Japanese Jujitsu Or Traditional Jujitsu
Japanese Jujitsu: Mother of Modern Martial Arts
Japanese Jujitsu, which is likewise called the Traditional Jujitsu, is recognized as the mother of most modern martial arts of the 20th century. Judo, Karate, Brazilian Jujitsu and Aikido are just some of the martial arts that have originated from this old martial art. During the feudal ages of Imperial Japan, an art was required for all kinds of warfare. A sure date for the beginnings of this martial art is quite not possible to know, however it is universally agreed upon that the Jujitsu is a form of martial art.
Samurai Art
Well-known as the Samurai art, Jujitsu was very much respected and feared by other disciplines because of its immense skill set. A samurai was thoroughly trained in various weapons such as the staff, the sword, the katana among many others, and at the same time has also received training in most ranges of combat and fighting like throwing, ground grappling and striking.
Jujitsu is an important art but for some reason went unrecognized despite its many significant contributions to the martial and combat arts community. This is not to say that people do not know the martial art, it is just that they are not aware of the many facets of Jujitsu. This is not a recent problem. This has always been the case throughout the history of Jujitsu. You must remember that during its early years, the Jujitsu was only taught to the Samurais and they used this martial art in very brutal and in most cases, lethal way.
Jujitsu and Samurai Jigoro Kano
How would the Samurais get exposure to a martial art like Jujitsu, which could not be exhibited or practiced without any chance of a serious and even debilitating injury? The 60s and the 70s saw people getting crazy about Kung-fu and Bruce Lee acting as Kung-fu martial arts poster boy. Karate on the other hand was promoted by Chuck Norris. It is not until recently when Tom Cruise performed in the film, the “Last Samurai” that the western world took notice and became interested to the Jujitsu martial art. Tom Cruise portrayed the Samurai by the name of Jigoro Kano, who one of the best if not the best champion practitioners of the Jujitsu martial arts.
Watered-down version of Jujitsu
What Samurai Jigoro Kano did was to find and devise a way that would not only allow Jujitsu to be practiced in a safe manner, but exhibitions and competitions could now be considered as a form of exposure for the Jujitsu. What he did was to eliminate the lethal strikes and dangerous moves from the Jujitsu martial art and just focused on the throwing and submission holds. The problem was that Jigoro Kano’s version of Jujitsu is very much watered down that in the reassembling; it did not even resemble anything like Jujitsu anymore.
You might wonder how the Japanese martial art like the Jujitsu will benefit you in this modern day. The truth of the matter is that Jujitsu was created for the Samurai and to fight and do battle in war, but with many changes that have been done on the martial art so far up to the present days, it has become a much safer and effective game.