History

This form of martial arts can trace its roots back to the early unarmed styles that were popular among the samurai. Early martial arts were often categorized narrowly; kenjutsu for sword-fencing, naginata-jutsu for the glaive, and jūjutsu for unarmed. There were many styles of jūjutsu with different areas of emphasis such as purely empty-hand fighting; in others it was a system of unarmed methods of dealing with an enemy who was armed. Jūjutsu, much like Karate and Kung Fu is a very general term and is not limited to only one fixed set of techniques. It's considered the father of Judo.

Japanese culture and religion have become intertwined into the martial arts. Zen, Budhism, Shintoism, Daoism, and Confusionist philoshophy co-exist in Japan; people generally mix and match to suit. Ju Jitsu (translating as "the gentle art") expresses the philosophy of giving/yeilding to an opponent's force rather than trying to oppose force with force. To manipulate an opponent's attack using his force and direction, allows Ju Jitsuka to control the balance of their opponent and hence prevent the opponent from resisting the counter attack.

The Japanese characterised states of mind that a warrior should be able to adopt in combat to facilitate victory.

These include: an all-encompassing awareness, zanshin (literally "remaining spirit"), in which the practitioner is ready for anything, at any time; the spontaneity of mushin (literally "no mind") which allows immediate action without conscious thought; and a state of equanimity or imperturbability known as fudoshin (literally "immovable mind").

Because jujutsu is both so encompassing and has its origin hundreds of years ago, it has become the foundation for a variety of styles and derivations today. As each instructor incorporated new techniques and tactics to what was taught to him originally, he could codify and create his own ryu or school. Some of these schools modified the source material so much that they no longer considered themselves a breed of jujutsu. Modern Judo is the classic example of a 'Sport' which was derived from jujutsu but is today distinct. Another layer removed, some popular arts had instructors who studied one of these jujutsu-derivatives and made their own derivative succeed in competition. This creates an extensive family of martial arts and sports which can trace their lineage to jujutsu in some part. Brazilian jiu-jitsu has dominated the TV grappling competitions, as the rules of such competions favours that style of grappling, and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu has furthered modern grappling onto new levels.