Training among Great Men

Mr. Auvo Niiniketo and me at Hokutoryu Jujutsu Martial Arts Club's home dojo in Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki 12.12.09. Photo by Matias.


I am honored that I have had the chance to teach Acrobatic Body Control (ABC) for the practitioners in Hokutoryu Ju-jutsu Martial Arts Club. It is the biggest in Finland, and the most wide-spread Finnish Martial Arts style globally. In addition to Finland's over 6000 (2004) practitioners it has international branches eg. in Iran, Ukraine, The Baltics, Poland, Israel, Columbia, Russia, and in Equadorissa. Hokutoryu Ju-jutsu self-defence techniques have also been taught to the military, police and security professionals.

All this began in 1977 when Mr. Auvo Niiniketo held his first ju-jutsu classes after retiring his boxing career and started to train ju-jutsu in Stockholm, Sweden. Mr. Niiniketo received his 1. dan black belt in 1979. In November 2007 he received the rank of 9. dan from Mr. Richard Morris (10. dan). Since then, in ju-jutsu, his title has been Soke (Eng. Headmaster or Grand Master).

I met Mr. Niiniketo in person in 2006 when I was teaching a private student in ABC in Hokutoryu's home dojo in Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki. Mr. Niiniketo wanted to expand the physical abilities of his club's senseis, and we decided together that I could teach them the Basics of Acrobatics once a week in a workshop that lasted for 10 weeks. As I was a student of Mr. Pekka Oey, one of the most known karatekas in Finland, and the founder of the Finnish Kokondo Karate Club (now Seirenkai) where I began my martial arts training, Mr. Niiniketo could trust me right from the beginning. All the top martial artists in Finland happen to be friends together in one way or another :) Just to mention, Mr. Pekka Oey holds the Guinness World Record in breaking 5 blocks of ice in a single karate strike. See the video on YouTube.

My Basics of Acrobatics classes were appreciated by the students, and I was asked few times to go back there to teach more. Finally, I could make a come back after 3 years. This time my style had developed from the Basics of Acrobatics to Acrobatic Body Control. We had the last class on Sunday 12.12.09 and below is a picture of the happy students (and happy teacher). Photo was taken by Toni, who was also one of the students :)