The Sennin Foundation Center has an aiki-jujutsu division. Jujutsu is Japan's oldest martial art. The warriors of old Japan used it for predominantly empty-handed combat. Aiki-jujutsu is a jujutsu form that is traced to the Aizu clan's Nisshinkan training hall (located in present-day Fukushima). It was taught in modern times by Saigo Tanomo Sensei (1829-1905), an Aizu clan elder advisor. Saigo Sensei taught aiki-jujutsu, formerly known as Aizu oshikiuchi, to Takeda Sokaku Sensei (1860-1943), the disseminator of Daito Ryu aiki-jujutsu, who in turn taught Ueshiba Morihei Sensei (1883-1969), the founder of aikido.
H. E. Davey Sensei's late father started studying jujutsu and Kodokan judo in 1926. After twenty years of training, Davey Sensei's father was stationed in the Kansai area of Japan immediately following World War II. While there he studied Saigo Ryu systems of aiki-jujutsu, jojutsu (art of the four-foot stick), bojutsu (art of the six-foot staff), hanbojutsu (art of the three-foot stick), tanbojutsu (art of the fourteen-inch stick), tessenjutsu (art of the iron fan), juttejutsu (art of the forked metal truncheon), sojutsu (art of the spear), and kenjutsu (art of the sword). He later became the first American to receive the advanced rank/title of Nihon Jujutsu Kyoshi from Japan's prestigious Kokusai Budoin. He was also a black belt in judo and aikido.
Davey Sensei, Director of the Sennin Foundation Center, began to learn aiki-jujutsu from his father when he was five years old, and later studied judo and aikido as well. He has trained extensively in Japan and the United States, and he held the positions of U.S. Branch Director for the Kokusai Budoin and Councilor to the Kokusai Budoin World HQ for many years. These are the highest positions in each branch country. He is presently a U.S. Regional Director for the group. He is, in addition, the highest-ranking American instructor in the Kokusai Budoin's Nihon Jujutsu and Kobudo (Ancient Martial Ways) Divisions. Davey Sensei, following his late father, became the second American to receive Nihon Jujutsu Kyoshi from the federation. Kokusai Budoin defines Kyoshi as being equivalent to a "Master's Certificate" and correlates this rank to sixth- to eighth-degree black belt. H. E. Davey Sensei is also a special consultant and writer for the esteemed martial arts magazine Furyu the Budo Journal, and he serves on this publication's elite Advisory Board.
He emphasizes aiki-jujutsu as a noncompetitive art with roots in Japan's traditional past. Like aikido, aiki-jujutsu is based on the principle of aiki, or "union with Ki"--the animating energy of Nature itself. Aiki-jujutsu, however, contains a much wider variety of unarmed and armed techniques than are found in most forms of aikido. These skills encompass throwing and pinning methods using all parts of the body, including the feet, plus close-distance and ground grappling, and a broad range of weapons systems. Davey Sensei provides professional instruction in pinning holds, grappling methods, throwing techniques, strangle holds, arresting skills, and weapons training.
Since aiki-jujutsu involves harmonizing with Ki, it has the potential to vitally transform the lives of its participants. Surprisingly, this transformation does not only take place in the realm of dynamic self-protection. Due to the unique characteristics of aiki-jujutsu, it is correspondingly possible to experience deeper levels of calmness, relaxation, concentration, willpower, and physical fitness in daily living. Davey Sensei is also the author of Unlocking the Secrets of Aiki-jujutsu (McGraw-Hill).
Additionally, Mr. Davey serves on the Board of Directors of the Shudokan Budo-Kai. Walter Todd Sensei (1927-1999), who studied martial arts in Japan starting in the late 1940s, was one of the highest ranking members of this distinguished organization. An early pioneer in the US, Todd Sensei held an eighth-degree black belt in judo, an eighth-degree in karate-do, and a sixth-degree in aikido. Todd Sensei has written:
Mr. Davey is one of only a relatively small number of Americans and Europeans that can truthfully be called a kodansha. In Japan, this title is usually reserved for martial arts teachers ranked sixth-degree black belt and above . . . I have watched Mr. Davey interact with high-ranking martial arts masters from Japan on many occasions. He is treated as a respected peer by these instructors, many of whom are notably difficult to impress.
And Sato Shizuya Sensei of Tokyo, Chief Director of Japan's Kokusai Budoin HQ and tenth-degree jujutsu black belt, has indicated:
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce Mr. H. E. Davey. Mr. Davey has achieved a deep understanding of traditional Japanese culture and martial arts . . . Mr. H. E. Davey, a friend for whom I have the greatest fondness and respect, has been studying and teaching Japanese budo ("martial ways") for many years. For an equally long period, he has also engaged in serious research into the history and lineage of aiki-jujutsu, which is a form of kobudo.
Kawabata Terutaka Sensei, ninth-degree black belt and shihan in the Tenshin Sho Jigen Ryu system of classical martial arts, writes from Yokohama:
One of the most important qualities in any Japanese martial art is an elusive, but clearly discernible, "sharpness." Without this sharp, decisive, and resolute quality, our techniques degenerate into nothing more than an exhibition of stylized movement. Although Davey Shihan's aiki-jujutsu techniques are unusually flowing and exceedingly beautiful to observe, he never loses the vital and dynamic "sharpness" which lies at the heart of all budo. (Shihan is an honorific title that is similar to Professor and is used to refer to a "master instructor.")
It is also essential that followers of budo apply the spiritual and philosophical lessons they learn from their martial art in their everyday lives . . . Davey Shihan has realized this and he is a true gentleman in the martial arts as well as in his daily life.
Davey Shihan's aiki-jujutsu skills are powerful, intense, and effective.
