About
The Origin
The founder of RyuShinDo, Professor Dickie Siu Djeh Yue, believed that martial arts should remain open, adaptable, and continually evolving. After more than six decades of studying, teaching, and competing across multiple disciplines, he distilled their most effective principles into a practical system rooted in efficiency, adaptability, and real-world application. He encouraged his students to question everything, preserve what proved effective, discard what did not, and never stop learning. Born in Hong Kong, China, in the 1930s, Professor Yue dedicated his life to the pursuit of martial arts. As a young man, he became the Hong Kong Golden Gloves Flyweight Champion, later earning black belts in Kodokan Judo, Danzan Ryu Jujutsu, and Tae Kwon Do while remaining an active competitor in Kodokan Judo. Alongside these accomplishments, he devoted decades to the study of Wing Chun, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and Chinese boxing. Rather than viewing these disciplines as separate systems, Professor Yue recognized that each offered something valuable. Over a lifetime of training, teaching, and competition, he refined the principles they shared, combining the direct striking of boxing and Wing Chun with the throws, joint locks, and grappling of Kodokan Judo and Danzan Ryu Jujutsu to create an approach that emphasized simplicity, adaptability, and practical effectiveness
Preserving Tradition
Rather than preserving each discipline as an independent system, Professor Yue searched for the principles they shared. Combining the direct striking of boxing and Wing Chun with the throwing, joint-locking, and grappling principles of Judo and Danzan Ryu Jujutsu, he gradually refined an approach that emphasized efficiency, adaptability, sensitivity, and practical application over rigid adherence to style.
His philosophy was simple:
Keep what works. Discard what doesn’t. Never stop learning.
In 2006, after years of collaboration with his chief disciples, Nicholas Giordano and Bob Hunt, those principles became formally recognized as RyuShinDo—The Way of the Flowing Heart.
In 2007, the first RyuShinDo black belt was awarded to Nicholas Giordano by Mr. Yue Sensei, Professor Michael Esmailzadeh,Kudan (9th Dan) in Danzan Ryu Jujutsu of Suigetsukan in Oakland, California, and Grand Master Suk Byung Park, Judan (10th Dan), in Billings, Montana.
Carrying the Art Forward
Nicholas first met Professor Yue at fifteen years old at Desert Winds Martial Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada. There he also met Professor Anthony MulHolland, an unconventional and highly respected Tai Chi practitioner whose understanding of Daoism and zen, internal movement, and embodied awareness would later become instrumental in the continued evolution of RyuShinDo.
Before his passing in 2016, Professor Yue entrusted Nicholas with a responsibility he repeated for years:
“Teach as many students as possible. Open your own dojo. Keep RyuShinDo alive. Make it better. Discard anything that doesn’t work. Keep training hard… and never stop.”
Since Professor Yue’s passing, Nicholas has remained committed to fulfilling that agreement. While preserving the practical foundation Professor Yue established, his continued study under Professor Anthony MulHolland has brought an even deeper emphasis on Tai Chi’s principles of listening, yielding, balance, internal power, and embodied awareness. Years of exploration in mountain style Tai Chi, Muay Thai, meditation, and community engagement have further expanded RyuShinDo into more than a system of self-defense.
Today, RyuShinDo seeks to unite two complementary paths: the practical effectiveness of martial training and the lifelong cultivation of compassion, resilience, health, and human connection. The goal is not simply to prepare students for conflict, but to help them navigate everyday life with greater awareness, balance, confidence, and kindness.
That same philosophy now extends beyond the dojo through artwork, education, and the RyuShinDo clothing line. Every design serves as a reminder that strength is not defined solely by one’s ability to fight, but by one’s willingness to grow, to serve others, and to continue evolving.