Re-examining Jukado, the art of Bruce Tegner

[Bill Mattocks]

I belong to a Facebook group called "Bruce Tegner's Jukado:Modernized Jujitsu System." Mainly because I remember seeing his little booklets on various martial arts at the checkout stands of every grocery store when I was a child (I'm 63 now). The group seemed to have gone missing, and Facebook sent me an automated message and asked me if I wanted to be the admin. Failing that, the group would be archived. So I said yes. I don't know why.

However, I recently came across a copy of Tegner's booklet on Jukado, and purchased it on impulse. It hasn't arrived yet, but in the meantime, I found a copy online at Archive.org as well:

Jukado Self Defense Bruce Tegner : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Self-Defense

archive.org

I started reading his introduction, and I realized that I never really understood what he was trying to do with Jukado. Tegner was a judo player, and I guess a pretty good one from back in the day, or at least that's what I hear. He also trained in various other martial arts, to what extent I do not know. There's really not a lot of information out there about him, although he was a contemporary of early famous martial artists like Gene LeBell, whom he apparently knew.

So from what I am gathering, Tegner was interested in teaching self-defense to average everyday people, only not in a dojo and not in a traditional way. His belief appears to have been that traditional teaching was as unimportant for self-defense purposes as the tea ceremony is for making tea. Certainly, a tea ceremony produces tea, but the tea is no longer the point of the exercise; it's the ceremony that matters. While I do understand that, I'm not sure I agree with it.

I do agree that for pure self-defense (and not sport, not tradition, not esoteric technique), it is possible to teach a person to defend themselves reasonably well in a fairly short period of time, and that doesn't require belts or bowing or even a dojo for that matter. One might say Tegner's beliefs predated MMA and training such as Krav Maga, etc.

I am not sure what I am going to do yet, but I am thinking of examining his book through the eyes of a semi-experienced karate student and part-time instructor. I am far from an expert, but over time I believe I've developed a reasonable eye for effective technique and I've been exposed to many types of martial arts besides my own (isshinryu, 3rd dan).

So we'll see where this goes. But I thought I'd introduce the topic here. I know Tegner has been discussed before, but I wanted to start from scratch with a new thread. Feel free to join in.

 

[frank raud]

Looking forward to your analysis, Bill. Tegner doesn't get the credit he deserves as a martial arts pioneer, it'll be good to see a breakdown of " the other Bruce's " work

 

[Xue Sheng]

Yes Bill, please keep us posted.
Your post got me looking up Bruce Tenger, I remember him for the old days of my MA training.

Also got me to look up some other guys from my early days and Karate Illustrated and Kung Fu Magazine,,, when they were 2 separate magazines

Most interesting, thank you for this

 

[Tigerwarrior]

I belong to a Facebook group called "Bruce Tegner's Jukado:Modernized Jujitsu System." Mainly because I remember seeing his little booklets on various martial arts at the checkout stands of every grocery store when I was a child (I'm 63 now). The group seemed to have gone missing, and Facebook sent me an automated message and asked me if I wanted to be the admin. Failing that, the group would be archived. So I said yes. I don't know why.

However, I recently came across a copy of Tegner's booklet on Jukado, and purchased it on impulse. It hasn't arrived yet, but in the meantime, I found a copy online at Archive.org as well:

Jukado Self Defense Bruce Tegner : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Self-Defense

archive.org

I started reading his introduction, and I realized that I never really understood what he was trying to do with Jukado. Tegner was a judo player, and I guess a pretty good one from back in the day, or at least that's what I hear. He also trained in various other martial arts, to what extent I do not know. There's really not a lot of information out there about him, although he was a contemporary of early famous martial artists like Gene LeBell, whom he apparently knew.

So from what I am gathering, Tegner was interested in teaching self-defense to average everyday people, only not in a dojo and not in a traditional way. His belief appears to have been that traditional teaching was as unimportant for self-defense purposes as the tea ceremony is for making tea. Certainly, a tea ceremony produces tea, but the tea is no longer the point of the exercise; it's the ceremony that matters. While I do understand that, I'm not sure I agree with it.

I do agree that for pure self-defense (and not sport, not tradition, not esoteric technique), it is possible to teach a person to defend themselves reasonably well in a fairly short period of time, and that doesn't require belts or bowing or even a dojo for that matter. One might say Tegner's beliefs predated MMA and training such as Krav Maga, etc.

I am not sure what I am going to do yet, but I am thinking of examining his book through the eyes of a semi-experienced karate student and part-time instructor. I am far from an expert, but over time I believe I've developed a reasonable eye for effective technique and I've been exposed to many types of martial arts besides my own (isshinryu, 3rd dan).

So we'll see where this goes. But I thought I'd introduce the topic here. I know Tegner has been discussed before, but I wanted to start from scratch with a new thread. Feel free to join in.

Isn't tegner the guy who's books/courses were advertised in old comic books? Stuff like "fear no man, become an expert in the art of karate and turn your body into a weapon" I collect comics mostly 80s and 90s but I have a few 60s and 70s ones where I've seen ads like that and his name sounds familiar. I've never read any of his books but I've heard good things about the books. He has them on alot of stuff I think he has karate, ju jitsu, and aikido books too. I might be confusing him with someone else but definitely not count dante. Strangely there's a dojo in my state that teaches an art with the same name I've seen them on the news but strangely I've found no ties to tegner. Also I read your post and you said it's possible to teach someone to fight/defend themselves in a short amount of time, if you were going to do that with your background what type of stuff would you teach them? I'm just curious because I'm very interested in your style of karate even though I never trained it before and I'm from a different style and no where as near to you in rank in my style. I wanted to see what type of techniques you would teach someone in a situation like that, I did a self defense class with a 9th dan in a kempo style when I was younger and it changed the way I viewed self defense. The most important thing is I remembered almost all of what he taught me.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Isn't tegner the guy who's books/courses were advertised in old comic books? Stuff like "fear no man, become an expert in the art of karate and turn your body into a weapon" I collect comics mostly 80s and 90s but I have a few 60s and 70s ones where I've seen ads like that and his name sounds familiar. I've never read any of his books but I've heard good things about the books. He has them on alot of stuff I think he has karate, ju jitsu, and aikido books too. I might be confusing him with someone else but definitely not count dante.

Counte Dante was only one of many who had those kinds of advertisements. I don't believe Tegner went in for that kind of sensational advertising. I mostly saw his booklets in the checkout stands of grocery stores.

Strangely there's a dojo in my state that teaches an art with the same name I've seen them on the news but strangely I've found no ties to tegner.

If you're in Maine, I saw that also. I agree, no connection.

Also I read your post and you said it's possible to teach someone to fight/defend themselves in a short amount of time, if you were going to do that with your background what type of stuff would you teach them? I'm just curious because I'm very interested in your style of karate even though I never trained it before and I'm from a different style and no where as near to you in rank in my style. I wanted to see what type of techniques you would teach someone in a situation like that, I did a self defense class with a 9th dan in a kempo style when I was younger and it changed the way I viewed self defense. The most important thing is I remembered almost all of what he taught me.

Basic self-defense consists of not getting hit while hitting when it comes down to brass tacks. If you take the most common types of attacks Americans are likely to face, they tend to be overhand rights to the head. If you have a really good left upper body block and can deliver an effective counter with your right, you've got a lot of self-defense already. Of course there is more, so much more, but I think I'd start with that. It still encompasses a fair amount. Stance, grounding, locking in a block, breathing, proper fist formation, using the hips to develop power, etc. But ultimately, yeah, block and punch.

 

[Tigerwarrior]

Counte Dante was only one of many who had those kinds of advertisements. I don't believe Tegner went in for that kind of sensational advertising. I mostly saw his booklets in the checkout stands of grocery stores.


If you're in Maine, I saw that also. I agree, no connection.


Basic self-defense consists of not getting hit while hitting when it comes down to brass tacks. If you take the most common types of attacks Americans are likely to face, they tend to be overhand rights to the head. If you have a really good left upper body block and can deliver an effective counter with your right, you've got a lot of self-defense already. Of course there is more, so much more, but I think I'd start with that. It still encompasses a fair amount. Stance, grounding, locking in a block, breathing, proper fist formation, using the hips to develop power, etc. But ultimately, yeah, block and punch.

Thanks for the response Bill. Yeah count dante is famous for those ads a few other people where into that type of business too but you're right it definitely wasn't tegner. Funny thing, when I was 5 I saw an ad for the Charles atlas course in a comic at a store, being so young I didn't realize fully how dated that comic was, I sent the required amount of money to the address never heard back haha. Yeah I live in maine, that jukado school gets alot of good press on tv in the Portland area, anytime a crazy fight or something happens the news team goes there and recommends it to the viewers, once I heard the creator of the system say the reason for the name was simple judo and karate do =jukado crazy that there's no connection but similar arts inspired them. You're method for self defense training seems spot on! My strategy if I only have short time with someone is either a. Teach them 3 moves from each range of fighting and drill them until they get sick of me and my jobs done, or b. Teach them 3 moves that can be used in all ranges of fighting minus the weapons range. Also alot of mental conditioning tell them to stay aware of their surroundings and also tell them self defense stories from my life or others lives so that they can see to always expect the unexpected. I like your philosophy on teaching self defense alot.