Ju-Jitsu means "art of gentle compliance" where an opponents strength is used against him or her to negate an attack.

This Japanese martial art is one of the oldest fighting systems in the world. In Japanese mythology the gods KASHINA and KADORI were said to have used Ju-Jitsu to chastise the lawless inhabitants of the Eastern Provinces some 2,500 years ago.

Over the centuries the art developed and evolved into a primarily unarmed system of defence against an armed or unarmed opponent. The emphasis on unarmed defence against unarmed attack began in the Edo period in the late 1500's to 1600's under the TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE. In this period the armed warrior or Samurai were made redundant as the

various warlords had to stop feuding and pledge allegiance to the Shogunate. As the armed warrior became obsolete Ju-Jitsu had to change to meet new applications, and techniques were devised for dealing with unarmed assailants.

There is some evidence that Ju-Jitsu received some input from the Chinese arts at this time. This evidence is based upon the Japanese use of the term "KEMPO" (Chuan 'fa' in Chinese) which means "to fight with the fist" or "fist way". In one case it is recorded that a naturalised Japanese called Chin Gempin taught Chuan 'fa' techniques to selected

students. If this is the case, then one must assume that these techniques were totally incorporated into the Japanese Ryu or schools.

As the restriction upon the warrior (Samurai) caste continued Ju-Jitsu schools opened their doors to the common people. Because the latter were not allowed to carry weapons the schools used different methods than those taught to the warriors.

Some modern Ju-Jitsu styles still teach the ancient Samurai weapons at these schools as a compliment to the unarmed defence art.

Ju-Jitsu is sometimes called "the mother art" because several other arts have their beginnings in Ju-Jitsu. JUDO (gentle way) is one such which was

devised by Jigoro Kano who studied Ju-Jitsu at the Tensin Shinyo Ryu and the Kito Ryu.

Kano removed the strikes and kicks and the fatal nerve, pressure point and strangulation techniques to form a SPORTING ART using throws and hold-downs to score points against an opponent.

Another is AIKIDO (the way of harmony), a martial way founded by Morihei Veshiba, who was himself

Ju-Jitsu teacher. This way puts emphasis on joint locking and wrist throws to beat an opponent.

Wado Ryu Karate still uses some of the Ju-Jitsu joint locks and take downs in its syllabus.

Today Ju-Jitsu is taught as a dynamic self defence art adopted to modern living.

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