Overview

While the most popular translation of jujutsu remains “the gentle art,” a more apt translation would be "the art of flexible adaptation". Jujutsu requires the ability to yield or flow with an attack or offer momentary resistance in order to break the attacker's balance and/or momentum and thereby control, disable, cripple, or kill the opponent. True jujutsu is achieving the maximum effect with the minimum effort.

Jujutsu was the first Japanese martial art to be widely recognized in the West. Until the 1950s, jujutsu was the art of choice for law enforcement and military organizations worldwide. It is the confusion of combat systems with martial sports that allowed jujutsu to be superceded by karate, kung fu and tae kwon do in the public eye. Ironically, it is the perception of jujutsu as a sport today that has thrust it back into the public eye. While many jujutsu techniques are used in the Mixed Martial Artse tournaments so popular on pay-per-view TV, the chokes and joint locks seen in the UFC are just scratches on the surface of traditional jujutsu's wealth of knowledge.

Modern jujutsu, with its emphasis on ground fighting, bears slight resemblance to the traditional techniques of kumi-uchi as practiced by the Samurai. Understanding the need to evolve and adapt to meet new and previously unanticipated challenges, Akayama Ryu has kept pace with the times while retaining a connection with the koryu or ancient schools of classical jujutsu. Advanced students learn kata and technique that can be traced back hundreds of years and, while designed to deal with sword and dagger attacks, can easily be applied in a modern setting against contemporary threats.

Jujutsu, in its true form, is not a sport. There are no rules, no concept of fair play, no “gentlemen's understanding” in the application of self-defense technique. It is direct and often times brutal. In the event of an attack, the ability to cripple or kill was and is essential. While damage to the opponent can be minimal, the goal is always to do whatever is needed to survive a confrontation. Jujutsu is surgical violence in its purest form.

Evolution of Akayama Ryu

Developed by Alexander M. Marshall after a lifetime of study in a wide variety of martial arts, Akayama-Ryu Jujutsu is a comprehensive fighting system. An advanced student of the art is capable of throwing and pinning an opponent, applying joint locks, chokes and immobilization techniques, striking and kicking the vital areas, attacking nerves, breaking bones, and using a wide variety of small, easily concealed weapons. It is an extremely practical combat art, applicable to both civilians and law enforcement officers.

Akayama-Ryu Jujutsu was founded in 1988 after over sixty years of dedicated study of the combat arts. Beginning with boxing and wrestling, Mr. Marshall was also a fencer and mounted lancer during his time at Alabama Polytechnic University, now Auburn University. Following graduation, he sought out and studied under a number of talented Japanese judoka and jujutsuka, eventually earning Black Belts from several organizations.

Sensei Alex Marshall held advanced rank in Kodokan Judo, Tomiki Aikido, Shinin-Ryu Jujutsu, and Jikishinkage-Ryu Aikijujutsu before creating Akayama-Ryu Jujutsu. Beginning his study of the Japanese grappling arts shortly after World War I, Sensei Marshall continued to seek out and train with some of the finest instructors in the world. Time after time, black belts were awarded to him, only to be left in his bag when he entered a new dojo seeking further training. Shihan Toshiaki Takikawa introduced Sensei Marshall to the Aikijujutsu system of Jikishinkage-Ryu developed by his family in 1600 and handed down from generation to generation.

While teaching defensive tactics at the Birmingham Police Academy, Mr. Marshall began to formulate a practical system of combat utilizing the principles of off-balancing and leverage found in Japanese grappling arts. Judo and Aikido strongly influenced him, but it was the brutal efficiency of Jujutsu that formed the core of the art he was to name Akayama-Ryu Jujutsu.

In 1988, holding high dan rank in Judo, Aikido and two styles of Jujutsu, Mr. Marshall established Akayama-Ryu as a separate and distinctive system and named Mark Barlow and Richard Worthington as the senior instructors.

In the final years of his life, Mr. Marshall further refined and formalized the techniques and rank requirement. Upon his passing in 1994, Mark Barlow assumed the day to day management of the system and became the Senior Instructor. Akayama-Ryu is still growing and evolving. Under the leadership of the senior yudansha, Akayama-Ryu has grown and prospered. The practicality and effectiveness of Akayama-Ryu has been recognized and emulated by dojo and instructors across the U.S. and Internationally. Thanks to the stringent requirements of rank and the quality of our instructors, Akayama-Ryu will continue to be one of the premier martial arts available today.

Sensei Larry Camejo started training in Akayama Ryu in 2003 under Sensei Mark Barlow, 8th Dan, Chief Instructor. Sensei Camejo is currently 2nd Dan and has taught Aikido seminars at Akayama Ryu camps. He is the official representative of Akayama Ryu Jujutsu in Canada.