Soon, extra hard sessions became known as 'Hell Sessions', then Hanshi Howes found that the Japanese translation for this was 'Jigoku' and then they were called 'Jigoku Sessions', the obvious soon occurred and in 1988 the club began to be called Jigoku Dojo. It must be pointed out at this point that there is absolutely NO religious attachments here. Our symbol is based on the Japanese Oni, which is from Japanese folklore. In ancient Japanese folklore the Oni were the mischief makers, similar to Loki in Norse folklore. However, as is often the case, in more recent times, Oni have lost some of their original naughtiness and now often take on a more protective function. For example, men in Oni costumes often lead Japanese parades to ward off any bad luck. Also, Japanese buildings sometimes include Oni-faced roof tiles called onigawara, which are thought to ward away bad luck, much as gargoyles in Western tradition.