Jessy James Amblo of the Bujinkan Kongoshin Dojo is the scion of many generations whose progenitors arrived in the New World as Royal Archers nearly 400 years ago with Samuel de Champlain.

Jessy’s journey to his current awareness of the meaning of Bushido – the evolution of the term from “one who serves” to “the way of the warrior” has been no less varied than his family’s journey through the history of America. As a youth, exploring martial arts books in an Oriental paraphernalia store, he was handed a copy of Soke’s History and Tradition and knew immediately that that was his calling.

The next two decades were a journey to authenticity.

Raising a daughter and training with a variety of genuine and not-so-genuine teachers all combined to help him learn and understand his priorities. Realizing, after winning two full-contact international mixed martial arts tournaments, that his task was not to celebrate the ego but to train until it receded into nothingness helped him to begin to understand that the purpose of Bushido is beauty, true strength and insightful awareness and the ability to help others. A decade of training without any teacher, he now realizes, was not only a test of will but an invaluable training tool – a window into his soul that he could not have found in any other way.

His promotion to 10th dan was vetted by some of the highest ranking most respected Shihan in the Bujinkan and he has trained repeatedly with Soke himself.

All of these experiences have combined to underscore a central, incontrovertible and essential theme: If he can think it he can do it and if he wants to do it he will discipline his mind to create what has to be done. It is this awareness, insight, discipline and the associated skills that are the foundation of the Bujinkan Kongoshin Dojo.