| Well, what do you write about Jan de Jong, where do you begin? Yet another year Jan de Jong came to Sweden, he's now a bit older than some of us but he still gets restless if he can't get up on the tatamis. And once he gets there it's hard to stop him and he thinks that breaks are unnecessary and too long. He starts his Swedish tour in the south of Sweden, so me and Michael Mrazek packed our bags and traveled south to Jan Erik Karlsson in Lund. We got there to the finishing two days of a four day camp. We who have trained for Jan a couple of times now, know what we get, unbalancing, body movements, joint locks, sacrifice throws (sutemi waza), short stick, long stick, hoju jutsu (tying techniques), sitting techniques, ground techniques (ne waza), transport techniques, manriki-gusari (chain) and last but not least pentiak silat, the a bit odd martial art Jan has learned in Indonesia, everything in a potpourri of a lot of humor, humbleness and kindness. | |
|
As usual Jan had his daughter Maggie to assist him, and more than once she gets to know that her fathers techniques works painstakingly well, "She is my daughter you know!", he doesn't hide that he is proud of her. We are more than sixty people in a dojo that isn't that big, but you know how the saying goes (Swedish saying, "Where there is room for hearts, there's room for bums"). I must admit though that when there was time for jo techniques I got a bit nervous. Training with Shihan de Jong means details and more details, everything shall be spot on and there is a thought behind everything, what is a bit sad though is when people look at the technique and says, "Ok, I know that one", and does some homemade version of the technique and miss a lot of the details that Jan wants to point out. Another annoying feature is when people does the, "Yes, yes but if you do like this and that it's much more effective and better". Yes, sure, you can always bring out the shot gun, but there's not much finesse in that is there? Or the classic, "Well, what if he does like this?", that is a question which is ok from beginners or when the person is genuinely wondering but when it's from Dan grades with the under tone "you didn't think of that, did you?", then it is a bit tragic. |
| On Friday and Saturday the 16-17th the couple came up to us in Uppsala, and by then Mr. Adrian Dobson, which we have also had the pleasure to meet before in Uppsala, had joined the gang. Friday evening where spent on body movement and joint techniques and Saturday morning on ne waza and sitting techniques. Saturday evening we did short stick techniques. The body movement that Jan puts the most emphasis on is the one they call nagashi, that is, just one foot is moved sideways. This due to the fact that it is very fast and effective, and as we all know, "No, Cha cha cha!". The joint techniques are very systematic and thought through, with the lever as the foremost tool. And as someone said to me, "Jan is the first person, that has explained that you can manipulate the arm in these ways, the rest is just variations", you are usually fed technique by technique without any real connection between them. The sick techniques are a tricky bunch, they also hurt and takes a lot of training, but when you are as proficient in them as Jan is you surely have a good defense with such a weapon. The stick techniques are as systematic as the others and Jan emphasizes that the weapon is a mean of achieving kuzushi and leverage. | |
|
On Sunday through Tuesday Shihan, Maggie and Adrian spent the time in Stockholm, me and Fredrik "Rico" Blom tagged on Sunday along to Täby, at Leif Hermansson, and on Monday me and Therese Andersson went down to Enskedehallen in Stockholm to Pekka Pajala. In Täby sutemi waza was on the schedule along with ground techniques and hoju jutsu and me and Fredrik took the time to repeat what we had done in Uppsala. It was needed ... already. In Enskede we did sitting techniques and more sutemi waza, ground techniques, techniques against a wall and transporting techniques. Therese which was having her birthday on Monday was congratulated in front of all by Shihan, Maggie and Adrian with a gift from Indonesia (which she sat bragging about all the way home!). |
| Was this to be the last I saw of the for this year, hmm, no I decided to take them up on their kind offer to come along with them to Denmark. So i asked the boss for a mini vacation and went home and killed my piggybank. Wednesday was spent on getting to Denmark, with the two goals Hedenstedt and Ålborg, of course we fitted in some pentiak silat on the ferry parking lot while we were waiting for the ferry to Fredrikshamn. On Wednesday evening, in Finn Jensens place where we were supposed to stay, I met, for the first time, the other three instructors from Shihans school in Australia, and what an experience that was to become! The three instructors was, Peter Clarke, Paul Connolly and Michael Wallace. | |
|
Peter Clarke looks like a cunning fox about to steal your underwear and sell them back to you without you noticing, and he'd probably get away with it too, since he's a solicitor. Paul Connolly is a tall bugger with a glimpse in his eyes, like a twelve-year old that has just managed to pull off a nasty joke on you and Michael Wallace looks like a big bear with soft hands happy eyes and a full beard. |
| Thursday was free, and it was then it happened. Peter which had just bought an Ericsson phone and a new computer and noticed that it cost a LOT of money to get them connected found out that I worked for Ericsson. Since that time my life had no peace in it. Every time someone asked (to tease) if Peter had got any email, he'd explain loudly and willingly that, "Well, I am glad you asked me that, you see I just bought this Ericsson phone...". Pew! =) The day was spent shopping and Peter, Paul and Michael did some training in Finns dojo which he had in his garage, that was interesting to watch I can tell you! Finn had also invited the local press for an interview. | |
|
On Friday it was time for the seminar in Hedenstedt for Hedenstedt Ju-Jitsu club run by Finn Jensen and his wife Anna who are a very nice Danish couple. I didn't get to pay for the staying or the seminar though! Finn had gathered a whole bunch of different styles, karate, tae kwan do, ju-jitsu and a whole lot of other strange asian arts. The evening was spent in pentiak silat and Jan compared it with jujutsu. You could easily see what the different styles emphasize in their training, and I think it is good to see how systems differ from your own. |
| Saturday morning we turned back north towards Ålborg which we had passed through the other day. In Ålborg, "Aalborg Selvforsvar og Ju-Jitsuklubb" run by Christian Hvidbjerg was to host the seminar. Here we got to meet another bunch of nice Danish people, Christian, Sören and Per and a whole lot of other whose names I didn't catch. I didn't get to pay here either, darn what was I supposed to do with all my Danish money! The club dojo was very big and nicely decorated with kanjis. The first day we did jujutsu and more pentiak silat, the other day the group was split up in two groups advanced and beginners. And even me with my big feet, wrong turned hands and white belt to my disadvantage, was enlisted in the advanced group by a whisper from Peter. We did falling techniques with katana and a two man kata with the sword, with the sword in the sheath and without the sword. We also did a two man bo kata from the pentiak silat and more mini katas from the pentiak. The beginners did stick defenses from the pentiak and more jujutsu. | |
|
On Sunday afternoon the fairy tale was over and it was time to say goodbye to them all, sad as it might be. Even though the offers of tagging along were tempting we all have our reality to face. It had been a great mini vacation, training jujutsu with the best and kindest in the world that is not bad. They wondered when they'd get to see me in Australia, that'll be as soon as I can! |
-Leif Jonsson