The Most Useful Information on Ju-Jitsu and its Rules

The combination of two Japanese hieroglyphs “ju” and “jitsu” means soft and flexible art. In this case, it refers to ju-jitsu – one of the ancient martial arts in Japan. To be more exact, one should note that it refers to a certain number of martial arts including those with arms and without them.

General Rules

Every martial art is governed by particular rules, and ju-jitsu is not an example. These fights take place in an area that is covered with judo mats or similar materials. The minimum dimensions of this area should be 8×8 meters. As a rule, it is divided into two zones: working (6×6 meters) and danger (at least 2×2 meters) zones. The two zones should be of different and contrasting colors. Every fight that lasts for three minutes of net time takes place within the working zone. According to the official rules, athletes are allowed to kick and hit their opponents’ bodies and heads. What is more, it is allowed to perform painful and submission holds both in a standing position and in groundwork.

A fight can be ended ahead of time when one of the opponents has an evident technical advantage over the other one. In addition to that, a victory is immediately given to an athlete if his or her opponent is disqualified or unable to continue the bout because of an injury. When it happens that both opponents perform equally during a fight and it is impossible to determine a winner, they should continue their fight. In this case, all the points that were earned by them previously are canceled. In those cases, when this extra time also fails to determine a winner, a weighing procedure takes place. Thus, a victory is given to a lighter athlete.

Schools and Styles

Apart from traditional throws, ju-jitsu schools paid attention to painful and submission holds and a kicking technique. All these kicks and hits were aimed at biologically active points, nerve endings, and joints. What is more, they were performed by fingers, various parts of palms, elbows, knees, and feet. In the 19th century, there was an interesting case when a ju-jitsu master, together with his only student, joined a battle against hundreds of opponents. The outcome was shocking: 40 people were killed with bare hands, while the others sought safety in flight. Some historians believe that that master was mystically lighted up and comprehended the principles of hitting vulnerable points.

In general, there are a lot of ju-jitsu schools throughout the whole world. What is more interesting, each of them pays greater attention to a particular moment. Thus, students of one school are perfect in throwing, while another school focuses on painful and submission holds. That is why it is of key significance to discuss the rules of competitions in advance when representatives of different schools are going to meet. Fortunately, there is the World Ju-Jitsu Federation that deals with developing and distributing the overall rules of the given martial art.

In Japan alone, there are more than 200 ju-jitsu styles. However, if one wants to count only traditional ones, there are only 10 of them. The others are either substyles or some newly developed ones. By the way, elements of these modern styles are currently used in the policy, army, and private security establishments. It should be mentioned that almost 60% of the modern ju-jitsu technique is represented by wrestling elements, including grapples, chokeholds, foot sweeps, throws, and painful holds. The rest 40% is hits with hands and fingers, palms, and elbows; kicks with feet and even heads. The information above makes it possible to arrive at the conclusion that ju-jitsu is the combination of various martial arts.

Equipment and Arms

As a rule, representatives of Japanese martial arts should wear special uniforms. As for ju-jitsu, its uniform should be strong enough to endure strong pushes, grappled, and throws on the one hand, and be loose to not constrict athletes’ movements while they are performing kicks and hits on the other hand. According to the official rules, it is also necessary to use a soft helmet (athletes who are 18 years old and older may decide by themselves whether to put it on or not), special gloves that cover fingers, and shin soft guard (optional). At the same time, it is obligatory to have pelvic protection and a mouthguard. Usually, athletes compete with bare feet in kimonos if white or blue colors.

Kobudo is a ju-jitsu variation that is devoted to working with a stick or bladed weapons. At the same time, as soon as ju-jitsu means self-defense without any arms, its athletes tend to use various items that are not weapons actually. For example, ju-jitsu fighters often use a usual stick of 12-30 cm long, staffs, knives, or traditional belts. The list of the most peculiar weapons consists of the following items:

1. Nunchucks (two sticks of about 30 cm long that are connected to each other with the help of a rope).
2. A reaping hook.
3. A 40-cm long stick with a perpendicular handle.
4. Metal tridents.
5. An item that is similar to a mattock.
6. A wooden paddle.
7. A shield.

Technique

Considering the fact that the development of ju-jitsu technique was taking place among Japanese samurais who sought a way to beat an armed opponent without using any weapons, one should pay attention to some peculiarities of this martial art. They are represented by painful holds aimed at opponents’’ joints and a particular throwing technique. As for a kicking and hitting technique, it is also used, but its purpose is to stop an opponent. After a successful and professional kick, opponents are usually in a state of shock, which provides a ju-jitsu warrior with enough time to prepare for a throw and perform it. After that, a severe painful or submission hold should be performed to beat the opponent completely.

Over the long history of this martial art, there have appeared many ju-jitsu variations. This information can mean that each of them applied its own peculiarities. Even though various ju-jitsu schools developed their own techniques, all of them preserved the main principle of the given martial art. Thus, it is to beat an opponent with the help of self-defense.

History

It is impossible to say for sure how this martial art appeared and who developed its main principles. However, there are a few legends that help cope with this task. According to one of them, ju-jitsu was created by a Japanese doctor, Akayama Sirobei, who lived in China in the 9th century and studies medicine and martial arts. During one of his winter training sessions under a tree, Akayama noticed as a thin branch bent under snow and threw it off, while thicker branches broke under weights. It was then when the master discovered the following – to surrender to win. It became the main principle of the martial art developed by Akayama. That master managed to develop approximately 300 holds that created the core principle of ju-jitsu. However, the principle of the branch that managed to bend and throw off the snow became the central thought of the given martial art.

The second story tells about Chinese masters of secret martial art. Once in Japan, they settled down in monasteries where they taught their secrets to everyone who wished it. Some ancient martial art researchers believe that ju-jitsu was a combination of Japanese sumo and this very secret martial art.

A considerable amount of time has elapsed since then. Till the 19th century, ju-jitsu had been used by a few the most skillful men that had been known as samurais. However, those men were deprived of their privileges after the 1868 bourgeois revolution in Japan, while many of them left the country at all. In such a manner, ju-jitsu became popular throughout the whole world, while the emigrants both popularized that martial art in various world countries and enriched it with new holds and kicks. By the way, ju-jitsu schools taught their students how to deal with firearms even two centuries ago. That is why it is not a surprise that ju-jitsu has become one of the most important activities for educating members of secret services.