Martial Arts Training Academy - Jiu Jitsu History

JU JITSU HISTORY

The Circumstances Which Led to the Rise and Development of Jujitsu

(a) Before the advent of firearms in Japan, bows and arrows had been employed in warfare from the earliest times. In close combat, swords and spears were used by the warriors, and occasionally they had to fight with their bare hands. This was called 'Kumiuchi', the more advanced techniques of which contributed to the development of jujitsu.

(b) For centuries the Japanese warrior used to wear two swords, one long one short, until this custom was banned in 1871, under the Decree Abolishing the Wearing of Swords. However, often when in the presence of high personages he had to appear without the long sword. Especially in the Tokugawa period, the long swords were taboo in the court of the Shogun, while the retinue on guard, and the minor officials were allowed to wear the short swords only. The same was the case with the prison keepers. They needed a special art for self-defence, as well as for controlling their charges without killing them.

(c) Special methods such as hitting, poking or chopping with the hand, fingers, elbow and fist, kicking with the knee-cap, heel or ball of the foot, or bending and twisting the joints, were studied and developed so that an unarmed person or a person who was purposely restrained from using his weapons could subdue an adversary.

(d) For several hundred years before the Meiji era, throughout the feudal age, class distinction was rigidly enforced between the warrior and the commoner, the latter being ordinarily forbidden to wear any sword. Naturally for self-defence purposes commoners had to learn the art of bare-handed fighting. The basic circumstances described above that led to the development of jujitsu are closely interlocked and cannot be clearly separated one from another. But, from the extent 'Densho' the manuscriptal instruction and records of secrets by the founders of various schools, we may readily perceive their respective characteristics. For instance, in some 'Densho', there are minute instructions, together with pictorial illustrations, on how to capture a ruffian and bind him with rope. Such details, though they may lie outside the scope of jujitsu proper, are profoundly interesting where they serve to show concretely the kind of soil out of which a particular jujitsu technique has grown. For a historical study of jujitsu there are two sources:

(1) historical and literary works in general, and
(2) the various 'Densho' mentioned before. History books contain comparatively few references to jujitsu, but there are more to be found in the miscellaneous writings of each period. As for the documents of individual schools, each school in its eagerness to add lustre to itself and to enhance its own prestige adorned its origin and records with flowery rhetoric, so that their contents in some cases will have to be taken with a grain of salt. Moreover, some 'Densho', while of antique origin, are manuscript copies of later hands, so that a high degree of authenticity is doubtful. Nevertheless, it may be safely deduced from the records available today that jujitsu began to take a systematized form in the latter half of the 16th century and that the various schools came into being in the centuries from the 17th to about the beginning of the 19th.

As for the tenets, or doctrinal principles, of jujitsu, the instructions of the various schools mostly dwell on the ideas which may be seen in the famous old book on strategy selected by the Chinese strategist, Hwang-Shihkon, which was the Bible of our warriors in the feudal age, namely "In yielding is strength" ("Oaks may fall when reeds brave the storm"). The also carry echoes of the Chinese Philosophy represented in the Book of Lao-tsze, who preached non-resistance and gentleness, etc., or the Yi-King (or I Ching), the Book of Changes.

There is little original thinking, although occasionally one encounters passages which indicate an aspiration to the ideal of 'Bushido', the passages which are exactly in line with the spirit of Kodokan Judo. Draeger and Smith (page 137) add the following note: "'Ju' is a chinese character meaning 'pliable', 'submissive', 'harmonious', 'adaptable', or 'yielding'. The common translation of 'ju' as 'gentle' is usually misinterpreted by the westerner. To him it suggests the complete lack of functionally applied strength. This was never the case with combat 'jujutsu'. where frequently great strength was needed to insure the defeat of an enemy. 'Jujutsu' techniques are not all gentle, though sometimes they are made with such swiftness and efficiency that they appear to be so. They seek to blend with the enemy's direction of strength, which is then controlled.

This 'gentleness' is thus more correctly spoken of as 'flexibility', meaning that mind and body adapt to a situation and bring it to advantage for the operator. Furthermore, the principle of 'ju' is not as all- pervading as exponents of systems who have taken it at its face value would have to all to believe. "The willow does not break under the load of snow," reads an old Oriental maxim. From this, some systems extend this limited philosophy to cover the absolute range of mechanical actions for their systems. While some snow may not "break the willow," a correctly applied force will. An enemy who attacks with such forces cannot be turned aside by 'ju'." A word may be added about the legend that jujitsu was originally introduced to japan by a chinese named Chen Yuan-ping, approximately in 1644-48, or in 1627 according to the 'Kokushoji' document.

However, a large amount of authentic evidence disproves this. For instance, we have reliable records of the japanese jujitsu masters, such as Hitotsubashi-Joken, or Sekigushi-Jushin, who thrived years before the above dates. Authentic descriptions of jujitsu are found in documents such as 'Yukisenjo-`Monogatari', 'Kuyamigusa', and the old jujitsu 'Densho', which also predate the legend. This is not necessarily to deny that Chen Yuan-Ping introduced chinese boxing, 'kempo', to japan. Indeed, it is more or less reasonable to assume that 'kempo' has some influence on jujitsu.