In 1971 I walked into the Jerome Mackey Martial Arts Academy in Elizabeth, New Jersey. I decided that my days of being bullied were over. I had met several young men who were very good martial artists and they convinced me to start training.
I began my studies with Shaolin (Eagle Claw) Kung Fu, a fascinating Chinese art that develops incredible flexibility and muscle strength. This was one of the arts that Bruce Lee mastered and is the style of my favorite female martial artist Cynthia Rothrock. I studied Eagle Claw for three years and then switched to Korean Hapkido, earning a black belt in that art. Anyone who has seen the movie Billy Jack has seen Hapkido in action.
In 1991 I was invited to view a demonstration of Daito Ryu Aiki Jujitusu, being given by Grandmaster John Williams a 9th degree black belt from Canada, a wonderful man and highly skilled master of this ancient Japanese discipline. I immediately fell in love with this beautiful and very effective martial art.
The meaning of Daito Ryu Aiki Jujutsu translates into the style of the long sword Aiki Jujitsu. That is because nearly every technique we perform with our hands we perform with the sword. Daito Ryu is a Japanese martial art that dates back nearly a thousand years. I can actually trace all of our masters, starting with Grandmaster Williams back 1000 AD. I have a chart at home which allows me to do this. It is quite remarkable.
Aiki (as it is called for short) is a beautiful art, which uses three principles: the Circle principle, the Non-resistance principle and the principle of Ki energy, also called internal power. The art was developed by the ancient Samurai Warriors for one purpose: to destroy, kill, or seriously injure anyone who attacks you!
For that it is highly effective and many of our masters retired undefeated, and this against just about every style of martial arts you can name. Our great, great Grandmaster Takeda Sokaku is considered one of the greatest martial artists that ever lived, easily in the top ten of all time. He was an outstanding swordsman and went on to train many, who became so proficient, they created their own styles including Master Yeshiba the founder of Aikido. Anyone who has seen Steven Segal has seen Aikido. Actually Aikido came directly from Aiki Jujitsu.
