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Ju Jutsu Instructor Andrew Dickin-son makes his first apperance inAGF, this month. If you don'talready know Andrew's face youmay like to check some back issuesof Australasian Fighting Arts, andcheck out his extremely popularcolumn, "POWERTALK".The Sydney based Exponent ofShinbudo Ju Jutsu, ranks as one ofAustralia's most travelled and ex-perienced martial artist .... and 1don't just mean because of hisother job, he works for Qantas ...'ah those discount fares .... Havingspent considerable time with someof the world's finest grapplers, An-drew has kept himself at the top ofhis game by commanding a rigor-ous schedule of fighting that hasseen him compete in Shootfighting,Submission wrestling, and X-Sports Ju Jutsu throughout Japan,England and the United States... 1caught up with him 10 days afterreturning from England and 7 daysaway from heading to LA to trainwith the legendary Gene Le Belland ombo Instructor GokorChivichyan.

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Andrew Dickinson in action, seen hereagainst Submission Arts Wrestlingfighter Tachi,

Hello Andrew. could weget started withorne background on yourself. When

didyou start training? and under who?

I initially started training when I was 16in Tae Kwon Do under Tim Hassall. Idid the usual rounds of competitionsthat were available at that time. Pre-dominantf non contact Karate, whichwere usually a blood bath, and TaeKwon Do competitions. Pretty earl. onin my training I developed a desire formartial arts that contain the essentialelements of Budo and transcend thephysical fight. So I set off to experienceas many different styles and ways ofthinking as I could. First of all locally; Iwas lucky enough to train with peoplelike John Rhodes, Colin Handley, Mas-ter Kwak, ick Stone and anyone elsethat was willing to go a few rounds,then I set off overseas and I trained withDan Inosanto, Hee III Cho. I lived andtrained at the National University inKorea, I have spent many days in theslums of Manila stick and knife fightingwith Rommie Macapagal and the lateGrand Master IIlistrisimo. I firsttrained with the Gracie Bros in 1988.Rorian Gracie lived in a weather boardhouse in Torarrance and taught Ju Jutsufrom his garage. So from Tae Kwon DoI started to fill in the gaps. You know asBruce Lee said: take what is useful anddiscard the rest. I trained with Obata,the Machado Bros, Gene Lebell Gokor

Submission Arts Wrestling, DaidoJuku, Huan in Singapore, Thai boxingin Thailand, I even did some time withCurtis Sliwa and the Guardian Angelsin ew York and LA. There were alsomany. man. unnamed and forgottenschools that had some great fighters.The idea of being an all round MartialArtist able to mix it with any style hasbeen a driving force behind my learn-ing. Over the years. I guess I havespent most of my time in Japan. I livedthere for some time and really im-mersed my self in traditional DaitoRyu Aiki Ju Jutsu. That basicallychanged the direction of my training. Itreally opened my eyes. I have learntmore from this traditional system withtraditional values than from any othermartial art world wide. Daito Ryu hasreall taught me the true meaning offear, pain and courage. These were

rea1ised through the confrontation ofself not through challenging and beat-ing opponents. The classical Martialarts are a great foundation, or base fromwhich everything else can grow from. Alot of people see only the kata and say,well how can I use that? But they havemissed the point. I liken the classicalmartial arts, to say classical ballet, orclassical guitar, they make a great foun-dation to continue into the modern for-mat. So from this classical base withthe help of my advisors, I have devel-oped Shinbudo Ju Jutsu. It retains thebasic elements of true Budo yet preparesthe students for all aspects of modernfighting, including kicking and punch-ing, throwing and ground fighting.

Sounds like you've had an opportunityto train with some oj the worlds bestgrapplers. what are your impres ions?Some of their strenghts and attributes?

Yes the grappling has been great. I havehad a chance to wrestle some reallygreat ground fighters such as RiganMachado, Gokor .Rickson Gracie, GeneLe Bell and Aso Sensei of SAW. All ofthese guys are great technicians in theirown right. Some stick mainly to upperbody while others specialize in leg andankle locks. Gokor is probably the mostall round, as his standing and throwingis excellent, and his Sambo wrestlingwhich has many lower body techniques .is just as good as his Judo. Aso Senseihas also been a pioneer in wrestling,

Andrew with one of his Coach's "TheGuru of Grappling" Gene Le Bell.

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and a great teacher for me, many of hisvideos are on the book shelves of fight-ers in Ultimate and other such competi-tions. It is also important to note thatwhen I train with these people they aretremendous role models, so I don t justlook at how well they fight, if they areteaching, they must also be on their ownpath to improving their character.

Your Fighting career has taken you allover the world. can you describe a fewof your toughest fights?

My toughest match in Japan was defi-nitely my black belt grading in DaitoRyu. Any fights that I have had worldwide seem insignificant in comparison.I arrived in Japan in the morning andwent straight to the Dojo where KondoSensei personally conducted my grad-ing. Only one other non-Japanese hadpassed this test, Mark Sumi from Amer-ica. The first 3 hours was all techniqueand explanations in Japanese. By thisstage I was pretty tired, and starting todig fairly deep. No opponents, just meagainst me. The last stage is the throw-ing. A tough bone shaking exercisewhere all the black belts get to poundyou into the mat 100 times, then Senseitakes over and finishes you off. I waslucky that day I got to be thrown 130times ..... When you are just about to quitSensei calls this the best time forseishin shugyo, or spirit strength!growth so he encourages you to digdeeper and push through the barrier.This exercise has continued to be a realmetaphor for me in all aspects of mylife. Other than that one of my toughestfights was against this Thai guy in aback street ware house in Bangkok afew years ago. It was kind of an opencompetition thing, betting, the wholebit, This guy was huge and beat meblack and blue for 2 rounds before hetired out and dropped his guard.

Can you describe some of the rules andregulations of X-Sports Ju Jutsu, howdo they differfrom BJJ compeutions?

At present I am promoting Ju Jutsucompetitions in Australia. From thesecompetitions we select fighters to go toJapan, and Sports Ju Jutsu competitions

. else where. Over the last couple of years

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we have sent teams on several occa-sions to Tokyo, USA and more recentlyto England. We have named the com-petition system X-Sport. It is a genericsystem of fighting that encompassespunching, kicking and ground fight-ing. X-Sport is non-political, open toall styles of fighting and above all issafe. It is a format that the normalevery day martial artist can test hisskills against other fighters from stylesthat he or she would normally notfight. X-Sports has more resemblanceto reality than other competition for-mats and it is safe. X-Sport competi-tions are very well run. I am still afighter my self, so I know what I like ina competition. Our last tournamentwas all over in 3 hours. No complaints,no protests, just competition in thespirit of true Budo.

Andrew, pictured witb his Sombo coacbGokor Chivicbyan

Having spent a considrable time inJapan what are your impressions of thevarious, "Shootfighting" leagues ...PANCRASE, SHOOTO, RINGS, etc ...

I have watched the trends flow andchange for many years in Japan now.The youth of Japan are easily influencedby media and trends from USA andEurope. There is no doubt that Shootfighting type competitions are popular.This is shown by the number of youngmen joining grappling schools etc.Rickson Gracie and the rest of theBrazilian clan have certainly done alotto encourage this trend. But Shoot

Competing in Sports Ju Jutsu in Japan,bere bead kicking Kamiya.

fighting is still a minority compared tothe K-l competition and styles such asShorinji Kempo, Kyokushin, andAikido. They are predominately themost popular martial arts in Japan.Shoot Fighting is like the Ninjutsucraze in the 80's it will run it's coursethen fade into obscurity when there isno longer the interest. Don't get mewrong, I think it has its place andsometimes when the fights are notrigged, I enjoywatching it, but it is notbudo, it is egocentric.

You 've been quite outspoken in thepast. with regards to Ju Jitsu, pointingout that Ju Jitsu is more than justgroundwork and that Brazilian form ofit is not a true representation of JuJutsu. Do you think that some systemsare over-emphasising the groundgame and neglecting standing skill?

That is an interesting question Jason,and I will try to answer it with outupsetting too many people. There aremany styles of Ju Jutsu, just as thereare Karate, Kung Fu, etc and they allhave their favourite aspects. I liken JuJutsu as the poor cousin of martial arts.Up until a few years ago people wouldthrow together a little Judo, a littleKarate, and add some Aikido and wowyou have Ju Jutsu. You see it is diffi-cult to find Ju Jutsu in Japan, so veryfew people have actually studied it.Even then, most Ju Jutsu systems inJapan are seriously out dated and areover stylised to be of any use. Brazil-ian Ju Jutsu has done a lot to popu-larise Ju Jutsu, the problem is that nowthe public perceives Ju Jutsu as aBrazilian art which is mainly groundfighting. When in fact it is a JapaneseMartial Art and a complete system offighting, fitness and personal growth,its theory heavily influenced by classi-cal Bujutsu.This is in no way a slanderagainst Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It is a greatmartial art and has been tried andtested over years of combat. I havemany friends in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu,and they no my stand on this.

What is your opinon of the various NoHold Barred events currently beingstaged around the world?

I enjoyed watching the first few whenRoyce Gracie whipped every one without actually hurting them. Then Ror-ian played the best Ju Jutsu move ofall, sold the whole thing, set up theGracie merchandising enterprise, andnow sits back and counts his millionslaughing all the way to the bank....

Thanks for your time today Andrew, ithas been a pleasure :peaking to you.to finish off what are your plans forthe future. as far as your school. yourfighting career .... ?

I will still continue to travel, train,compete and learn for as long as thatroad still has a heart. All the lessonsand experience gained on the waywill be assimilated into the ShinbudoJu Jutsu system. We have a greatschool, and a great bunch of studentsI enjoy every minute that I share withmy team. The Shinbudo Ju Jutsusystem continues to grow as people

Andrew pictured with Kondo Sensei atthe Shinbukan Dojo, Tokyo.

become more aware of the need totrain in a complete system that pro-motes total fitness, peace of mind andencourages you to do your own per-sonal best. I am really lucky that I havethe help of 2 fantastic instructors DimiTops and Carl Safar who have bothbeen with me many years, and havetrained and competed many timesover- seas. I trust them 100% and areboth excellent instructors in their ownright. X-Sports will be a spring boardfor friendship and sharing in Martialarts, and a way to break down thebarriers between the various arts. I willcontinue to promote it in a correct andpositive manner. Anyone who is inter-ested in being involved in X-Sportspromotions or Shinbudo Ju Jutsu cancontact me on 02 9660 3778. The nextX-Sports Open Ju Jutsu Challenge ison 19th April at the North SydneyPCYC, lOam start.

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