A Jujutsu instructor in Quispamsis, N.B. is set to travel the world to share his martial arts knowledge.
Phillip Yang has been practicing Jujutsu for 38 years and his teaching skills are being recognized internationally.
Yang says Jujutsu is an old Japanese martial art that stems back to 850 AD. He says his experience in martial arts began at the age of five as a form of self-defence.
“As many kids in the school system, they get picked on, so my dad put me into karate,” says Yang.
In middle school, Yang received his black belt and started his first Jujutsu class.
After 25 years of teaching, the instructor will be travelling to New York this Thursday to teach at the World Martial Arts Convention - an event that will feature 60 international instructors from 33 different countries.
After travelling throughout Canada to teach Jujutsu, Yang has met instructors from around the world, which he says has opened many doors for him.
“I’ve been invited to teach at their schools, so they’re going to fly me to Munich, Germany, and also Berlin, Germany next April,” he says.
Yang has also been asked to teach in Italy, Sweden, Poland, and Athens, Greece.
As a teacher, Yang says he is humbled and honoured to be given such opportunities - ones Yang’s senior student, Andrew Goldsworthy, thinks are well deserved.
“I think it’s great for him,” says Goldsworthy. “I think he certainly has the skills, he’s a very humbled teacher, excellent techniques he has from what I’ve observed.”
The martial arts instructor will be taking some time off to hit the main stage, but says he will continue to teach at his local Dojo in Quispamsis when he returns.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Blackford
