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Jiu Jitsu is a method of defense and offense without weapons in personal encounter. For many centuries in Japan it was practiced as a military art, together with fencing, archery and the use of the spear.
Jiu Jitsu is not a contest of muscular strength, nor is its prime
purpose to maim or kill, but merely to incapacitate one's opponent
for the time being by means of simple tricks and holds. Jiu Jitsu's
tricks and holds are very simple. A thorough knowledge of them,
gained only with constant practice, should develop in one a feeling
of strong self-confidence. This confidence causes the Jiu Jitsu
expert to react almost instinctively in the event of a sudden attack
and to maneuver any situation to his own advantage.
A working knowledge of Jiu Jitsu offers the average man (or woman) ability to cope with and triumph over a physical attacker—and to do so with ease, whether the opponent is larger, more powerful, or armed with knife or gun.
Jiu Jitsu has the pleasant byproduct of giving one a feeling of security in situations once packed with tensions and fears. Interestingly enough, a study has shown that a person trained in Jiu Jitsu is less likely to run into “trouble” than an untrained person is. This could be because of the air of self-confidence the Jiu Jitsu-trained person possesses, or it may be because he is less willing to become embroiled in physical violence because he knows that when he goes into action, the other guy is going to be badly hurt. Theodore Roosevelt said to “speak softly and carry a big stick.” The Jiu Jitsu student may also speak softly because he knows that his skill is a very big and very damaging stick.
Jiu Jitsu is serious business and must be studied and practiced until the student is skilled in the art.
I was tempted to say, “it is almost a lost art,” for a lost art it has almost become. Jiu Jitsu is no longer taught in Japan. It is no longer passed from generation to generation, as it had been for hundreds of years. In addition, here I should explain that Jiu Jitsu is not Judo—and the two should not be confused.
There is a surface of similarity about some of the movements in Judo and Jiu Jitsu—but there the likeness ends. Judo, of course, derived much from Jiu Jitsu. However, Jiu Jitsu is an art of self-defense, which was developed with skill and precision as the exclusive property of Japanese nobility. Judo is played for points. Jiu Jitsu is played “for keeps.” With Jiu Jitsu you may do as you desire, punish, damage, or even kill your opponent.
With Jiu Jitsu, David may defeat Goliath. Thus the beauty of the art is that it relies for success not upon brute strength but upon finesse and the ability to win by seeming to yield. |
