The
History Of Shingitai Jujitsu
|
|
Shingitai Jujitsu is a form of martial arts created by John
Saylor. Shingitai Jujitsu was created through Saylor's study
of martial arts. In 1987, Saylor opened his own training center,
training people in what would later be called Shingitai Jujitsu.
Shingitai Jujitsu combines striking, grappling, and submission
moves.
To understand Shingitai Jujitsu and its role in the world
of self-defense or "martial arts", one must look
at some historical developments which led to its development.
John Saylor, in
the 1980's, was the Head Judo Coach at the United States Olympic
Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He arrived
at this prestigious position in 1983 by virtue of his success
as an athlete in competitive judo.
Saylor had won the U.S. Heavyweight Championship three times
and was a Pan American silver medalist.
He had recently retired from the sport of judo after a serious
shoulder injury sustained in the 1982 U.S. Judo National Championships.
|
|
|
|
During his tenure as coach of the Olympic Training Center, John
Saylor was exposed to some of the best judo technicians in the
world.
The leading judo teams from Asia, Europe and the Americas visited
the Olympic Training Center regularly and John Saylor wasted
no effort in observing their training methods and discussing
judo technique with the world's top judo athletes and coaches.
Not only did he work with the top judo people, Saylor worked closely
with some of the top strength and conditioning coaches in the
world who coached and did research at the Olympic Research Center
or were visiting form other nations.
John Saylor built on his already considerable strong base of grappling
knowledge by this experience at the Olympic Training Center.
He served as the coach from 1983 until 1991. However, before he
left his position at the Olympic Training Center, Saylor began
a more thorough and extensive study of "martial arts".
By 1987, Saylor
had already opened his own private training center where he evolved
the core philosophies and techniques of what he later came to
call "Shingitai". One of John Saylor's early Judo instructors,
Yoshisada Yonezuka, emphasized the philosophy of shin (mind),
gi (technique) and tai (body) .
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Actually, the Japanese philosophy of "shingitai" was
profounded initially by Yasuhiro Konishi in 1934, who was the
founder of the Shindo Shizen Ryu.
Konishi's Shindo Ryu
was a system of karate-jutsu as Konishi had studied under Gichen
Funakoshi and Choki Motobu, pioneers in the development of karate,
eventually forming his own approach to teaching karate.
In no way is Saylor's Shingitai is a direct descendent of Konishi's
form of training, however, the philosophical roots of Shingitai
Jujitsu have historical precedent in Shindo Shizen Ryu and through
the teaching of Yoshisada Yozenuka, who was well-schooled in the
traditional teachings of bujutsu and budo, to John Saylor early
in his career as a judo athlete.
Saylor was taught by Yozenuka that through dedication to training,
carried out over an extended period of time, shin, gi and tai
develop in proper proportion in the individual.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saylor's philosophy teaches that shin comprises the mental facet
of the art. This also encompasses the "fighting heart"
of the Shingitai exponent. The tactics, strategies, and cognitive
appreciation of jujitsu also comprise this facet of the art. The
word gi means technique. The Shingitai exponent must make a thorough
and realistic technical study. Developing useful, effective and
realistic skill is fundamentally important. The word tai refers
to the body and to the importance of physical fitness in Shingitai
Jujitsu.
One must be physically able to
perform the techniques of jujitsu. Jujitsu is a fighting art
and requires a body that can react when necessary and can physically
adapt to the situation at hand. This also refers to austerity
in living. Bad habits can lead to a weak body and a weak mind.
Saylor learned early on that an individual's elevated degree
of fitness often dictated his ability to fully accrue technical
development and mental readiness for fighting.
Thus, John Saylor
built his personal philosophy
on the three elements of shin,
gi and tai .
|
|
|
|
|
|
By 1989, Saylor had organized the basis for his Shingitai organization
and had studied various systems of fighting including karate,
taekwondo, muay-thai, sambo and Olympic-Style wrestling, earning
black belt gradings in karate and taekwondo. He also studied other
systems of jujitsu.
Initially, John Saylor called his approach to teaching Shingitai
Goshin-jitsu, which means "mind-technique-body self-defense-art".
He called it goshin-jitsu because what he was profounding was,
according to him, a "well rounded approach to self-defense
training".
Saylor often compared
Shingitai to the decathlon in track and field, where one must
develop his skills in a variety of areas to be successful. A decathlete
must have the skills and fitness level to compete in all ten events.
He can't afford to specialize in any one event at the expense
of neglecting the other events. The same can be said in effective
self defense. An individual must have the skills and fitness level
to adapt to the many situations which may arise in real fighting.
|
|
|
The specialization which took place in the martial arts by the
1980's made for a confusing and often ineffective mix of fighting
arts being offered to the public.
In a situation that is analogous to what confronted Jigoro Kano
almost one hundred years earlier when he originated Kodokan
Judo, John Saylor realized that the martial arts was becoming
a caricature of its original intent.
With an open mind to a multiplicity
of influences, Saylor wanted to offer a realistic, combat-effective
approach both in strategy and technical application. He freely
borrowed from the traditional teachings of many bujutsu and
budo sources as well as from the more modern approaches to physical
education, strength and conditioning training and psychological
training.
According to Saylor in 1993,
"The Shingitai Goshin-Jitsu Association is dedicated to
the mental, technical and physical development of its members
through the teaching and practice of the most up to date and
combat effective martial arts skills available today".
|
|
|
|
|
Being historically accurate was
important to Saylor in the development of his Shingitai. Realizing
that contemporary instructors in various "martial arts"
were "inventing" and "improving" on the more
traditional styles (as well as the non-traditional systems) with
an all-too-common regularity, often aggrandizing themselves and
making outrageous claims.
John Saylor was a humble, albeit an erudite, man with a personality
formed to a great degree by austere training and many situations
which tested his mettle. He wasn't about to "invent"
a "new" style of fighting in the same mode as others
in the United States were doing.
Saylor approached the development of Shingitai with circumspection.
He was subjected to some criticism, especially in the U.S. judo
community, for leaving his position as one of the leading judo
coaches and embarking on a questionable course teaching self-defense.
It must be remembered that John Saylor was a leading judo instructor
and was accustomed to coaching elite athletes. To turn his back
on all this was met with skepticism by some people in the U.S.
judo establishment.
|
|
|
John Saylor, in the founding of the Shingitai, was following
in the footsteps of other twentieth century technicians who
were evolving what has come to be known as "martial arts".
(The author places quotes around this phrase because it is so
misused and misunderstood.
Classical bujutsu (martial art)
evolved into classical budo (martial way or philosophy) in Japan
prior to the Meiji period (starting in 1868), which led (after
1868) to the modern cognate forms of judo, karate, kendo and
others.
The modern cognate forms such
as Kodokan Judo, Shotokan Karate-Do, Aikido, and others were
founded by Japanese technicians and masters with direct philosophies
foundations in Zen and Shintoism. The founders of these disciplines
borrowed liberally from the theory and the practice of classical
bujutsu and budo.
|
|
|
|
|
Classical bujutsu, simply stated, was the Japanese study of warfare.
Bujutsu was a generic term for the many arts of war that the bushi
(warriors) were required to learn. When warfare changed with the
opening up of Japan by westerners, bujutsu (and the professional
warriors who adhered to it) become unnecessary. This led to the
development of budo (martial way) in Japan after approximately
1603 (the Tokugawa period, 1603-1868).
Bujutsu are the combative systems designed by and for warriors
to promote self-protection and group tactics. Budo are spiritual
systems, not necessarily developed by professional warriors or
for warriors, for self-perfection of the individual with the combat
skills being secondary. By studying budo, the individual may achieve
self-realization as end result of arduous training.
|
|
|
This all ties into the development of Shingitai Jujitsu because
what took place after the modern cognate disciplines of judo,
karate, kendo, aikido and others were studied by westerners not
acquainted (partially or completely) with Japanese secular philosophies
(such as Zen) is that these "martial arts" were altered
to more western tastes and (as, for instance, judo and karate)
became far more oriented toward sport and recreation. An example
is Okinawan te, which became Japanese karate in 1924. Upon its
arrival in the United States, in eventually evolved (or devolved,
depending on your point of view) into kick boxing and other sport-oriented
forms. In many cases, these forms vaguely resembled the original
karate.
A similar situation
took place with the development of sambo in the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Government commissioned Anatoly Harliempf and others
to develop a method of hand-to-hand combat for the Soviet military
in the early 1920's. Harliempf and his contemporaries traveled
to Japan and studied Kodokan Judo. Harliempf received a 2nd degree
Black Belt in Kodokan Judo, and after making a study of grappling
and fighting systems throughout the Soviet Empire, eventually
developed sambo in the early 1930's. "Sambo" is an acronym
for the Russian words meaning "self-defense without weapons".
Basically, what the Soviets did was take the technical facets
of judo, remove the philosophical underpinnings, make some adaptations
technically and create their own hand-to-hand combat systems.
|
|
|
|
|
This very thing is what has taken place by westerners since the
late 1960's, especially in the United States. In many cases, however,
those who have altered judo, karate, aikido and the other disciplines
have retained many "trappings" of the original "martial
art".
Such trappings usually always include a belt rank structure with
the "founder" of the new "martial art" naturally
being the highest rank or with the most colorful belt. Jigoro
Kano, the founder of Kodokan Judo, was the man responsible for
the formation of the belt grading system as most people know it
today. The other Japanese disciplines eventually adopted Kano's
belt rank structure.
While the vast majority of westerners claiming advanced belt rank
take for granted the system of belt ranks used in the "martial
arts" as something that has always been there, they have
retained this part of Japanese culture in their modern "American"
fighting systems.
John Saylor realized all of this when he started to teach Shingitai
.It was not his intention to establish another organization from
which he could promote himself or others in belt rank or inflate
his own ego.
|
|
|
Saylor, realizing that as a non-Japanese, his discipline of Shingitai
might not be accepted as a serious attempt to teach a more rational
approach to personal combat and a serious discipline in jujitsu.
He didn't want to place himself in the company of those "masters"
who had plenty of credentials displayed on the wall but couldn't
back up their claims with serious or effective training methods.
In fact, John Saylor never claimed any belt rank in Shingitai
until a group of senior Shingitai instructors, in 1996, placed
him on a "schedule" of belt gradings which would eventually
place him at 10th Degree Black Belt when he was well into his
sixties.
Another interesting fact about belt rank in Shingitai is that
John Saylor originally wanted Godan (5th Degree) to be the highest
belt grade, and kept this edict until he widened his technical
syllabus in Shingitai in 1996.
|
|
|
|
|
He expanded the belt gradings
to ten dan grades primarily because most other American Jujitsu
and "martial art" systems were using the ten dan grades.
However, unlike most other systems, Saylor was adamant that the
higher dan grades wear the black belt only and not the red and
white, red, red and black, gold, or other colors which had become
so popular.
This was an obvious message to his dan grade holders and instructors
the humility and simplicity were very much part of the Shingitai
philosophy. Knowing that the belt rank system was a necessary
part of the "American" approach to "martial arts",
John Saylor wanted to keep the whole belt rank issue within reason.
Saylor made the decision
to teach Shingitai with its philosophical base being the combat-effective
cornerstones of the classical bujutsu. Realizing that classical
bujutsu was designed for warfare from a technical point of view,
Saylor wanted to retain the philosophy of stressing realistic
skill in combat situations and eschewing the aesthetic and exaggerated
techniques seen in other "martial arts".
Saylor emphasized that function dictated form.
|
|
|
John Saylor changed the name Shingitai Goshin-jitsu to Shingitai
Jujitsu in 1995. The American public was familiar with the name
jujitsu so the term goshin-jitsu (while more correct in describing
his self defense art) was replaced.
As Shingitai evolves technically, the primary philosophy of realism
and combat effectiveness that John Saylor made the foundation
of his fighting art will not change.
Shingitai Jujitsu is very much one of the late twentieth century
cognate disciplines with its roots in self defense as opposed
to the classical martial training of ancient Japan. However, the
major difference is that the philosophy of Shingitai is rooted
in the classical martial training of emphasizing effectiveness
over aesthics. Function does indeed dictate the form in Shingitai
Jujitsu and its primary objective is to offer realistic, effective
self defense training.
|
|
|
|