NZ Jiu Jitsu School of Self Defence

Kawaishi Mikinosuke - The Father of French Judo documentary

We have never been shy in acknowledging our jujutsu forebears as they have all shaped the style we practice today. One of the most significant teachers was the great Kawaishi shihan. This is a wonderful documentary with so much footage that is not readily found outside France. If you are clever, you can turn on subtitles and then select English to give you an idea of the narration.

KAWAISHI MIKINOSUKE - LE PERE DU JUDO FRANCAIS documentaire inédit Dans ce documentaire inédit découvrez l'histoire du père du Judo fr...

We are thrilled to report that on 3 June, Dave caught his maroon belt at Hastings. Dave started fresh into martial arts with us three years ago and has progressed into a very capable fighter and deep thinker. Every class, we can be sure that Dave will have spent days thinking about something in the last class and will challenge us with a 'Why?' That kind of honesty has really shaped the Hastings club as well as Dave. Dave's promotion is also Kim Chenery's first maroon belt grading, for which he is also to be congratulated.

30th Anniversary
Thirty years ago, on 17 December 1995, NZJJS was founded by Mike Hickson and Doug Bailey. Over that time, NZJJS has had clubs in at least 10 locations, produced 12 black belts and seven international reps. In 1997, we adopted Olivecrona Jiu Jitsu as the style we teach and, all these years later, we are still learning about OJJ and developing how we deliver it. Thirty years on, NZJJS is in more modest shape and with plenty of new faces but now, as then, we still love what we are doing.

Kim Chenery continues with his DIY Dojo Makeover. After years of stashing staffs, sticks and knives in the corner bin, we now have a sexy weapons rack. I guess we will be doing OJJ weaponry over the next few weeks ...

Thanks to Kim Chenery's persistence, we now have another 14 Hastings club photos on the wall. There are a few gaps, such as during Covid, but it is great to have these all up as a record. 1990-2024.

Congratulations to Connor Maddaford, who caught his purple belt on 28 May. He shows so much courage training with adults night after night, and never shies away from randori with them. His technique is pretty slick and that must help overcome the size and strength differences, but it is his tenacity that sticks out. Well done, Connor; we're super proud of how you are coming along.

Happy New Year! We're bowing in for the year on Wednesday 15 January at 6pm, with drinks after class. See you there!

Well, that's a wrap for 2024. Reflecting, it's been a really pleasing year with Kim Chenery gaining 4th dan, Simon Hill gaining 2nd dan, and Keith Collier and Simon Hill achieving their C1 Assistant Instructor qualifications through NZJJF. From a club point of view, we have pressure-tested and refined a few fundamental techniques, but the biggest gains have been in us asking why we teach in certain ways when they don't align with our context of self defence. We also questioned why we use traditional movements for weaponry when everything else we do is OJJ, and that led to us OJJing fighting with weapons so we can seamlessly transition between unarmed fighting and fighting with any length weapon. They are still works in progress but have resulted in a big leap forward for Olivecrona Jiu Jitsu.