Traditional and Combat Ju-Jitsu |03 November 2023

The newly promoted (from left to right –front row) Joshua Decomarmond, Emilie Constant and Antoine Tirant, with Sensei Surman MNA Romain and DA Mussard

Two new orange and one yellow belt join the ranks

The local Traditional and Combat Ju-Jitsu School recently welcomed two new orange and one yellow belt members into its ranks, after successfully completing their syllabuses, including an assessment involving a demonstration of their ability to perform the techniques required.

Joshua Decomarmond and Antoine Tirant have been promoted from white to orange belts, while Emilie Constant has moved up from white to yellow belts.

The grading ceremony, conducted by Sensei Benedict Surman – 3rd Dan black belt – took place last week at the Anse Etoile Community Center where the Anse Etoile branch of the school is based, in the presence of Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for Anse Etoile George Romain and District Administrator Shirley Mussard.

 Normally in Ju-Jitsu, students progress from white belt to yellow, which is the second level, but in the case of Decomarmond and Tirant, they moved straight to orange since they did not get the chance to be promoted to yellow following the Covid-19 pandemic, but instead, successfully completed both syllabuses for their orange belts.

Anyone who wishes to join the Anse Etoile can contact Sensei Surman on 2514055, or Sensei Gabby Surman on 2642433, or can walk in during training sessions conducted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Ju-Jitsu is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to subdue one or more weaponless or armed and armoured opponents.

It dates back to the 1530s and was coined by Hisamori Tenenouchi when he officially established the first Ju-Jitsu school in Japan.

This form of martial arts uses few or no weapons at all and includes strikes, throws, holds, and paralysing attacks against the enemy.

Developed from the warrior class around the 17th century in Japan, it was designed to supplement the swordsmanship of a warrior during combat.

A subset of techniques from certain styles of Ju-Jitsu were used to develop many modern martial arts and combat sports, such as judo, aikido, sambo, ARB, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and mixed martial arts.

The history of the art during this time is uncertain because teachers kept everything secret to give their art a feeling of importance and then would change the stories of their art to suit their own needs.

Compiled by Roland Duval