As you may have guessed, Leon is Wally Jay’s son and successor. He maintains the superior mechanics for which his father was famed while continuing to refine the art in a way his dad would have approved of.
I first got to know Wally in the mid-1980s and Leon a few years later, and over the years, our conversations often centered on the futility of change for change’s sake. Each martial artist made it clear that developing technique is a process of evolution. If there’s no functional gain associated with an alteration, it doesn’t count as real development.
The difficulty for many students in the 21 st century involves reconciling the classical martial arts with the practicalities of modern life, including changes in lifestyle, urban population density, and differences in the types of weapons and attacks one might face. Few instructors are able to teach us to walk that tightrope between tradition and innovation. Leon Jay, however, is doing just that. Even better, he’s honest enough to acknowledge that he’s on a long learning curve.
To assess his qualifications, you have to know his background. Leon was born in Alameda, California, in 1955. His father was Chinese-Hawaiian, as is his mother Bernice, who also has English ancestry. Despite his famous father, it was never a foregone conclusion that Leon would inherit small-circle jujitsu. The son had to earn his rank and his inheritance the hard way.
In addition to his education in small-circle judo and jujitsu, which started at age 2 courtesy of his father, Leon pursued other arts. He earned a first-degree black belt in Kodokan judo and taekwondo, as well as a third-degree in Konkan jujitsu, the system of Henry Okazaki, his father’s original sensei.
この記事は Black Belt の February/March 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は Black Belt の February/March 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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