Historical Perspectives P6

Christian

Jujitsu

Association

Christian Jujitsu Association
Maintaining the True and Ancient Tradition of Danzan Ryu Jujitsu

One of the darkest days of Okazaki's life was December 7, 1941, the Japanese surprise attack and bombing of Pearl Harbor. His step-daughter Esther told us that when the attack began, her dad grabbed his sword, and ran down the street screaming death threats and curses toward the invading Japanese, who he thought were commencing a land invasion. After 35 years in Hawaii, Okazaki dearly loved the United States, and thought of himself as a loyal citizen. Shortly after the attack, U.S. Army Intelligence officers were ordered to go to the homes of everyone of Japanese descent. The families were given only two choices. The first was that the family write a confession to the government that the male head of household was a spy. In exchange for this confession, the rest of the family would not be interred. If they refused, then all family members, including the little children and babies would be put in the concentration camps, and all their properties, money, cars, and other valuables would be seized, never to be returned. The ominous duty fell to the eldest son, Hachiro, who wrote the letter to preserve the family and their assets.
His dad was arrested and interred in the camp at Ewa. However due to his many friends, including John Burns (Police Commissioner), Col. Gilbert (Commander at the Ewa "concentration camp"), Capt. Eddie Hitchcock (Honolulu Police Dept), "Red" McQueen (sports reporter), Tom Wadadoups, and others, Okazaki was released after about three months.

But this entire event was heavy upon his heart. He became more solemn and withdrawn. He seldom taught on the mat after this, but often just sat and observed.  He suffered a series of three strokes in the later years (the first of which was in 1948), the last of which was to take his life.

On Friday, July 13, 1951, at the age of 61 Henry Seishiro Okazaki, an American Samurai, passed on. It is a great debt America owes to Okazaki. Many thousands have been trained his martial art and healing methods. Today his martial art is the most comprehensive martial art in the world. Other styles have more recently tagged bits and pieces of other arts on their systems, yet the Okazaki system was fully integrated with these other arts over 60 years ago. And while there are many organizations that teach the physical techniques of Danzan Ryu, there is only one that teaches the fully integrated system: involving mind, body, and spirit, as chosen by Master Okazaki. You see, Okazaki was one of the very few Oriental Martial Art masters who converted from his Buddhist and Shinto roots to Christianity. He was always a deeply spiritual man, as revealed in his esoteric principles, and in the early dojo pictures with Shinto priests. Prof. Estes carried this tradition forward in his teachings, with Bible quotations, Christian ethics, morals, and standards, as an important part of the standard instruction. As taught by Master Okazaki, Bud Estes, Ray Law, and others, Danzan Ryu JuJitsu is a deeply spiritual art, especially at the Black Belt levels. ONLY in the Christian JuJitsu Association are these essential teachings passed on! Other groups essentially teach an empty art that is an empty shell and not true Danzan Ryu.

*NOTE: The information for this article was acquired by the Okazaki Biographical Research Team, constituted in 1978. The original four members were Tom & Kristine King, Gene Edwards, and Lora Prevette. The Kings dropped the team and the research in the 1980's, while Gene and Lora have remained active. All the material and information for this article are the sole and exclusive property of the remaining committee members: Gene & Lora (Prevette) Edwards.

Historical Perspectives

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