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A brief history of Jujutsu

Jujutsu training at an agricultural school  in Japan around 1920.

 

Jujutsu (柔術:じゅうじゅつ, jūjutsu), literally translates to "art of pliance". More accurately, however, it means the art of using indirect force, such as joint locks or throwing techniques, to defeat an opponent, as opposed to direct force such as a punch or a kick. This is not to imply that jujutsu does not teach or employ strikes, but rather that the art's aim is the ability to use an attacker's force against him or her, and counter-attack where they are weakest or least defended.

Methods of combat included striking (kicking, punching), throwing (body throws, joint-lock throws, unbalance throws), restraining (pinning, strangulating, grappling, wrestling) and weaponry. Defensive tactics included blocking, evading, off balancing, blending and escaping. Minor weapons such as the tanto (dagger), ryufundo kusari (weighted chain), jutte (helmet smasher), and kakushi buki (secret or disguised weapons) were almost always included in koryū jujutsu.

Most of these were battlefield-based systems to be practiced as companion arts to the more common and vital weapon systems. At the time, these fighting arts went by many different names, including kogusoku, yawara, kumiuchi, and hakuda. In reality, these grappling systems were not really unarmed systems of combat, but are more accurately described as means whereby an unarmed or lightly armed warrior could defeat a heavily armed and armored enemy on the battlefield. Ideally, the samurai would be armed and would not need to rely on such techniques.

In later times, other koryū developed into systems more familiar to the practitioners of the jujutsu commonly seen today. These systems are generally designed to deal with opponents neither wearing armor nor in a battlefield environment. For this reason, they include extensive use of atemi waza (vital-striking technique). These tactics would be of little use against an armored opponent on a battlefield. They would, however, be quite valuable to anyone confronting an enemy or opponent during peacetime dressed in normal street attire. Occasionally, inconspicuous weapons such as knives or tessen (iron fans) were included in the curriculum.

Today, jujutsu is practiced in many forms, both ancient and modern. Various methods of jujutsu have been incorporated or synthesized into judo and aikido, as well as being exported throughout the world and transformed into sport wrestling systems, adopted in whole or part by schools of karate or other unrelated martial arts, still practiced as they were centuries ago, or all of the above (ref. wikipedia).

Honor, Honesty, Justice

A brief overview of Jujutsu today...

While the most popular translation of Jujutsu remains “the gentle art,” a more apt translation would be "the art of flexible adaptation". Jujutsu requires the ability to yield or flow with an attack or offer momentary resistance in order to break the attacker's balance and/or momentum and thereby control, disable, cripple, or kill the opponent. True Jujutsu is achieving the maximum effect with the minimum effort.

Jujutsu was the first Japanese martial art to be widely recognized in the West. Until the 1950s, Jujutsu was the art of choice for law enforcement and military organizations worldwide. It is the confusion of combat systems with martial sports that allowed Jujutsu to be superseded by Karate, Kung fu and Tae Kwon Do in the public eye. Ironically, it is the perception of Jujutsu as a sport today that has thrust it back into the public eye. While many Jujutsu techniques are used in the cross-style tournaments so popular on pay-per-view TV, the chokes and joint locks seen in the UFC are just scratches on the surface of traditional Jujutsu's wealth of knowledge.

Understanding the need to evolve and adapt to meet new and previously unanticipated challenges, Our family-Ryu has kept pace with the times while retaining a connection with the Koryu or ancient schools of classical Jujutsu. Advanced students learn Kata and technique that can be traced back hundreds of years and, while designed to deal with sword and dagger attacks, can easily be applied in a modern setting against contemporary threats.

Jujutsu, in its true form, is not a sport. There are no rules, no concept of fair play, no “gentlemen's understanding” in the application of self-defense technique. It is direct and often times brutal. In the event of an attack, the ability to cripple or kill was and is essential. While damage to the opponent can be minimal, the goal is always to do whatever is needed to survive a confrontation. Jujutsu is surgical violence in its purest form.