The evolution of my goshin-jutsu

護身術

From 1989 to 2001, while living in New York City, I practiced at an independent Aikido dojo that focused on self-defense methods – goshin-jutsu – incorporating striking methods from Nippon Shorinji Kempo as its atemi-jutsu. The school marketed itself as a traditional form of aiki-jujutsu when that art was popular in NYC due to the teaching of Yonezawa Katsumi and others.

During that time, I remember fondly attending several seminars in classical and traditional martial arts while living in NYC – including Daito-ryū Takumakai and Yagyu Shinkage-ryū. A good friend of mine from Flushing was a practitioner of Chinese martial arts, and I told myself if I ever had the opportunity, I would learn a form of Baguazhang or Bajiquan.

In 2004, after I received my final teaching license in modern goshin-jutsu, I visited a koryū enbu, a demonstration of classical Japanese martial arts, at the St. Louis Botanical Garden. Schools such as Tenshinsho-den Katori Shinto-ryū, Shindo Muso-ryū, Araki-ryū, Toda-ha Buko-ryū, and Yagyu Shinkage-ryū were represented. Each of these seemed to have a more subtle and refined method of weapons practice than the rough and tumble practice I had been taught along side our modern jujutsu.

There, while talking with Ellis Amdur, he asked me what was next for me, since I had recently been awarded the highest rank in my current style of modern jujutsu. I told him about my desire to learn Baguazhang, and he told me he knew of teachers in Maryland – in fact, he had practiced Xingyiquan while in Japan under Su Dongchen, and was interested in its sister art of Gao Lineage Baguazhang.

Ellis introduced me to Bob Galeone, a Karate and Aikido teacher who had learned Gao Bagua from Allen Pittman and Paul Cote in the lineage of Hung Yimien, a student of Zhang Junfeng. I began training in Gao Bagua with Bob in 2004. I subsequently received feedback on my training from Paul Cote and also Su Dongchen during his Essence of Evolution seminars in Minneapolis.

Eventually I decided to stop traveling back up to NYC from Baltimore and resigned from the dojo I had first trained at. Since that time, I have concentrated my efforts on developing skill at internal martial arts, including Gao lineage Bagua and the arts taught in Yin Cheng Gong Fa North America by Zhang Yun and his senior students, as well as the classical Japanese sword methods I have access to in the Capital region.

In Baltimore, I continued to work on refining the modern goshin-jutsu 護身術 methods I had first learned with my martial arts colleague Ben Lawner. Ben had first trained under my sempai in Florida before moving to Baltimore for his medical residency. At the time, I was teaching a small class in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, which was the inspiration for the name of this blog, Inner Dharma.

Over time, I received permission from my Gao bagua instructor to share with Ben what I had learned. I introduced Ben to the more sophisticated tactics and body mechanics of Baguazhang, even while we continued to drill our core set of aiki-jujutsu techniques. Over time, we pared down the curriculum we had first practiced and revised its body mechanics to draw largely from Bagua instead of the Shorinji Kempo I had first learned. The result was a form of close range goshin-jutsu that was fluid and spontaneous, with a core set of finishing techniques that integrated smoothly with Gao lineage bagua. Its methods and techniques, when performed with proper body mechanics and a general theory of movement drawn from my continuing study of the Chinese Internal Martial Arts, seemd much more effective than what I had first learned. Attention is first paid to posture, balance, and alignment of forces inside the body. Whether striking, deflecting, locking or throwing, we worked to always retain the ability to feel, move, and change. Once the body is developed, we begin addressing proper mechanics of movement, attempting to maintain the integration that was previously practiced statically while moving through progressive drills that explore three different ranges and contexts.

The result we call Gassankan Jujutsu ( 月山館 柔術 ).

This practice has a focus on grappling and close quarter combatives that is fluid and spontaneous, with a core set of finishing techniques consisting of a number of locks, pins, strikes, chokes, sweeps, and throws. These techniques are performed with proper body mechanics and a general theory of movement drawn from my continuing study of the Chinese Internal Martial Arts of xingyiquan, baguazhang, and taijiquan.