The characters on the left read "Dan Zan Ryu Ju Do Moku Roku" which translates to "Catalog of the Cedar Mountain System of Judo" or "Catalog of the Sandalwood Mountain System of Judo." Either translation is correct.
They are the first characters on scrolls written by Professor Henry Seishiro Okazaki and presented to selected students of his teachings. The Sandalwood was a fairly fragrant cedar tree from Hawaii, which had been exported to China during the 1800's. The Chinese used the trees to build Buddhist Altars. Thus, Hawaii became known as the Sandalwood Mountain, or "Danzan." In essence, Danzan Ryu Jujitsu is the Hawaii System or Hawaiian School of Jujitsu.
Just as in the English Language, a single word may have several different meanings. When one refers to Hawaii, he may say "Hawaii", "The Sandwich Isle", "The Aloha State", or in this case "Danzan," in every case, referencing Hawaii.
