An Introduction on Jujutsu
65Jujutsu is a broad term that has been applied to a wide variety of different systems of both lightly armed and unarmed martial arts that differed markedly in style, appearance, and ideology. The word itself means “gentle technique.” In theory, ju (gentleness) refers to the methods that enable a physically weaker man to overcome a stronger one; but each school interprets ju in a different way and some seem to completely ignore the term. Additionally, jutsu (technique) is in contrast to the spiritualized do (way or path) that is important to the philosophies of judo and other martial arts.
History
In Japan, the incidents of empty-hand combat that are recorded in the oldest chronicles are considered the earliest ancestors of present-day jujutsu.An ancient system of combat techniques called sumai (to struggle) is said to be a predecessor of all Japanese empty-hand martial arts. Court banquet wrestling called sechie-zumo was popular in the Nara (710–794) and Heian (794–1185) periods, but was primarily limited to ritual occasions. Only with the rise of the warrior class starting in the Kamakura period (1185–1333) did these techniques became important on a large scale. The almost constant civil war during the 16th century led to many different martial techniques (bujutsu). As strikes with an empty hand were ineffective against armor,warriors developed yoroi kumi-uchi (grappling in armor), which involved throwing, joint locks, and the use of a dagger at close quarters. Although no warrior was unskilled in yoroi kumi-uchi, the art was of minor importance, a last resort for samurai, for none but the most foolhardy would willingly face another in battle without a weapon. In the medieval period, empty-hand systems now placed under the rubric of jujutsu had many names,but all such styles were marked by their emphasis on practicality and their relative unimportance among the old martial practices. The real flowering of jujutsu schools occurred in the peacetime of the Edo period (1600–1868). Jujutsu came to refer primarily to the myriad schools of unarmed martial arts that proliferated among the samurai and later the merchant classes.
By 1615, with Japan unified, government needed to manage the potentially dangerous samurai population, made superfluous by peace and yet theoretically at the pinnacle of a rigid social order. To retain his power, the shogun used strong legislative and police control and restricted weapons severely. Yet at the same time, the government encouraged the samurai to bask in the martial glory of their past and engage in quasi-martial disciplines to release their energies, and samurai sought other ways to measure their abilities. The 17th and 18th centuries saw a significant rise in the number of schools specializing in empty-hand martial arts. During the Edo period, over 700 jujutsu schools (ryu) are said to have been practiced. These jujutsu schools combined elements from earlier forms like yoroi kumi-uchi, but tended to specialize and exaggerate one or two major techniques (strikes, throws, chokes, etc.). Although emphasizing practicality, many schools began to prize beauty of motion as achieved by minimum use of strength rather than practical, combat-tested skills.
This era also brought the overlay of ethical and philosophical concepts on physical, technical practice. Thus, many schools began to put particular emphasis on mental and spiritual factors, and elaborate philosophical systems were designed around an idealized conception of the classical warrior arts as naturally promoting frugality and morality in all aspects of the trainee’s life. These ideals heavily influenced the founders of modern do martial arts like aikido, judo, and karate-do.
One of the first schools to emphasize empty-hand techniques was Takenouchi-ryu, founded by Takenouchi Hisamori (1502–1595) in 1532.The ryu became widely known after a member of the school defeated a much larger opponent, and it is considered by some to form the core of later jujutsu. Takenouchi-ryu downplayed weapons but did not ban them. Only after the Edo period did pure empty-hand forms developed fully. At least 179 other schools are mentioned in records of the Edo period. There was a lot of overlap in the techniques of these schools, but all laid claim to a “pure” tradition and a unique line of transmission. The Edo period saw, too, the rise of the merchants. Although technically relegated to the bottom of the Edo social hierarchy and heavily taxed, the merchant class had far more freedom and money than many of the samurai, whose power was tightly controlled by the shogun.With weapons banned, commoners saw jujutsu as a natural choice if they wanted some of the trappings of their samurai “betters.”Many samurai had little to support themselves financially and so grudgingly agreed to teach the rich merchants and other townspeople the martial arts. Later on, commoners who lacked martial experience and skill in weapons founded their own ryu and attracted all classes to their training halls. These schools hastened jujutsu’s shift from a stress on combat effectiveness toward aesthetics and philosophy, entertainment, and commercialism. The Meiji government (1868–1912) sought to re-establish imperial power and discredited many of the things associated with the samurai. Jujutsu was suppressed, and an imperial edict by Emperor Meiji declared it a criminal offence to practice the old-style combative martial arts.Some jujutsu masters practiced surreptitiously or traveled abroad to teach, but most schools were completely lost or subsumed into more “modern”martial arts like judo. In the war era, the government lifted the ban to promote jujutsu for nationalistic aims, thus further sullying the martial art’s reputation. The jujutsu ryu had fallen into sharp decline from which they would never recover.
Rules and Play
Jujutsu is a relatively minor martial art both in Japan and abroad.As in the Edo period,modern “jujutsu” includes a confusing array of techniques and styles,with minimal organization of the diverse schools.Most ryu claim an unbroken line of descent from past masters, and thus set themselves firmly on the side of traditional martial arts. They tend to emphasize ritual, set formal exercises (kata), historical continuity, and philosophy. Although these schools call themselves a jutsu (practical technique), they more closely resemble the ideal of the do (a way of life that is supposed to spiritually transform a student’s life). Especially in America, significant numbers of jujutsu schools emphasize the practical application of techniques and are opposed to spiritualization of martial arts practice. These factions of jujutsu are unified by their resistance to the aspects of sport and competition that have infiltrated many other martial arts.
Today’s jujutsu schools mirror those of the Edo period in their diversity, and they must grapple with the same question for the future: is jujutsu an ossified cultural artifact of a glorified past or will it continue to grow and respond to the needs of the modern day?
