About us
Today’s Samurai school of self-defense is not a traditional martial arts school. We can come to you to give you private or group lessons or you can train in a traditional dojo. We do seminars at martial arts schools or secondary locations. We teach Goshin Budo Jujutsu and Hakko-ryu Jujutsu at a local karate school two days a week. You can be a student at this local school and receive instruction in their style of Kempo Karate or receive instruction in Jujutsu from Sensei Joe as well as the option to receive private lessons if that works better for you.
Goshin Budo Jujutsu
Goshin Budo Jujutsu came about in the 1960s when some of the better parts of Japanese Jujutsu (Hakko-ryu), Judo, ground fighting, defense to (and use of) edged weapons, gun and blunt instruments as well as Karate were put together to form this eclectic style. Goshin Budo Jujutsu means all- encompassing warrior’s art (another meaning of Jujutsu is gentle art but there's nothing gentle about it). It is a realistic style of self-defense based off samurai, adapted to current real world applications. It is an organic style as it constantly changes, building on lessons learned and allows you to grow as a martial artist by learning more about the techniques you already know. The more you learn, the better you get and the more you improve, the more options you have. This style is based off anatomy, physics and geometry. If you put in the time and effort, within 6-9 months you will notice a vast improvement on your abilities and will walk out of class with your head held high and realize you are able to defend yourself in many situations. As in any martial art style, there's no substitute for mat time. It only gets better from there. Many things in this style are based on probabilities of the attack and the likelihood of escape. The head of Goshin Budo, Sensei Tom Fressle is constantly looking for ways to simplify techniques while making them more effective. Goshin budo sets ourself apart from others with our realistic basic self defense techniques .
"Real" Self defense
Many martial art styles say they do or teach “self defense”. With respect, most do not. Some believe that because you could use a punch, kick, block or takedown to defend yourself, that they are doing self defense.
In my opinion and that of Sensei Tom Fressle (head of Goshin Budo), there are several criteria that must be met in order to call any martial art form a “self defense” style.
These are the things that separate our style from many others:
The techniques must be tactical, practical, effective, work regardless of size/strength or ability, must minimize the need for fine motor skills, work for beginners and intermediate students, be tested and proven to work, be based on real situations, have teaching methods to ensure that students can do the techniques in reality and be based on the probability of attack and the likelihood of escape. We teach attack probability instead of attack possibility. Any attack is possible but many are not likely.
Goshin Budo has a base in science as we focus our style on anatomy, geometry and physics. We constantly look for ways to simplify techniques and get our students to be more effective at defending themselves in a shorter period of time without rushing them to achieve belt rankings. Having higher belt rank does not always make one better.
We believe that every student is a reflection of their instructor and our style.
Hakko-ryu Jujutsu
This style of martial arts was founded in 1941 by Shodai Soke Okuyama Ryuho. Hakko-ryu Jujutsu is like the masters program for Jujutsu practitioners. It also teaches Koho Shiatsu Igaku (acupressure). On a higher level (usually Yondan and higher), it teaches you about the 12 meridians (keiraku), a conception vessel and a governing vessel in the human body and how you can use these to help or heal someone and help restore the human body to its natural balance. The human body and brain is like a computer that sometimes needs to be re-booted and has the ability in some cases to heal itself.
These Meridians can also be used defensively to hurt someone without causing serious injury. It will cause severe pain to the attacker and in most cases, stop the attack while showing compasion to the attacker from a budo standpoint by not overly injuring them and sticking with the 3 tenants of Hakkoryu which are no challenge, no resistance and no injury. It is meant to cause them so much pain that they will not want to continue with their attack but the minute they stop, they are no longer in pain. It is said that you should be able to use one finger to hurt or heal someone.
Hakko-ryu Jujutsu Honbu dojo (headquarters) is based in Omiya, Japan and the style has passed to Nidai Soke Okuyama Ryuho after the passing of Shodai Soke. Anyone wishing to study this style with sensei Joe must have a certain level of prior martial arts training and experience (Jujutsu recommended) and must be affiliated with the Hakko-ryu Honbu dojo before or shortly after starting to train with Sensei Joe in this style and remain in good standing with the Honbu. http://hakkoryu.com/organization/instructor-list/