Vee-Jutsu Ryu

PROFESSOR FLORENDO M. VISITACION
From the VEE-ARNIS-JITSU Web Site

Professor Florendo M. Visitacion, or, as he is commonly called, Professor Vee, was born in Ilocos Norte, Philippines in 1910. He began early, informal training in Arnis at the age of ten.

 

At the age of sixteen, he left his home and family and journeyed to the Hawaiian Islands. In 1928, he moved to Stockton, California where he continued studying Filipino martial arts from available sources.

 

After traveling around California for a number of years, Florendo Vistacion entered the U.S. Army during World War II. This marked a turning point in his life in that he began to view martial arts in a new light. He read and became intrigued with an officer's hand-to-hand combat manual which claimed to present a combination of styles from different countries. The idea of integrating techniques from a variety of martial arts was very appealing to him.

 

This soon led the young Visitacion on a personal journey where he was to devote many years to the study of different fighting styles. Along the way, he realized that mastery of a particular system was not always neccessary. What was essential, however, was the ability to understand its useful principles and how to apply them effectively in a given situation. It was important for a student of the fighting arts to absorb only what was applicable and to tailor the art to his or her needs. That was why he also advocated the researching of other systems. It was by doing so, he felt, an individual could learn and choose from a variety of techniques, thereby improving one's fighting skills.

 

In 1950, he moved to New York. A year later, Visitacion trained under ex-marine Charles Nelson, also a World War II veteran, and an expert in the art of Mongolian wrestling. Nelson was particularly adept in joint locking techniques. Professor Vee later augmented his training by learning modern Jiujitsu under Kiyose Nakae, author of the book Jiujitsu Complete. He also took up Judo and the Indian art of Varmannie. In 1958, he studied under R. H. Sigward, the author of Modern Self-Defense. On September 5, 1955, he introduced Vee-Jitsu, an early forerunner of his art, Vee-Arnis-Jitsu.

In 1960, Visitacion joined the American Judo and Jiujitsu Federation. He was appointed the director of its Northeast Division. During one trip to an AJJF conference in California, he met and began a life-long friendship with Professor Wally Jay, the renowned grandmaster of Small Circle Jiujitsu. He also befriended the late Raymond Tabosa, a noted master of the Filipino martial art, Kali.

 

Thanks to a renewed interest in Filipino martial arts, Professor Vee began a ten-year study of Arnis Lanada under Master Amante Mariñas. He also learned additional techniques from Grandmaster Remy Presas of the school of Modern Arnis. In addition, he also received training from Leo Gaje, a noted expert in the Pekiti Tirsia Kali system. In 1978, the Arnis America Organization headed by Grandmaster Gaje gave him the Datu award in recognition for his work in promoting Filipino martial arts. Five years later, he also received the prestigious instructor's rank from Master Mariñas and the World Arnis Federation.

 

Professor Vee began his career as a martial arts instructor during the mid-1950's, and for over three decades, he actively taught his art at different locations throughout the New York City metropolitan area. Over the the years, his system would produce a number of notable martial artists, some who founded their own fighting styles. These include Professor Moses Powell, father of Sanuces Ryu Jiujitsu, and Master Lil' John Davis of Kumite Ryu Jiujitsu.

 

Professor Vee continued cross-training and researching other fighting systems. He embarked on a study of several different styles of Chinese Kung Fu. They included Southern Praying Mantis, Yang style Tai Chi Chuan, Baqua Chang, and Wing Chun. He also studied basic Karate techniques from Lou Angel.

 

He continued to refine and make changes to his system. As it evolved, so did its name. At one point, after adding Kenpo Karate forms, he renamed it Vee-Jitsu-Te. In 1965, Professor Vee introduced Vee-Jitsu '65, an improved version of his art. The following year, the AJJF conferred upon him the title of Professor and awarded him a 10th Dan ranking in his own art. The AJJF repeated the process in 1971, after Professor Vee presented them with another update of his system, now called Vee-Jitsu Ryu Jiujitsu. In 1983, he discarded the Kenpo katas in favor of Arnis, and later adopted the name, Vee-Arnis-Jitsu. Later, he approved the addition of Muay Thai boxing techniques, making the art more powerful and effective.

 

In 1993, in recognition for his contributions, Professor Florendo Visitacion was elected to the Martial Arts Hall-of-Fame and given a "Life-time Achievement" award.

Although he has since retired from active teaching, his martial art continues to flourish thanks largely to the effort of David James, the present chief instructor the Vee-Arnis-Jitsu School of New York. He is a worthy successor to Professor Vee in that he continues to make improvements by updating certain concepts, adding new techniques, or by just modifying and making minor changes. Professor James is firmly committed to bringing his students the best self-defense system available today.

Please excuse the long continuous bio after bio entry on this page we are using this page to store the text until we edit all into one long and then one small bio. So don't read past here unless you're gun-ho because you will encounter a lot of redundant info. Thanks.

What is Vee Arnis Jitsu?

Vee Arnis is an eclectic fighting system. Its major components are Vee Jitsu, Arnis, and Muay Thai boxing. To a lesser extent, it also incorporates elements of other Filipino martial arts such as Kuntaw, Chinese Kung fu, and Japanese Aikido.

Vee JitsuVee Jitsu

Vee Jitsu is the foundation of the art. It integrates the joint locks, breaks, throws, and ground movements of Judo/Jiu Jitsu with the brutal, "no-holds-barred" approach of traditional street fighting. "Dirty" techniques such as groin kicks, biting, and eye gouging are readily employed during fight situations.

To further enhance and improve the system, Professor Vee devised a series of fifteen two-person short forms dubbed "Vee Jitsu Te's". These enable the student to respond effectively to a variety of attack scenarios using a series of sequential defensive moves. In order to additionally prepare for the realities of street confrontations, students are drilled rigorously in class and paired with persons of different shapes and sizes. That way an individual can experiment with various techniques to determine whether they work effectively against larger or smaller opponents within a given situation.

Arnis

The powerful weapons and empty-hand martial art of Arnis makes up the second major component of Vee Arnis Jitsu. It is here where we derive the famous "Cinco Tero" fighting pattern. Many of the Vee Arnis Jitsu techniques such as the "fifteen dimensions", and the "patterns-of-twelve" drills are derived from Arnis. Students practice these techniques using a variety of different stepping variations. The more important ones include Paqua circular footwork, forward and backward motion, and the "V-stepping" pattern. A number of training exercises including the "Sinawali" drills are also incorporated within the curriculum. The art of knife-fighting is another major part of weapons training. With great emphasis on rapid continuous reptitition of the "Cinco Tero" and other striking drills, students develop speed and mobility.

Mauy Thai

Muay Thai boxing concepts combined with stamina training make up the third part of Vee Arnis Jitsu. Students are taught to maximize their fighting abilities by utilizing their elbows, knees, shins, as well as traditional hand and foot strikes. Protective gear is always employed during these sessions for safety and to allow students to use maximum power against their opponents. Intensive bag work with two-person punching and kicking drills are also part of the curriculum. In addition, the system incorporates rigorous calesthenics in order to help students maintain optimum fitness levels.

Florendo M. Visitacion or as he is commonly called, Professor Vee, was born in Ilocos Norte, Philippines in 1910. He began informal training in Arnis at the age of ten. At the age of sixteen, he left his home and family and journeyed to the Hawaiian Islands. In 1928, he moved to Stockton, California where he continued studying Filipino martial arts from available sources.

After traveling around California for a number of years, Florendo Visitacion entered the U.S. Army during World War II. This marked a turning point in his life in that he began to view martial arts in a new light. He read and became intrigued with an officer's hand-to-hand combat manual which claimed to present a combination of styles from different countries. The idea of integrating techniques from a variety of martial arts was very appealing to him.

[edit] Development

This soon led the young Visitacion on a personal journey where he was to devote many years to the study of different fighting styles. Along the way, he realized that mastery of a particular system was not always necessary. What was essential, however, was the ability to understand its useful principles and how to apply them effectively in a given situation. It was important for a student of the fighting arts to absorb only what was applicable and to tailor the art to his or her needs. That was why he also advocated the researching of other systems. It was by doing so, he felt, an individual could learn and choose from a variety of techniques, thereby improving one's fighting skills.

In 1950, he moved to New York. A year later, Visitacion trained under ex-marine Charles Nelson, also a World War II veteran and an expert in the art of Mongolian wrestling. Nelson was particularly adept in joint locking techniques. Vistacion later augmented his training by learning modern Jujutsu under Kiyose Nakae, author of the book Jiu jitsu Complete. He also took up judo and the Indian art of Varmannie. In 1958, he studied under R. H. Sigward, the author of Modern Self-Defense. On September 5, 1955, he introduced Vee Jitsu, an early forerunner of his art, Vee Arnis Jitsu.

[edit] Birth of the finalized art

In 1960, Visitacion joined the American Judo and Jujitsu Federation, from whom he was given the title of "Professor".[citation needed] He was appointed the director of its Northeast Division. During one trip to an AJJF conference in California, he met and began a life-long friendship with Wally Jay, the founder of Small Circle Jujutsu. He also befriended the late Raymond Tabosa, a noted master of the Filipino martial art, Kali.

Thanks to a renewed interest in Filipino martial arts, Professor Vee began a ten-year study of Arnis Lanada under Amante Mariñas. He also learned additional techniques from Remy Presas of the school of Modern Arnis. In addition, he also received training from Leo Gaje, a noted expert in Pekiti Tirsia, a Kali system. In 1978, the Arnis America Organization headed by Leo Gaje gave him the Datu award in recognition for his work in promoting Filipino martial arts. Five years later, he also received the prestigious instructor's rank from Amante Mariñas and the World Arnis Federation.

[edit] The teacher

Vistacion began his career as a martial arts instructor during the mid-1950's and for over three decades, he actively taught his art at different locations throughout the New York City metropolitan area. Over the years, his system would produce a number of notable martial artists, some who founded their own fighting styles. These include Moses Powell, father of Sanuces-ryu Jiujitsu, and John Davis of Kumite-ryu Jujutsu.

He continued cross-training and researching other fighting systems including several different styles of Chinese kung fu including; Southern Praying Mantis, Yang style Tai Chi Chuan, Baqua Chang, and Wing Chun. He also studied basic karate techniques from Lou Angel.

He continued to refine and make changes to his system. As it evolved, so did its name. At one point, after adding Kenpo karate forms, he renamed it Vee Jitsu Te. In 1965, Vistacion introduced Vee Jitsu '65, an improved version of his art. The following year, the AJJF conferred upon him the title of Professor and awarded him a 10th dan ranking in his own art[citation needed]. The AJJF repeated the process in 1971, after Professor Vee presented them with another update of his system, now called Vee Jitsu Ryu Jiujitsu. In 1983, he discarded the Kenpo katas in favor of Arnis and later adopted the name, Vee Arnis Jitsu. Later, he approved the addition of Muay Thai boxing techniques, making the art more powerful and effective.

In 1993, in recognition for his contributions, Professor Florendo Visitacion was elected to the Martial Arts Hall of Fame and given a "Life-time Achievement" award. [citation needed]

 

 

Florendo M. Visitacion, 88, Martial Arts Master, Is Dead

By MICHAEL T. KAUFMAN
Published: January 10, 1999

 Florendo M. Visitacion, who built upon childhood experiences in a rural Philippine village to develop and promote his own eclectic and well-known system of martial arts in New York, died on Monday at Roosevelt Hospital. He was 88.

His daughter, Justice Laura Visitacion Lewis of the New York State Supreme Court, said he had recently entered the hospital from the Kateri Residence, a nursing home on Riverside Drive, after suffering a sudden drop in blood pressure.

Standing 5 feet 2 inches and never weighing more than 125 pounds, Mr. Visitacion, who was known within the martial arts community as Professor Vee, hardly inspired dread in street clothes. Indeed he never wore any insignia of his status on the street and he cautioned his followers to avoid flamboyance and to dress modestly.

But inside the dojos (where well into his 60's he would regularly throw much younger, highly skilled men to the floor) his authority as a teacher and a founder of a martial arts system was apparent.

 
 
 
 

''He was an oxymoron, a gentle martial artist,'' said his daughter. ''I would watch as he taught a particularly lethal form of self defense. He would not only disarm and throw his opponents but then he would go on to show how they might be killed in six different ways. And meanwhile he was a gentle and peaceful man who loved books. 'The truly powerful,' he would tell me, 'are those who are also restrained.' Those are words I often think of as a judge.''

Florendo Visitacion was born on June 11, 1910, the son of sharecropper peasants on the island of Ilocos Norte in the Philippines. It was not uncommon for practitioners of various schools of self defense to teach their techniques as they traveled through the countryside; it is from such wandering tutors that Mr. Visitacion learned basic skills. At 16 he left home for Hawaii, where he cut sugar cane. Two years years later he moved to Stockton, Calif., to work as a grape picker.

For a decade, he followed the crops and traveled within the large Filipino community of California, continually studying martial arts disciplines including jujitsu, escrima, or knife fighting, and arnis, or stick fighting. At the outset of World War II, he enlisted in the United States Army and served as a medic.

After his discharge, Mr. Visitacion came to New York, where he obtained a high school diploma and took some college courses. Decades before the martial arts boom that would crest along with the popularity of Bruce Lee films, he sought out a variety of teachers, notably Charles Nelson, a specialist in unarmed combat, Kiyose Nakae, a jujitsu master, Jerome Mackey, a judo champion, and Swami Vragiananda, a proponent of an Indian school of fighting called Varmannie.

From all these traditions as well as those he had studied earlier he forged a discipline that he referred to as a system of systems; he called it Vee-jitsu after himself, meaning the art of Vee. He opened and closed a succession of martial art books stores and dojos in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, and would often take on disciples, sometimes without fee, if they were sufficiently dedicated.

In 1967, his form of martial art was recognized as a distinct discipline by the American Judo and Jujitsu Federation. He was awarded a 10th-degree black belt based on his demonstration of Vee-jitsu and given the title of professor. He later resigned from the organization, believing its discipline was too lax.

By the time interest in martial arts soared, the aging teacher had gained near legendary status and was referred to as Professor Vee or Grandmaster.

Soon after his arrival in New York, Mr. Visitacion married Heriberta Bernabe Charbonnier, a native of Puerto Rico. They had three children before they were divorced about 20 years ago. In addition to his daughter, Justice Visitacion Lewis, and his former wife, he is survived by two sons, Edward of Miami Beach and Bladimir of New York and four grandchildren.

Mr. Visitacion's teachings went beyond physical movements involving comportment and behavior.

For instance, he once said: ''If on a subway someone pushes you or sprawls across two seats, you should not appear as if it mattered. Understand the person's problem and walk away. Confronting the person or even beating him up will not educate or reform him, nor is it our place to do so.''