The art of Jiu-Jitsu is a Japanese grappling method of fighting. The grappling systems of Jiu-Jitsu can be traced to the sixteenth and seventeenth century, during the Tokugawa Period in Japanese history. The many styles of the period were developed from the close quarter combat (kumi-uchi) methods used by the samurai (Japanese warrior).

Koseido-ryu Jiu-Jitsu (“The Way Of Individual Character”) was developed from the classical arts of Jiu-Jitsu which were studied by Sensei Dewey Deavers. In the year 1910, at the age of 20, the young Deavers became interested in the Japanese fighting arts while observing a skillfully executed demonstration by a group of traveling martial artists. He was accepted as their student, later becoming a member of the demonstration team himself. The techniques taught to Sensei Deavers by his teachers were Jiu-Jitsu and Atemi-Waza, also known as Karate-Jitsu. His system of Jiu-Jitsu includes: holding, choking, striking, kicking and punching and throwing an opponent. Also included are methods of disarming an opponent with a weapon.

Koseido-ryu Jiu-Jitsu is currently taught at the Allegheny County Budo-Kai in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh by Hanshi Joseph Hedderman, Sensei Deaver's successor. Kyoshi Hedderman, a 10th-degree black belt in Koseido-Ryu Jiu-Jitsu, 9th-degree black belt in Chito-Ryu Karate and member of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai (DNBK), has trained in the martial arts for over 60 years. Through Sensei Deavers and Hedderman's commitment to the martial arts, the South Hills dojo has offered continuous instruction since its establishment in 1939.

In 1999, Kyoshi Terry Valentino, Kyoshi Hedderman's most senior student and instructor, opened the Yoseikan Dojo in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh where he offers traditional martial arts training in Koseido-ryu Jiu-Jitsu and Chito-ryu Karate.

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