History
Welcome to Kyushin Ryu Ju Jitsu Web
Pages, many of you may be asking yourselves what does Kyushin Ryu mean?
It is one of the oldest names in the arts history the original school
being founded during the Eiroku period (1558 - 1569) by Inugami Sakon
Shogen Nagaktsu, he compiled training documents listing basic principals
of style, these specialised in striking techniques and methods of first
aid and resuscitation. The most notable Master of the school, in later
years was Shihan Yoshinori Eguchi, he became one of the closest disciples
of Doctor Jigoro Kano who using methods from five principal schools
founded Judo. The name can be broken down into three syllables and
are explained thus; Kyu; means position of status or level, Shin; means
aristocratic or supreme and refers to the class of society who originally
practiced the system, Ryu; means style or school therefore Kyushin
Ryu Ju Jitsu translates to mean a supreme level of Ju Jitsu with supreme
relating to the class of those who trained in the original schools
and not a comparison to other Ju Jitsu styles. As you continue to read
this page we hope that you will enjoy our history and maybe search
a little more into Ju Jitsu.
From Judo to Karate to Aikido
It started in the late 1950's when
the name Judo was first heard by a young man, he was fascinated by
what he was being told and joined a local club, the young man was profoundly
influenced by the sport and decided to explore the arts even more.
After several years training, and with his Sensei's encouragement he
found, and joined a local Karate club, by now it was the early 60's
the young man worked hard, a few years later, he moved further on by
joining an Aikido club in the town of Dartford, Kent studying Tomiki
Aikido. It would have been no surprise to any of his Sensei's that
after 10 years of training with these revered gentlemen he again decided
to expand his learning and when a colleague opened an Atemi Jutsu club
in the young man's native Rochester he was to progress very quickly
and soon he became an instructor himself and this was the beginning
of the clubs as they are today.
Ju Jitsu in Medway
It was now the very early 70's and
Ju Jitsu had taken a firm hold of Sensei Roger Wilkes, the first club
was very small and as numbers grew we had to move into a larger building,
so in 1977 we moved into the newly completed Black Lion Leisure Centre
in Gillingham, Kent. This move opened Ju Jitsu up to many as Kent had
been shielded from this particular martial art and now it seemed everyone
wanted to know what it entailed, so much so our Sensei had to re-open
the old Dojo as well as our new home to accommodate the numbers wishing
to train. Very soon, and with the new Black Belts we were training
we began to open clubs throughout the Medway Towns. Sensei had, by
now, been graded to 3rd. Dan and many more club members were also achieving
their Black Belts.
The original name of 'Rochester Ju
Jitsu Club' was no longer appropriate so we changed the name to 'Medway
Ju Jitsu Clubs', the Medway Towns being the collective name for the
area we were in, by now Sensei Wilkes had been invited to take the
group into a larger organisation and although we kept our own identity
we joined. This opened the path to National and International coaching
for Sensei and in the not too distant future it would afford the same
for our current and prospective Dan Grades, we enjoyed many years of
international seminars and competitions and by the end of the early
nineties our Sensei was organising many of these events.
In the early 90's we left this association
and joined another continuing and increasing our national and international
relations. Our group of clubs was now growing very rapidly including
the opening of clubs outside of Kent with one of our Club Coaches moving
to West Sussex with his employment, soon we had clubs in West Sussex
as well our native Kent so the name Kent Ju Jitsu Clubs didn't seem
quite right so the name "Kyushin Ryu Ju Jitsu" was chosen by the club
coaches as the name we would be known by from this time onwards, it
meant that the name could be used in any clubs that we opened wherever
they were situated
The exodus from the association, mentioned
in the last paragraph, was a very large one where many well known and
high graded members left and we stayed with several of these as colleagues,
we still retained our individual identity although working within one
of the larger groups. This enabled us to travel to many countries and
we made good friends. Our greatest success was in the year 2000 when
a large seminar and competition was held in Brighton, at the prestigious "Brighton
Centre" where our Sensei was very much involved in the organisation
and management of the event aided and assisted by many of our Club
Coaches and members. A great many countries took part and our "Kyushin
Ryu Juniors" took the team gold in the Junior Demonstration event beating
many time winners Germany. Also to our great delight and pride Sensei
Wilkes was awarded the most prestigious trophy of the event for his
2½ years of work in its organisation, he received the "Brian
Devlin Award" named after one of his greatest friends in Ju Jitsu who
tragically died on Christmas Eve in 1993.
Worldwide Ju Jitsu Family
The Club Coaches always met on a regular
basis discussing the manner in which Ju Jitsu was approached in Great
Britain and the manner in which we could best serve the members of
our group. We decided that a fresh approach was needed and found an
avenue through which we could achieve European accepted qualifications
(NVQ's) work with any group we wished and open cross training to all
of our members in a multitude of arts thus expanding their and our
skills. Now we were able we could consolidate our plans, we had begun
the National Vocational Qualification programme for Ju Jitsu coaches
and now we have three qualified NVQ Assessors, one NVQ Internal Verifier
and 20 NVQ qualified coaches with several others approaching qualification.
We have excellent insurance cover and we have affiliated to Shi Kon
Budo Kai, who are recognised with several government agencies within
the UK and one of the largest martial arts organisations in the world
where, if we wish, we can also study Karate, Tai Chi, Aikido, Iaido
and Jodo. We also take part in their "Summer Camp" seminars with our
Sensei as their Technical Director for Ju Jitsu and Principal Ju Jitsu
Coach/Examiner. We have also renewed our friendship with some of our
international friends to the point where we, with them, have founded "Yoshimi
Ju Jitsu International" Yoshimi translates to friendship and this is
how we intend it to be, running and coaching Ju Jitsu within our own
clubs and meeting internationally as friends enjoying each other's
company, cultures etc. without the un-necessary pressure of committee's,
chairmen or presidents. In our first year we have visited Denmark,
Ireland, Belgium and Hungary, quite an achievement for a group that
as this piece is written was only eight months old having been founded
in February 2002
The association has now been together
for over 30 years, which by anyone's standards is some achievement
and must make us one of the longest established groups in the country,
we now find ourselves teaching the children of those juniors we taught
many years ago. Sensei Roger Wilkes is now 7th. Dan and he has many
coaches working along side of him whose grades range from 5th. to 1st.
Dan many have been with him for a substantial number of years and this
is what helps to make us a very close group who share our mistakes
but enjoy our successes.
The Future of Kyushin Ryu Ju Jitsu
With a fresh bright attitude and newly
found feeling of freedom we are looking forward to the next 30 years,
although by then some of us will have just happy memories of practicing
Ju Jitsu! but hopefully we will still be able to pass on some knowledge
of our wonderful art. We are happy to work with any association, group
or single club, we have no preconceived ideas about Ju Jitsu and no
insecurities, we enjoy our martial art and we are very happy to share
it with everyone. We have, through our involvement with Yoshimi Ju
Jitsu International, Friends in, Australia, Belgium, Hungary, Ireland,
New Zealand, South Africa and the USA and in the following years many
of our members, along with their families and friends will enjoy the
wonders of these countries also, you could enjoy them as well either
as a member of Kyushin Ryu Ju Jitsu Association or through Yoshimi
Ju Jitsu International, drop us a mail and lets see what transpires.
Anyone is welcome to contact us, we
have a completely free and open attitude to our martial art, drop us
a mail or give us a call you may even find a whole new attitude to
Ju Jitsu waiting, and remember no matter how long the journey it all
starts with a single step. Thank you very much for visiting our web
site and we hope that we may meet one day.
Updated January 2005
