Written by Billy Ristuccia, Sensei

Soke Mike DePasquale Sr. was Junji Saito of Japans student and successor. Saito Sensei was always described to me as being very small in stature, 5 feet tall and very slender with a full head of white hair. Saito Sensei was not very strong looking, was very soft spoken and wore wire framed glasses. This all added to his appearance and the impression one got when meeting him for the first time. Mr. DePasquale Sr. told me that Saito Sensei had in his opinion, an ability far superior to anyone he had ever met, and that ability was to teach! He had a way about him to make people listen attentively and understand as he passed on his gems of martial arts techniques.

Saito Sensei had been a reporter for a Japanese newspaper and was assigned to London, England some years prior to Lloyd George becoming prime minister of England. Junji Saito after being disappointed with Kodokan Judo, first trained with an 86 year old Jigen Ryu master who taught him their special form of Jujutsu. There then followed many years of studying additional systems of Jujutsu such as: Sekiguchi Ryu, Sosuishitsu Ryu, Kito Ryu, and eventually Hakko Ryu. Junji Saito was a long time childhood friend of Ryuho Okuyama, the founder of Hakko Ryu. Saito Sensei eventually became the highest rank possible in the system, Shihan Menkyo Kaiden Sandaikichu. After Saito Sensei met Mr. DePasquale Sr., he moved to the U.S.A. and became the first international representative of Hakko Ryu outside of Japan. Saito Sensei took all of his favorite techniques from the systems he had mastered and combined them into one system. It was called Yoshitsune Waza because Saito Sensei only ever had one Dojo, and that was the Yoshitsune Dojo.The system is still going strong today with Ni Dai Soke Michael DePasquale Jar as head instructor. The Yoshitsune Combat system has also been added to the curriculum for street related technique.