Well, not everyone. Were doing Jiu Jitsu!
General Information
I do a style of Jiu Jitsu known as Aiuchi Jiu-Jitsu. From some of the bumf you get when you join follows a description on what we are about.
Jiu-Jitsu is a traditional Japanese martial art and dynamic self defense system. It is the forerunner of many other martial arts which specialised from the main content. Such specialisation became known in their own rights, eg. Judo, Karate, Akido, etc.. Jiu-Jitsu's effectiveness lies in its broad range of responses which can be tailored to suit your needs.
Jiu-Jitsu relies on movement and application of technique, rather than on brute strength, to overcome an attacker. Anyone can come along to any of the training sessions, and is taught in a safe controlled environment, with a friendly atmosphere which will develop your self discipline both physically and mentally as well as your overall confidence. You will also find your co-ordination and fitness improving which helps you in other sporting activities.
Of course were not all work work work, were always making new friends and going out on social events (normally the pub). We've been bowling, quasar-ing, had meals, held balls, gone ice skating, even gone off horse riding for a weekend. Were a friendly bunch!
Everything has a history, our style of Jiu Jitsu being no exception. Another extract from the official bits and bobs tells us a little about our origins.
The Aiuchi Jiu-Jitsu Association is the governing body for Aiuchi Jiu-Jitsu clubs nation-wide. The Aiuchi style has developed from a combination of Shorinji Kempo and Kodokan Jiu0-Jitsu.
Shorinji Kempo was created between the wards by Doshin So, a Japanese martial artists working in China. He observed the paintings of monks practising martial arts in the Shaolin Temple in Tibet, and developed the Shorinji Kempo (or Shaolin Fist) style of Jiu-Jitsu.
Some years later, a student of Doshin So, names Ryukyu Myura, combined the teachings of Doshin So with his own skills in Kodokan Jiu-Jitsu, to create the Shorinji Kan style. Ryukyu Myura began to teach this style and soon found a willnig pupil in Matthew Komp. Komp was a German living in Japan during the Second World War.
At the end of this time, Komp moved to Melbourne, Australia and began to teach what he had learned to a group, among whom was an Englishman, Brian Graham. Graham later returned to England in the 1960's and brought the style of Shorinji Kan to this country for the first time.
Sensei Brian Graham still teaches his art at the Samurai Jiu-Jitsu Club in Keighley, West Yorkshire.
Further development of the Shorinji Kan style led to the creation of Aiuchi (inner harmoney) Jiu-Jitsu.
So what do we get up to when were slamming each other around the mats. Well were not interesting in standing there for hours on end doing boring punching into the air or learning hundreds of katas. We don't do 20 punch combination attacks and we don't try and do 1000 pressups and situps in 30 seconds. Were far nicer than that. Were all about throwing people around, putting on arm locks and wrist locks, head locks, finger locks. We like prodding people in their pressure points, disarming weapons from people and generally using themselves against themselves. One quote I especially love, from my instructor Kevin runs something like this...
'Now imagine your gran tries to drag you up for a conga at the local disco and you just don't want to go. I think a spinning back kick to the head as a defense might be a little bit over the top there. Poor old granny! What's wrong with a simple wrist release?' [Kev98]
I quite agree, far to much effort otherwise. And lets not forget, in this day and age, someone attacks you, you end up beating the living daylights out of them, and you end up in prison for it. Not handy!
Of course granny may be stepping over the line a bit too far and must be dealt with accordingly.
So what do we do?
Aiuchi Jiu Jitsu is based on many different aspects of manipulating people. Unlike some martial arts we are not interested in standing in a room for hours on end punching the air, or just concentrating mainly on punching/kicking/kneeing/elbowing people in various ways, punching through solid walls or being fitter than Mr. Motivator (though of course, that helps :)
Of course we do do some punching and kicking and elbowing and kneeing, we are a martial art after all, and you've got to know how to strike people! But our range of stuff is much larger than that. This includes (but is not limited to)
We even include a few other delicacies including
We also do a huge amount of falling. With all the throwing we do we have to know how to fall onto the ground without getting hurt. We wouldn't be able to get up and have another go otherwise. You never know when you might trip over or get pushed or anything. We fall on our backs, on our sides, on our fronts, on our bottoms, on just about anything we can, and get up miraculously from it after as well, with no ill after effects (in theory) =:) We also fall over people, off people, from people, over objects, from objects, around objects, etc.etc. Well, you get the idea anyway.
Belts
Doesn't this look nice! Its a collection of belts. Well, all the different colours of belt that you can get in my style, up to a black belt.
Most
martial arts use belt grading systems, and though some people may think belts aren't
always
important (and I would agree with you there for certain arts) there are a couple of good
reasons why we have belts.
Wearing a belt in our style means you have graded to a certain standard, and importantly that we have reached a certain standard of falling.
Falling in Jiu Jitsu is very important, as we throw each other around a lot. If we didn't know how to fall from a throw properly then we would mangle each other in the first 5 minutes and have no one left to train with!
So wearing a belt lets someone else who's throwing you around and doesn't know you personally enough to have seen what your capable of, know what standard you have reached and train with you to the relevant level.
Of course there are other reasons for wearing belts as well, like feeling proud of the standards you've achieved. But mainly because it looks good =:P
You start with a white belt and end up (with any luck) as a black belt!
At the moment ive got my black belt, and you can come and see me as an instructor at the DMU Jiu JItsu club.
Some of the fun bits
When were training were not all peace and harmony though, oh no. Let me introduce you to some of our friends, Mr. Circle, Mr. Gauntlet, and of course the much loved Mr. V.
I should point out that the images below, i.e.
represent people before I get an
comments.
These assailants may be armed with weapons including Koshes (wooden clubs), knives, bottles, broken bottles, chains, knuckle dusters, base ball bats, swords, fists, feet, legs, arms, heads and so on. It has been known occasionally for more unusual objects such as chairs and tables to be used. And yes, when we get to a certain level the knives, bottles, broken bottles, swords etc. are real and sharp, especially the broken bottles!
But don't worry! Your never put in a situation that you haven't been trained to cope with! If your a beginner or have only done the odd grading or two, you wont get all the weapons and all the mangling that other people might have to put up with as your not ready for it yet. Yet =:)
Anyone reading this who does other styles of martial arts will probably recognise these or variations of them. Do you have any extra fun ones you do? Please give me a mail if you do!
Mr.
Circle
As you can see by the amazing representation to the right, Mr. Circle is just what you might imagine. A circle of bad guys all stand around you and randomly leap at you as and when they feel the need.
This ones a bummer for people leaping at you from behind, so you have to keep your wits about you and see all around 360 degrees with mystical ninja type powers.
The circle is also great fun (usually with fewer people) when you have to do it from on the floor on your back. And if you happen to have a higher belt, you might just get blindfolded as well. Yup, still available with all your favorite weapons coming at you! Don't ask me how your meant to cope, I guess were meant to have developed some 6th sense mystical ninja powers by then.
Mr.
Gauntlet
Mr. Gauntlet is a friend who tests your amazing skill you've been polishing over the years (yeh right :) and lets them really shine through, as we only normally practice this bit of fun with one attacker on you at once. This is so you can show how really good you are at doing a defense against an attack rather than everything becoming a big pile in.
You get to walk up and down between two lines of people, with or without weapons. Someone randomly springs out at you and you do a relevant defense. This (sort of) simulates walking down a street with the possibility of someone leaping out at you from a dark alley (ooer).
A Gauntlet can also be done with one line of people, where you walk around the edge of them. Good if there aren't too many people there that night to train with.
I have heard of another alternative gauntlet. Two lines of people again stand facing
each other, only this time a large distance apart. You then walk between them and
occasionally someone throws something padded at you, which you have to dodge. *YAWN*. No
thanks =:)
Mr.
V.
Mr. V is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
You will notice the V shape of people formed in 2 lines, armed to the teeth. One of the instructors normally stands at the point of the V, and you stand a couple of meters in front of them.
Then the fun begins. The instructor sends people from alternate lines to attack you, normally one every second or so. You've got to disarm and take out of the picture each one, and they keep coming and coming and coming. This is a good way to get very knackered. Well, I do anyway. Sometimes the flow of people does slow, if the instructor sees a backlog of 3 or 4 people completely mincing you, but not for long! And don't not disarm someone else they just get up and have another go =:). Once someone has attacked they just go to the back of the queue for another go!
Try to picture it in your head, a constant flow of people trying to mangle you every couple of seconds, and if your a high grade, all with lots of weapons! I don't think ill do any more gradings thank you very much =:)
To make the V even more fun, you can have two people sent out to attack at the same time. That's, 2, then another 2, then another 2, etc.etc. and sometimes more.
A variation of a V is when there aren't really enough people to form 2 lines. When that is the case, they normally just go for you as soon as they stand up again. There's also the I, the X, the and so on. You can imagine where you have to stand in them.
Oh, the blood on the fallen bad guy to the right, is of course just for aesthetic
purposes =:)
Photonic Energy Capture
Not got the bug yet? (Oh yes please martin, I like being mangled by lots of people). Why not have a look at a few photos of us in action!
You can find the pictures in my photo gallery - click here to get there.
Nationals
Once or twice a year we hold a National event. All the clubs from our style travel from all over the country to meet up for a couple of days of training, some fun and games, and sometimes a Ball (and failing that, a big pissup!).
This way we get to meet other people in our style, meet other instructors, find secret ways of doing things from the mystical higher belts who whisper their words of wisdom, where everything suddenly becomes clear.
We also hold competitions at these national events. These normally either take the form of Judo type competitions with plenty of throwing and rolling around on the floor trying to pin people, or competitions basically involving V`s and such forth.
I am a Aiuchi Jiu Jitsu WORLD CHAMPION =:) Thought we don't have all that many clubs abroad to bring in any competition *grin*. And it sounds good :)
Whatever we end up doing, we always have a great time, everyone normally gets very drunk on the Saturday night, and quite a few people don't train on the Sunday due to bad hangovers and aching muscles.
And finally, incase you ever wonder what some of the weird Japanese words mean (I know I can never remember any of them), here's a quick glossary of some of the terms.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
