My Lineage

George Kirby: http://www.budoshin.com/

Where did it all begin?

My first dive into martial arts started in Jr High School with a brief stent with Eric Nolan’s gym learning what at the time was called “Scientific Street Fighting”.  I did get the opportunity to meet Cathy Long, but it was not a good fit in the long run. The reality was that I was a 4 foot nothing weighing in at a whopping 85 pounds (with big shoes and soaking wet) and had no business in what was basically a hybrid-kickboxing class for adults. This was several years before the first UFC fight, but looking back, my opinion is that Eric Nolan was teaching early MMA techniques in the late 80’s. I think it’s a bit cool that I got to experience a taste of that before it was mainstream.
From there I trained Karazenpo, a rather obscure branch of traditional Kempo Karate. A very traditional/typical style school that met in the gym of the local middle school. I spent my high school years there and made modest gains in my technique. There was still some childhood “Karate Kid” fans that I am sure fueled some of the attendance. It was taught very much like the stereotypical karate class in the movies. Sensei barking out commands as we drilled specific techniques and katas as a group.

In 1992, at the age of 17, I joined the Marine Corps and learned the LINE Combative system. The LINE system was designed for one purpose, kill the other guy. It was brutal and while my previous training did help me stay on top of the group over all, the fact that I could perfectly execute a crescent kick meant very little to the 250 pound former All State linebacker Marine charging towards me in a sand pit earnestly hoping to bash my brains out while wearing head gear and 18 ounce boxing gloves. At one point the LINE instructors literally placed us, 2 at a time, into a 4 foot canvas enclosed ring/pen, basically so we couldn’t move our feet or effectively dodge punches, and we would beat each other nearly senseless. The LINE system is a no nonsense efficient system that focused on quickly dispatching your enemy. It’s not pretty or sophisticated, but it’s effective. This system was not suitable for use on someone that you did not intend to severely hurt or kill. Around the late 90’s The Marine Corps began phasing out LINE in favour of Marine Corps Close Combat Training Program that soon after transformed in to the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program which even included a coloured belt system. I separated from the Marine Corps in 2000 as a reservist before I could really get the most out of that system.

By the time I had separated from the Marine Corps I was married and had kids (one of the main reasons I left) and martial arts took a back seat to my assimilation into full time civilian life. In about 2005 I was invited to take part in a Ju Jitsu class that was taught in Lake Isabella, where I lived at the time. This class was taught by Tony Domigo. I loved this dojo. Budoshin Ju Jitsu is a very traditional style that was presented in a combination of traditional and progressive techniques. This is a Japanese based art that directly traces it lineage back to the 16^th century which also includes Jigoro Kano the father of modern Judo. Jigoro is one of the last common denominators before the Brazilian and Japanese style of Jujitsu split. At this time there was no clear distinction between judo and jujitsu. Jigoro trained both Mitsuyo Maeda, who went on the train Carlos Gracie the father of modern Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Jack [Sanzo] Seki. Seki and Hal Brosious (whose lineage also includes Jigoro) trained George Kirby who then founded Budoshin JuJitsu. At this gym I reached the rank of Nikyu (2^nd brown belt) while also competing (and placing) in several tournaments.

I moved away from Lake Isabella in 2009 and for a while tried to make the commute to Lake Isabella but just couldn’t justify the cost of both time and money. While looking for a new dojo I came across the Gracie Combatives DVD set and thought I would give that a go. Just for the record trying to learn Gracie JuJitsu on your own, on DVD is a set up for failure. I contemplated starting my own Budoshin JuJitsu Dojo and for a while taught a free self-defense/anti-bully class for the elementary through middle school kids at a local church. But due to work, family issues and just life in general after a few months it just didn’t work out. So my gi and training materials got boxed up and put into storage.
Which brings us to here, Feb 2017. I’m at this wine party and I am one of the ONLY people there not actively training in Jiu Jitsu. Now these guys are of the Brazilian variety, but I really enjoyed the Gracie style, even though I didn’t really learn anything, I after several encouragements to try it out I figured what the hell? I’m getting older and fatter and I loved training, why not training is something completely different?

Some Koshi Nage action

My son and I after a tourny: yes, his trophy is bigger than mine.