Florendo Visitacion

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Florendo Visitacion (7 June 1910-4 January 1999) was a martial arts instructor producing many notable teachers in their own right.

1 Early life
2 Development
3 Birth of the finalized art
4 The teacher
5 Death and heirs
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Early life

Florendo M. Visitacion or as he is commonly called, Professor Vee, was born in Ilocos Norte, Philippines in 1910. He began informal training in Arnis at the age of ten. At the age of sixteen, he left his home and family and journeyed to the Hawaiian Islands. In 1928, he moved to Stockton, California where he continued studying Filipino martial arts from available sources.

After traveling around California for a number of years, Florendo Visitacion entered the U.S. Army during World War II. This marked a turning point in his life in that he began to view martial arts in a new light. He read and became intrigued with an officer's hand-to-hand combat manual which claimed to present a combination of styles from different countries. The idea of integrating techniques from a variety of martial arts was very appealing to him.

[edit] Development

This soon led the young Visitacion on a personal journey where he was to devote many years to the study of different fighting styles. Along the way, he realized that mastery of a particular system was not always necessary. What was essential, however, was the ability to understand its useful principles and how to apply them effectively in a given situation. It was important for a student of the fighting arts to absorb only what was applicable and to tailor the art to his or her needs. That was why he also advocated the researching of other systems. It was by doing so, he felt, an individual could learn and choose from a variety of techniques, thereby improving one's fighting skills.

In 1950, he moved to New York. A year later, Visitacion trained under ex-marine Charles Nelson, also a World War II veteran and an expert in the art of Mongolian wrestling. Nelson was particularly adept in joint locking techniques. Vistacion later augmented his training by learning modern Jujutsu under Kiyose Nakae, author of the book Jiu jitsu Complete. He also took up judo and the Indian art of Varmannie. In 1958, he studied under R. H. Sigward, the author of Modern Self-Defense. On September 5, 1955, he introduced Vee Jitsu, an early forerunner of his art, Vee Arnis Jitsu.

[edit] Birth of the finalized art

In 1960, Visitacion joined the American Judo and Jujitsu Federation, from whom he was given the title of "Professor".^{[citation needed]} He was appointed the director of its Northeast Division. During one trip to an AJJF conference in California, he met and began a life-long friendship with Wally Jay, the founder of Small Circle Jujutsu. He also befriended the late Raymond Tabosa, a noted master of the Filipino martial art, Kali.

Thanks to a renewed interest in Filipino martial arts, Professor Vee began a ten-year study of Arnis Lanada under Amante Mariñas. He also learned additional techniques from Remy Presas of the school of Modern Arnis. In addition, he also received training from Leo Gaje, a noted expert in Pekiti Tirsia, a Kali system. In 1978, the Arnis America Organization headed by Leo Gaje gave him the Datu award in recognition for his work in promoting Filipino martial arts. Five years later, he also received the prestigious instructor's rank from Amante Mariñas and the World Arnis Federation.

[edit] The teacher

Vistacion began his career as a martial arts instructor during the mid-1950's and for over three decades, he actively taught his art at different locations throughout the New York City metropolitan area. Over the years, his system would produce a number of notable martial artists, some who founded their own fighting styles. These include Moses Powell, father of Sanuces-ryu Jiujitsu, and John Davis of Kumite-ryu Jujutsu.

He continued cross-training and researching other fighting systems including several different styles of Chinese kung fu including; Southern Praying Mantis, Yang style Tai Chi Chuan, Baqua Chang, and Wing Chun. He also studied basic karate techniques from Lou Angel.

He continued to refine and make changes to his system. As it evolved, so did its name. At one point, after adding Kenpo karate forms, he renamed it Vee Jitsu Te. In 1965, Vistacion introduced Vee Jitsu '65, an improved version of his art. The following year, the AJJF conferred upon him the title of Professor and awarded him a 10th dan ranking in his own art^{[citation needed]}. The AJJF repeated the process in 1971, after Professor Vee presented them with another update of his system, now called Vee Jitsu Ryu Jiujitsu. In 1983, he discarded the Kenpo katas in favor of Arnis and later adopted the name, Vee Arnis Jitsu. Later, he approved the addition of Muay Thai boxing techniques, making the art more powerful and effective.

In 1993, in recognition for his contributions, Professor Florendo Visitacion was elected to the Martial Arts Hall of Fame and given a "Life-time Achievement" award.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Death and heirs

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Florendo Vistacion died on January 4, 1999 in New York City. Since then his martial art continues to flourish under David James, the present chief instructor of the Vee Arnis Jitsu School of New York.

In his last Will and Testament, Vistacion left his systems to the following Grandmasters:^[1]

Robert Evans; Modern Vee Jitsu
David James; Vee Arnis Jitsu
Frank Edwards Sr. and Frank "Cowboy" Edwards Jr.; Vee Jitsu 75
Robert Torres; Vee Jitsu Te

Also, Rick Riccardi (Niseido), James Powers, Danny Paulo (Vee Do Kwan), and Rick Hernandez (Vistacion Kuntao) consider Florendo Vistacion their principal instructor / mentor.