Sijo Nathan Young
Throughout Light Sword Martial Arts, Sijo Nathan Young is known as the “Father of Our Forms.” The 9-Form Combat System (the structured curriculum every LSTA student trains through), traces directly to him. A two-time World Champion, a performer at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and a second-generation Jeet Kune Do practitioner in the Bruce Lee tradition, he brought decades of cross-disciplinary mastery to every form he designed.
WAC World All-Style Championship
In 2019, Sijo Nathan Young carried the art onto the world stage. Competing as Saberation and Light Sword Martial Arts at the WAC World All-Style Championship across Portugal and Spain, he put LSMA into the international competitive record for the first time. That milestone laid the groundwork for the national federation pathway and the World Games bid the Light Sword Martial Arts Federation pursues today.
The Danzan Ryu Roots
The discipline behind the forms has classical roots. Sijo Nathan Young’s own martial-arts training includes Danzan Ryu Jujitsu: a tradition he carries into the structure, discipline, and rank progression of Light Sword Martial Arts.
Sijo Nathan Young receiving rank under Professor Kai Li, Elite Training Systems.
A Nidan in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu
Sijo Nathan Young holds a Nidan rank in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu, earned under Professor Kai Li. That rank belongs to a lineage carried by the American Jujitsu Institute. The classical jujitsu heritage that informs the technical foundation of the 9-Form system.
The American Jujitsu Institute
The American Jujitsu Institute was founded in 1939 by Professor Henry Seishiro Okazaki, originally under the name the American Jujitsu Guild. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, its Honolulu headquarters was briefly closed by the authorities before a senior student, William Ah Moo, secured permission for training to continue. The organization took its current name in 1943 and was formally incorporated in 1947 in the Territory of Hawaii.
Today the American Jujitsu Institute is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational institution that perpetuates Professor Okazaki’s teachings and the Kodenkan / Danzan Ryu Jujitsu tradition. The classical lineage behind Sijo Nathan Young’s rank.
A note on this lineage. Sijo Nathan Young’s Nidan is a personal rank in a classical art. Part of the heritage he carries into Light Sword Martial Arts. It is distinct from how LSTA is governed: the LSTA curriculum, its rank system, and its competition standards are administered by the Light Sword Martial Arts Federation, a Virginia nonprofit operating under 45 governing documents.
From One Academy to a Federation
Light Sword Martial Arts has grown through a documented chain of organizations. Each founded or endorsed by Sijo Nathan Young, each a step toward the structured federation that governs the art today.
Sifu Nate Martial Arts Academy
Founded by Sijo Nathan Young. The home academy where the teaching began. The foundation from which the light sword forms were first developed and passed on.
Saberation Inc., Light Sword Athletic Association
Endorsed by Sijo Nathan Young. The step that organized light sword practice as an athletic discipline: structure, training, and a competitive identity for the art.
Light Sword Martial Arts, PMA
A Private Member Association, endorsed by Sijo Nathan Young. The membership framework that carried the practice forward and connected practitioners under a shared standard.
Light Sword Training Academy & the LSMA Federation
Light Sword Training Academy is the current competitive and educational standard-bearer of this lineage, the federation-registered network across the U.S. and internationally, training under a single 9-Form curriculum and the Code of S.A.B.E.R. The art is now governed by the Light Sword Martial Arts Federation, the Virginia nonprofit that carries the heritage forward as a structured, documented sport.
You run the operation. We bring the program.
An operator who licenses LSTA inherits this documented lineage, and can answer the question every serious student asks. Meet the masters who carry it, or start the licensing conversation.