Andrew Yiannakis wants to make UNM the mecca for classical jujutsu.
"There's a bunch of martial art here in Albuquerque," he said. "You have Brazilian Jujutsu and variations from other systems. These systems are sport- or competition-oriented. They basically severed their moorings, their roots, and they no longer reflect the original philosophies and traditions from which they came."
He said classic jujutsu is spelled with the second "u," but the sports-oriented kind is spelled jujitsu, so people can easily tell what kind of school they're entering.
He began judo training in England at 18 years old. He transitioned into jujutsu and then ran a jujutsu school in Connecticut for 30 years, which one of his students took over.
Yiannakis, a sixth-degree jujutsu black belt, offers a one-credit class in Johnson Center called Classical Jujutsu, which remains true to its origins, he said. He said students use the four-fold path to achieve their goals. This consists of rigorous physical training, meditation and introspection, application of learned principals, and philosophy.
"The psychological domain has to do with the development of control, self-discipline, focus and perseverance," he said. "Basically, a no-quit attitude. When you combine all four of these, you develop something called focused power, and it's the ability to focus all the sources of power that makes the martial artist seem twice as strong as a normal person."
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Jujutsu came about on the battlefields of feudal Japan.
"When you lost your sword, your katana, you could still continue to fight and survive," he said.
He said it incorporates a wide range of fighting skills, from distance to close quarter to ground fighting, so it appeals to students who need to fill gaps in their own martial arts systems.
"Take karate; It's strictly punching and kicking, so it's strictly distance fighting," he said. "But karate people have figured out if someone gets past their defenses, they don't know how to deal when they are grabbed or taken down to the ground, because they can't punch and kick anymore. I've gotten lots of people from karate and tae kwon do and kung fu systems, and eventually they got their black belt in my system. The bottom line here is I do encourage students from other martial arts to come study with me."
The goal, to use Western language, is self-actualization, without competition getting in the way of training. They wear traditional Japanese attire - white shirts and black pants.
"Modern sports systems, they teach skills and techniques and, in that respect, they've lost their traditional values," he said. "They no longer use the original Japanese terminology, the philosophy, the history and the etiquette, the way of behaving in the dojo - it's the place where you practice the martial arts. We, of course, don't compete. The goal of our system is not to emphasize the winning of medals or trophies. The goal is personal growth and development of the individual."
He said bringing national attention to his program in New Mexico will be a gradual process.
"There are some steps," he said. "One would involve clinics, where I invite people from all over the U.S. to participate; the development of a Web site; a book with DVDs - I'm writing a book - and by training black belts and licensing them so that they can go and start their own school around the United States."
