Hi all :),

I am looking for a Japanese Jiu Jitsu dojo in Japan.
I would be very grateful if you can recommend a dojo that you have tried.
Despite my best efforts and hours of research online, I've been unable to find a dojo in Japan, would this indicate that JJJ is not practised there ? if so would
Aikido be a good alternative ?
if so I would be very grateful for a dojo recommendation.

Best regards,
Ray

Hello

Never trained in Japan myself, but have a friend who lived in Japan for 5 years and studied Aikido the whole time he was there. He lived in Osaka and studied with the JAA. Whereabouts in Japan are you planning to go?

There are still quite a few Koryu schools in Japan. Bear in mind, what you call Jiu Jitsu is likely to only be part of a classical Japanese system, as "Ju Jitsu" usally refers to the unarmed section of a system. Many Koryu arts spend quite a bit of time on working with weapons.

As for finding them, that's easy enough if you know where to look. One thing I would say is that you need to be careful about asking to join a school. Some of the old fashioned schools in Japan don't accept just any old student. It's not like a karate class in a local community centre where you just turn up in your sweats any time you like!

Antonino Certa, in his book on Daito Ryu, stated that he had to get a letter of recommendation from a senior figure within the Aikido community in his country to present to the Daito Ryu head dojo in Japan before he trained. Mr Certa was already a black belt in Aikido before he went to train in Japan. Even with his experience and letter of recommendation, it took a few weeks for the Daito Ryu Dojo in Japan to accept him as a student.

There are plenty of "Gendai Budo" readily available in Japan. You would have no trouble finding an Aikido, Judo, Kendo or Karate class willing to take you on.

If you know whereabouts you're going it might be easier to point you in the direction of a school.

Thanks Prizewriter :), for the detailed and informative explanation. My idea was to find a good dojo and based on that select a place in Japan.
Perhaps not the best approach, especially with the current situation in Japan.
Do you think perhaps I could go to somewhere like Tokyo and try a few dojos and settle on one ?

Best regards
Ray

Hello

I am to understand you are going over to Japan just to train in martial arts? Japan is a very expensive country to live in as you may know. Is money an issue?

Honestly, if I were to take the cost of travelling and living in Japan, which would cost thousands of $/£, I would say that I could use that money to train more effectively at home.

Here's an example of what I mean:

A friend of a friend got his blue belt in BJJ. He wanted to go train in Brazil "to improve his game". He was training once a week at home. He figured the cost of travel and accomadation would run to around £3000 for a few months of training. His local class runs 4 classes a week which cost £5 per class or £60 per month for all classes. This means that guy could get 50 months of training 4 times a week at home for the same money. How much more would his game improve if he stayed at home and trained regularly?

I know its romantic to think about going off to train in China or Japan and become a master. The reality of training costs mean that this isn't always realistic.

If you're footloose and fancy free and money isn't an issue, go nuts. If that isn't the case, you'd save a lot of money and effort if you look for a good class near home and train regularly there.

As you also mentioned Ray, now may not be the best time to go to Japan. I expect many more stories like this from the martial arts community in Japan:

http://www.aikidojournal.com/blog/2011/0...stanley-pranin/