's been credited with 6th or 7th dan Yoseikan aikido, 6th dan Yoseikan karate, 6th dan jujutsu, 5th dan kobodo, 5th dan iaido, 4th dan Nihon den kempo (Takushoku University), 4th dan Shotokan karate, and 2nd dan judo.

Unno was born in February 1950 and arrived in Perth in 1974. He is known for teaching aikido and karate for De Jong, however, some students of those classes have said he taught an eclectic mix of martial arts in the Yoseikan Budo tradition.

Bratich provides further information on the Unno story in an article published in Bujutsu International (Jan/Feb 2006) and which is available on his website (http://www.yoseikan-ryu.net/downloads/bujutsu_branco.pdf).

Sensei Unno taught six days a week for Jan de Jong. Wherever Sensei Unno taught, Branco was there to assist and learn. It was under Unno Sensei that Branco first studied kobudo and aikido and dabbled in judo.

Unno was to teach for De Jong for two years. During that time, De Jong and his son, Hans, trained with him six days a week from 7am to 9am. Hans refers to Unno as his aikido teacher on his website: http://www.hansdejong.biz/aikido4.htm.

Bratich (8th dan) has built Yoseikan-ryu Karate Australia into an Australia wide organisation. He opened his first club in 1978. His introduction to karate started in 1973 at Jujutsu Kan, Perth (De Jong's school). The article states that his initial interest was in karate closely followed by jujutsu. It also states that in later years he realised that the jujutsu training made it easier for him to understand and appreciate the 'bunkai' of kata.

After two years training, Jan de Jong, founder of Jujutsu Kan, approached Branco about teaching karate and Branco accepted becoming increasingly aware of his great enjoyment of teaching karate even though he felt his knowledge was limited.

What karate? I asked Bratich was it Shotokan karate or was it pencak silat. He said it was pencak silat although De Jong called it karate. You can see on the old signage of the 996 Hay Street School photograph in my blog 'The Perth Years' advertising teaching jujutsu, karate, aikido, and self defence.

Bratich also informed me that a visiting Indonesian instructor said what De Jong was teaching was not pencak silat. I'd heard that said before myself. He was teaching pencak silat, it's just that it 'looked' different. In Budo Masters: Paths to a Far Mountain by Michael Clarke, De Jong is quoted as saying with regards to teaching pencak silat: 'I found I that I had to modify things a little for Australian students ... so I changed the way I taught to suit them, and by doing so I got them to understand what I was trying to teach' (2000: 135-136) De Jong told me this same thing. Rather than Westernising pencak silat, I think of it as Japanising it which, paradoxically, made it more acceptable to the Western audience. I did most of my formative pencak silat training outside of De Jong's school, particularly with Richard de Bordes in London (some of the toughest training I have ever done). Their pencak silat was trained in the 'Indonesian way'. In the latter part of the 1990s, De Jong started to reintoduce this style into his pencak silat. Even though I was lowly graded in his pencak silat I was invited into the instructors class because, among other things, I was more familiar with this method than anyone in the school. I refer anyone interested in pencak silat to the Dutch book, Pencak Silat: De Indonesische Vechtsport by Joep Caverle & Franc Van Heel.

It was in the latter part of 1976 that Sensei Unno opened his own Yoseikan Budo dojo in William St Perth. It was a small dojo. The training was still rigorous. It was surprising that any student would let them self be subjected to the brutal kumite training that was done in those days.

Unno also taught aikido at the University of Western Australia as John Langley (7th dan)(http://www.ioaikido.com.au/resource/aboutSensei.html) explains:

Sensei Yoshiaki Unno taught Yoseikan Budo. He held the Grades of 7th dan aikido, 7th dan karate, 6th dan kobudo (weapons), 4th dan bojutsu and 2nd dan judo. He also taught kenjutsu. His Sensei was Kancho Minoru Mochizuki (10th dan) as Yoseikan Budo Hombu Dojo, Shizuoka City, Japan. After several years, Sensei Yoshiaki Unno left UWA.

Many aikido instructors in Perth reference training under Unno in their biographies. Both De Jong and Unno have had a significant influence on the martial arts scene in Perth.

I didn't know much about Unno until I undertook research for my originally conceived book. I only had the opportunity of meeting him once, and that was sheer coincidence. A friend of a friend, totally unrelated to the martial arts, invited me to a Christmas breakfast a couple of years ago. Lo and behold I was introduced to Unno who was a guest at the same breakfast. Unfortunately I did not get to have the depth of conversation I'd have liked. He passed away in June 2006.

[Appreciation is extended to Branco Bratich for his permission to reproduce his photograph and for his information on his time with Jan de Jong]

Ave atque vale Matsuri

Unfortunately, I discovered today that another of the Jan de Jong icons had passed away - the Matsuri restaurant.

It was a tradition after the instructors class on Friday nights to go out to dinner. For many years that involved walking down Hay Street to the Matsuri restaurant. A Japanese restaurant with prices that defied inflation and food that was very good.

They had one poor serving habit though. They'd serve the trays with the hot miso soup (great miso soup) closest to the customer. First Debbie Clarke, the first female Jan de Jong yudansha, wore the soup in her lap. I was next. Steaming miso soup, not loose jeans, groin - not a pleasant combination. It was an odd scene when entering the men's toilet seeing me in my underpants drying my groin and jeans under the hand dryer. However, not before I'd patted down my burning groin with cold water.

All instructors of JDJ were introduced to both Japanese and Indonesian cuisine. It was difficult to find an Indonesian restaurant in Perth within a reasonable distance of the school, but on the odd occasion, for a short period of time, we sometimes did. I made my speech at the Garuda Inda (or was it Indonesia) when I was awarded sandan. I of course ordered rendang.

Love my rendang. Even from dodgy foodhalls. When I was traveling with JDJ through Java, Indonesia, I ordered rendang in a restaurant in a village that we were traveling through. As we were leaving, JDJ pointed out that there were a lot of dogs around which was unusual for Java. He then pointed out that this region was known for eating dog, and that I'd had dog rendang the night before, which he had neglected to tell me at the time of ordering.

At the Matsuri, my favourite dish was katsu curry. It's a classic example of Japanese culture. The Japanese adopted deep frying and curry from the Portuguese and adapted it to their tastes. Adopt and adapt, a classic trait of the Japanese. They adopted the gun from the Europeans and then adapted it and in the process made it more effective and efficient than the Europeans (see Noel Perrin, Giving Up The Gun).

My favourite entree was octopus in lime vinegar with seaweed. That was usurped by the thin slivers or raw beef in lime vinegar with chunks of garlic. Both magnificent and with a common theme - vinegar. Put vinegar on most things and I'd eat it. They also used to serve as a side dish these most magnificent pickled vegetables. Pickling of course involves vinegar.

Ave atque vale Matsuri. I will miss you.