NYC Aiki-jujutsu History

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 Japanese religious practices under the mentorship of members of a family line of practice. This family history was borrowed by the martial arts school in an attempt to create a greater sense of authenticity to its martial practice. Now, for those interested there are many resources on practices such as Shugendo available online.

In NYC, I recommend those interested in the Japanese martial art of aiki-jujutsu train at the Yushinkan, a Daito-ryu Takumaki dojo in Brooklyn. Several friends I knew from New York changed to training there from our dojo in Queens and were quite happy with their decision. There is also the NY Seibukan for traditional Sosuishi-ryu jujutsu and several koryu that train in Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey.

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.