The Blue Tree Jiujitsu Story

“Friends choking friends”

As the old saying says: “Some family you’re born with and others you meet along the way”. Blue Tree Jiujitsu was inspired by the family José and Miharu found when they started training at Gracie Jiujitsu Academy - Osaka in 2015. Led by Coach Mitsuru Tanaka, the community at Gracie Osaka was immediately inviting, accepting, and open. In addition to being a kind and patient instructor, Mitsuru (then assisted by Assistant Instructors Vincent Vigier and Kuni Maeda) showed us what community servant-leadership was all about.

As we grew close, Mitsuru shared the story of his Jiujitsu journey and how he had embarked on it along with this friend, Yasuhiro Aoki. While still in the early days of this journey with Mitsuru, Aoki-san had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. Despite this tragic loss, Mitsuru kept his dear friend’s constant presence in the dojo in the form of the gi he had worn while training and by making regular visits to his family and his grave. It was clear that Aoki-san’s spirit was alive and well and in the beating heart of the Gracie Osaka Family.

As a tribute to this spirit, José and Miharu decided to name their fledgling brand after that man whom - although they had never met - helped create a world which transformed their lives. The “AOKI” (青木) family name, literally “blue tree”, became OUR family name…

Blue Tree Jiujitsu was born.

The Brand, Design, and Concept

2016

Designed in collaboration with our extended family/art directors, Erik and Erika at Viva La Mort in 2016, our Blue Tree Jiujitsu symbol incorporates the family crest (家紋 - “kamon”) of the Aoki clan and a pine tree (松の木 - ”matsu-no-ki”). The matsu represents patience, endurance, longevity, and the branching of knowledge from a firmly-grounded source.

2018 Our First Gi - the BTMK1

Designed from 2016 and 2017 and delivered in early 2018, the Blue Tree Mark-1, or BTMK1 for short, is our first fully self-designed and self-branded jiujitsu gi. Uniquely fitted and sized and limited to a run of twenty sets (10 A1 gis and 10 A2 gis), these were shared amongst our community of friends and teachers and have been universally praised for their fit and resistance to wear and tear. See our gallery for other images

2020-2021 BTMK2 and BTMK3

After nearly three years of live testing, a change of jobs for us both - including relocating to Dubai, UAE for 2 years (2020 and 2021) right before the start of the Coronavirus Pandemic whilst maintaining our home base in Osaka - it was clear we had a great design and so decided to create the next generation of Blue Tree Jiujitsu equipment - this time to share with the rest of the world.

A single batch of 50 BTMK3 gis were run April, 2021 and are now available for sale in sizes A0, A1, A2, and A3 exclusively at Gracie Jiujitsu - Osaka.

Our next gi, the BTMK2, is now completing pre-production and will be ready for sale by the end of 2021 in sizes A0, A1, A2, and A3.

In August of 2021, we opened our e-commerce site, Bluetreejiujitsu.com and launched our first two T-shirt designs, our “Friends Choking Friends” L/S Tee and our “Workman” S/S Tee - both loving designed by us and hand-printed in Osaka, Japan.

What’s to come?

In addition to at least one more gi and several more T-shirts before the end of 2021, we will make our first forays into rashguards as well.

All new products will be sold on our online shop and sold in shops and pop-ups around Japan - STAY TUNED!

Feel free to contact us with any ideas for collaboration, questions, or suggestions!