Kick'em In The Ghoulies

   Dojo I                              Dojo  II                         Dojo  III

Jiu-jitsu is with out doubt the oldest of the Japanese arts and anything older would have mostly come from China as the the first real Martial arts came from there when a legendary figure named BODHIDHARMA  invented a way to protect ones self using his hands and feet.and on travels ended up teaching them to Shaolin Monks .       So from a Japanese point of view Jiujitsu is there first real foray into unarmed combat as it was devised by and for the Samurai's as a fighting art when swords and spears where not at hand ,especially when being unmounted from your horse in battle (Happens to me all the time) .                                                                                 

Consisting of throws and devastating joint locks and breaks along with a lot of choking and strangle  moves ,practicing this art is not for the faint heart ed as many aches and pains will be felt and in a way not found in the other arts .But the surprising thing is the founders of some of the other arts which followed 'namely Karate-do / Judo / Akido / Muto Ryu Lai were all great Jiujitsu masters .

These masters were Kano Jigoro  / Funakoshi Gichin  /   Tesshu Yamaoka and Ueshiba Morihei. So Jiujitsu is an all round combative art and not a sport like some of the other arts that have come about Unlike say Judo which is sport orientated as the killer strikes have been removed in much the same way Olympic Taekwondo is a sport has some strikes are not allowed.

But then Jiujitsu is said to be over 2000 years old and considered to be the Father of Japanese arts.

From left to right

  / Funakoshi Gichin  / Tesshu Yamaoka  / Ueshiba Moihei   and  Kano  Jigoro.

Our first modern day master of Jiu-Jitsu is a man who has been doing the art for some fifty years and at the age of 73 is still active in the martial world which in it self is a great achievement ,he is none other then Soke Richard Morris

 Now Richard Morris trained with Professor Alf Morgan the first man in the UK to be trained by Sensei Yoki Tani from Japan.Richard Morris went on to become the chairman of the British Jiu-Jitsu Federation and the Director of the world Jiu Jitsu Federation.Now he is the Head of Jiu Jitsu International a organization spread world wide with many top teachers under it's belt.

Professor J Mc'Dade  first arrived in London from Glasgow where he met Sensei Richard Morris who introduced him to Jiu-jitsu and went on to gain his black belt in 1968.Later on Richard Morris amalgamated with Professor James Blundell who was the founder of the British Jiu Jitsu association .

And then went on as mentioned above to become the chairman of the British Jiu Jitsu federation and the director of the World Jiu jitsu federation where Professor James Mc'Dade was his head instructor for many years,until Professor Mc'Dade went on to set up his own Jiu Jitsu schools 'Meadway Jiu Jitsu which had various clubs across north London,which he ran with his son.Some of these clubs have since closed and some remain under the new Name Total Self Defense. 

Sensei Bob Carmichael started Jiu Jitsu in the mid eighties and went on to achieve a 3rd dan black belt at the Meadway Jiu Jitsu clubs under Professor James Mc'Dade 'he ran one of the clubs in Tottenham,North London .It was here that i met him and trained with him and a great teacher he was who always had time for you and always introduced new idea's to training ,

Due to certain circumstances i left training at Meadway and took up other means of exorcise .But was saddened to hear of his departure from this world due to cancer in 2004.                                 

A truly exceptional man and a great Jiu Jitsu teacher

Brian Cheek is a name most people within the Judo and Jiu Jitsu circles will recognize ,training for fifty years and gaining his black belt in 1969,since then he has  won over 300 hundred trophies and has taught all across the world including in Japan ,and has taught various law enforcement agencies including the Russian Tax Police.

Founder of W.E.B.B.S. an organization that spans the world with lots of instructors and students.Check out the video's of Soke Cheek below.

So as i have said above the founder of modern Karate was Funakoshi Gichin born in 1868 in Okinawa and even though Karate as a form was around in some way before this, as a regimented form of combative exercise it was Funakoshi that brought it all together which he formed in to the' Shotokan'Style,which in the world today everyone has heard of.Not bad for a mild mannered School teacher.

And it was from this that the other Karate styles came from ,but then you have to consider that Mas Oyama the founder of the devastating Kyokushinkai Karate and Hidenori Otsuka the founder of Wado-ryu were both students of Funakoshi.

The first is Mas Oyama the founder of Kyokushkai Karate who is actually Korean by birth .Mas Oyama went and lived as recluse in the wilderness for some 3 years to perfect his art and on his return challenged all the major Japanese Karate schools at that time and became victorious in his plight to invent full contact Karate .The Kyokushinkai fighters are some of the hardest in the world today and you only have to look at the video of one Donatas Imbras from Lithuania to see how hard.      

                                                                                                                                         The   other fighter on this page is Hirokazu Kanazawa one of a few  Japanese masters to attain a 10th degree black belt in  Shotokan Karate-Do.Which is the highest awarded to a living Shotokan  Karateka. He is also one of the few remaining to have studied under Funakoshi Gichin.

Kendo or in Japanese 'Muto Ryu Lai' is the art of swordmanship and it's modern day founder Tesshu Yamaoka born in 1836 was a famous Samurai during the Meiji Restoration period of Japan.     

With his school of swordmanship Itto-Shoden Muto Ryu .It's amazing that in his short life he achieved so much ,he died at the age of 53 in 1888 and had given up training in 1880 when he became enlightened.