Wally Jay

Wally Jay (June 16, 1917 – May 29, 2011) was an American martial artist who primarily studied and taught jujutsu and judo. He was the founder of the Gendai Budo martial art Small Circle JuJitsu.

Jay was born in Hawaii of Chinese descent. At age 11, he began to study boxing under a community program. In 1940, he studied Danzan Ryu jujutsu under Juan Gomez and learned judo under the former Hawaiian Champion, Ken Kawachi. Jay and his wife Bernice were awarded a Certificate of Mastery by Seishiro Okazaki, the founder of Danzan Ryu jujutsu, on February 22, 1948.

Jay spent time with Bruce Lee and his associates in 1962 teaching them judo and jujutsu techniques

Jay was the head instructor of Jay's Jujitsu Studio, which is also known as Island Judo/Jujitsu Club in Alameda, California. Even past the age of 90, he traveled worldwide teaching seminars on Small Circle Jujitsu. Jay published two books; Dynamic Ju Jitsu and Small Circle JuJitsu and numerous instructional videos.

During the 1990s Wally Jay, Remy Presas (Modern Arnis), and George Dillman (Kyusho Jitsu) traveled together throughout the United States and worldwide promulgating small-circle jujitsu. Through Remy Presas elements of Small Circle JuJitsu have been integrated into Modern Arnis. Jack Hogan continues to promote and advance the principles of Wally Jay's small-circle jujitsu having incorporated a multitude of the techniques into Hogan Karate International and the Kyusho Certification Program.

In 1969, Jay was inducted into Black Belt Magazine’s Black Belt Hall of Fame as “Ju-Jitsu Sensei of the Year” and again in 1990 as “Man of the Year”.

In August 2002, Jay held a ceremony officially handing the title of grandmaster over to his son Leon Jay in their hometown of Alameda, California near San Francisco. Family, friends, several martial arts masters and the media witnessed the occasion.

Jay suffered a stroke on May 24, 2011. He was later removed from life support according to his stated wishes and died on May 29, 2011, at the age of 93.