# Hello from Philadelphia



## Jujutsuka (Jul 6, 2016)

Hi, everyone. I'm a first-time forum user but a longtime martial artist. I hope to learn a lot from you all during my time here.


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Jul 6, 2016)

Welcome! What art(s) do you practice?


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## Buka (Jul 6, 2016)

Welcome to MartialTalk, Jujutsuka.


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## Dirty Dog (Jul 6, 2016)

Welcome to MartialTalk. Hope you enjoy it.


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## Jujutsuka (Jul 7, 2016)

kempodisciple said:


> Welcome! What art(s) do you practice?


I was first taught taekwondo and judo, but most recently have been studying jiu-jitsu.


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## Tony Dismukes (Jul 7, 2016)

Jujutsuka said:


> I was first taught taekwondo and judo, but most recently have been studying jiu-jitsu.


Welcome to MartialTalk. What type of jiu-jitsu?


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## oftheherd1 (Jul 7, 2016)

Welcome to MT.  Looking forward to your input.


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## Jujutsuka (Jul 7, 2016)

Tony Dismukes said:


> Welcome to MartialTalk. What type of jiu-jitsu?


Ah, mine is the old-school Japanese jiu-jitsu with the standing joint locks and such. I do have a ton respect for Brazilian jiu-jitsu, though, as they were able to pioneer such combat systems as mixed martial arts.


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## Tony Dismukes (Jul 7, 2016)

Jujutsuka said:


> Ah, mine is the old-school Japanese jiu-jitsu with the standing joint locks and such. I do have a ton respect for Brazilian jiu-jitsu, though, as they were able to pioneer such combat systems as mixed martial arts.


"Japanese jiu-jitsu" is a broad category, not a single martial art. Most of the purely Japanese systems of jujutsu* fall into the category of Koryu (such as Yoshin ryu, Takenouchi ryu, etc). If you were practicing a koryu art, you'd know it and would doubtless have identified the specific ryu, so I suspect you're actually practicing one of the many modern systems of jujutsu created in the West, such as Danzan ryu, Shingitai jujitsu, Small Circle jujitsu, etc). Do you know the name of the specific system you are being trained in?

*(The current preferred Romanization of the Japanese term is spelled _jujutsu_ rather than _jiu-jitsu_. Our resident pedantic specialist in historical Japanese arts will doubtless be along to complain about the usage of the "jiu-jitsu" spelling in reference to any Japanese art.)


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## Jujutsuka (Jul 7, 2016)

Tony Dismukes said:


> Do you know the name of the specific system you are being trained in?



The guy I studied it from was from a school called "Hokutoryu Jujutsu" I think. They're located somewhere out in Chicago, I think. But yeah, I think you're right, it might be a westernized version of Jiu-Jitsu.


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## Tony Dismukes (Jul 7, 2016)

Jujutsuka said:


> The guy I studied it from was from a school called "Hokutoryu Jujutsu" I think. They're located somewhere out in Chicago, I think. But yeah, I think you're right, it might be a westernized version of Jiu-Jitsu.


Cool. I don't know much about Hokotu Ryu. I believe it's from Finland, but the founder had a background in British jujutsu.


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## Tames D (Jul 8, 2016)

Welcome.


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## Chris Parker (Jul 8, 2016)

Jujutsuka said:


> Hi, everyone. I'm a first-time forum user but a longtime martial artist. I hope to learn a lot from you all during my time here.



Welcome aboard!



Jujutsuka said:


> I was first taught taekwondo and judo, but most recently have been studying jiu-jitsu.



Cool. How old were you when you trained in TKD and Judo? How long did you train in them? Just curious, of course… I trained in Rhee Tae Kwon Do when I was younger (12-15, really).



Jujutsuka said:


> Ah, mine is the old-school Japanese jiu-jitsu with the standing joint locks and such. I do have a ton respect for Brazilian jiu-jitsu, though, as they were able to pioneer such combat systems as mixed martial arts.



Ah… well, about that… 



Tony Dismukes said:


> "Japanese jiu-jitsu" is a broad category, not a single martial art. Most of the purely Japanese systems of jujutsu* fall into the category of Koryu (such as Yoshin ryu, Takenouchi ryu, etc). If you were practicing a koryu art, you'd know it and would doubtless have identified the specific ryu, so I suspect you're actually practicing one of the many modern systems of jujutsu created in the West, such as Danzan ryu, Shingitai jujitsu, Small Circle jujitsu, etc). Do you know the name of the specific system you are being trained in?



Yep, my thoughts exactly.



Tony Dismukes said:


> *(The current preferred Romanization of the Japanese term is spelled _jujutsu_ rather than _jiu-jitsu_. Our resident pedantic specialist in historical Japanese arts will doubtless be along to complain about the usage of the "jiu-jitsu" spelling in reference to any Japanese art.)



Now, I'm not really pedantic, I just like things to be correct… and, really, "jiu" I don't have too much issue with (it's less common, but absolutely strictly, it should be "jū" (in hiragana: じゅう), which can be romanized as "jyuu"…. it's the "jitsu" I have issues with. Pretty much all modern romanizations of 術 give the spelling of "jutsu", as the pronunciation is done with "oo" sounds… the word "jitsu" (with an "ee" sound) is written with a different character 実, which, as you can see, is not the same word at all. The first,  術 (jutsu), refers to a set of skills, or a practical art/methodology, whereas the second one 実 (jitsu) refers to "truth, real"… and is a very different word. I often liken it to asking a Japanese person if you can borrow their pan, as you need to write something down… 



Jujutsuka said:


> The guy I studied it from was from a school called "Hokutoryu Jujutsu" I think. They're located somewhere out in Chicago, I think. But yeah, I think you're right, it might be a westernized version of Jiu-Jitsu.



Yeah, it is. And, it must be made clear that there's nothing wrong with that… unless you think it's the same as Japanese jujutsu… particularly traditional systems… as it isn't. That doesn't reduce it's value, of course, simply qualifies what it is.

One thing that I'm less sure of, though, is yourself, and your description on your profile page… since when is 29 "middle aged"?!?! By my reckoning, you're about two decades away from any such description!


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## Xue Sheng (Jul 8, 2016)

Welcome to MT


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## Tony Dismukes (Jul 8, 2016)

Chris Parker said:


> Pretty much all modern romanizations of 術 give the spelling of "jutsu", as the pronunciation is done with "oo" sounds… the word "jitsu" (with an "ee" sound) is written with a different character 実, which, as you can see, is not the same word at all. The first, 術 (jutsu), refers to a set of skills, or a practical art/methodology, whereas the second one 実 (jitsu) refers to "truth, real"… and is a very different word. I often liken it to asking a Japanese person if you can borrow their pan, as you need to write something down…



Question - how consistent is Japanese pronunciation across regions? To modify your example slightly, there are regional accents in the U.S. wherein someone may ask to borrow a p*i*n in order to write something down.



Chris Parker said:


> One thing that I'm less sure of, though, is yourself, and your description on your profile page… since when is 29 "middle aged"?!?! By my reckoning, you're about two decades away from any such description!



Let's see ... 29 years old, would that make him a "callow youth" or a "mere stripling"? Never mind, it's too complicated to keep track of all the age subcategories. I'll stick to my standard definition where everybody younger than me is a whippersnapper and everyone older than me is a geezer.


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## Jujutsuka (Jul 8, 2016)

Chris Parker said:


> Welcome aboard!
> 
> 
> Cool. How old were you when you trained in TKD and Judo? How long did you train in them? Just curious, of course… I trained in Rhee Tae Kwon Do when I was younger (12-15, really).
> ...



For the first question, I trained in a taekwondo/judo school from ages 11 to 17. For the second question, I guess I call myself middle-aged because I'm not only nearing 30 years old, but I'm also dealing with things like arthritis in the knees and whiplash in the neck. They could donate my body to a nursing home with all the "old man" injuries I possess within my body.


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## Chris Parker (Jul 9, 2016)

Tony Dismukes said:


> Question - how consistent is Japanese pronunciation across regions? To modify your example slightly, there are regional accents in the U.S. wherein someone may ask to borrow a p*i*n in order to write something down.



Ha, yeah, like anywhere, regional colloquialisms, dialects, and accents can play havoc with any such ideas… however, I'd ask if, in the regional accents you're describing, if the persons would still spell the request "can I borrow your pen", or it that would change as well… which gets to why romanization is not dependant upon changes in enunciation (as, at it's heart, pronunciation remains the same, even if the accent alters the enunciation).



Tony Dismukes said:


> Let's see ... 29 years old, would that make him a "callow youth" or a "mere stripling"? Never mind, it's too complicated to keep track of all the age subcategories. I'll stick to my standard definition where everybody younger than me is a whippersnapper and everyone older than me is a geezer.



Personally, I go to Shakespeare… "not yet out of his swaddling-clutch"… 



Jujutsuka said:


> For the first question, I trained in a taekwondo/judo school from ages 11 to 17. For the second question, I guess I call myself middle-aged because I'm not only nearing 30 years old, but I'm also dealing with things like arthritis in the knees and whiplash in the neck. They could donate my body to a nursing home with all the "old man" injuries I possess within my body.



Cool. The school taught both TKD and Judo at the one school? Interesting. 

As far as your age, yeah, despite any maladies, you're still young… so take care of yourself! You're going to have that body for a while yet…


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## Bill Mattocks (Jul 9, 2016)

Jujutsuka said:


> Hi, everyone. I'm a first-time forum user but a longtime martial artist. I hope to learn a lot from you all during my time here.


Welcome to MT!


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## KenpoMaster805 (Jul 9, 2016)

Welcome to MT


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## Juany118 (Sep 3, 2016)

Welcome to MT (sorry I missed this one).  I am out in Montgomery County.  (I can see the steam from the Limerick Nuclear Power plant cooling towers off my back deck).  And you are a whippersnapper...


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