The Secret Art

Have you ever heard of jujitsu? Well, of course you have. It’s pretty much a household name thanks to the Gracie family bringing Brazilian Jujitsu to worldwide fame. But the forerunner to BJJ was Japanese jujitsu or jujutsu, if you really want to be technical.

Ju (gentle or supple) Jutsu (method or art) has a fractured history in Japanese martial arts lore. Quite a few jujutsu schools popped up after the fall of the samurai class, mainly because there were a lot of samurai out of a job. The problem is that it’s really hard to pinpoint where jujutsu started. It was primarily a collection of joint locks, throws, and strikes at very close range. Essentially, jujutsu was what you used in that "oh crap" moment when you lost your sword. It was generally part of the curriculum of most feudal combat schools in Japan. It didn’t really become “jujutsu” until the end of 1800s.

I studied a form of jujutsu known as Danzan Ryu, the martial art of Seishiro “Henry” Okazaki, a jujutsu master who immigrated to Hawaii. The Danzan Ryu curriculum is divided into a series of arts or “scrolls": Yawara (self-defense), Nage (throws), Shime (strangulations) and Oku (combinations). Danzan-Ryu schools typically have these arts listed on a wall in the dojo to make it easier for people to learn and remember. There is much more to the curriculum than I’m providing here, but I don’t want to lose you.

These are the basic lists that students work from until they have a fair amount of comprehension and are able to test for shodan, or black belt. Once you achieve shodan, you are exposed to a different set of arts…the secret arts. The deadly secret arts. But you had to be a black belt before you could lay your eyes on these devastating techniques.

So, of course I wanted to achieve my black belt and acquire access to the deadly secret arts. I studied, trained hard and eventually attained shodan, allowing me access to the…deadly secret arts. I still have the note from one of my teachers on the Xeroxed copy of my first scroll of the…deadly secret arts. “Congratulations, well deserved.” I took a deep breath and turned the page. Let me tell you how this went down…

You know that part in “A Christmas Story” when Ralphie finally gets his secret Annie Oakley decoder ring? He’s sitting on the toilet (no correlation here) and finds out his long-awaited entrance into the secret society is nothing more than an advertisement. Get used to disappointment, Ralphie.

What I saw on those lists was really nothing more than different combinations of things I had already learned with perhaps a few variations on how to end a confrontation quickly. There was nothing about the art of levitation, how to summon unknown powers or how to take somebody down with my chi. Don’t get me wrong here, Danzan-Ryu is a thorough and effective martial art form and I’m happy to have had the opportunity to study. But there was no secret.

When I went to Japan, my goal was to find a classical jujutsu school. Surely, I was missing something here. Instead, I found aikido, an advanced form of jujutsu created for the modern world. Initially, I had the same disappointment in the fact that there were no secret techniques. Aikido has a pretty simple curriculum: five basic joint-locks, six or seven throws, a little sword work and training with a short staff known as jo. But from that small list, the aikido practitioner can create hunderds of variations. Over time. Like, a long time. Like, a lifetime. No secret, just reps, determination and time.

I have studied karate for almost 40 years, but only recently have I begun to grasp some of the finer points of kihon (basic techniques) and kata (forms). Lots of reps, lots and lots of mistakes, tons of frustration and the occasional desire to quit. This is what Budo, or the way to enlightenment through martial training is all about. Sadly, because there really is no secret and because proficiency takes a long time, a lot people are simply not interested. We all want the decoder ring, but few people are willing to take the time and put in the reps to find out…you don’t really need one.

There are a plethora of self-help books and podcasts out there with all kinds of methods, super secret methods, for losing weight, improving your work ethic, being a better spouse, etc. A shout out to my fellow “Matrix” fans; there is no spoon. There is no secret, no magic pill and no fast track.

Do you want to lose weight? Do some “push-aways” from the table and exercise. Do you want to improve your work ethic and enjoy success? Do it. Do you want to be a better spouse, parent, or friend? Be the person that you’d would want to hang out it with most of the time. I read that last part in the greatest self-help book ever written.

The secret we all seek from time to time stares back at us from the mirror every morning.

Dave Magliano

Tatsu Dojo

Jissenkan Budo

Dojo Cho