San-Jitsu vs. the World: How Frank Sanchez Took On the Martial Arts Elite
- Floyd Burk
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Frank E. Sanchez has been around the block. As a youth in Guam, the U.S. territory in which he was born, he frequently had to call on his martial arts skills to deal with local ruffians.
“When I was young, nothing pleased me more than a good brawl,” he wrote in Black Belt. “More often than not, it was at close quarters with someone who used only his hands — kicking was considered sissy stuff at the time because the Asian arts weren’t widely known. It was relatively easy to overpower such an adversary using hand and foot techniques.”
Sanchez's growing proficiency gained him a reputation as a formidable fighter. He wasn’t always scrapping, however. Often, he could be found singing. Using the stage name Frankie Sanchez — get it? — he recorded a number of regional tunes, including Do You Remember Guam and Guam, Beautiful Island.
Both songs are listed in Guampedia, an online resource that also mentions Sanchez as one of the island’s best-known people.
In 1971, Sanchez pooled all his knowledge and experience and created a hardcore self-defense system that he dubbed san-jitsu. Composed of strikes, gouges, bone-breaking techniques, takedowns, and weapons skills, it's defined in San-Jitsu: The New Devastating Fighting Art of the Marianas, a book Sanchez wrote in 1976.
The same year, his growing celebrity compelled Guam’s governor Ricardo J. Bordallo to make him an honorary ambassador-at-large for the island. Since the style’s unveiling, it’s been featured in Black Belt on numerous occasions.