What is Jiu Jitsu? Types, Origin, and History of Jiu Jitsu

If you are a fan of martial arts, you must have seen or heard about Jiu Jitsu. Jiu Jitsu is the art that quickly attracts martial arts lovers, and they become fans of Jiu Jitsu. If you are not familiar with Jiu Jitsu or Ju Jutsu, or you want to know in-depth about the basics of Jiu Jitsu, then you are at the right place. This article is focused on Jiu Jitsu and its basics, such as its types, origin, and its ancient roots.

Jiu Jitsu is the combination of two words: Jiu and Jitsu. Jiu means gentle , and Jitsu means art . So Jiu Jitsu means gentle art. Jiu Jitsu is a martial art that is based on the following things:

• Getting an advantage over your opponent on the basis of technique and skills.

• Prioritize technique over strength and size.

• Making the practitioners able to beat opponents of greater strength, height, and size.

• Unarmed combat sport originally developed for close combat.

• Ground fighting.

• Jiu Jitsu is the gentle art, and it involves no violence or physically hurting someone. 

Jiu Jitsu or Ju Jutsu both refer to the same martial art. However, there is one difference between them;

• Jiu Jitsu: Jiu Jitsu refers to the martial art developed in Brazil. Hence, it is known as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or the Brazilian version of Ju Jutsu. Jiu and Jitsu are the Portuguese words that translate to Ju and Jutsu in Japanese.
• Ju Jutsu: When we say Ju Jutsu, it means that we are referring to the martial art that originated in Japan. So it is called Japanese Ju Jutsu (JJJ) or also called Japanese Jiu Jitsu. Ju and Jutsu are the Japanese words.
• Ju Jitsu: It refers to the same martial art, but it is used mostly in Europe.

The following are the different Jiu Jitsu styles or Jiu Jitsu types;

Almost all martial arts that are based on grappling or ground fighting originated and are based on Japanese Jujutsu (JJJ). JJJ is the ancient form of Jiu Jitsu and was developed initially by the Samurai. JJJ was based on the techniques that are used by the fighters in close combat or any other means of warfare. JJJ in ancient times had three principles: ground fighting, striking, and grabbing. In JJJ, many things were taught initially besides fighting techniques and self-defense, such as the physiological study of the fights, but now these elements in JJJ have become rare.

Mitsuyo Maeda was the person who brought Jujutsu from Japan to Brazil. He trained some of the famous martial artists. Later on, Carlos Gracie developed it into a complete martial art and named it Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. His family, the Gracie family, dominated the art since then, and almost all of Gracie’s sons practiced BJJ and won many championships. The family made academies for teaching BJJ, therefore, helped in the spread of BJJ throughout Brazil and later on in America. So people started calling the art Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

Budoshin Ju-Jitsu is also based on the ancient principles of Japanese Ju-Jitsu, but it is more focused on self-defense. It is not based solely on ground fighting, unlike Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It also involves other martial arts in its discipline, such as Aikido, Karate, and Judo.

Hokutoryu Ju-Jutsu or Hokutoryu Jiu Jitsu is the style of Jiu Jitsu based on Japanese Ju Jutsu. It originated in Finland. The word Hokutoryu is a Japanese word, and it means ‘Big Dipper style’ or ‘ North Star style’. Practitioners who practice Hokutoryu Ju-Jutsu style or Finnish Ju Jutsu style wear a Gi (juJutsuGi) with a logo of Hokutoryu Ju-Jutsu, which is an inverted triangle, red in colour.

Atemi Ju Jitsu was developed by the French Judo and JuJutsu practitioner Bernard Pariset. It was developed with the purpose of inventing a self-defense style that incorporated the original and ancient style of Japanese Jujutsu, the koryū Jujutsu. Atemi Ju Jitsu has incorporated the styles of Judo to make it a complete martial art for self-defense. The Pariset family is also known as the French Gracie family, as they have developed their own French version of Japanese Jujutsu style.

There are some other styles of Jiu Jitsu based on the person who made a little variation, introducing some new techniques to the art. For example, the Machado brothers were cousins of Carlos Gracie. Although all were students of Mitsyo Maeda, the Machado brothers spread the Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) with their own variations of the style, and that style is known as the Machado style of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. They also played a major role in spreading BJJ to the United States.

Oswaldo Fadda was also a student of Mitsyo Maeda, and he started spreading Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with his own variation of the style.

• The history of Jiu Jitsu, or modern Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, started from the Japanese martial arts system known as Japanese Jiu Jitsu. It is a generic term for a group of martial arts practiced in Japan during its Feudal age, predominantly by the Samurai class on the battlefield as a method of close combat for defeating an armored opponent, involving no weapon or only a short one. 
• It was a system of attack that involved rolls, joint locks, chokes, strikes, pinning, and capturing an opponent, stabbing, as well as defenses against these attacks. Although Jiu-Jitsu techniques were known from the earliest times, it was not until the second half of the 16th century that it was practiced and taught systematically by the mid-1800s.

• There were countless Jiu-Jitsu systems practiced throughout Japan. During this time, Japanese politics disintegrated into disarray. Following the opening of Japan to the West by American Matthew Perry, Jujitsu gradually shifted its focus from battlefield to self-defense application to better align with the needs of civil society. 
• New techniques were created to adapt to this changing situation of non-armored opponents in 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate , which had ruled Japan for over 200 years, lost its power.

• The decline of Japanese Jujutsu and all Japanese martial arts started with the fall of the Samurai class as the emperor regained his supreme position. Martial arts were not banned officially in the country. Despite this, the motivation for learning and practicing martial arts in public was no longer. The Japanese public used to look at Samurai with huge respect, but their glory was also finished in the public’s eyes.
• People started to hate JuJutsu, and they were no longer interested in learning and practicing martial arts. Also, the schools that used to teach Japanese martial arts started to close, and the martial arts teachers were forced to stop teaching. Only a few schools teaching martial arts were still open, which posed a challenge for the public and teachers of other martial arts styles.

The great rivalry started in the Japanese martial arts. The rivalry was to win the competition of attracting more new students. The rivalry took a new turn and was converted from gentle to violent and brutal. Sometimes, the rivalry and fights were so violent that they resulted in the death of the fighter. Seeing the violence that was continuously rising, strict rules were made and adopted in the challenges between the rivals. After this, Japanese Ju Jutsu started to modify itself as a modern and new form, adopting elements of sport.

• Jigoro Kano entered the scene and invented the new style in the history of Japanese Judo, which he named Kodokan Judo. Jigoro created this new martial art after studying many other martial arts and styles, focusing on the throwing techniques. He adopted all the positive elements of already existing Japanese martial arts and added some of his own inspirations and ideas, and made a new system. Moreover, he also eliminated some of the techniques that he thought could be very dangerous. In simple words, Kano revised the system of Japanese martial arts and developed a new, modified martial art.
• He thought that the new system is better than other martial arts in Japan and fulfills the needs of modern people. He named the system Kano Jujitsu or Kano Ryu, but later on, he changed the name to Kodokan Judo. Kano thought that Ju Jutsu was not the best fit for the name of his newly developed martial art system. As Ju means gentle, he added the word ‘Do’ after Ju, which means path or way; therefore, the name Judo . The complete name was Kudokan Judo and the Dojo Kudokan, which literally means the place or site where the path or way of life is taught.

• The following decades involved the great rivalry between different martial arts in Japan. Also, the school teaching martial arts used each other’s styles of techniques in an attempt to make their martial art better than others. Jigoro Kano also tried to make his newly developed system of martial arts even better by adding some advanced groundwork techniques. 
• Kano’s efforts to develop a better system of martial arts bore fruit, and his students defeated other martial artists. He then requested that other schools follow the syllabus of his school's martial arts. Following his request, many schools started adopting Judo’s curriculum into their schools. So Kano’s Judo started becoming popular in Japan. Now, the time has come to make this system popular in the Western world.

With the rise of many martial arts in Japan, it has become a mixture of new and old martial arts. This made it difficult to distinguish between Judo and Jujutsu till the early 20th century. Ju Jutsu was the generic name used to refer to all martial arts in Japan, which was practiced by the Japanese masters, no matter which style they were associated with. Even the Japanese people started calling Jujutsu and Judo the same martial arts, and they made no difference between them. 

• There was an ongoing rivalry between the Jujutsu and Judo masters for promoting their art around the world. So, along with Judo masters, Jiu Jitsu masters also went to Western countries in an attempt to promote their art. Their efforts bore fruit, and Jujutsu started becoming popular in the Western world, especially after Japan won the war against the Russians. Their basic technique and philosophy, i.e., beating bigger and stronger opponents, were depicted in the war by the Japanese fighters.
• Impressed by the Japanese philosophy of martial arts, President Theodore Roosevelt started training in Judo. He trained under two masters; the first one was John J. O'Brien, and the second one was judo master Yoshitsugu Yamashita.

• Carlos Gracie started training under Mitsuyo Maeda. At that time, Carlos was 15 years old. He continued training under Mitsuyoshi for three years. This helped him get a solid foundation of Judo and Jujutsu under Mitsyuo. He then moved to Rio de Janeiro with his family. Many other students, like Carlos Gracie, learned martial arts based on grappling, such as Judo or Jiu Jitsu, regardless of the terminology. They learnt the art basically with the purpose of self-defense. The objective to learn such martial arts was to win against their opponents and submit them through various techniques such as strangleholds or joint locks.
• The techniques were refined over the years for submission to the opponents. So in this way, there was the first interaction between Gracies and Mitsyuo Maeda. This had consequences for the Brazilians regarding the practice and training of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil. Gracie went in-depth into the martial arts and started studying martial arts books. He studies many books to increase his knowledge. He wanted to make the martial art even better. He also trained with his brothers at his home, the most prominent among them being Helio Gracie.
• Carlos Gracie, with the thought of improving the martial art, developed his own system of martial arts, which he named Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He developed this with the help of his brother Helio Gracie. Gracies played a vital role in the development and then popularization of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu around the world.
• Besides Gracie’s Jiu Jitsu, there was another student of Mitsuyo Maeda who helped develop and popularize BJJ. His name was Luiz Franca. His style was a little bit different from the Gracies’ style of BJJ. His prominent student was Oswaldo Fadda. They were the only ones who were able to defeat Gracies in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and they got a lot of fame for this. 

Japanese Jujutsu is the ancient form of martial art in Japan, which has given rise to many other martial arts that are very popular around the world. Two of such martial arts, which are practiced around the world, are Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. There are many competitions of BJJ held around the world each year. Some celebrities around the world also do BJJ. BJJ has become the craze both among fans and celebrities throughout the world.

Jiu Jitsu refers to the martial art developed in Brazil. Hence, it is known as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or the Brazilian version of Ju Jutsu. Jiu and Jitsu are the Portuguese words that translate to Ju and Jutsu in Japanese. Ju Jutsu: When we say Ju Jutsu, it means that we are referring to the martial art that originated in Japan. So it is called Japanese Ju Jutsu (JJJ) or also called Japanese Jiu Jitsu. Ju and Jutsu are the Japanese words. Ju Jitsu: It refers to the same martial art, but it is used mostly in Europe.

Jigoro Kano entered the scene and invented the new style in the history of Japanese Judo, which he named Kodokan Judo. Jigoro created this new martial art after studying many other martial arts and styles, focusing on the throwing techniques. He adopted all the positive elements of already existing Japanese martial arts and added some of his own inspirations and ideas, and made a new system. Moreover, he also eliminated some of the techniques that he thought could be very dangerous. He named the system Kano Jujitsu or Kano Ryu, but later on, he changed the name to Kodokan Judo. The complete name was Kudokan Judo and the Dojo Kudokan, which literally means the place or site where the path or way of life is taught.

With the rise of many martial arts in Japan, it has become a mixture of new and old martial arts. This made it difficult to distinguish between Judo and Jujutsu till the early 20th century. Ju Jutsu was the generic name used to refer to all martial arts in Japan, which was practiced by the Japanese masters, no matter which style they were associated with. Even the Japanese people started calling Jujutsu and Judo the same martial arts, and they made no difference between them.

Jiu Jitsu is the combination of two words: Jiu and Jitsu. Jiu means gentle, and Jitsu means art. So Jiu Jitsu means gentle art. Jiu Jitsu is a martial art that is based on getting an advantage over your opponent on the basis of technique and skills, prioritize technique over strength and size, making the practitioners able to beat opponents of greater strength, height, and size, unarmed combat sport originally developed for close combat, and ground fighting.