Jujutsu
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This article is about Japanese Jiu Jitsu and its modern, Western variants. For more information on the German variant, see Ju-Jutsu; for the Brazilian variant, see Brazilian Jiu-Jiutsu.
Jiu Jitsu [dʑɯː.dʑɯ.tsɯ] (jap. 柔術, 
; "The gentle technique / The yielding art") is a martial art of unarmed self-defense originating with the Japanese samurai. Jiu Jitsu is intended to offer a wide range of possibilities for self-defense and - among other things by strengthening the character and self-confidence - also for the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
The goal of Jiu Jitsu is to render an attacker - regardless of whether he is armed or not - harmless as efficiently as possible. This can be done by punching, kicking, pushing, throwing, leveraging and choking techniques by bringing the attacker under control or incapacitating him. In Jiu Jitsu, force should not be used against force, but - according to the principle of "winning by yielding" - as much of the attacker's force as possible should be used against him.
The Kanji Jū (Jiu) and Jutsu (Jitsu) (read from top to bottom)
Jiu Jitsu as a modern martial art
In the West (Great Britain, USA and Germany) at the beginning of the 20th century a new type of self-defence developed from Judo, Western wrestling and boxing, which became known as Jiu Jitsu. The first Japanese instructors referred to their techniques as Kano Jiu Jitsu, the common name for Judo at the time. In the 1970s, elements from karate were added, and in the 1990s from other fighting styles such as Wing Chun, etc. Today, when Jiu Jitsu is referred to as a martial art, it is usually this modern western style that is meant and not the traditional Jiu Jitsu from Japan.
Name and spelling
Jiu Jitsu is written in Japan with Kanji, Chinese characters, as 柔術. The first character 柔 means "soft, gentle, flexible, yielding", the second character 術 as much as "technique, art, method, skill". What is meant is that one does not rely on raw, directly applied force, but adapts one's strategy and techniques fluidly to the opponent.
Western texts use many different transcriptions. In the internationally used Hepburn system, one writes Jūjutsu. In addition, the form Jiu Jitsu has survived. Probably to make the pronunciation easier to understand, the variant Dschiu Dschitsu is sometimes found in older German texts.
Although Japanese martial arts are quite old, the Sino-Japanese word jūjutsu can only be documented in Japan in texts of the Edo period. In early modern writing, other names such as yawara or yawarajutsu (柔ら / 軟ら / 和ら, or 和術), taijutsu (体術, 體術), Kempō (拳法), Hakuda (白打), Kogusoku (小具足), Koshimawari (腰廻), Kumiuchi (組討, 組打), Torite (捕手, 取手), or Shubaku (手拍, 手縛).
