NYC Aiki-jujutsu: History & Aftermath

There were a number of NYC area Aiki-jujutsu schools inspired by the teaching of Daito-ryu Kodokai, especially Yonezawa Katsumi. The dojo I trained at from 1989 to 2001, was first located in Jackson Heights and later in Woodside, Queens, and claimed to maintain a family tradition of aiki-jujutsu. Its earliest student manuals credit Daito-ryu as their origin, so I believe it ultimately was a mixed martial art containing some Daito-ryu techniques likely learned from seminars Yonezawa held in the 1970's.

The core goshin-jutsu I learned was a preservation of locking and throwing methods drawn from 1950's era Aikido, especially as practiced by Tohei Koichi, combined with striking methods drawn from karate and Shorinji Kempo that were both grafted onto a set of self-defense oriented body movements called tai-sabaki developed by Dennis Fink in the 1970's, which influenced many NYC area jujutsu styles. Variants of Daito-ryu jujutsu techniques were layered on top of this structure — what I learned over time, especially after attending seminars in Daito-ryu Takumakai in 1999, was that absent from the curriculum I had learned was any aiki-no-jutsu practice.

The dojo I trained at also maintained a set of religious practices under the mentorship of members of a family line of practice from Japan. This family history was borrowed by the martial arts school in an attempt to create a greater sense of authenticity to its martial practice.

In NYC, I recommend those interested in the Japanese martial art of aiki-jujutsu train at The Yushinkan NYC located in Brooklyn led by Rodrigo Kong. Several friends I knew from New York changed to training there from our dojo in Queens and were quite happy with their decision.

I had begun learning Bagua Zhang after I moved to Baltimore and shifted my practice towards training in internal martial arts after leaving this school. Shortly thereafter I began training in more traditional approaches to Japanese weapons as well.

I connected with an old training partner who stopped training regularly in goshin-jutsu around when I did. He has since been training at the Yushinkan in Brooklyn and learning authentic aiki-jujutsu.

Initially, he liked Daito-ryu but kind of missed the energy of the hard training found in the self-defense oriented style we had practiced. I spoke to him again two years later, to ask him his opinion of the waza we had first learned — specifically, I asked him if he thought they involved "aiki" in any way. From his updated understanding, he was quick to respond in the negative. In fact, now from practicing a more traditional approach, he is seeing more and more ways in which some of his earlier practice could be improved.

It is interesting to me, that while I am practicing bagua and taiji, and he is practicing Daito-ryu, we are coming to similar conclusions.

I am sure a lot of our answers to the question of what might be done differently are not the same, but it is interesting that we are coming to similar conclusions none the less.

This was around the time I consulted with senior Aikidō sensei in Maryland, showing them variations of the aiki-jujutsu I had first learned in NYC — especially versions of locks and throws I had thought were quite unique. All were variations more commonly taught in the 1950s by senior experts like Tohei and Saito.

I had begun learning Bagua Zhang after I moved to Baltimore and shifted my practice towards training in internal martial arts after leaving this school. Shortly thereafter I began training in more traditional approaches to Japanese weapons as well.

Before I completely shifted to Chinese methods and approaches, I worked my colleague Ben Lawner on refining the modern goshin-jutsu 護身術 methods I had first learned. Ben had first trained under my sempai in Florida before moving to Baltimore for his medical residency and was a rigorous training partner who had a strong distaste for what a friend calls "aiki accomodation syndrome" — training outdoors on a variety of surfaces, including Pennsylvania bluestone, did not lead us to simply take ukemi as we might have done on smooth tatami.

As I introduced him to the more sophisticated tactics and body mechanics of Bagua, we pared down the curriculum we had first practiced and revised its body mechanics. The result we called Gassankan Jujutsu ( 月山館 柔術 ) — its practice was focused on grappling and goshin-jutsu. Because of its integration with and influence from Bagua, it wound up being a very fluid and spontaneous approach that preserved posture, balance, and alignment of forces inside the body. Whether striking, deflecting, locking or throwing, we strove to retain the ability to feel, move, and change.