The Art of Being a Jitsuka
Jiu Jitsu is a Japanese martial art and a method of close combat for defeating armed and armoured opponents. The word Jiu Jitsu often has various spellings due to an incorrect translation of the Japanese writing system which uses ideograms, to languages which use an alphabet.
When the martial art spread to foreign countries the word Jiu Jitsu was adopted to describe it, although in many cases the romanization wasn't known at the time of adoption so it was written down phonetically.
"Jū" can be translated to mean "gentle, supple, flexible, pliable, or yielding." "Jitsu" can be translated to mean "art" or "technique" and represents manipulating the opponent's force against himself rather than confronting it with one's own force. Jiu Jitsu developed among the samurai of feudal Japan as a method for defeating an armed and armored opponent in which one uses no weapon, or only a short weapon. Because striking against an armored opponent proved ineffective, practitioners learned that the most efficient methods for neutralizing an enemy took the form of pins, joint locks, and throws. These techniques were developed around the principle of using an attacker's energy against him, rather than directly opposing it.
There are many variations of the art, which leads to a diversity of approaches. Jiu Jitsu schools (ryū) may utilize all forms of grappling techniques to some degree (i.e. throwing, trapping, joint locks, holds, gouging, biting, disengagements, striking, and kicking). In addition to Jiu Jitsu, many schools teach the use of weapons.
Today, Jiu Jitsu is practiced in both traditional and modern sport forms. Derived sport forms include the Olympic sport and martial art of judo, which was developed by Kanō Jigorō in the late 19th century from several traditional styles of Jiu Jitsu, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which was in turn derived from earlier (pre–World War II) versions of Kodokan judo.
*Source: Wikipedia
