Posts tagged jiu jitsu

Jiu Jitsu, literally meaning the “art of softness or way of yielding” is a collective name for Japanese martial art styles including unarmed and armed techniques.  Jujutsu evolved among the samurai of feudal Japan as a method for defeating an armed and armored opponent without weapons.  Today, Jiu Jitsu is still practiced both as it was hundreds of years ago, but also in modified forms for sport practice.  Derived sports forms include the Olympic sport and martial art of Judo, which was developed from several traditional styles of jujutsu by Kano Jigoro in the late 19th century; and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which was–in turn–derived from earlier versions (pre-World War II) of Kodokan Judo.

In Jiu Jitsu, practitioners train in the use of many potentially fatal moves. However, because students mostly train in a non-competitive environment, risk is minimized. Students are taught break falling skills to allow them to safely practice otherwise dangerous throws.  As a “soft” art, Jiu Jitsu systems generally employ the principles of balance, leverage, and momentum to overcome opponents.  This is in contrast to “hard” systems (for example, some styles of Karate or Taekwondo) that tend to emphasize developing power, strength, and speed.  

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) was developed after Mitsuyo Maeda brought Judo to Brazil in 1914.  It emphasizes ground fighting techniques and submission holds involving joint-locks and chokeholds also found in numerous other arts with or without ground fighting emphasis.   At the time, Judo was still often commonly referred to as “Jiu-Jitsu”, which explains why this derivative of Judo is called Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu rather than Brazilian Judo.  Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu came to international prominence in the martial arts community in the 1990s, when Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert Royce Gracie won the first, second and fourth Ultimate Fighting Championships, which at the time were single elimination martial arts tournaments.  It has since become a staple art for many MMA fighters and is largely credited for bringing widespread attention to the importance of ground fighting.  Sport BJJ tournaments continue to grow in popularity worldwide and have given rise to no-gi submission grappling tournaments, such as the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship.