About Us
Teaching and Training Shorinji Kan Jiu Jitsu since 2018,
and having a great time doing it!
Tuff City Jiu Jitsu is a martial arts club that specializes in Shorinji Kan Jiu Jitsu. Our style encompasses locking, throwing, and striking techniques to provide an effective defense system. The techniques taught involve using the attacker's movement and momentum against themselves. Our experienced instructors focus on helping students develop discipline, confidence, and respect while improving their physical fitness. We offer classes for adults, and we welcome students of all skill levels.
Our Story
Tuff City Jiu Jitsu started out as a "study group" when David Sempai made the move back to Tofino, BC in June 2018. He had been missing Jiu Jitsu during his previous stay in Tofino and wanted to continue his Jiu Jitsu journey.
David Sempai completed his Club Instructor course and with support from Andy Dobie Shihan, the head of Jitsu Canada, David Sempai taught the first session at Tuff City Jiu Jitsu on July 27th, 2018.
His passion for Jiu Jitsu attracted a core group who trained regularly, as well as many drop ins who joined when their schedules allowed. A grading for his novices was set for March 2020 with the Vancouver Club until the pandemic halted all Jiu Jitsu plans. Seumas Sensei came to Tofino in September 2020 to join the club as Lead Instructor but had to wait for the pandemic to be over.
Tuff City Jitsu restarted after the pandemic in September 2021 and we held our first grading in April 2022 with two of our novices achieving their yellow belts, David Sempai achieving his light blue belt, and Seumas Sensei being awarded his hakama.
The club has since held two further gradings, one in September 2022 and the other in April 2023.
Meet The Team
Seumas Finlayson - Lead Instructor
Seumas started training in 2007 under Bruce Davies, Colin Armstrong and Ian Lambert in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was drawn to the art by its dramatic depiction in films and video games, and was interested in learning an effective martial art when he arrived to study physics as an undergraduate. The city's clubs were very welcoming with a mantra of "train hard, then play hard" and the friendships he made there specifically, then nationally and across the globe ever since will stay with him for life. He steadily climbed up the grades despite a few setbacks and attained dark blue belt by the time he had graduated. Next up was a stint training in Reading during a Masters degree, and then in South West England for work, serving as a "sempai" or senior mentor in these clubs. However he was soon drawn back to his roots in Edinburgh and started intensive training for brown
belt, which he achieved in December, 2016. Since then he provided some help to teach in the city but was aching for a chance to take up more responsibilities, and such opportunities were hard to find in such a talent-rich and competitive environment. Always drawn to Canada after several memorable training tours, he connected with David and resolved to come to work in Tofino and to help run the club. He managed this at the end of September 2020 despite COVID's best efforts!
Even with only one training session in the books before another wave of the virus had the district's sports and recreation shut down again, he was happy to be part of the scene and eager to help develop the club into a flourishing dojo with several keen members when it opened it’s doors permanently once again in late 2021. In the short term he has helped grade the first novice students up to green belt and also directly assisted David in an impromptu test for light blue belt! Long term he hopes to get a good pool of new members who will become both proficient in self defence and willing to oblige the senior members in dishing out tough beatings to hone them up for subsequent gradings, and to foster good links with affiliated clubs in the rest of Canada and
overseas. A fond participant of the triennial International event, he has been present for it in Edinburgh, then in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, and most recently in Drakensberg, South Africa.
While he was unable to make the next event in Vienna, Austria, in the summer of 2023, he has resolved to attend the following one wherever it may be held!
David Corbett - Instructor & Manager
David’s start with martial arts started as he was growing up in Almancil, Portugal where he trained as a junior in Yamabushi Ryu (http://www.yamabushiryu.com/) under Prof. Jamie Lee-Barron Hanshi from 7 years old to 11 years old, achieving his junior brown belt before he left to move back to the UK.Once there David tried karate until settling into Judo at school, achieving his yellow belt before the school club closed and he found a local martials arts club teaching Fuseki Martial Arts Systems (http://www.fuseki.co.uk/). David regularly trained with the adult’s class, attended courses on eskrima sticks, and even competed in a national competition.David took a break from martial arts until he found Shorinji Kan Jiu Jitsu (https://www.jitsufoundation.org/) at University College Brimingham in 2013 when he was studying Hospitality Business Management there. Something about the finesse of Jiu Jitsu struck him and he dove in with a passion, always arriving to session early to set up the mats to eek out the most time learning he could. David graded to green belt in March 2015 and in May of 2015 UCB Jitsu won “Club of the Year” under David’s captaincy.David then headed off to Tofino, BC. To start his placement year and was sad to discover that the nearest Shorinji Kan Jiu Jitsu club was in Vancouver, around a 6-hour car and ferry journey away. Luckily there was a local Judo club that David trained at whenever the opportunity presented itself.David returned to the UK and UCB Jitsu in June 2018 and got right back into training, often training 3-4 times a week with the Birmingham clubs. David was planning on returning to Canada and wanted to start a club of his own to help him maintain his Jiu Jitsu skills as well as share his love of the art with others. After sharing this desire with Max Bauer Sensei, and receiving approval from The Jiu Jitsu Foundation. David completed his Club Instructor Course and graded to purple belt in March 2018. He was grateful for other instructors who helped him get there including James Owen, Eric Lau and Paul Glebioska of University of Birmingham and Aston University, and perhaps foremost so with the assistance of Pristen Sibanda.He then returned to Canada and with the help of Andy Dobie Shihan, Alex Pappas, and a whole host of international instructors including Andreas Lerch, David founded the “study group” Tuff City Jitsu in July of 2018. His passion for Jiu Jitsu attracted a core group who trained regularly, as well as many drop ins who joined when their schedules allowed. A grading for his novices was set for March 2020 with the Vancouver Club until the pandemic halted all Jiu Jitsu plans.Tuff City Jitsu restarted after the pandemic in September 2021 and we held our first grading in April 2022 when David graded to light blue belt. David continues to manage the club, as well as teach and train alongside Seumas Sensei and eagerly awaits his opportunity to grade to dark blue.When David isn’t running the club or training, or thinking about training, he enjoys a variety of video games, hiking and exploring the local area, Karaoke @ The Maq, as well as playing Magic: The Gathering with friends.
