What is Jiu-jitsu?

The kind of Jiu-Jitsu we practice is descended from Japan.

 Jiu-jitsu is categorized into nine forms of technique. Basically, Jiu-jitsu consists of grapping and throwing techniques. It is about breaking the striker's balance so that the attacker almost creates a circumstance that ends in pacification.  At first glance, it sounds quite simple, but it is not so straightforward.

Jiu-jitsu has something in common with so many other things in life: you must repeat it repeatedly until it becomes a reflex when a stressful situation arises.

Jiu-jitsu is about self-defence and through that you will see the whole world and its surroundings.

The nine forms of technique which can be categorized into two main groups, gatame waza means Pin or Hold Down techniques. Basically, it means pin or (joint) lock (as in Kata-Gatame or Ude-Gatame) and nage waza throwing techniques

                              Gatame Waza                                            Nage Waza

                              Grapping techniques                                Throwing techniques

                              Finger Hold down techniques                  Foot/leg techniques                                                  

                              Hands Hold Down techniques                 Hand/Shoulder techniques                                              

                              Arm Hold Down techniques                    Hip techniques                                                     

                              Leg Hold Down techniques                     Sacrifice techniques                                                     

                              Neck Hold Down techniques

Jiu-jitsu or Ju-jitsu history

For more than 6,000 years techniques that look like the jiu-jitsu we know today have been practiced.

However, it was only once the written language gained ground that we could start documenting the history of martial arts. The Jiu-jitsu we know today originates from the Japanese warrior class around the year 700 AD.

Which was brought to Japan by merchants and monks.

We have the first accounts of Jiu-jitsu techniques in the Shinto-script Kojiki, approx. 700 AD and sumo-wrestling dating back to approx. 714 AD. but the origin of Sumo-wrestling has been lost. In conclusion there is something that is purely Japanese, and then something that is added from the outside. The Japanese samurai clans began to organise the different techniques into systems approximately around 1000 AD.

In ancient Japan, the various warrior clans were in constant war with each other, and the different techniques were kept secret from system to system from fence school to fence school.

There is not much difference between them compared to the Jiu-jitsu we know today. Some of those who contributed to the introduction of Jiu- jitsu were monks and merchants from China, and added a mental aspect to the Art. Which made some systems superior to others.

Basically, Jiu-jitsu is performed as joints, arm locks, and various throws, which are constantly being developed and refined. The monks from China and Japan practiced Jiu-jitsu a self-defense against robbers and warriors. The samurai class used it as a mental and technical tool. Jiu-jitsu is still used in the same way as in the old days, as a tool to self-defense, but it is also de-stressing and a form of meditation in motion.