Special announcement: We have moved the location & times of Professor Saragosa's February 24 seminar. Go to the "News & Special Events" link to check out the latest information.

Welcome to the Dojo Sen Tatsu Homepage

Dojo Sen Tatsu is Japanese for "School of 1,000 Dragons." Dojo Sen Tatsu is a Jujitsu club that meets most Sundays at 4PM in Club Room 4 of the Providence RECenter, Falls Church, Virginia. (Fairfax County) Most of the material on this homepage is designed for potential new students. Current or advanced students may wish to click through on some of the links.

How to start classes 

You have several options for signing up for classes. RECenters have four sets of classes per year; the length of a term runs 12-14 weeks. You can buy an entire term of classes or you may purchase them one class at a time. You may purchase an entire term of classes at any Fairfax County RECenter or on line. Click here for class information for the current/next term. If you want to go the "ala carte" route, you can purchase a class at the front desk of the Providence RECenter on the day of the class. Tell the person at the front desk that you want to pay the "drop-in" rate for the jujitsu class. It is a 1½-hour "land" class. It is cheaper to buy classes by the term rather than "ala carte." Fairfax County residents pay less for classes.

The ala carte option is good for those of you who might be curious but unwilling to make a commitment. We encourage you to drop in any time. Click here to email the instructor about joining classes.

What exactly do we study at Dojo Sen Tatsu? 

This is a jujistsu class. Jujitsu is the generic name given to a variety of Japanese martial arts. They sometimes translate the term jujitsu as "the gentle art." A more accurate translation might be "yielding art." The usual fighting strategy in jujitsu is the indirect attack. Rather than meeting force with force, jujitsu trains you to yield to your opponent and move to a point where you may attack him where he is vulnerable.

The one we teach in this class is Danzan Ryu. Some schools call this form of jujitsu Kodenkan jujitsu. Danzan Ryu jujitsu is a relatively modern form of jujitsu; some forms are centuries old. This system was founded in Hawaii early in the 20th century by Seshiro (Henry) Okazaki, a Japanese native who immigrated to Hawaii in his early teens. Okazaki combined techniques from several forms of jujitsu as well non-Japanese martial arts to make his form.

Jujitsu has become increasingly popular in recent years; mostly due to the popularity of mixed-martial arts contests. In particular, practitioners of Brazilian jujitsu have had a great deal of success in these contests. Danzan Ryu places less emphasis on competition but more on self-defense. Advanced Danzan Ryu techniques also have police and military applications. Many of the members of Dojo Sen Tatsu train in other martial arts including Brazilian jujitsu.

Preparing for your first few classes-what to wear and what to expect

Beginners can wear comfortable workout clothes and bare feet. In your first couple of classes you are going to concentrate on learning two types of things: basic jujitsu and sutemi. In the striking arts, most of your practice punches and kicks are made in the air or against bags or targets, Jujitsu deals with defending against grabs and grappling with other people, You will spend roughly as much time having people practice on you as you will practicing on them. Jujitsu is a poor choice of martial arts for those of you who need a great deal of personal space.

Sutemi is a Japanese term we use to refer to rolling and falling. After a couple of lessons, we are going to teach you how to throw people. When you practice throwing your partner, your partner is going practice throwing you. Sutemi practice will teach you how to be fall safely. (Some of the advanced jujitsu techniques are not that hard to do; they require advanced training for you to be able to take them.)