The answers we give are from the Policies of the American Federation of Jujutsu. We wouldn't necessarily call them "formal policies", and we don't have rules against a difference of opinion about the answers given here, if you know what we mean. As  positions, the answer found in this FAQ are just part of our policies that express the details of common subjects one hears.


>> The AFJ gives ranks in old school Jujutsu. But many of those schools are either extinct or exclusive, how can you give rank in schools like this? I heard that isn't right?
    That is a perfectly understandable question, isn't it? It is an involved subject and we don't have time for a full explanation but we have an answer we think you'll understand. Most schools of Jujutsu that would be refered to like this are what is called a Parent school, if you know what that is? All of the original Parent school are extinct and have been for centuries. But in Japan, and outside of it, there are a proliferation of schools and systems that are descended from these same Parent schools. They even have the same name as the Parent school itself, such as the Yōshin Ryū, Miura Yōshin Ryū, Sekiguchi Ryū, Tenjin Shinyō Ryū and Kitō Ryū just to name a few.
Most of these kinds of schools we are talking about are Gendai adaptations of the older schools of Jujutsu. They have been evidenced in the communities of the Western practitioners for about 150 years now (in various forms). This is what we handle at the AFJ, we do not handle or rank people in the actual Koryu schools of Jujutsu. All of it is strictly Gendai Jujutsu.


>> There is no such things as "Gendai" versions of the old schools. That is all a bunch of baloney that fake schools and organisations use to jerk people around. Is this right?
    That is by far less understandable as a position. It shows a very sad lack of proper recognition. We would have to say that anyone who thinks that this is correct information doesn't know anything about the subject at all.  Most forms of better knwon schools like the Yōshin Ryū, Miura Yōshin Ryū, Shintō Yōshin Ryū, Sekiguchi Ryū, Sekiguchi Shinshin Ryū, Takenouchi Ryū, Takagi Yōshin Ryū, Tenjin Shinyō Ryū and Kitō Ryū are all Gendai adaptations of the older schools of Jujutsu. They are almost never the actual Koryu form of the school (in most cases, the old Koryu school lineage went exticnt almost 100 years ago.) Most of it is Gendai.


>> The AFJ gives people Black-belt ranks, even higher ranked Black-belts -- but it doesn't train them at all, how could that be right?! I heard they do not earn the rank?
    We don't really know what to think about this particular kind of question. We don't "give" anyone anything. The American Federation of Jujutsu is well known for its proliferation of teaching literature, not the least of which is the Library Collection of Shihan Weymouth. The teaching material is rather well known for being of the finest and most traditional order of Jujutsu material, isn't it? How could anyone say that we don't teach our membership anything is kind of hard to understand. It's true that we are not obsessed with the physical techniques of Jujutsu, because there is a majority percentile of the art that is not physical technqiue at all. The teaching and instructional literature we use contains that 75% majority of the art that cannot be provided by the physical technqiues themsleves. We definitely do offer the real substance of the art of Jujutsu, and when we advance our membership through the ranks... they most certainly have been studying this material. There is also the fact that, most normally, we do not rank anyone higher than Yondan 4th Degree Black-belt. We have Rank Advancement Policies, perhaps you would want to look those over?


>> The AFJ gives people rank in too many different Martial arts. How could that be right?!
    This is an easy question to answer. The AFJ has various councils and chapters that are knowledgeable of a variety of Japanese based arts. Men of various ranks and expertise that are part of our common membership. Chiefly, we handle traditional and modern ranges of Jujutsu as well as the arts and systems related to it. But, for example, there are schools of Karate-do that are a combination of both Karate and the art of Judo. These kinds of Karate schools can be handled by the AFJ, because we have Chapters and membership councils meant to accommodate practitioners of these schools of Karate. Similarly, we handle Aiki-jujutsu and Aikido because we have Chapters set up that accommodate the  practitioners of these arts. Again, there is also the fact that, most normally, we do not rank anyone higher than Yondan 4th Degree Black-belt. We have Rank Advancement Policies, perhaps you would want to look thise over?