What is Jiu-jitsu?
What is Jiu-jitsu?
Jujutsu also known as jiu-Jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdue one or more weaponless or armed and armored opponents. A subset of techniques from certain styles of jujutsu were used to develop modern martial arts and combat sports, such as judo, sambo, ARB, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and mixed martial arts.
History of Jiu-Jitsu
The written history of Jiu-Jitsu (or Jujutsu) first began during the Nara period (c. 710 – c. 794) combining early forms of Sumo and various Japanese martial arts which were used on the battlefield for close quarters, hand to hand combat. The word Jiu-Jitsu can be broken down into two parts. "Jiu" or "Ju" is a concept. The idea behind this meaning of "Jiu/Ju" is "to be gentle", "to give way", "to yield", "to blend", "to move out of harm's way". "Jutsu/Jitsu" is the principle or "the action" part of jiu-jitsu or ju-jutsu. In Japanese this word means science or art.
Characteristics
"Jū" can be translated to mean "gentle, soft, supple, flexible, pliable, or yielding". "Jutsu" can be translated to mean "art or technique" and represents manipulating the opponent's force against themselves rather than confronting it with one's own force. Jujutsu developed to combat the samurai of feudal Japan as a method for defeating an armed and armored opponent in which one uses no form of weapon, or only a short weapon. Because striking against an armored opponent proved ineffective, practitioners learned that the most efficient methods for neutralizing an enemy took the form of pins, joint locks, and throws. These techniques were developed around the principle of using an attacker's energy against him, rather than directly opposing it.
Description
The word Jujutsu can be broken down into two parts. "Ju" is a concept. The idea behind this meaning of Ju is "to be gentle", "to give way", "to yield", "to blend", "to move out of harm's way". "Jutsu" is the principle or "the action" part of ju-jutsu. In Japanese this word means science or art.
Japanese jujutsu systems typically put more emphasis on throwing, pinning, and joint-locking techniques as compared with martial arts such as karate, which rely more on striking techniques. Striking techniques were seen as less important in most older Japanese systems because of the protection of samurai body armor and because they were considered less effective than throws and grappling so were mostly used as set-ups for their grappling techniques and throws, although some styles, such as Yōshin-ryū, Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū and Kyushin-ryū had more emphasis on striking. However, many modern-day jujutsu schools include striking, both as a set-up for further techniques or as a stand-alone action.
In jujutsu, practitioners train in the use of many potentially fatal or crippling moves, such as joint-locking throws. However, because students mostly train in a non-competitive environment, the risk is minimized. Students are taught break falling skills to allow them to safely practice otherwise dangerous throws.
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Special Thanks to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This video's script and images are derived from Wikipedia's articles "Jujutsu", "Samurai" and "Sumo" at Wikipedia.com