​CLASSICAL AND TRADITIONAL JAPANESE MARTIAL ARTS​

Aiki Jujutsu and Goshinjutsu at Shindokan Budo

​Close Quarter Fighting Arts of the Samurai

Shindokan Budo Dojo offers regular classes in traditional Japanese Aiki Jujutsu (Jujutsu employing "aiki" principles), and Goshinjutsu. Derived directly from the close quarter combat methods of the samurai, Jujutsu offers practical, modern self-defense.

Shindokan Dojo offers training in Nihon Aiki Jujutsu, which has authentic lineage descending from Kokodo Jujutsu, Hakko-ryu Jujutsu and Daito-ryu Aiki Jujutsu.  The term jujutsu can mean soft or pliable art.  This can be interpreted to refer to methods of combat that employ the principle of ju, flexibility or softness, in the execution of techniques.  Classical and traditional Japanese jujutsu and Aiki jujutsu arts utilize combative methods that were originally developed and employed by the samurai on the battlefields of Feudal Japan.   During the relative peace of the Edo Period, these methods were modified and expanded upon, transforming them from "battlefield" methods into arts more suitable for use as unarmed or lightly armed life-protection systems. While the term jujutsu is now quite familiar in our society, legitimate jujutsu and Aiki jujutsu traditions, which by definition will have a verifiable and recognized lineage rooted in Japan, are comparatively uncommon outside of Japan, especially when compared to arts such as Aikido or Karatedo. 

In fact, instruction in an authentic jujutsu or Aiki jujutsu offered at our level of experience, accreditation and class frequency can be found at no other dojo in our area, and is one of the elements that make Shindokan Dojo unique among all schools in our region. The technical spectrum of Nihon Aiki Jujutsu typically include sophisticated joint locks; immobilizations; chokes and strangulations; strikes; throws; manipulations of vital points; and aiki, or subtle physical manipulation and mental disruption.  Descended from the Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu of Takeda, Sokaku, Nihon Aiki Jujutsu includes all of these combative methods, and is a system of Aiki Jujutsu that, like its predecessor arts, is noted for very relaxed and soft, yet extremely effective execution of technique to neutralize an attack.   Nihon Aiki Jujutsu employs a very structured, yet progressive, principle-based training methodology that shares many similarities to the transmission of the older koryu jujutsu from which it is descended.  The syllabus closely follows that of the original Hakko-ryu and Kokodo-ryu, retaining the waza catalogues of Shodan-gi, Nidan-gi, Sandan-gi, Yondan-gi, Shihan-gi, Kaiden-gi and Sandaikichu-gi.  Training typically focuses on the waza within each specific set, followed after a time by henka waza, or variations of the formal waza.   Henka may be a variation deals with attacks such as various strikes, kicks or grabs that one may encounter in a self-protection situation but may not be included in the formal waza of a given set.  Henka waza are studied in order to increase one's knowledge and skill and to explore the gensoku, or underlying principles contained within each waza.  Through the internalization of the gensoku, one may explore the depths of the art more fully through the creation of goshin oyo, the practical applications of the waza and principles woven throughout the art. Nihon Aiki Jujutsu, while an effective life-protection art, is also based on a humanitarian approach to self-defense, following Okuyama Sensei's teachings of no challenge, no resistance, no injury, giving it a moral and philosophical basis that is very similar to the related art of Aikido.