Jujutsu (柔術, jūjutsu) is an ancient Japanese martial art. This form of martial arts uses few or no weapons at all and includes throws, holds, and paralyzing attacks against the enemy. Jujutsu developed from the warrior class around the 17th century in Japan.
Jujutsu
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).