''It's The Only Way To Survive''

Jiu-Jitsu The Gentle Art

Jiu-jitsu is, without doubt, the oldest of the Japanese arts and anything older would have mostly come from China ,as the first real Martial arts came from there when a legendary figure named BODHIDHARMA invented a way to protect one's self using his hands and feet , and on his travels ended up teaching them to Shaolin Monks.

Where Bodhidharma originally originated from can be up for debate, some say India , others say Africa . So in reality the origins of the first Martial arts is pretty unanswered.

Jujutsu or Jiu-Jitsu

Jujutsu or Jiujitsu as some may say, the original Japanese term is Jujutsu, is a Japanese martial art that stems back hundreds of years to around the 17th century or before ( the word ''Jujutsu ''did not come about till the 17th century). It's a close-quarter combat system where the jujutsu exponent would use a form of unarmed combat ( or in some cases a short-range weapon) to defeat an armed or armoured opponent.

The idea was in Feudal Japan Samurai who came face to face with one other, normally after being dismounted from their horse., would use a series of Joint locks, take-downs, and close quarter strikes to subdue their opponent as trying to strike a foe covered in Armour at times would prove frivolous.

Using the attacker's energy and strength against himself the Jujutsu exponent could take down an Armour clad samurai and live to tell the tale.

Labeled ''The Gentle Art '' because the size did not matter if the techniques were performed properly a smaller opponent could take care of a much larger adversary...

In reality, Jujutsu is a vast and varied art that is believed to be something in the region of more than a thousand styles of Jujutsu as Families would devise their own form which was taught only to family members. ( for instance, one style might have only two or three practitioners while others may have thousands) .

In reality, Jujutsu has been around in some form from as far back as maybe the 12th century. It was the Muromachi period of 1333 to 1573 that what is referred to as Old Style Jujutsu now, where Samurai would go up against opponents with more of an advantage in say having a large sword and having to subdue him using a shorter weapon or even grappling him. ( the thought of grappling someone with a long sword sounds risky if you ask me).

For the modern equivalent that came about in the 17th century and more so later still in the Edo period of Japan or even the Tokugawa period of Japan (the late 1800s), it is believed to have been around 2000 different styles of Jujutsu at this time.

Many systems or not considered to be direct forms of Old Style Jujutsu, known as Nihon Ryu, styles such as Hojojutsu which used the use of a cord or rope to tie up your opponent, or the more widely known Takenouchi Ryu Jujutsu which focused on the use of Tanto, fans and such like. These are considered Nihon styles.

The more modern styles which are linked more to what we see today are known as Gendai Jujutsu (Modern Jujutsu). It's some of these later arts that have been taken up by Law enforcement in Japan and developed into specialized systems for the sole purpose of Police enforcement such as Kiesatsujutsu (Police Art) and Taiho Jujustu (arresting art) which is used by the Tokyo Police.

Obviously from this other styles derived such as Judo which was invented by a great Jujutsu master namely ''Jigoro Kano''. But Jigoro's style was one of taking what he thought the best and most useful moves of the different styles of Jujutsu and making his own style.

An alternative style of Jujutsu and was known as Kano Jujutsu. Kano found flaws in his style of Jujutsu when one of his practitioners came up against a Fusen Jiujitsu Master by the name of Matemon Tanabe who beat Kano's man in a challenge.

This made Kano take on board a lot of Fusen Jiujitsu ideals and incorporate it into his own style, this is how Kano came up with Judo, but in the modern World his ideal of Judo has been watered down with many of the original techniques removed and where left with the Judo we have today, which is a shadow of Jigoro Kano's vision.

Some schools still teach Judo as Jigoro Kano invented it but these are far and few between in the West.

In fact, Brazilian Jiujitsu is more rooted in Jigoro Kano's vision than the Modern Judo we see today.

Getting more up-to-date Brazilian Jujutsu has taken off in a big way, this form of the art centers more on ground fighting once an opponent has been floored. We will delve more into Brazilian Jujutsu on another featured page.

Jiu-jitsu is a true Samurai art form and in essence, instills within itself the true meaning of Bushido.

The Masters of Jiu-jitsu

Founders of some of the other arts which followed 'namely Karate-do / Judo / Aikido / Muto Ryu Lai were all great Jujutsu masters.

These masters were Kano Jigoro / Funakoshi Gichin / Tesshu Yamaoka and Ueshiba Morihei. So Jujutsu is an all-around combative art and not a sport like some of the other arts that have come about Unlike say Judo which is sport orientated as the killer strikes have been removed in much the same way Olympic Taekwondo is a sport has some strikes are not allowed.

The Western World Gets Jiujitsu

Now as far as Jujutsu arriving in the West, stories may vary, but in the case of England, the case is as follows. One Edward William Barton-Wright who had returned to England in 1898 after completing a job in Japan ., an engineer.

On his return he announced that he had devised a new concept in fighting, having done other arts like Boxing, Savate, Wrestling, and such.

He called this new art Bartitsu, using his name and part of the word Jiujitsu. The styles drew from Shinden Fudo Ryu Jiujitsu of Sensei Terajima Kunichiro

As it came established other styles of Jiujitsu were incorporated as well as Boxing.

Articles in magazines were published and during the years 1898 and 1902 the art of Bartitsu got known, He opened a school in London's Soho.

It's with this popularity that in correspondence with None other than Professor Jigoro Kano, a great Jiujitsu master and the founder of Kodokan Judo that Barton-Wright arranged for visits from Japan of Japanese Jiujitsu instructors that included K.Tani, S Yamamoto, and Yukio Tani a young 19-year-old Jiujitsu Master.

These three masters took classes at the Bartitsu club teaching well-to-do Londoners. K Tani and Yamamoto returned to Japan, but Yukio Tani stayed on and after these other instructors arrived, the club grew to a certain extent giving lessons in four styles of combat.

In the end it did not last and by the end of 1902 the club had gone and instructors had left, Yukio Tani had set up his own self-defence club and also made money by being a Music Hall wrestler.

Some say due to high tuition fees and trying to sell it to London's well-to-do citizens was not enough to see the art of Bartitsu thrive.

Had it not been for Sir Arthur Conan -Doyle and his writings of the fictional character Sherlock Holmes and the inclusion of the art of Bartitsu in one of his stories, the art of Bartitsu may have been far forgotten.

Edward William Barton-Wright

Bartitsu in action with E.W. Barton-Wright centre (left)

Yukio Tani (Centre)

Bartitsu (right)

Now as far as America goes it all happened around the same time, One Esai Maeda, a direct student of Jigoro Kano got the chance to travel to the States in 1904 with one of his Teachers ( Tsunejiro Tomita ), whilst there they got a chance to demonstrate Judo to Theodore Roosevelt. and the cadets at West Point.

Theodore Roosevelt studied Judo on a regular basis.

Now in 1914 Esai Maeda aka Count Koma was a Japanese Politician and world-class Jiujitsu master who traveled to Brazil to establish a Japanese colony.

In order to do this Esai Maeda befriended a Brazilian Business Man, one Gastao Gracie. In return for his help Esai taught Gastao's oldest son Carlos Jiujitsu and he in turn ended up teaching his younger brothers.

The rest is history as we know the Gracie's went on to pioneer their own version of Jiujitsu in Brazil which spread to the world.

America and South America gets Jiujitsu

Esai Maeda

Carlos Gracie

Helio Gracie

Jiujitsu Basics and Techniques

Unlike the other Japanese arts like Karate or Chinese arts of Kung-Fu Jujutsu concentrates more on throwing an opponent, using a series of techniques to either use your opponent's weight against him or herself or with the use of leverage one can topple an opponent leaving him open for attack from a series of Joint locks and breaks, chokes and strangles and even pressure point knock-out blows.

Like Karate jujutsu is taught as a defence, most techniques are from being attacked, unlike Karate, Jujutsu makes less use of devastating knock-out strikes but the use of finely tuned techniques that even a lightweight can perform with ease.

Of course, all this throwing on the floor can be detrimental to your health, and it's why Jujutsu exponents are taught the art of Break-falling, it is a way of taking the energy of being thrown and transferring it back into the ground by slapping the floor before your body hitting the deck, performed right break-falling can prevent series injury, especially when experts in Jujutsu can throw you to the floor at an alarming rate.

The break falls consist of various versions from the rolling break-fall, side break-fall,for-flap, back, and spins. For a full explanation of these break falls click here!.

Joint locks are applied to any part of the body that has a joint such as fingers, wrists, Elbows, Ankles, Knees, Shoulders, Thighs, and even Necks. These techniques are important for gaining cooperation from an aggressor, leaving him the only option but to submit or get his body broken, as all joint locks have an emphasis where the joint can be broken, of course in practice we don't break each other's joints ( well not purposely, I have seen dislocations happen and have been on the receiving end of such techniques.

Choke holds are another technique used, applying a choke-hold either using the opponents clothing or not, if clothing is at hand it can form a useful lever in a choke-hold, but to be honest, Choke holds should only be practised under supervised action, as it's quite easy to dissociate the windpipe from its ligament resulting in suffocation and death.

But saying this many practice chokes the wrong way, the wrong way is when the choking arm is pushed against your opponent's windpipe, using your strength to utilise the choke, The proper way is yes to have the arm across the windpipe, but use the arm like a camshaft of a car, with the arm across the windpipe turn the arm so the hard bone of the arm manipulates the windpipe giving good grip on the neck, as you turn the arm the opponent feels the hardness of the bone of the arm shutting his airway, quite nasty really.

The other form of hold is the stranglehold, this is probably safer to practice as there are many levels in the strangle, with a strangle it works on the arteries on the side of the neck, this results in stopping the blood flow to the brain, resulting in an opponent falling unconscious in just 5 seconds or so, killing an opponent could take up to a minute. Now that does not mean you should see how long you can hold for in a strangle, not unless you want to be a vegetable. As prolonged blood starvation to the brain could result in you being brain-damaged. It's no fun training with a brain-damaged partner.

So the end line is to be cautious when practising these lethal techniques.

Striking as in any martial art is fundamental, but in Jujutsu it's there to gain control so as to apply the joint locks, chokes, throws, and so forth. Unlike other arts like Karate or Taekwondo which utilise strikes as the finish to a confrontation...Of course, without striking, you could not perform the many techniques in Jiujitsu, but the strikes used are simple and without the need for extensive conditioning of the legs or arms.

Of course, you have to be fit but unlike an art like Taekwondo, there's no excessive leg stretching as Jujutsu practitioners rarely kick above the Solar Plexus. On top of that soft blocking is used in many styles, so the need for hard-style Karate blocking or wooden dummy training as in Wing Chun is not needed. Other than that you use what you can from fists, elbows, ridge hands, knees, whatever gets the job done.

Throwing is a vital part of Jujutsu as many techniques end in the performance of a throw, the Hip throw is of course is the most commonly used, once in position, after getting your cooperation from your adversary by striking him a few times or so.

You can manoeuvre into a hip throw position, by wrapping your arm around his waist or back, though the more correct way is around the waist as too high on the back just makes the throw harder and more opportunity for your opponent to getaway. Grabbing with the other arm you drop your weight and ease your opponent over your own hip in a circular motion towards the floor, making sure to keep hold of the grasped arm at all times, as once he lands you want to do some joint locking on the poor fellow.

There are alternate throws that have the same principles, some lock the arm when throwing others utilise the neck area. .throwing is all about physics and momentum, making flooring your opponent an easy task.

Take-downs are a different ball game as they often use strength unless you have perfected a perfect way of breaking your opponent's balance ( Kuzushi) in take-downs like hocks, many take-downs can be utilised using other techniques first, striking of course, and the use of locks, but another use is pressure points, along the body you have many areas to utilise where nerves run along the body from the leg to the head.

By finding these points you can make a tough manoeuvre easy as the pressure in the right spot can lend an aggressive adversary at your mercy as you perform all manner of leg throws, hocks, sweeping techniques to them.

Modern Day Masters Past and Present

Jiu-Jitsu forever grows and over the years many have looked to modernise or improve on old styles making them suitable for modern day training.

Of course modern day students are not looking to put full battle armour on and go to war akin to the Samurai.

Most train to improve balance in life , Fitness or Competition. Others may train for self defence and many law enforcement organisations across the world train in Jiu-jitsu as it is a effective way of restraining a aggressor if the training is focused on for such uses.

Modern Day Pioneers

So here we look at a few of the Jiu-jitsu masters who have promoted the art across the world , These are small bios and they may link to a larger feature on that Artist .

Soke James Blundell was the Pioneer of Modern day Jiujitsu in the UK . He founded the British JIu-Jitsu Association in 1956 , bringing together many Jiujitsu clubs in the UK, where knowledge could be shared. His linage of Jiujitsu comes from the teachings of Yukio Tani who taught the likes of Alf Morgan and Jack Britton.

Soke James Blundell 1921 -1989 UK

Soke Richard Morris 1936 - 2019 UK Aki-Jitsu

Soke Richard Morris was a Pioneer of British Jiu-jitsu , his first encounter of the arts was when his Father and Uncle returned from the Burma Campaign and taught Richard what they had learned out there themselves.

He later trained under Proffessor Alf Morgan who was taught by Yukio Tani.

Soke Richard Morris Bio

Soke Robert Clark 1946 - 2012 UK

Born in Liverpool in 1946 Soke Robert Clarke trained martial arts from age 6 , under Jack Britton who was taught by 9th dan Jiujitsu master M Kawaishi.

He later went on to form the World Jiujitsu Federation.

Professor James McDade UK

Total Self Defence

Professor James McDade 10th Dan first started his combative experiences in Glasgow learning Boxing and Wrestling.

Upon arriving in London he met one Richard Morris who introduced him to Aki - Jitsu . Gaining his Black Belt in 1968.

As far as British Jiujitsu as of 2026 is the highest ranking in the country . Down to his experiance.

Soke Bryan Cheek 1951 -2026 UK 10th dan Jukoshinryu

Soke Bryan Cheek was a formidable force in Judo , trained by Japanese master Otani Matsuru , Soke Cheek achieved his first Black belt in 1969. Opening his first dojo in 1972 in London. It was then that he became interested in Jiu-jitsu trainings under the specialist committee under James Blundell , it was here he met Richard Morris and the two joined forces.

John Therien 9th dan Can-Ryu Jiu-jitsu Canada

Canadian Martial artist John Therien Trained Jiujitsu under Georges Sylvain, gaining his black belt in 1969. He runs a series of schools in Canada teaching Can-ryu jiujitsu and Kickboxing. In 1992 he co-founded the World Kobudo Federation with Richard Morris and Alain Sailly

Alain Sailly 9th Dan Goshindo France

Goshindo translates to The Way of Protecting the Body . Devised by Alain Sailly his style encompasses years of martial art styles learned . He continues to promote Jiujitsu across Europe through talks and seminars. He also has a vibrant Youtube following.

in 1992 he was Instrumental in founding the World Kobudo Federation with John Therien and Richard Morris.

Soke Kevin Pell Ishin-Ryu Jiujitsu UK

Soke Pell has studied Martial arts from a young age combing his knowledge into his own system, Cross training in different arts has given him a good base of various arts.

He Founded Ishin-Ryu in 1990

His career is varied and diverse as one might expect of someone at his level

Yukio Tani Sensei 1881 - 1950 Japan / UK

Fusen Ryu Jiujitsu

Catch Wrestling

Legendary Jiujitsu Master responsible for much of Jiujitsu's heritage in the UK

Yukio Tani Sensei