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JIU JITSU VS BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU

By Benjamin Strusnik, June 20, 2022

There are significant similarities between Jiu Jitsu and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as BJJ is a direct descendant of the Japanese Martial Art form. The progression of BJJ has been largely influenced by the age-old traditional Japanese grappling art and continues to evolve from one another. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a highly complex Martial Art that incorporates a range of technical movements and high calibre submission holds. The once self defense Martial Art has evolved over the last century to become a heavy competitive art form with a serious sporting aspect.

What This Article Covers

The art of Japanese Jujitsu derived from feudal Japan, and integrates a series of self defense movements just like judo or bjj. The art of Japanese Jujitsu was created for defeating an armed and armored opponent. Striking against armored warriors was proven to be ineffective, so the Japanese art form was born. Practitioners began to learn that some of the most effective methods for defeating enemies came in the form of pins, chokes, joint locks, and throws. These technical maneuvers were developed around the concept of using an attacker's energy against them, rather than trying to fight against it.

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THE ORIGIN OF JAPANESE JIU JITSU

The history of Japanese Jiu Jitsu was introduced during the Nara period between the common era of 710 to 794. The art form combined early forms of Sumo wrestling and different Japanese Martial Arts that was used on the battlefield for close hand to hand combat. The oldest known styles of Jiu Jitsu are Shinden Fudo ryu from 1130, Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto ryu from 1447 and Takenouchi ryu, which was formed in 1532. Many of the styles of Japanese Jiu Jitsu were taught to incorporate parrying and counter attacking against long weapons like swords or spears. In Japanese hand to hand combat, their fighting systems incorporated throwing techniques, neutralizing opponents, joint locks and choke holds, which were mostly executed from a scramble on the ground.

During the Edo period in the early 17th century, Japanese Jujitsu continued with the evolution of its systematic approach. This was largely due to the strict laws which were imposed by the Tokugawa shogunate to help reduce war conflicts. The influence of Chinese social philosophy like Neo Confucianism which was acquired during Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea and spread throughout Japan. During this new ideology, weapons and armor became obsolete, which caused hand to hand combat to thrive. The development of Jiu Jitsu incorporated various striking techniques to attack vital areas, but by the 18th century these techniques were thought to use too much energy so the art headed more primarily down the path of joint locks, choke holds and throwing techniques.

Throughout the 18th century there was a significant popularity within many Jujitsu schools, challenging each other to fighting contests. This became a prominent pastime for many warriors under a peaceful and unified government. Out of these contests that art form developed randori as a way to practice the Martial Art without any risks of breaking laws and putting a halt on fights to the death. The term Jujitsu was created around 1724 which was two centuries before Kano Jigoro, the father of Judo, founded the modern art of Kodokan judo.

THE ORIGIN OF BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu shares a similar history to Japanese Jujitsu, as BJJ is symbolic of being influenced heavily by Jigoro Kano's style of Kodokan Judo and Japanese Jujitsu. In the early 1900’s Jigoro Kano's most famous student, Mitsuyo Maeda travelled to Brazil to help many Japanese settlers transition into the Amazon. Mitsuyo was responsible for teaching his philosophies in fighting and life as he helped many refugees deal with real life conflicts. Along his journey, Mitsuyo would also teach his philosophies to the broader community in Brazil, which led to Carlos Gracie discovering the Martial Art.

Carlos would become Mitsuyo's student, as he mastered many of his teachers' principles over the course of a few years. Carlos was extremely interested by this revelation in Martial Arts, that he decided to articulate the finer points to his younger brother Helio Gracie. Along his journey, Helio discovered that he was too small and not strong enough to capitalise on many of the Judo throws, so he began developing his own system of grappling that would become Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Helio would master his own ideology as he passed on his new style of submission fighting to many members in the Gracie clan.

Helio's son Rixon Gracie became the family champion, as he thwarted many challenges brought forward by pro wrestlers and luta livre fighters. Rixon would defeat many enemies as feuds between luta livre and submission wrestling vs bjj fighters spurred on throughout the late twentieth century. In the 1990's Gracie Jiu Jitsu was put on the map, after Royce Gracie was chosen to represent the Gracie clan in America, on what would become one of the biggest platforms in Martial Arts. The UFC was a contest to see which Martial Art was the most effective, and after Royce won the event, BJJ grew in popularity which led to the further development of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

MODERN FORMS OF BOTH ARTS

The modern form of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has seen many practitioners divided between gi or no gi jiu jitsu disciplines, as the popularity of both is rising. In the traditional Gi form, the art has become more focused on the sporting aspect, as the distance between self defense and sports Jiu Jitsu has grown significantly. The No Gi version of BJJ has emerged in recent years as one of the premier sports in the United States. The evolution of No Gi BJJ has seen many bjj or wrestling developments in maneuvers like the leg lock systems, the berimbolo, takedowns and many other significant wrestling movements.

The modern form of Japanese Jujitsu has taken a significant shape in its search for development. After the introduction of Jujitsu to western culture, the art form underwent a process of adaptation under the moulding of many western practitioners. The art of Japanese Jujitsu was modified to suit different cultures and different body types. Although most westernized styles of jujitsu are uniquely different from one another, they still manage to stay true to the roots of Japanese Jujitsu. Nowadays there are hundreds of different forms of Jujitsu that range from BJJ itself all the way to arts like Hapkido and Aikido.

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SPORTS BJJ VS SPORTS JUJITSU

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has a strong following surrounding its competitive tournament processes. BJJ is one of those sports, where a large number of its practitioners will compete in. Many practitioners will often feel the need to battle test their skills In BJJ, as some academies will require students to at least try it out before they can move into the higher ranks. In BJJ competitions, athletes will enter into different weight categories, rank categories, age categories and open weight categories. Some No Gi competitions split up the divisions into beginner, intermediate and advanced divisions.

All BJJ tournament matches are officiated by a referee and have different time durations for every individual rank. Matches are won when a competitor forces an opponent to submit, or if they have more points or advantages at the end of the time limit. Competitors can score points for securing positions like the mount, side control, back mount, back control and the knee on belly position. Other ways of scoring points is for executing a takedown, passing the guard and sweeping an opponent. Advantages are given when a competitor secures a submission and forces their opponents to defend and also if they take their opponent down but they land out of bounds. Students can also be penalized for stalling or breaking any of the rule sets. Disqualification can also happen and is usually due to illegal moves like knee reaping, illegal leg locks, slamming an opponent or dangerous takedowns like the scissor leg takedown.

There are a multitude of different versions of sport jujitsu. One of the versions of sport jujitsu is known as JJIF Rules Sport Ju-Jitsu which is organized by Ju Jitsu International Federation. The JJIF organisation is a member of GAISF and has been recognized as an official sport of the world Games. Sport jujitsu comes in three main versions. In Duo, which is a self-defense demonstration, there are two practitioners one is called the tori, which is the attacker, and the other is called the uke, which is the defender. Both students come from the same team and will demonstrate self defense techniques. This system of competition is called Random Attacks, as it focuses on instilling quick reaction times against any given attack by defending and countering. The tori and the uke are still from the same team but in this version the uke does not know what attack is coming. Judges will give the tori the attack without the uke's knowledge forcing an element of surprise.

The second version of sports Jujitsu is the fighting system called Free Fighting, where competitors will combine striking, grappling and submission techniques. This version has a set of rules that highly emphasises safety for both competitors. There are many dangerous techniques such as scissor takedowns, neck locks and digital choking and locking that are prohibited in sports Jujitsu. The third version of sports Jujitsu is the Japanese/Ne Waza which is a grappling system where competitors start standing up and grapple their way towards a submission. In this version striking is completely prohibited. There are other versions of competition that include sparring, with various rule sets, ground fighting similar to BJJ, kata and demonstrations. In the sparring and ground fighting versions there can be different rule sets depending on the organisation. Kata can be open hand or with traditional Jujitsu weapons and demonstrations are usually in pairs but can go in teams as high as 7.

HOW DO BOTH ARTS STACK UP IN TRAINING

Comparing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to Japanese Jujitsu is a lot like gjj vs bjj, as just like Japanese Jujitsu the old traditions of Gracie Jiu Jitsu are vastly different to the more modern BJJ. The typical training session in BJJ consists of a few different components. There is always a warmup which usually consists of dynamic based movements. Many of these movements are designed to simulate different aspects of maneuvers in BJJ. Instructors will then teach two or three different techniques, usually a sequence of moves or a submission and then how to defend that submission, before students will partner up and drill the techniques. Sometimes instructors will play certain games like passing and sweeping games or takedown battles, these are designed to learn comprehensive skills in a real life format. Near the end of the lesson all students will then battle test their movements by doing real life sparring or in BJJ it is called rolling.

Training in Japanese Jujitsu can be quite different to BJJ, as the art form has many different versions. Some utilise striking or weapons training where other versions focus on grappling and throws. A typical Jujitsu lesson will incorporate many unique warmups including striking. In this Martial Art the use of throwing an opponent is extremely important. Students will learn how to use their opponent's energy against them while conserving their own energy levels. Although the submission game is not as comprehensive as BJJ, it still has a vast amount of chokes, joint locks and controlling maneuvers. Training in Japanese Jujitsu definitely has a broader curriculum to learn as the many facets of the Martial Art has spawned many other forms like Judo, Karate, Aikido and BJJ itself along with many others.

WHO WOULD WIN IN A FIGHT BETWEEN BJJ AND JAPANESE JUJITSU

This would be an interesting contest, as both Martial Arts have significant skills in grappling combat. Even though Japanese Jujitsu has a broader array of striking, throwing and submission techniques, BJJ has a more specialised series of submission maneuvers.

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Some would argue that Japanese Jujitsu would win because it is the foundation to BJJ, where others would say that BJJ is a more evolved version of the ancient art. Both arguments have significant validity, but it is very hard to look past the ferocity of a BJJ practitioner. Japanese Jujitsu might have the upper hand in weapons combat, but in a hand to hand combat battle Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has the goods. After Helio developed his own style of submission fighting he past down the torch and ever since many talented athletes are continuing to evolve the art of BJJ, making it one of the most effective fighting methods there is.

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