AMFED INFO

INFORMATION PAGE
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This page offers information about the American Federation of Jujutsu.

The American Federation of Jujutsu was originally formed back in the very late 1950’s in the area of New England. Originally, in the 1950's and 1960's, it was called the American Federation of Judo and Jujutsu (the AFJJ). It has always been centered in and around the New England area and the area of the Great Lakes region (today is no different, we are located on the far side of Lake Superior). There have been a variety of American Martial arts organisations descended from the earlier forms of the AFJ. We ourselves are not quite the same organisation from back then, but we are one of the chief outfits descended from it today. Although, admittently, we wouldn't call it an unbroken procession.

STRUCTURE OF THE AFJ
We have a very traditional structure for the AFJ which includes “chapters” and "councils" as a common practice of the organisation. We have Chapters for several other arts and systems that are directly related to the art of Jujutsu itself.

JUJUTSU MAIN CHAPTER	AIKI BUDO CHAPTER	KARATE DO CHAPTER	DEFENSE ARTS CHAPTER
SUB-CHAPTERS FORMED	SUB-CHAPTERS FORMED	SUB-CHAPTERS FORMED	SUB-CHAPTERS FORMED
COUNCILS FORMED	COUNCILS FORMED	COUNCILS FORMED	COUNCILS FORMED
Individual and Group Membership	Individual and Group Membership	Individual and Group Membership	Individual and Group Membership

As the membership grows, and those who pursue advancing rank reach instructor levels, the number of "chapters" and "councils" tends to change, naturally. We do not offer to list existing "chapters" and "councils" directly because things are always changing. Our Membership Chapers include:

THE MAIN CHAPTER AMERICAN	THE CANADIAN CHAPTER	THE EUROPEAN CHAPTER	THE OTHER CHAPTERS
ART OR SYSTEM CHAPTERS FORMED	ART OR SYSTEM CHAPTERS FORMED	ART OR SYSTEM CHAPTERS FORMED	ART OR SYSTEM CHAPTERS FORMED
COUNCILS FORMED	COUNCILS FORMED	COUNCILS FORMED	COUNCILS FORMED
Individual and Group Membership	Individual and Group Membership	Individual and Group Membership	Individual and Group Membership

Our membership has the right and privilege to form (and name) councils, with or without the knowledge of the American Federation of Jujutsu. When not registered with the AFJ, these councils are considered to be an "informal council" but they are valid AFJ Councils ever bit so, and were included in the listings above. The process of formalising such a council through the AFJ is not expensive and does exist as an option.

The diagram above shows the structure of the Councils of the AFJ. There is the Chief Council of the AFJ at the top of the structure. At the bottom of the structure it starts with one Informal Council, because everything starts that way: with the formation of one council. The broken lines ( -- -- --) indicate an intermittent connection between two separate councils, whether they are formal or informal councils. The solid lines (-----) indicate a more permanent connection between two separate councils, whether they are formal or informal councils. In both cases, the AFJ Councils are interacting together to take care of certain businesses they have together. By definition, a council is composed of at least four (4) or five (5) men. Until such a council is registered with the AFJ, it is an "informal council". The process of registration is simple and inexpensive: a Chartered council certificate is issued as proof of the formalisation of the council. All councils being registered must be given a council name (selected by the men of that council itself.) The most common names used are regional and territorial names. For example, "The AFJ Regional Council of Greater New England", but this example is historical from a long time ago and was a very large high ranked council. A more common example would be: "The AFJ Council of East Charlotte (NC)". This is the kind of name that would appear on the AFJ Council charter license.

THE MOST COMMON REASON WHY COUNCILS ARE FORMED
An AFJ Council is usually informal when they are first formed. The three most common reasons they are formed is:

1) To handle an existing group of practitioners to whom you belong (usually as part of its leadership.)
2) To provide Rank advancement to an existing group of practitioners to whom you belong (usually as part of its leadership.)
3) A combination of both reasons above.

AFJ membership has the right and privilege to form (and name) councils, with or without the knowledge of the American Federation of Jujutsu. When not registered with the AFJ, these councils are considered to be an "informal council" but they are valid AFJ Councils ever bit so, and are indicated as such in the listings above. The process of formalising such a council through the AFJ is not expensive and does exist as an option. When you do form a council and register it, later in time, that council may destabilise and no longer exist. If you already have the AFJ Council charter license, and you are the person named on it (you are the person to whom the certificate belonged): you are free to reform that council at any time you so chose. If not, you can form another informal council and then seek to formalise that council by the usual process of AFJ Council Chartering (in the application, please inform us of the details of your former AFJ Council to which you had belonged. ).

AFJ COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP

Any formal AFJ Private Council may publically or privately solicit for membership and charge a fee for membership and for maintaining membership as they see fit. When soliciting for Council members and when maintaining such Council members, the AFJ urges you to keep the cost of Council membership inexpensive (but we acknowledge that legitimate higher ranked men at the top of the council are an invaluable resource). All such members must be, or become, a member of the American Federation of Jujutsu.

· The Council members must be or become AFJ members through the usual process of seeking AFJ membership.
· The formal AFJ Private Council does not report income from entry and maintance fees charged to its Council members to the American Federation of Jujutsu (that is the private affair of that AFJ Private Council and not the affair of the AFJ itself).
· All Rank advancement provided by such formal AFJ Private Council does have to generally conform to the Ranking Policies of the American Federation of Jujutsu. But you do not have to seek Rank advancement through the AFJ (as a council you can issue your own Rank certifcations, for example.)
· All such formal AFJ Private Council are fully independant within the American Federation of Jujutsu. They are free to conduct their own affairs (but all members of such councils must become members of the AFJ.)
· All such formal AFJ Private Council are fully allowed to display the markings of the AFJ (including the Star-spangled Yinyang) but when this is done on the face of documents or certificates: the name of that formal AFJ Private Council itself must be clearly evidenced (so it is not confused with an issuance of the Chief Council of the AFJ itself.)

· If you want such documents or certificates to bear the full markings of the AFJ as an actual AFJ document or certificate: There is a small fee for this service (what amount is charged as the fee depends upon what kind of document or certificate it is.) The name of that formal AFJ Private Council itself must be clearly evidenced just the same (but it will have become an issuance of the Chief Council of the AFJ itself.)

The structure of any given formal AFJ Private Council may differ radically, being free independent councils within the American Federation of Jujutsu each of them is free to structure and conduct themselves as they see fit. One area to give some due consideration to: Councils can be structures with "Chief officers", "Officers" and "Regular membership". The upper level governs the corpus of that council itself. But who holds the actual AFJ Council charter license for your council must be given due respect (if offended he could withdraw and the status of that council becomes questionable.) Please avoid destabilising yourselves. There are various opportunities that our structure affords its members, as we are sure some of you must have noticed.
We assume the reader and membership understands that this is the truer substance of a "federation", it means an incorporation of various separate smaller entities together into one larger edifice: we are the American Federation of Jujutsu.

A website resource for AFJ Private Councils

PLEASE NOTICE: Members cannot inquire of the AFJ for membership in any of the formal AFJ Private Councils. You would need to contact the formal AFJ Private Council itself in order to apply for membership.