Ukemi.    Falling safely

One of the first things every student learns is how to fall safely and avoid injury.   . 

Six types of breakfall — forward roll, backward roll, sideways roll, forward flat, backward flat, sideways flat. Falling safely is a skill taught before you're thrown, not discovered when you are.

Atemi — Applied contact

In jujutsu, atemi isn't about hitting for damage. 

Atemi creates the opening the technique needs — by changing attention, posture, or direction — so the technique works without requiring strength. A strike to the face changes where the opponent is looking. A strike to the ribs changes their posture. Either creates the fraction of a second of structural disruption that makes the following technique possible. 

At the end of a sequence, atemi serves a different function — removing the last piece of resistance once control is nearly established. Not damage. Completion. 

This is why atemi is integrated throughout the curriculum rather than treated as a separate striking system. It is not karate. It is not Muay Thai. It is a precision tool in service of the art's larger logic.

Taisabaki.    Body movement

The foundation of everything. Flowing, entering, entering rotation, sliding, dodging — each a precise way of moving the body relative to an incoming attack. 

Taisabaki is trained before and alongside every other element of the curriculum. Poor body position makes every technique harder. Correct body position makes most techniques possible without strength. The body movement patterns introduced at 9th kyu are the same ones present at black belt level — the sophistication develops, the principles don't change.

Kuzushi — Unbalancing

Taking a partner's structural stability before applying technique. From wrist grips, lapel grips, rear holds, pushing and pulling attacks. The basic patterns — normal, same side, reverse, rear — are introduced in the first sessions and developed across years of practice. 

The difference between a technique that works and one that doesn't is almost always in the kuzushi preceding it. A joint lock applied without kuzushi requires force. The same lock applied after correct unbalancing requires almost none.

Kansetsu waza — joint locking

The art's signature category. Nine basic joint locks covering the wrist, elbow, and shoulder — introduced progressively across the first three adult grades. Applied standing, in transition, and on the ground. 

The locks don't require strength. They require precise understanding of joint structure and leverage. That precision is what's being developed across the early grades — and what continues to develop across years of serious practice. 

From the very first grading, joint locking is demonstrated against two attackers — not as free fighting, but as a structured test of applying technique while managing more than one person. That requirement is present from 9th kyu.

Nage waza — throwing

Hip throws, shoulder throws, foot sweeps and reaps. Throwing techniques are introduced at 7th kyu — the third adult grade — after the body movement and unbalancing foundations are established. 

That sequencing is deliberate. A throw is the consequence of correct taisabaki and kuzushi, not a technique applied in isolation. Students who understand the three-phase logic find throws arrive naturally once they are introduced. Students who try to throw without that foundation find they don't work.

Shinken shobu no kata — Reflex

A unique feature of the de Jong system not found in other jujutsu schools. Structured free-response defence sequences against realistic attacks — grips, strangles, punches, kicks, ground scenarios. Present from the first adult grading. 

Weapon awareness — stick and knife defences — is introduced from the second adult grade, once the foundational empty-hand responses are established. 

The reflex section grows with each grade. Five attack scenarios at the first grading. Ten at the second. Fifteen at the third. Thirty by the fourth grade. The curriculum is designed to progressively expand what the student can respond to, not just what they can demonstrate in isolation. 

Every defence can be required left or right, inside or outside. The grading tests genuine adaptability, not pattern memorisation.

Randori  — multiple attackers

This form of practice, against multiple attackers is there for you to take the skills you learn in paired practice and apply them while moving, adjusting, and reading your partner — without needing intensity or sparring.