DON JITSU RYU

Don Jitsu Ryuis one of the most unique, practical and disciplined schools of modern Martial Arts today. From its humble beginning on the small island nation of Trinidad & Tobago in the West Indies, the system has grown into a worldwide organization that has gained international distinction and respect. Not only because of its success in the field of competition but largely due to the reputation and unique teaching and demonstrative abilities of its founder and chief instructor Professor Don Jacob.

Don Jitsu Ryu is a rhythmic Caribbean System of Martial Arts that is practiced by thousands of students in Purple Dragon as well as in other schools associated with the Purple Dragon organization around the world. Many of the techniques are still the world’s best-kept secret and are only entrusted to its indigenous warriors. It is a Martial Arts system that creates the balance that the martial arts community needs to bring about the consciousness of a serious minded martial artist, career oriented with a sense of direction in life.

Don Jitsu Ryu may one day be the standard style of various major schools of martial arts discipline around the world. This system strengthens one’s mind, body and spirit while providing encouragement towards:

· Honest thinking

· Proper training

· Awareness of other type of martial arts

· Studying several professions for survival

· The ability to rise from a deficiency up to a positive mentality and to be able to handle success

· Understanding of all things

· To be careful of everything and nothing

· Embrace only what is useful and correct

· Postural reconstruction

· Spiritual strengthening

· Loyalty

· Obedience to the laws of success

Professor Don Jacob in Caribbean Beat Magazine

DON JACOB'S EMPIRE

by Laura Dowrich-Phillips

Professor Don Jacobs builds an international karate empire with his indigenous martial arts system, Don Jitsu Ryu. It was founded in 1970 under a breadfruit tree on Westbury Lane in Belmont, on the eastern side of Port of Spain.

We used to call it Hell Yard. We got some galvanise, covered it over, and called it a dojo. We paid TT$6 a month for the space,” Don Jacob recalls. He was only 15 years old then, and charged students TT$1.50 to learn his martial arts fighting system, which he called Don Jitsu-Ryu. Until he acquired this headquarters, Jacob had traversed Trinidad on a Chopper bicycle which he bought for TT$25, teaching his techniques and gradually realising that he could actually earn a living by doing what he loved.

Today, Professor Don Jacob’s school is called the Purple Dragon International School of Martial Arts, and is preparing for its 40th anniversary in 2010. A movie is in the works, a glossy Purple Dragon magazine is already in circulation, and students are sharpening their skills for the Karate World Tournament which the school will host in Trinidad and Tobago. There are plans for a permanent home for Purple Dragon’s World Headquarters, and for a martial arts museum.

There are twenty branches of Purple Dragon in Trinidad and Tobago now, with more across the Caribbean (in Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, the Cayman Islands, and Tortola), and more in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia and England. But Trinidad is still the school’s headquarters.

In 1977, Don Jacob was the first Trinidadian to perform at Madison Square Garden, at the Oriental World of Self-Defense. In 1981, he was inducted by Ju-Jitsu America into the Black Belt Hall of Fame, and in 1986 was the first and only Trinidadian to be mentioned in Al Weiss’s book, The Official History of Karate in America – The Golden Ages 1968-1986.

As a child growing up in the depressed area of Laventille in Trinidad, Jacob had sought refuge in karate as a way of defending himself against bullies. He studied judo with Sensei Clyde Thomas, and after earning his black belt, travelled to the United States to study Ju-Jitsu under the late Grandmaster Moses Powell, and traditional styles with Master Tusui Yoshitaka.