The program taught at Makoto Kai is Danzan Ryu Jujitsu, a system of martial art originally developed by Professor Henry S. Okazaki. Professor Okazaki was a native of Japan and emigrated to Hawaii in 1906. He studied many different types of martial arts and developed a composite style of judo and jujitsu that he named Danzan Ryu.
Professor Ray Law was one of four of Professor Okazaki's students who came to California to establish their own dojos and propagate the Danzan Ryu system. These four Professors also founded the American Judo and Jujitsu Federation in the 1950’s.
The lineage of Makoto Kai continued with Professor Betty Maillette, who studied with Professor Law and later founded the first Danzan Ryu school of jujitsu and self-protection for women in the 1970’s. Her dojo, called The Dojo, operated for 15 years in Oakland, California. Sensei Cynthia Frueh, studied at The Dojo after Professor Maillette had retired. At the time Sensei Frueh was there, the school heads were Sensei Mady Shumofsky and Sensei Elise Prowse.
Sensei Cynthia Frueh founded Makoto Kai in her garage in Woodland, California in 1990. She moved the school to the First Street location in 1992, where it is located today. Sensei Frueh retired from active jujitsu training in 2005.
The traditions of teaching Danzan Ryu Jujitsu that Sensei Frueh established have been passed from sensei to sensei and continue to the present day. Please see the list and photos of all Makoto Kai school heads below.
Makoto Kai is a proud member of the American Judo and Jujitsu Federation.
The name of our school traces back to the early days of The Dojo, when there was a club of advanced students that was called Makoto Kai. Sensei Frueh felt that it was fitting to select this name in consideration of the source of our knowledge. Makoto means sincerity or honesty, both in terms of philosophy as well as the mindful intent of performing a technique. Kai simply means club.
In the tradition of Professor Maillette and The Dojo, Makoto Kai started as a school with a special focus on teaching jujitsu and self-defense skills to women. It is now open to anyone - women, men, boys and girls - with the desire and dedication to learn the beautiful and challenging art of jujitsu.
Makoto Kai Dojo School Heads and Co-School Heads
Cynthia Frueh, Founder, 1990 - 2005
Katie Murphy Stevens, 2002 - 2024
Nerissa Freeman, 2005 - 2012
Joe Bendorf, 2018 - 2019
Michael Thompson, 2022 - present
