The History Of Ju Jitsu
The name Ju-Jitsu is a combination of two words. ‘Ju’ which is most often translated in to English as ‘soft or gentle’, whilst ‘Jitsu’ is translated into ‘art’ as opposed to ‘way or path’, which is translated from ‘do’ in Judo. Thus Ju-Jitsu is often referred to as the ‘gentle art’ whilst Judo is known as the ‘gentle way’. However, the Japanese language is very rich and there can be many interpretations of one word. For instance ‘Ju’ could quite easily be translated as ‘soft, yielding, pliant or flexible’ all of which would fit just as well as ‘gentle’ into the English translation of Ju-Jitsu.
The development of Ju-Jitsu:
The earliest evidence of any incident that could possibly be attributed to Ju-Jitsu, is when two strong men named Sukune and Kuehaya, were ordered to wrestle in the presence of Emperor Suinin in 24 BC. Although at the time of this bout it would have been seen as a wrestling match up, this could be because the name ‘Ju-Jitsu’ was unheard of back then. However, the manner in which Sukune gained victory over Kuehaya points more towards the use of techniques, later to be removed from Ju-Jitsu when Judo was formed as a sport, with the aim of gaining points rather than to kill or maim your opponent. Sukune went on to kill his opponent on that day by kicking, gouging and stamping him to death.
When wrestling was banned by edict in 1175AD, the creative development of all types of hand to hand combat, in which no major weapon was involved, was fostered under the influence of the Japanese military. This led to the creation of no less than 725 official systems of Ju-Jitsu. The techniques which had developed over centuries were refined during the medieval Kamakura period 1185 – 1333 AD. At a time when greater importance was placed on developing skills with weapons such as: the spear, sword and bow and arrow. Open handed techniques and the use of small weapons were devised to help a soldier on the battlefield to take another’s weapon if he had lost his own, or even just to survive a battle.
It is thought that it was a 12th century school for samurai called the DAITO RYU that these techniques were first taught, however emphasis at this school was still placed on swordsmanship. In 1532, another school, KOGOSOKU, was started by Prince Takenouchi Hisamori. According to legend, his fighting skills were presented to him by spirits in a dream. Another story claims that he learned 5 blocking techniques and the advantage of short weapons over long ones, from an eccentric hermit. At this school, in addition to teaching the effective use of daggers and the use of the staff against armoured opponents, he also began to teach open handed techniques which he called Ju-Jitsu. As his school progressed, he later began to introduce other techniques, such as Ho Jo Jutsu , the art of tying up an opponent.
As time went on, hundreds of different martial arts were developed in Japan. Whilst they all began to share ideas and techniques, many were still closely guarded secrets. Because of this, it was not unusual for spies to be sent from one school to another to learn their techniques and take them back to their own school. As the styles merged and evolved, a basis was formed for what we now know as Ju-Jitsu.
One theory about the arrival of Ju-Jitsu in Japan, is that it was introduced by a Chinese immigrant, a priest named Chin Genpin around 1659. However, evidence of Ju-Jitsu being around long before this time proves to discredit this theory. There is little doubt though, that he did have a great influence on the progression of the art. Whilst practicing in the art of Ju-Jitsu, he taught three ronin (out of work samurai) named Fukuno, Isogai and Miura. These three ronin then went on to open, completely independent of each other, three different Ju-Jitsu Ryu.
In 1871, under the imperial ordinance, the samurai class were prohibited from carrying swords, this dealt a major blow to the progression of Ju-Jitsu, as at the time, swordsmanship was still a primary skill of the art. This led to Ju-Jitsu becoming a violent street sport. Because of the extremely aggressive nature of Ju-Jitsu, one of its masters, Jigoro Kano, decided that it must develop into an art that could be practiced without the risk of death, as in those days, the only way for the individual to test his skill in Ju-Jitsu, was in a fight to the death, or at least until the opponent was so badly injured that he could not continue. So, in 1882 he created Kudokan Judo. Judo went on to become very popular in Japan, and Ju-Jitsu began to decline, with little opportunity for a Ju-Jitsuka to test his skill in a time of peace, with no battlefield on which to be fully tested.
Ju-Jitsu in Britain:
Ju-Jitsu first came to Britain in 1892. At a time when Britain had very close trading links to Japan, it was tradesmen such as bankers who introduced the art to Britain, and not true masters of the art. The first known Japanese instructor was Takashima Shidachi, who was working as the secretary to the London branch of the bank of Japan.
Around 1899, a British engineer named William Barton Wright returned to Britain after 9 years working in japan. During his time in Japan, he studied Tenjin Shinyo Ryu Ju-Jitsu along with Yukio Tani. On his return to Britain, he brought Tani back with him, and they opened a dojo teaching Ju Jitsu. However, progress was very slow as no one had yet heard of Ju-Jitsu. With this in mind, they travelled the country challenging all comers to defeat them, in order to promote the art. On their travels Tani met a Scotsman named William Bankier who persuaded Tani to work with him. A short time later Bankier introduced Tani to some wrestlers, Percy Longhurst, W H Garrud, Bruce Sutherland and Percy Bickerdike. Between them they went on to set up the British Ju-Jitsu Society, the first society of martial arts in the U.K. When the wrestlers had undergone extensive training under Tani, they each went on to promote Ju-Jitsu in different areas of life i.e military, scouts, police and also to the wrestling world. With the arrival of WW1, a lot of the impetus for Ju-Jitsu died and it wasn’t until 1955 that Ju-Jitsu came back to prominence with the forming of The BJJA (British Ju-Jitsu Association) in Liverpool by James Blundell.
James Blundell was a merchant seaman. He joined the navy at only 14 after lying about his age (the minimum age for joining was 16). When docked at ports in the far-east for weeks on end whilst cargo was being loaded by hand, he spent his evenings seeking out teachers of martial art whilst his ship mates spent their evenings at dockside bars. On his many visits to Singapore, he trained with Master Kim, a Chinese shopkeeper who had immigrated to Japan with his family, and had a small dojo at the back of his shop. During his time in the far-east, James Blundell trained with many masters in his quest for knowledge and skill in martial arts. When his travels were over he found a job on the Mersey Docks, in his home town of Liverpool. He later went on to become the founder and chairman of the BJJA, which he started at the Lowlands Ju-Jitsu club in West Derby, Liverpool, and was the largest Ju-Jistu group in the country at the time. It was at the Lowlands club where some of the western worlds most talented and respected Ju-Jitsu masters were trained. The most prominent of these was Robert Clark, who in 1976 realised his dream of starting his own organisation when he founded the World Ju-Jistu Federation.
The WJJF is now the world’s largest Ju-Jitsu organisation, with clubs all over the world and new ones opening all the time. Over the years since Professor Clark established his federation, he has constantly modified his syllabus to cope with the dramatic changes in society, whilst maintaining the traditions of this ancient martial art. It is probably this combination of traditional martial arts and modern day self defence which makes today’s Ju-Jitsu so popular throughout the world.
The name Ju-Jitsu is a combination of two words. ‘Ju’ which is most often translated in to English as ‘soft or gentle’, whilst ‘Jitsu’ is translated into ‘art’ as opposed to ‘way or path’, which is translated from ‘do’ in Judo. Thus Ju-Jitsu is often referred to as the ‘gentle art’ whilst Judo is known as the ‘gentle way’. However, the Japanese language is very rich and there can be many interpretations of one word. For instance ‘Ju’ could quite easily be translated as ‘soft, yielding, pliant or flexible’ all of which would fit just as well as ‘gentle’ into the English translation of Ju-Jitsu.
The development of Ju-Jitsu:
The earliest evidence of any incident that could possibly be attributed to Ju-Jitsu, is when two strong men named Sukune and Kuehaya, were ordered to wrestle in the presence of Emperor Suinin in 24 BC. Although at the time of this bout it would have been seen as a wrestling match up, this could be because the name ‘Ju-Jitsu’ was unheard of back then. However, the manner in which Sukune gained victory over Kuehaya points more towards the use of techniques, later to be removed from Ju-Jitsu when Judo was formed as a sport, with the aim of gaining points rather than to kill or maim your opponent. Sukune went on to kill his opponent on that day by kicking, gouging and stamping him to death.
When wrestling was banned by edict in 1175AD, the creative development of all types of hand to hand combat, in which no major weapon was involved, was fostered under the influence of the Japanese military. This led to the creation of no less than 725 official systems of Ju-Jitsu. The techniques which had developed over centuries were refined during the medieval Kamakura period 1185 – 1333 AD. At a time when greater importance was placed on developing skills with weapons such as: the spear, sword and bow and arrow. Open handed techniques and the use of small weapons were devised to help a soldier on the battlefield to take another’s weapon if he had lost his own, or even just to survive a battle.
It is thought that it was a 12th century school for samurai called the DAITO RYU that these techniques were first taught, however emphasis at this school was still placed on swordsmanship. In 1532, another school, KOGOSOKU, was started by Prince Takenouchi Hisamori. According to legend, his fighting skills were presented to him by spirits in a dream. Another story claims that he learned 5 blocking techniques and the advantage of short weapons over long ones, from an eccentric hermit. At this school, in addition to teaching the effective use of daggers and the use of the staff against armoured opponents, he also began to teach open handed techniques which he called Ju-Jitsu. As his school progressed, he later began to introduce other techniques, such as Ho Jo Jutsu , the art of tying up an opponent.
As time went on, hundreds of different martial arts were developed in Japan. Whilst they all began to share ideas and techniques, many were still closely guarded secrets. Because of this, it was not unusual for spies to be sent from one school to another to learn their techniques and take them back to their own school. As the styles merged and evolved, a basis was formed for what we now know as Ju-Jitsu.
One theory about the arrival of Ju-Jitsu in Japan, is that it was introduced by a Chinese immigrant, a priest named Chin Genpin around 1659. However, evidence of Ju-Jitsu being around long before this time proves to discredit this theory. There is little doubt though, that he did have a great influence on the progression of the art. Whilst practicing in the art of Ju-Jitsu, he taught three ronin (out of work samurai) named Fukuno, Isogai and Miura. These three ronin then went on to open, completely independent of each other, three different Ju-Jitsu Ryu.
In 1871, under the imperial ordinance, the samurai class were prohibited from carrying swords, this dealt a major blow to the progression of Ju-Jitsu, as at the time, swordsmanship was still a primary skill of the art. This led to Ju-Jitsu becoming a violent street sport. Because of the extremely aggressive nature of Ju-Jitsu, one of its masters, Jigoro Kano, decided that it must develop into an art that could be practiced without the risk of death, as in those days, the only way for the individual to test his skill in Ju-Jitsu, was in a fight to the death, or at least until the opponent was so badly injured that he could not continue. So, in 1882 he created Kudokan Judo. Judo went on to become very popular in Japan, and Ju-Jitsu began to decline, with little opportunity for a Ju-Jitsuka to test his skill in a time of peace, with no battlefield on which to be fully tested.
Ju-Jitsu in Britain:
Ju-Jitsu first came to Britain in 1892. At a time when Britain had very close trading links to Japan, it was tradesmen such as bankers who introduced the art to Britain, and not true masters of the art. The first known Japanese instructor was Takashima Shidachi, who was working as the secretary to the London branch of the bank of Japan.
Around 1899, a British engineer named William Barton Wright returned to Britain after 9 years working in japan. During his time in Japan, he studied Tenjin Shinyo Ryu Ju-Jitsu along with Yukio Tani. On his return to Britain, he brought Tani back with him, and they opened a dojo teaching Ju Jitsu. However, progress was very slow as no one had yet heard of Ju-Jitsu. With this in mind, they travelled the country challenging all comers to defeat them, in order to promote the art. On their travels Tani met a Scotsman named William Bankier who persuaded Tani to work with him. A short time later Bankier introduced Tani to some wrestlers, Percy Longhurst, W H Garrud, Bruce Sutherland and Percy Bickerdike. Between them they went on to set up the British Ju-Jitsu Society, the first society of martial arts in the U.K. When the wrestlers had undergone extensive training under Tani, they each went on to promote Ju-Jitsu in different areas of life i.e military, scouts, police and also to the wrestling world. With the arrival of WW1, a lot of the impetus for Ju-Jitsu died and it wasn’t until 1955 that Ju-Jitsu came back to prominence with the forming of The BJJA (British Ju-Jitsu Association) in Liverpool by James Blundell.
James Blundell was a merchant seaman. He joined the navy at only 14 after lying about his age (the minimum age for joining was 16). When docked at ports in the far-east for weeks on end whilst cargo was being loaded by hand, he spent his evenings seeking out teachers of martial art whilst his ship mates spent their evenings at dockside bars. On his many visits to Singapore, he trained with Master Kim, a Chinese shopkeeper who had immigrated to Japan with his family, and had a small dojo at the back of his shop. During his time in the far-east, James Blundell trained with many masters in his quest for knowledge and skill in martial arts. When his travels were over he found a job on the Mersey Docks, in his home town of Liverpool. He later went on to become the founder and chairman of the BJJA, which he started at the Lowlands Ju-Jitsu club in West Derby, Liverpool, and was the largest Ju-Jistu group in the country at the time. It was at the Lowlands club where some of the western worlds most talented and respected Ju-Jitsu masters were trained. The most prominent of these was Robert Clark, who in 1976 realised his dream of starting his own organisation when he founded the World Ju-Jistu Federation.
The WJJF is now the world’s largest Ju-Jitsu organisation, with clubs all over the world and new ones opening all the time. Over the years since Professor Clark established his federation, he has constantly modified his syllabus to cope with the dramatic changes in society, whilst maintaining the traditions of this ancient martial art. It is probably this combination of traditional martial arts and modern day self defence which makes today’s Ju-Jitsu so popular throughout the world.
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