Post: Hengest:

I only know a little bit about it, but it's a gendai jujutsu ryuha founded in Hawaii ("Danzan" is an old Japanese name for Hawaii) by a Japanese immigrant named Okazaki Seishiro. I understand that it's base is Yoshin Ryu, but that it also uses elements of karate and, apparently, kali and lua. Okazaki also mentions using techniques from what he calls "mushijutsu", which, I should imagine, probably means praying mantis, since it translates as "insect art".

I've never met anyone who trained in the style, but, from what I've read about it, it seems fairly solid, low on fancy techniques and relatively practical. I'd obviously have to defer to someone with actual experience of the style though.

There's some info here: http://www.danzan.com/>

Post: bamboo:

I believe sensei St. H. (of ask sensei fame) is at least a 4th dan in danzan ryu.

Personaly, I love danzan ryu, I've had the pleasure to roll with a few shodans in the style when they've visited our dojo, both top notch guys with skills to back it up.

-bamboo>

Post: Sensei S. Hilaire:

I am a 3rd Dan in Danzan, having learned from Prof Doug Kiehl and Prof. Sig Kufferath. I began studying Danzan because it was a root style of ZenBudo Ryu (of Duke Moore fame) and I wanted to understand some of the history. It has some very practical stuff and some old time traditional stuff too (which may not be so practical). It has little ground work and mainly deals with standup. As it has been around a while (1920's) there are variations in technique from school to school. I personally learned many techniques in several different ways from instructors who insisted their way was the right way. Whatever. It is an interesting art, because like Aikido, it does strive to preserve Japanese traditions as Okazaki taught them. On the other hand, alot of tradition stuff is meaningless today. It is a combination of Yoshin-Ryu as taught by Tanaka, Judo, some Karate and Chinese striking arts, and techniques from three or four other Japanese Jujitsu arts. Danzan ryu greatly influenced American professional wrestling, and was a contributor to the WWII Army Hand to Hand combat manual. Again - I say that some people love it, and some people find it unrealistic. I stopped studying DZR about 10 years ago. Hope this helps. If you want more info go to www.danzan.com or www.kodenkan.com.>

Post: bamboo:

Thank you for the correction mr. St. Hillaire, I believe I was confused by your other ranks...in zenbudo kai as well as kobukai ju jitsu.>

Post: Gong||Jau:

Excellent, you guys were three of the people I specifically had in mind when I posted that. Thanks a lot.

Sensei Hilaire, one of my concerns is being able to make use of the techniques in an art without having to study it for a really long time (just to be able to use it at least somewhat after about a year). This is more difficult because I'm at a huge size disadvantage against anyone, so I absolutely can't make up for poor technique by muscling through things. Do you have any opinions on whether this style is more or less well-suited to people with small frames than others?>

Post: Sensei S. Hilaire:

That is a tricky question. While I have ultimate respect for that style of JJ and all styles of JJ, I have found over the years that there are a group of techniques that work pretty well most of the time, and the rest - well - it's cool to look at and fun to practice - but not so effective. When a person needs to learn self defense fast - say in weeks or months instead of years - the training has to be different than traditional training. There has to be far fewer techniques (maybe just 2 answers to the most common attacks) and the training has to be HIGH stress. Every class must involve some sort of high stress repetative drills, and then fighting. Only under those circumstances will the brain hang onto what it needs. This type of training is well out of the realm of belts and gi's and all other traditional methods. This is kill or get killed attitude in class. Twice a week, one hour per class with an instructor who really knows what he is doing in that atmosphere is all you need. Now a reality check - size does matter - MUCH. If you are small you are going to have a much harder time defending yourself than a big guy. I am not talking about competition or even no holds barred type fighting - I am talking defending yourself against an unanticipated attack by someone who wants to hurt you. It is going to be difficult. Fights suck. Nobody really wins. Everyone gets in trouble and people get hurt or killed. So your training has to make sure you can handle that if the occasion arrises. So - if your goal is to learn a traditional martial art with the etiquette and rank and traditions - then Danzan-Ryu (and many others) are great. If you need to learn how to really defend yourself fast - it (and other tradition arts) are probably not the best.>

Post: setsu nin to:

Sensei S. Hilaire

But can someone learn how to defende himself/hereself fast?>

Post: Gong||Jau:

Thanks again for your replies. I'm not so much concerned with being able to defend myself really fast (I definitely wouldn't expect to be able to in weeks), I just meant that I'm not looking for something that requires years of training to even be somewhat effective. I'm very much aware of the uphill slope that a size disadvantage creates; that's specifically why I'm trying to avoid arts that place an inordinate amount of emphasis on physical strength - I'm strong for my size, but far from it on an absolute scale.>

Post: NeverMan:

So, after being buried in books and research, for school, I'm back. After gaining countless pounds and losing countless hours of sleep, I'm back.

I am currently in DC and have joined a Danzan Ryu dojo. I need to lose many pounds. I'll let you guys know how it's going.

peace.>

Post: bamboo:

Welcome back :D>

Post: HereticAsian:

hey, I've been training in Danzan Ryu since Aug. 06.

If you want some info you can check out www.ajjf.org
Go to wikipedia.org and type in danzan ryu (very detail description)
Call the instructor to tell them specifically what you are looking for in your training. Ask about cost of classes and promotional cost.
Ask if you can check out the class, both beginning level and advance level (You want to know what you will be doing now and ESPECIALLY what you will be doing in the future).
Once you visit spend a few days thinking over it. NEVER sign up on your first visit that is call impulse buying because you might regrett it.

As for why i joined it was more by accident. I've been thinking of taking a throwing type of martial arts to compliment my striking. I originally looked for judo classes around my area, but found a Danzan ryu class a block away (sponsored by the city). So, I checked it out ask them about their training. What seperates them from judo. The instructors (there are two) told me if i'm more interested in randori I should go look for a judo school. I took a few days to think about it and decided to take Danzan ryu because both the instructors impressed me enough to give them a try. Also, since the Danzan ryu have like 30-40 throws in them alot of them borrowed from judo. It met my initial goal.

As for your question of self-defense there is a list called the Goshin Waza which has like 59 techniques that deal with self defense. It is a list that I've just starting so I can't get in-depth.>