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| Head coach Chu Minh Tuan (right) provides hands-on guidance to his athletes during a training session |
Challenging start
On June 29, 2016, Kimura Brazilian Jiujitsu Hue was officially established under the technical guidance of Master Vu Nguyen Hoang Tho, a French-Vietnamese martial artist who was among the pioneers to introduce BJJ to Vietnam. Led by Head Coach Chu Minh Tuan, Kimura Hue marked the second branch in the Kimura Brazilian Jiujitsu Vietnam network, following its first location in Ho Chi Minh City.
Without its own dojo, the club initially had to train in a local gym before shifting to temporary sessions at Nguyen Tri Phuong Junior High School. It took some time before Kimura Hue secured a stable home at the Hue Fighter Mixed Martial Arts Center on Hoang Quoc Viet Street.
Yet, in its early days, the greatest hurdle was not a place for training.
Back then, Jujitsu was still in its infancy in Vietnam, and few truly understood the discipline. Unlike more familiar martial arts, Jujitsu requires practitioners to engage in regular full-contact sparring and master submissions, joint locks, and ground fighting from an early stage. This meant constantly rolling on the mats and accepting the risk of injury from day one.
"It would be one thing if the practitioners were young athletes with strong physical foundations, professional training, and competitive goals. Instead, the pioneers at Kimura Hue were students, teachers, doctors, and entrepreneurs, who found this grueling and intense training environment quite overwhelming. My biggest worry was that they wouldn't survive the hardship and would quit halfway. Happily, that never happened," shared Head Coach Chu Minh Tuan.
Quietly sowing seeds
Despite operating as a grassroots club, Kimura's ambition to contribute to Hue's elite sports achievements never waned. Instead, they pursued this ambition in their own unique way: quietly building their roster from genuine Jujitsu enthusiasts, gradually standardizing techniques, and gaining competitive experience through low-profile sparring sessions with other clubs nationwide.
And that perseverance paid off after nearly four years of grueling work on the mats. Making their debut at Vietnam’s first two National and National Club Championships in 2019, Hue’s Jujitsu fighters brought home a total of 16 medals. While their first outing yielded just one silver and one bronze, the Ancient Citadel fighters made a quantum leap in the very next tournament, capturing 1 gold, 4 silvers, and 9 bronzes.
"At that time, Hue had not yet established an official team, so we entered the tournament under the name 'Judo-Jujitsu'—essentially operating as a sub-branch of the Hue Judo department—and fully self-funded the entire trip. When we sat down to discuss the expenses, contrary to my worries, everyone in the club was on the same page. We were determined to compete just to see how we stacked up and where Hue stood on the Vietnam Jujitsu map," Head Coach Chu Minh Tuan recalled.
On the heels of those achievements in the two arenas, in November 2022, Hue's sports authority decided to establish an official Jujitsu delegation for the 2022 National Sports Games. By late 2023, Jujitsu was officially separated from Judo to become its own independent department. These were critical turning points; with Kimura Hue’s grassroots movement as its foundation, Hue Jujitsu—under the stewardship of Head Coach Chu Minh Tuan—officially transitioned into a new era of professional development.
The best athletes continued to be selected from the club itself to supplement the high-performance sector, along with a series of titles at major arenas.
Sweet fruits
Van Suu is currently one of the pillars of both Kimura Hue and the Hue Jujitsu team. Since joining Hue Jujitsu in 2021, he quickly proved his caliber by capturing a gold at the 2022 National Sports Games, followed by back-to-back golds at the Southeast Asian Championship and the 2024 National Championship. In 2025, Van Suu continued to solidify his role as a linchpin of the Vietnam national team, securing a bronze at the Asian Jujitsu Championship and a silver at the 33rd SEA Games.
Aside from Van Suu, other standout names include Nguyen Thu Huong—who claimed a gold and a silver at the World Beach Cup in 2023 and 2024, alongside a silver at the 33rd SEA Games in 2025—and Do Hoang Lam, who earned a silver at the 2022 National Sports Games, a gold at the 2024 National Beach Championship, and a bronze at the 2025 Southeast Asian Championship.
"Following in the footsteps of their predecessors, Kimura Hue and the Hue Jujitsu team boast promising young faces, including Tuyet Nhu, Trong Nghia, Anh Thien, and especially Nguyen Thi Hoai Thuong. At just 17 years old, the female martial artist has secured four golds at the World Youth Championship and the Asian Youth Championship consecutively across 2024 and 2025. This underscores the potential and depth of the Hue Jujitsu squad for the Ancient Capital's next cycle of growth."