Kokondo is a modern self-defence system built from Japanese and Okinawan martial material and shaped in the United States. Rather than presenting itself as an ancient Japanese ryūha preserved unchanged, it is designed around the idea that martial arts should function in real self-defence situations. The name itself refers to the way of the past and present, reflecting a system that draws on tradition while addressing practical necessity. In practice Kokondo is a dual system: Kokondo Karate, a striking-heavy, kata-based, non-competitive karate, and Jukido Jujitsu, built around throws, locks, chokes, strikes, escapes, and ground work.
Founding and History
The system's founder, Paul Arel, is described in the official history as a young man who had experienced bullying and sought a way not to be helpless. He began training in 1950 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, studying Sanzyu-ryu Jujitsu under a Japanese teacher known in public sources as Sudo. The earliest root of the Kokondo world is therefore jujitsu rather than karate, centred on balance, leverage, locks, throws, and escapes; karate became central only later.
Tradition is not a museum exhibit, it is a living system that must earn its place in every generation.
By 1959 Arel had formalised Jukido Jujitsu. In 1970, after earlier connections with Isshin-ryu, San Kata, and Kyokushin under the wider influence of Mas Oyama, he created Kokondo Karate. His background also included additional training in Japan during his Marine Corps years, a connection to Don Nagle's Isshin-ryu, and Ishikawa's San Kata, before he separated from the Kyokushin world and founded Kokondo Karate.
Techniques and Characteristics
Kokondo Karate is explicitly non-competitive, concerned with self-defence rather than tournament results. It retains kata, kihon, bunkai, dojo discipline, rank, and formal etiquette while continually testing what techniques mean when a person is grabbed, rushed, shoved, or attacked. Kata is treated not as decorative choreography but as a storage system for movement, and its study includes bunkai, the practical interpretation of movements, and himitsu, the idea of hidden or layered meanings within the forms.
The Jukido side does not treat self-defence as a single range. It includes nage-waza (throws), kansetsu-waza (joint locks), shime-waza (chokes), atemi-waza (strikes), ne-waza (ground work), escapes, pressure points, and defensive responses to practical situations. It also uses randori as a way of pressure-testing self-defence skill rather than as sport for its own sake. Jukido contains formal kata such as Kaeshi-no-kata, a throwing counter-form that works with attacks including deashi-harai, osoto-gari, ippon-seoi-nage, tai-otoshi, morote-seoi-nage, and o-goshi.
Core Principles
Kokondo's technical language centres on three concepts. Kuzushi is the breaking of balance, the idea that effective technique steals and interrupts an opponent's structure rather than relying on raw strength. Jushin in Japanese usually refers to the centre of gravity, but Kokondo appears to use it more broadly, involving the centreline and mass of the body, the centre that can be controlled, shifted, or broken. Shorin-ji, in Kokondo's internal explanation, refers to points and circles, the combination of linear and circular movement. These three principles are intended to guide the body whether striking, throwing, locking, or escaping, giving the system a consistent framework rather than a loose catalogue of techniques.
Philosophy
Kokondo combines a Bushido code, dojo ethics, safety rules, rank structure, and an emphasis on discipline with a practical focus on escaping, striking, locking, throwing, choking, pinning, and surviving. It places a strong emphasis on safety within the dojo and on appropriate response in self-defence, framing the goal as necessary, timely, and controlled force rather than maximum violence. The system can be seen as leaning toward bujutsu in its practical, effectiveness-oriented technique while leaning toward budo in its emphasis on character, conduct, and the development of the practitioner.
Disputed History
Kokondo's historical position is that of a modern, American-founded system based on Japanese and Okinawan influences rather than a classical Japanese koryū or an unchanged Okinawan family art. Several elements of its lineage remain difficult to verify in public sources: Sanzyu-ryu itself is not easily confirmed through Japanese public sources, the lineage details around the teacher Sudo are not fully clear, and Ishikawa's San Kata is also difficult to trace in the public Japanese record. The system does not appear to have strong visibility within Japan, and official dojo listings are centred mainly in the United States with limited international presence. Accounts of its origins are therefore best stated as a mix of what can be confirmed and what remains unclear.