Jiu-Jitsu history

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or, out there, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or BJJ (also spelled jujitsu or jujutsu ) is a Japanese-style martial art that essentially uses leverage, twist and pressure to bring an opponent to the ground and master it. Literally, jū in Japanese means “softness,” “mildness,” and jutsu , “art,” “technique.” Hence its literal synonym, “soft art.”

Its secular origin, as with almost all ancestral martial arts, can not be accurately pointed out. Similar styles of struggle were verified in various peoples, from India to China, in the third and eighth centuries. What is known is that his environment of development and refinement were the schools of samurai, the warrior caste of feudal Japan.

The purpose of its creation came from the fact that, on the battlefield or during any confrontation, a samurai could end up without his swords or spears, necessitating, then, a method of defense without weapons. As the traumatic blows were not enough in this fighting environment, since the samurai were wearing armor, the falls and twists began to gain space for their efficiency. Jiu-Jitsu was thus born of its opposition to kenjitsu and other so-called rigid arts, in which combatants carried swords or other weapons.