Youshiki Goshinjutsu Name
When I was looking for a new club name, I wanted one that reflected our roots in years of Japanese martial training to which in later years we slowly blended with modern combat systems to fit into our western lifestyle requirements and attitude to self preservation.
From direct teaching, seminars and courses over many years, I and my immediate black belts absorbed from experts and styles from all around the world to integrate and build on our core martial art basics. After trying many directions, I believe that, while not essential, all students should start in a traditional martial art to get used to self discipline, body contact and personal space intrusion and body behaviour before trying to develop simple but at the same time advanced concepts.
We can not lay claim to any heritage or direct line of teaching from ‘the east’, but appreciate and use our existing martial arts framework to retain the discipline and structure for training. You have to know how to work inside the box before you can work outside the box!
To position ourselves honestly, and in respect for all the years we have spent in oriental studies, we have chosen a generic japanese description title for our club name and style. Japanese characters can have several meanings so here is the break down of characters, confirmed by Charles Tuttle’s “A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese” and internet reference directories such as http://www.japanese.about.com
| Western style, protection of body art, school | |
 youshiki Western style |
 you (ocean) – Western as in ‘youma’ for Western (style)room, or ‘youfuku’ for Western (style) clothes.
|
 goshin protection of body |
 go to protect, to defend 
shin mi, body
|
 jutsu art |
jutsu art, artifice, means, magic, skillsas in ‘gijutsu‘ for techniques. |
 ryû school |
ryû school, method, manner |
Distance, time, and dilution between continents, cultures and languages, has produced the rest of the multitude of interpretations of the arts that we see up and down the country. The quality and direction of these will depend on the influences and instruction passed down.
We have taken the stance that the art we wish to teach should have no direct sporting connection, must take the principles and most efficient skills in body protection influenced mainly by the old Japanese martial arena, and blend them in with modern western influences to suit the European way of learning in a busy lifestyle.
See more on this train of thought on othe pages on this site
Malcolm Keith
Chief Instructor
Youshiki Goshinjutsu
Link to this page