About Ju Jitsu
What does ‘Ju-jitsu’ mean?
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In Japanese, ju-jitsu is written with two kanji. The first character, read as jyū or yawara, means soft, gentle or pliable. The second character, read as jyutsu, means art or technique. Because of this, ju-jitsu is often erroneously translated as ‘the gentle art.’
Its name originates in the sixteenth century when legend narrates that a young Japanese man called Shirobei Akiyama witnessed a heavy blizzard. He was able to appreciate how branches of most trees broke while the elastic branches of the willow tree bent and efficiently freed themselves from the snow. This gave rise to the name of the ‘pliable art.’ |
What is Ju-jitsu?
Most basically, Ju-jitsu is a Japanese system of unarmed combat. Ju-jitsu contains punches, blocks and kicks, and incorporates them with various throws, locks, hold-downs, strangles and chokes. It is designed to use the opponent’s force against him, thus a minimum of strength is required for maximum effectiveness. This, along with a very low injury rate, makes ju-jitsu ideal for younger people.
Using ju-jitsu techniques, a person may either immobilize an opponent with a minimum amount of pain or use a technique designed to disable and incapacitate the opponent. Although we encourage students to use good judgement and responsibility in the selection and execution of techniques, each technique can be violently effective.
Most ju-jitsu techniques focus on redirecting an attack to unbalance the opponent, while at the same time applying a counter-strike as distraction. One can then use a throw to take advantage of the opponent’s lack of balance. Once on the floor, locks, holds and strikes are employed to debilitate the opponent.
How did Ju-jitsu originate?
In Japanese mythology, is said that the gods Kajima and Kadorai used martial arts to discipline the native inhabitants of Japan. There is probably some truth in this, as there are records of many campaigns against the indigenous peoples of Japan, the Kumaso in Kyushu and the Ainu in Tohoku (Northern Honshu) and Hokkaido. It was then that the court appointed the first Seii-Taishogun (‘Generalissimo Against the Barbarians’). This title, usually shortened to Shogun, was accorded to several dynasties of governors until 1868.
The first Samurai emerged in the Heian Period, around 806 AD, but was only in the period of constant conflict known as the Thousand States era (1467 – 1615 AD) that the Samurai became an important part of Japanese society. Almost continual warfare forced the Samurai to hone their fighting skills until it became a way of life.
Ju-jitsu itself only started to appear during the Yedo Period (1615 AD), when the Tokugawa Bakufu unified Japan and brought peace to the land. The opportunities for armed warfare were restricted and armoured fighting became less common. The techniques developed earlier were changed to meet the new needs and unarmed combat began to evolve into a high art, with different schools formulating their own version of ju-jitsu.
There were at least twenty different schools, perhaps the most notable being the Yoshin ryu and Tenshin Shinyo ryu. However all schools held the common point of throws and redirection of force.
The golden age of Ju-jitsu lasted until the Meiji Restoration 1868 AD), when the Emperor abolished the Samurai class and the carrying of the daishō. After the Second World War, all martial arts were banned in Japan – only dō or sport forms were allowed to remain. Because of this, ju-jitsu flourished outside the country for several years and has only recently been re-introduced to Japan.