does anyone know any background in the martial art of Ju jitsu.?

Question

My son is wanting to attend classes and he is wanting some background information on the subject, to see wether it is the right one for him. He is 10 and has wanted to do martial arts since being little.

Answer 1

Wow, I've seen a lot of terrible answers in this forum since I started, but I think this question has achieved "The Most Horrible Answer Award". And the award goes to, (drum roll) DJFUNKY GRRRL!! Read on to find out why.

There are two types of Jiu Jitsu, Japanese and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). I won't bother giving you any history lessons because it looks like that's already been covered (the dates are inaccurate but most the information is good).

Both styles are very practical for self-defense because of their emphasis on live practice, or sparring against a fully resisting opponent. Depending on where you live it may be easy or dificult to find a school for your son. Here in the States it's very easy to find a reputable BJJ school, they're everywhere, but Japanese JJ is more dificult to find. You should also be concerned about sending your son to a school with competent instructors. Be wary of institutions that claim to have expert instructors in many different styles, a reputeable BJJ school rarely ever aligns itself with other traditional martial arts styles, although you will see many schools that have resident experts in BJJ, wrestling, Muay Thai, and Boxing (this would be an MMA school). I don't personally advocate the "BJJ is superior to all other styles" paradigm that is stereotypically found amongst BJJ experts, but many of the world's best BJJ practitioners/instructors do feel this way. This is why you rarely see BJJ schools also teaching Kung Fu, Wing Chun, Aikido, TKD, or 'insert any traditional art form here'.

Descriptions:

BJJ, is a style of martial arts with an emphasis on groundfighting that uses joint locks and chokes in order to incapacitate, injure, or kill an opponent. These techniques, or submissions do not kill anyone right away, the opponent can "tap out" before this happens. This allows these techniques to be practiced against live resisting opponents which confirms their effectiveness in a real fight. Many submissions do not kill, such as the "arm bar" which simply breaks the opponents arm if they don't tap, which means the fight's probably over. In a real fight though, if I was to break my opponent's arm, then I could move easily to the "rear naked choke" and proceed to kill them (that's for anyone with the B.S. it's not lethal argument).

To the untrained eye, BJJ just looks like wrestling with no rules, actually that's really all it is (highly perfected though, to keep it from sounding primitive). BJJ rarely, if ever, trains striking. This is it's major shortcoming in terms of complete self defense or sportfighting, but in most cases if the opponent is not an expert striker, BJJ is completely adequate.

BJJ training concentrates on a small number of basic techniques which one continuously practices from they're first day on. A typical class is usually 1 to 2 hours and commonly consists of a short warm-up/workout period, a longer period devoted to drilling one ore two techniques, usually followed by an end of class free rolling session. At this time students try to implement the techniques they just drilled into a live sparring session.

Mystique, discipline, and tradition are not of great importance in most BJJ schools, most classes are usually pretty laid back. There are certainly arguments as to why one way is better than another or what is better for a child's development, but that's for you to decide.

Despite what one ridiculously uninformed and unfounded opinion on this forum states (not that I expected anything less from a "Ninja"), BJJ is incredibly effective in overcoming larger, stronger opponents through the use of leverage (a greater discussion of how leverage is use would require me to go break down many different techniques). This is well documented in the early UFC fights, which whether you liked them or not were some of the greatest case studies in the differences and effectiveness of various styles in no rules, no weapons, one-on-one fighting (and DO NOT require fish hooking or whatever else our delusional Ninja said). Just look up Royce Gracie on Youtube to find many instances of a thin 170 pound man severly beating opponents of all shapes and sizes, some over 300 pounds. However, it's not the great equalizer. If given two fighters of equal skill in this art, the larger, stronger opponent will win. This seems like common sense though. By sparring with other students of many different sizes, BJJ practitioners learn what works for them on opponents of varying stature.

Emphasis is also placed on competition with many advancements in rankings coming on the heels of victories in sport grappling. For example, if a white belt is consistently beating blue belts or easily keeping up with them, this may be grounds for promotion (or at least a factor).

I apologize, I can't go into detail about Japanese Jiu Jitsu because I have to go back to work, but I don't know much about it anyway because I don't personally practice it. I know they do a lot more standing work.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

As a junior instructor for the last 10 years i cannot reccomend Ju-Jitsu enough, it teaches children and young adults, disipline and self control. Ju-Jitsu dates back to ancient Japan and was used by warriors. The World Ju-Jitsu Federation (uk) uses a fully structured training programme and all instructors are fully qualified, insured and have police checks. The first thing i teach any of my children is that Ju-Jitsu is the last resort, the best form of self-defence is to remove themselves from the situation if they cannot then they defend themselves. Talk to your sons Sensei and I'm sure he will be able to answer any of your questions. Unlike karate and T-K-D Ju-Jitsu is not fixed, children will not be stood around repeating Kata's so the stress to their developing bones and joints is minimal. Ju-Jitsu has evolved with many spurs like BJJ, but the basic's will always be the greatest foundation a martial art can have

Answer 3

Brazillian Jui Jitsu is probably the best Martial art for children...

The main reason being the practicality of it and how they can really use this to protect themselves if in an altercation...

Trying a straight punch from the horse stance is not something someone should do to protect themselves in a real situation like in karate...

Also BJJ is cool because kids won't be scared to get hit like in boxing, karate, Tae Kwon do etc.

Answer 4

Ju Jitsu was considered a vital part samurai training. It was widely practiced in Japan until the end of WWII. It was later refined and revived. The refined form is now called Judo and it is a very popular sport in Japan. It involves grappling and ground fighting. Broken down it is the application of physics in it's most basic form. It is kind of like a chess game where you try to out think and out maneuver your opponent.
Hope this helps.

Answer 5

brazilian ju-jistsu.its an offshoot of a japanese system ,therefore the principles should be the same. no more no less effective . lots of stuff on this site on how effective it is . the origins of ju-jitsu were proven in battle,warfare. as usual a lot of windy talk from people who dont know a lot about martial arts and have very little real experience.lots of different styles of ju-jitsu out there ,all good . check the Sensei,class out ,friendliness of students ,atmosphere,if you dont like it go elswhere , choice is yours .good luck

Answer 6

There are two basic types of jujutsu: traditional Japanese (Daito Ryu derivatives) and Brazilian jujutsu.

Traditional comes from samurai families and their techniques. Brazilian comes primarily from the Gracie family. This art practices primarily ground fighting (called ne waza).

As for a child, I would not teach most children under the age of 10 jujutsu (depending on maturity). It can be very complex and require "adult-type" attention spans. Generally, tai kwon do or karate is better for youngsters.

Go visit the dojo (school) and watch several kid's classes.

Answer 7

Any control and restraint art .The guys that said muay thai tkd wing chun haven't got a clue about how real life works. Restraint and control arts are close combat arts and whether he is pushing pulling kicking punching is irrelevant. If you beat on someone using any striking art your security company and you are left wide open to lawsuits and the complaitant would probably win and you will be long fired before the case is resolved and have to pay your own lawyers plus getting bad references if you wish to continue in that line of work.

Answer 8

awesome...ju jitsu is the best ever........im talking bout brazilian jj...theres a huge differance between that and japanese....ok japan had been doing jj for a couple thousand years...then in the late 50s or early60s a grand master went to brazil and taught it to the gracie family....they took the basic principals of leverage and position and altered it for street fighting...brazil is notorious for street fighting due to drugs and gangs.....for 40 years the family was undefeated in mma compettiotion until the late 80 s whene the mma world realized they had to learn bjj to compete with them....thats why nowdays if you pay attention to mma at all bjj and wrestling are mandatory for fighters......its a great workout and the people that do it are just the best.my brothers a purple belt and its taken him 6 years of dedication...he tells me all the time its the best thing hes ever done for himself.......just make sure your kid is doing brazillian jj and you might want to consider him doing judo also....its a realy good self defense...what i like about both of these is that theres no striking or kicks in either but time and time againg they prove to be superiour to striking martial arts

Answer 9

Find a Brazilian Jui Jitsu school. More practical and modern art.

Answer 10

This is an older martial art, developed by the Japanese. It was popular about forty years ago. It seems to mainly consist of using an opponents, body and balance against himself. In effect, you get a positional hold, and cause your opponent to be thrown to the floor, where he is subdued. This is now more commonly referred to as "Judo".

Answer 11

The word 'ju' in judo and jujitsu means soft. It is considered soft because when using the whole body to lift the opponent off the ground is considered 'softer' or easier than using just the hand itself. The art of judo and jujitsu becomes really 'soft' when you're able to manipulate the opponent's centre of gravity to overcome his weight easily.