Hello, I am new to here and thought it worth joining up because of some interesting material here.
I came to martial arts late - my 30s - but due to house & job moves have been exposed to Tiger Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Karate, Judo, Jiu Jitsu, and now more recently Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
I would say that traditional japanese jiu jitsu is my main thing as I am hold a dan grade in this discipline. I did achieve brown belt in karate. I am originally from the UK but have the freedom to travel around these days. As I am out of the UK my nearest style is BJJ - which I am enjoying very much as a newbie.
I said I was interested in research. I have a small insight into the origins of japanese martial arts styles but would like to know more. In one of the Jiu Jitsu research forums my style of JJ was referred to as 'dirty judo'. This prompted me to analyse our syllabus in detail. Suffice it to say I disagree since up to 1st Dan there are 280 main techniques with only 97 of these being throws. Notably each technique has usually more than one aspect. Hence my disagreement with the statement - and I am happy to debate.