What do you think?
Rate this book
Small-Circle Jujitsu
The complete presentation of the system developed by Wally Jay, this book brings together elements from different arts, Jay’s broad-based yet focused and effective system incorporates theories, principles, and techniques essential to the development of every martial artist, whether a novice or a seasoned veteran. In this definitive instructional text, Jay covers the history of small-circle jujitsu; techniques for warm-ups, falling and resuscitation; details on weaknesses of the human body; locking techniques for wrists, fingers, arms, and legs; throwing and choking techniques; and self-defense against strikes, chokes, body grabs, and wrist grabs.
- GenresMartial ArtsNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1989
3 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 19, 2015
Small Circle Jujitsu is a book on the principles that have come out of the Jujitsu discipline. Wally Jay was a very accomplished martial artist. He has received titles and black belts in various forms of martial arts. Jay is a 10th Degree Black Belt in jujitsu and has received awards such as coach of the year for competitions. Various important people in the martial arts world, such as Bruce Lee, Ed Parks and Juan Gomez have highly acknowledged him. They were his friends and training partners. Wally Jay has also incorporated techniques of his above-mentioned friends to add what was needed to win the fights. Since the masters of jujitsu need to know how to help in the injury situation he has also received masseur diploma from Henry S. Okazaki the founder of American Jujitsu Institute.
Format
The book contains a bit of history about Jujitsu in general as well as Wally Jay’s style. There is a little bit of insight on some of the Jujitsu masters and their martial arts backgrounds.
The book has a few chapters explaining the principles of Small Circle Jujitsu and what separates it from the regular style of jujitsu.
The biggest part of the book is the pictures of various techniques. If you enjoy photos, this book has plenty of it. There are photos and explanations, about specific exercises and techniques.
Content
History
Henry S. Okazaki, founder of the Kodenkan jujitsu system, started to learn martial arts at the age of 17. The reason for his martial arts training was due to his bad health. Because of his martial arts training, his overall health improved and so did his self-confidence. He decided to continue studying further and went on to learn other forms and styles. He has incorporated techniques that he learned from Judo, Boxing, Jujitsu and other fighting arts into his system to give it that extra edge.
Okazaki schools started to flourish and his name started to get more and more recognition. Okazaki became a founder of American Jujitsu Guild, which he later changed to American Jujitsu Institute. Right after WWII, Okazaki decided to sponsor the first world Judo championship, which didn’t turn out to his team’s advantage.
The Okazaki jujitsu team was beat by Havaiian men, who were judo practitioners and the jujitsu dropped to its lowest. Okazaki has realized that in order for his man to be able to incorporate their techniques more effectively and have the extra knowledge to win competitions, they need to learn Judo. So, he suggested that his could go ahead and learn the Judo to incorporate with their Jujitsu knowledge.
Well, the lesson turned out to be costly. Since a lot of the students did just that, they enjoyed the judo and decided to stay. The ones that did come back started to develop into much better competitors and the Okazaki team gave the other competitors more of a battle. His practitioners became more effective and it showed in the following completions.
Okazaki dream came true, but not for long since shortly after that he passed away. After his death the branches of his school started their own developments of slightly different forms of the art. One of those branches was Wally Jay. Wally saw the potential of the art and how popular it was starting to become. He has realized that even though his system was good, there were still some areas where it needed adjustments. Jay’s philosophy was that jujitsu is using a lot of large range circular movements, which are effective, but lengthy at times to perform. He has also realized that some of the Judo practitioners would use the effective throwing techniques against the opponents that are bigger then they are, with absolutely no effort at all. Jay decided to improvise the large movements into much smaller and more efficient ones. He called it Small Circle Jujitsu, the style where the wrist locks and the small hand movements would be the basis for his system. Shortly after developing his new system, his team has won the next competition with very little effort. Wally Jay was presented with the coach of the year award.
Principles for Small Circle Jujitsu
1. Balance
2. Mobility and Stability
3. Avoid the head on Collision
4. Mental Resistance and Distraction
5. Focus to the smallest point possible
6. Energy Transfer
7. Create a base
8. Sticking, Control and Sensitivity
9. Rotational momentum
10. Transitional flow
Techniques
The book incorporates the warm up exercises first. It is very important to have flexibly in any martial art, because stiff muscles can cause unexpected injuries. Wally Jay provides explanations and photos of various wrist exercises for your muscle warm up routine.
There is also a section on how to help someone in case they are not conscious. Since there might be a point when the practitioner might be knocked out or just become unconscious during the execution of a technique, the other practitioners have to know how to assist their fellow students.
The last is submission and self-defense techniques. The book is broken down into different chapters depending on the information. There are submission wrist locks, neck chock holds and locks. There are also some techniques on how to react and what to do if an attacker is bothering you.
Photos present most of the information. There are small step by step explanations with the reference to the photo they are talking about. There is a bit of a text in the beginning of each chapter explaining the section and the nature of the techniques it is going to talk about.
Personal Note
I can definitely see the benefit of learning these techniques in combination with your discipline. There is a lot interesting information and the methods of executing the holds are very effective. Even though I do find this information important and useful, I do not recommend this routines as a substitute for organized martial arts or self-defense training. I can only suggest that this information be used in the environment where a martial arts instructor or self-defense professional is present.
The books can be very beneficial and important reference points to someone with prior martial arts experience. I have read reviews, where the person suggested that his mother tried the techniques and was able to do them easily. Even though the techniques might be helpful, they might be dangerous in two areas:
1. She could have executed an exercise improperly and got hurt.
2. By perceiving that she has learned the technique, she might try to use it in the real life situation. The bad thing is that if she has learned from the book and does not understand the exact execution of that method, she might not be able to perform it effectively and get hurt even more.
Another reviewer suggested that his uncle has a gym and teaches Small Circle Jujitsu. Now that is a good advice. Get the book, look it over, but do not attempt to defend yourself until you properly learn the techniques, supervised by an instructor.
I have enjoyed the book and took some of the techniques to our school, where my master suggested on how to perform them properly and effectively. Even though my discipline is Tae Kwon Do, I have found this techniques to be of great benefit to incorporate into to some of my self-defense techniques.
Conclusion
I have read some excellent reviews on this book by other Epinions’ members, which has prompted me to purchase it. This is a great book that incorporates very effective methods of self-defense as well as the history of development of Jujitsu in America. If you are planning on training or you are already involved in martial arts, I strongly recommend this wonderful book. If you are not doing martial arts and are not interested in pursuing it in the future, do not, I repeat DO NOT, try to learn how to defend yourself from any piece of literature. Your knowledge can be deceiving and the outcome can be very dangerous.
Format
The book contains a bit of history about Jujitsu in general as well as Wally Jay’s style. There is a little bit of insight on some of the Jujitsu masters and their martial arts backgrounds.
The book has a few chapters explaining the principles of Small Circle Jujitsu and what separates it from the regular style of jujitsu.
The biggest part of the book is the pictures of various techniques. If you enjoy photos, this book has plenty of it. There are photos and explanations, about specific exercises and techniques.
Content
History
Henry S. Okazaki, founder of the Kodenkan jujitsu system, started to learn martial arts at the age of 17. The reason for his martial arts training was due to his bad health. Because of his martial arts training, his overall health improved and so did his self-confidence. He decided to continue studying further and went on to learn other forms and styles. He has incorporated techniques that he learned from Judo, Boxing, Jujitsu and other fighting arts into his system to give it that extra edge.
Okazaki schools started to flourish and his name started to get more and more recognition. Okazaki became a founder of American Jujitsu Guild, which he later changed to American Jujitsu Institute. Right after WWII, Okazaki decided to sponsor the first world Judo championship, which didn’t turn out to his team’s advantage.
The Okazaki jujitsu team was beat by Havaiian men, who were judo practitioners and the jujitsu dropped to its lowest. Okazaki has realized that in order for his man to be able to incorporate their techniques more effectively and have the extra knowledge to win competitions, they need to learn Judo. So, he suggested that his could go ahead and learn the Judo to incorporate with their Jujitsu knowledge.
Well, the lesson turned out to be costly. Since a lot of the students did just that, they enjoyed the judo and decided to stay. The ones that did come back started to develop into much better competitors and the Okazaki team gave the other competitors more of a battle. His practitioners became more effective and it showed in the following completions.
Okazaki dream came true, but not for long since shortly after that he passed away. After his death the branches of his school started their own developments of slightly different forms of the art. One of those branches was Wally Jay. Wally saw the potential of the art and how popular it was starting to become. He has realized that even though his system was good, there were still some areas where it needed adjustments. Jay’s philosophy was that jujitsu is using a lot of large range circular movements, which are effective, but lengthy at times to perform. He has also realized that some of the Judo practitioners would use the effective throwing techniques against the opponents that are bigger then they are, with absolutely no effort at all. Jay decided to improvise the large movements into much smaller and more efficient ones. He called it Small Circle Jujitsu, the style where the wrist locks and the small hand movements would be the basis for his system. Shortly after developing his new system, his team has won the next competition with very little effort. Wally Jay was presented with the coach of the year award.
Principles for Small Circle Jujitsu
1. Balance
2. Mobility and Stability
3. Avoid the head on Collision
4. Mental Resistance and Distraction
5. Focus to the smallest point possible
6. Energy Transfer
7. Create a base
8. Sticking, Control and Sensitivity
9. Rotational momentum
10. Transitional flow
Techniques
The book incorporates the warm up exercises first. It is very important to have flexibly in any martial art, because stiff muscles can cause unexpected injuries. Wally Jay provides explanations and photos of various wrist exercises for your muscle warm up routine.
There is also a section on how to help someone in case they are not conscious. Since there might be a point when the practitioner might be knocked out or just become unconscious during the execution of a technique, the other practitioners have to know how to assist their fellow students.
The last is submission and self-defense techniques. The book is broken down into different chapters depending on the information. There are submission wrist locks, neck chock holds and locks. There are also some techniques on how to react and what to do if an attacker is bothering you.
Photos present most of the information. There are small step by step explanations with the reference to the photo they are talking about. There is a bit of a text in the beginning of each chapter explaining the section and the nature of the techniques it is going to talk about.
Personal Note
I can definitely see the benefit of learning these techniques in combination with your discipline. There is a lot interesting information and the methods of executing the holds are very effective. Even though I do find this information important and useful, I do not recommend this routines as a substitute for organized martial arts or self-defense training. I can only suggest that this information be used in the environment where a martial arts instructor or self-defense professional is present.
The books can be very beneficial and important reference points to someone with prior martial arts experience. I have read reviews, where the person suggested that his mother tried the techniques and was able to do them easily. Even though the techniques might be helpful, they might be dangerous in two areas:
1. She could have executed an exercise improperly and got hurt.
2. By perceiving that she has learned the technique, she might try to use it in the real life situation. The bad thing is that if she has learned from the book and does not understand the exact execution of that method, she might not be able to perform it effectively and get hurt even more.
Another reviewer suggested that his uncle has a gym and teaches Small Circle Jujitsu. Now that is a good advice. Get the book, look it over, but do not attempt to defend yourself until you properly learn the techniques, supervised by an instructor.
I have enjoyed the book and took some of the techniques to our school, where my master suggested on how to perform them properly and effectively. Even though my discipline is Tae Kwon Do, I have found this techniques to be of great benefit to incorporate into to some of my self-defense techniques.
Conclusion
I have read some excellent reviews on this book by other Epinions’ members, which has prompted me to purchase it. This is a great book that incorporates very effective methods of self-defense as well as the history of development of Jujitsu in America. If you are planning on training or you are already involved in martial arts, I strongly recommend this wonderful book. If you are not doing martial arts and are not interested in pursuing it in the future, do not, I repeat DO NOT, try to learn how to defend yourself from any piece of literature. Your knowledge can be deceiving and the outcome can be very dangerous.
October 27, 2022
This book starts off with some warm up, followed by small motor movements that are known by Small Circle practitioners. The majority of the book is actually more of the gross-motor movements related to Judo. This is a collection of excellent techniques that serve as a library for those learning the system. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject. I also highly recommend that interested readers also pick up the new "Small Circle Jujitsu: History and Practice" book on Amazon to find out more about the system principles.
I've had my copy of this book for years and use it as a reference. My wife and I had the fortunate opportunity to train with Grandmaster Wally Jay multiple times. I have signed copies of his books and currently an active "3rd Dan" member of his son's, GM Leon Jay, organization.
GM Wally Jay was an innovator in the martial arts and also connector of people. Many of the who's who in the martial arts in the US have connections with him and were introduced to many other artists because of him, such as Leo Fong, Bruce Lee, George Dillman, Patrick McCarthy, Remy Presas and endless others.
I've had my copy of this book for years and use it as a reference. My wife and I had the fortunate opportunity to train with Grandmaster Wally Jay multiple times. I have signed copies of his books and currently an active "3rd Dan" member of his son's, GM Leon Jay, organization.
GM Wally Jay was an innovator in the martial arts and also connector of people. Many of the who's who in the martial arts in the US have connections with him and were introduced to many other artists because of him, such as Leo Fong, Bruce Lee, George Dillman, Patrick McCarthy, Remy Presas and endless others.
September 26, 2008
I had the pleasure of meeting martial arts legend Wally Jay. The guy's a genius. While it's hard to capture martial arts in a printed medium, he does a decent job.
June 20, 2011
Professor Jay recently passed away. His book is evidence of a small fraction of what he contributed to modern Jujitsu. I never got to work with him directly, just a few of his students.
October 11, 2014
Sensei Jay at his best!!
Read
August 27, 2018Didn't actually finish it because I got bored -_-
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews