This association is the oldest association of Ju-Jitsu that exists in Sub-Saharan Africa, established in 1928. The Association aims to preserve and grow legitimate schools of Ju-Jitsu and related Japanese Martial Arts, recognise and protect the heritage and the true lineage of Traditional Ju-Jitsu schools.

The South African Ju-Jitsu Association is recognised by and represents the All Japan Ju-Jitsu International Federation in Africa. The President of the Association, Nigel Sessions is the appointed secretary for the African office of the AJJIF.

Ju-Jitsu is the only original Japanese martial art, as practiced by the Samurai warriors of feudal Japan intended for use on the battlefield if disarmed, often against weapon-wielding foes, Ju-Jitsu has been developed over nearly a thousand years, the techniques being strong, effective and often potentially lethal. Ju-Jitsu embodies a full range of manoeuvres, including joint-locks; strangles, throws, holds, strikes, thrusts, use of pressure points, evasion, and most of all common sense tactics as counters to attacks. The emphasis in Ju-Jitsu lies in using the assailant’s strength and momentum against himself, rather than meeting it head on with kicks and punches. Where strikes are used, they are directed against weak spots and target areas on the assailant.

Though called “ju”, meaning soft, Ju-Jitsu is not a gentle art. “Ju” means soft in terms of preferring evasion to attack. Ju-Jitsu is the forerunner of many modern martial arts such as Judo and Aikido. By joining a Ju-Jitsu club, you will be starting on the long hard road to attaining Knowledge and a black belt, but you will certainly be preparing yourself for future attack.

Ju-Jitsu is taught today as a self defence art. Because it relies largely upon the principle of leverage and balance, it de-emphasises strength and physical prowess. Preferring to follow the principle of “ju” (meaning “soft”) it emphasises the use of skill and ability honed by practice and experience to overcome strength and force. As a result, it is an art that may be practiced by large and small, strong and weak alike. Furthermore, there is no need for a student to be either exceptionally fit or physically tough.

Ju-Jitsu is an art of unarmed combat originally designed for use by Samurai who had become disarmed on the battlefield. It embodies a full range of manoeuvres, including joint-locks; strangles, throws, holds, strikes, thrusts, pressure points, evasion, and most of all; common sense tactics as counters to attacks. The emphasis in Ju-Jitsu is in using the assailant’s strength and momentum against himself, rather than meeting it head on with kicks and punches.

Where strikes are used, they are directed against weak spots and target areas on the assailant. Many aspects of Ju-Jitsu ground work are to be found in modern day grappling clubs and this portion of the art has been made famous by the Gracie Family and Brazilian or Gracie Ju-Jitsu.

This was the working group for constructing the Kodokan kata syllabus. They met at the Dai Nihon Butokukai in Kyoto on July 24, 1906 for this photo. The Japanese below the photo gives their schools (ryu) beside their names.

Front row, left to right is: Masamizu Inazu of Miura Ryu,Yazo Eguchi of Kyushin Ryu,Takayoshi Katayama of Yoshin Ryu, Kumon Hoshino of Shiten Ryu, Jigoro Kano of Kodokan, Hidemi Totsuka of Totsuka-ha Yoshin Ryu, Jushin Sekiguchi of Sekiguchi Ryu, Koji Yano of Takeuchi Ryu, Katsuta Hiratsuka of Yoshin Ryu.

Back row, left to right is:Kehei Aoyagi of Sosuishi Ryu, Mogichi Tsumizu of Sekiguchi Ryu, Hikosaburo Ohshima of Takeuchi Ryu, Hoken Sato of Kodokan, Kotaro Imei of Takeuchi Ryu,Mataemon Tanabe of Fusen Ryu, Shikataro Takano of Takeuchi Ryu, Hidekazu Nagaoka of Kodokan, Sakujiro Yokoyama of Kodokan, Hajime Isogai of Kodokan, Yoshiaki Yamashita of Kodokan.