Greeting!

 

   I was approached by a Mr. Yamagouchi from Japan to sanction or sponsor martial arts ranks for a project he is involved with concerning various forms of the Better Business Bureau in various countries in regards to real, as opposed to fake, martial arts ranks or titles.

 

    After I made a police check to assure he was not involved in criminal activities, and make sure he was legitimate, I agreed to register any legitimate ranks or titles under certain conditions. But these persons must agree to follow very basic conditions to protect my creditability.

 

    I will not issue any cross grades or ranks/ titles in my own system, nor will I award honorary ranks or titles, or accept any from anyone who is sanctioned.

 

   I will not join or be a member of any organizations not based in Japan, nor permit my name being used in any organizations. These are my basic conditions! plus, I will not sanction anyone who has ties to any grandmasters/ Soke/ Headfounders organization unless they agree to cut all ties to them, only a Iemoto can issue 10th dan grades, so, for a founder to issue such ranks to non-senior students will not be accepted.

 

    What I will do is allow anyone to claim reasonable ranks in their own system and offer some ethics guidelines under which I will do this. And if anyone over 35 years of age with a martial arts backgrounds wants to create a new system, I will sanction it as a division of my 1200 year old traditional martial art, using our lineage as theirs, but with conditions such as no stripes on belt, must wear proper training attire, no issueing of unearned ranks or titles, not selling rank, no exagerations of one's backgrounds, no membership in any organization deemed to be a paper mill or a paper exchange operation.

 

  This is not a business with me! None of the people joining in this activity are my students, none can pass the gradings of our system, regardless of what they think they might know, there are over 3400 techniqies in our art, they are listed here under techniques, so, we can tell if the applicant is experienced or not.

 

    I began the martial arts in 1947 doing traditional Jujitsu, I have been an athlete all my life, and my time was spent of mastering effective techniques from some of the best masters in the world, so, to me its more than just a way to get attention or feed my ego, the martial arts are a lifestyle, a way to relax, to get away from stress and to develop character, but to me, I don't need to wear 40 crest on a gi, rows of stripes or call myself a grandmaster or advertise un-earned ranks

 

 I never belonged to bogus martial arts organizations, (If I found out any were frauds, I simply resigned) never traded diplomas, never hung with other teachers, although I made a lot of good friends in my travels, all I ever did was to train and fight, and I took seminars with anyone who might have something to make me a better fighter, and since our system has almost everything found in the other martial arts, some of these seminars helped me better understand my own system.

 

 Even though I often had higher ranks or position in the arts than those who gave seminars, I stayed in the background and acted like everyone else, some were really good, others were crude, but I never said anything either way

 

   For that reason, most of my photos are not of me standing besides a teacher, rarely did I attend seminars to get publicity, to me, they were all people who might have knowledge, and I paid to access it, nothing more, and sadly, none were icons, idols or magical, and after 60 or 70 of them , two well-known masters of that era, C.O Neil and Micheal DePasquale, told me that our techniques were 50-years ahead of the time, and I realized they werent really showing anything new or mind boggling, so I stopped  going to them. 

 

    I did, and still do,  train, my learning on the mats, in the ring, in the cage or on the streets, I fought in the ghetto where I grew up, and in various venues or arenas, I won and I lost, but I never retired, nor will I, to me daito-ryu is not about having to fake things to be accepted, no magic tricks, no secret ki or chi, flicking a finger and guys fly, 99% of these grandmasters never fought in the streets, in the ring or cage, we call them paper tigers,  but my whole life was centered on fighting, my art was designed to hurt or control people, thats what I teach, its just scientific fighting for real, thats who and what I am, thats real Daito-Ryu.

 

  I was told that one can only reach high goals in life if they prepare for them, my goals are to test Daito-Ryu in simulated battle, so my last test was in MMA at age 70, I will have other tests until my body gives up, but this is because what I say is the truth, and why all other so-called masters, grandmasters, sokes or sigung, no longer compete once they hit 40, or never reallly did.

 

    My teacher gave me a ist of our techniques, some 3400 in all (listed here under techniques), and taught me the machanics, the principles, and secrets, then he said to go out and learn them from other masters, but that no master would know them all, a few techniques  here, a few there, and to test them in battle, so for 30 years my training was not to be a teacher, not to create a lot of blackbelts, but to preserve an art, because thats how all previous heads of this system did it, nothing herein is mine, but most has been tested by me in simulated and sometimes real fights.

 

  I gave seminars all over the world, and I met many great teachers and students, whatever they want to learn, I give them it, but mostly, its about fighting, exposing how techniques cannot overcome the 100 principles, I do not care who the uke is, as long as they know how to breakfall, nothing needs to be rehersed, nobody jumps for me, my techniques work.

 

    So, if you want a certification that will mean something, apply and we will try to help you, but please understand that we are not a diploma mill, not a paper collectors body, all we do is to give people a chance to be licensed through a legitimate board.

 

 

    Respectfully

Gunshi Williams