Jitsu is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
You need more? Very well. Jitsu is a highly practical "hands on" martial art which applies ancient combat techniques to modern self-defence scenarios. In Jitsu Clubs, you will train with people of all sizes and abilities in order to learn to cope with a wide range of attacks.
Training is hard, but fun and always tailored to the student.
Do not take Jitsuka`s word for any of this! Have a go and find out just how much you are capable of.
Jitsu is actually a school of ju-jitsu called shorinjikan jujitsu.
The problem here is that there is not hard and fast definition of jujitsu. Hundreds of different schools teach it, each with their own syllabus and style. Our name is chosen for distinctness.
The word is a compound of ju meaning soft or yeilding and jutsu meaning practise or art. Remember that Japanese is written with ideograms so there can never be an exact Engligh version. All of the following spellings can be seen in print.
This was the way the word was first written in English in th 1890's. So it could be argued that this spelling has been in use the longest.
This is given in the dictionary as the most common variation. That is why it is used on this site.
Since -jitsu
should only really be used as a suffix, some people see no point in having a compound word.
After all, judo started out as jiu-do
.
This is supposed to better represent the sound of the word in Japanese.
My knowledge of martial arts is zero, limited,extensive
Being hurt is bad. Being killed is (presumably) worse. Jitsu stops this happening.
Attacks we deal with include :
Jitsu is like judo but done as a martial art rather than a sport. For example, in judo you might learn to lock a joint to make your opponent surrender. In Jitsu, the same technique would be used to break the joint or make somebody drop a weapon. In Judo would learn to throw somebody to the ground to pin them. In Jitsu we throw people because we believe that you are never unarmed if you can hit somebody with a planet.
One of the most unusual thing about Jitsu is that there is a lot of weapon work. In most weapon arts, you are taught to use weapons. But when should you carry a weapon in real life? In Jitsu, it is the attacker who gets the weapon. You are taught to defend and disarm.
These differences in emphasis show up in our gradings. Only a small part of them is spent demonstrating the techniques you have learned. The rest of the grading is spent watching how you defend against various attacks. You are only marked for what you can show works for you.
Jitsu is the informal name for Shorinji-kan Jujutsu , a modern school run by the Jitsu Foundation the largest member of the BJJA. Jitsu is a modern school of ju-jitsu heavily influenced by Shorinji Kempo . Training is heavily biased towards self defence until about 4th Kyu . This can make the syllabus seem a little odd to somebody from other jujutsu schools. For example, we begin defences to weapon attacks virtually from day one but kata are almost non-existent below 3rd kyu . The reasoning here is that weapon defences can never be good enough so you should begin practise straight away. Also, real world attacks are very often of this type. The weapons we work with are "street" weapons such as knives, clubs and broken bottles rather than so called "martial art" weapons for much the same reason.
Judo type techniques are taught, but they are taught as grab and rape defences to give the a more useful context than a sporting competition.
Another interesting feature of Jitsu is the relative scarcity of black belts. Mastery of the syllabus only gets you a brown belt. Then you must successfully teach your own club for at least three years. Only if your students do well, will you be invited to a black belt grading. This has obvious advantages in maintaining standards, it also discourages people who move between martial arts collecting black belts like trophies.
Jitsu is fun! Yes, I know I should be talking about worthy stuff here but none of that stuff is really important. People will begin to study because of fears of attack or a desire to get fitter, but they stay at it because it is fun.
The other "proper" benefits are safety, fitness and self esteem.
Safety, because you never know when you may need to defend yourself or somebody else. People often ask how much they need to know to be completely safe. Unfortunately, it does not work like that because you never know how much danger you may be in. But remember, any advantage is good. Any thing which improves your chances of survival, however slightly, can make the difference between getting away and not.
Fitness is probably the one thing which can improve most aspects of your life. Jitsu provides a general aerobic program with specific work on stretching and balance. Self esteem is a nebulous but very important part of your life. Jitsuka is sure that when you join Jitsu classes, you will see some things that look like magic done by people you can not imagine were ever beginners. You will soon discover differently. As you feel your achievements, your attitude to yourself can change dramatically.
Life hurts.
All physical training hurts if you are doing it hard enough for it to do you any good. It is all a question of how much it hurts.
On the whole, Jitsu is not really painful. You may get some bruises while you are mastering the basic stuff but that is best regarded as a learning experience. We also do a lot of joint-locks and restraints which involve pain but you will only suffer enough to understand what you are doing.
Some people are worried about being hit and hurt. They should remember that the whole point of Jitsu is to learn now to not get hit.
So the best answer is to say that you will never be deliberately hurt more than you can stand and you should never be accidentally hurt if you listen and pay attention.
My own personal opinion is that pain is simply not an issue. Jitsu only hurts when you do it wrong. My years of Jitsu training have been an overwhelmingly positive experience. I am more than willing to invest the occasional bruise to learn something which may one day save me from horrific injury and death.
How fit do you want to be? How fit should you be? The question really is "How fit are you prepared to be?".
Running away is always the best form of self defence but you need a certain level of fitness even for that.
Compared to many martial arts, Jitsu is not very physically demanding. There is no high kicking or power striking. You will be expected ( unless you are disabled ) to run round a room, get up from the floor and stay "warm" for the lesson. We do a lot of stretching, but it is very gradual. Each lesson begins with a warm up so the instructor can see how fit you are. Jitsu is easier if you are fitter, but so are most things.
First, find your local Jitsu club. On the Jutsuka homepage, there are links to the Jitsu Foundation and to other clubs on the web. Beginners are welcome to all Jitsu sessions. You can go along and watch or have a go. The instructor will be happy to talk to you and answer any questions before or after the lesson. If you have special needs or if you have an interest in a particular part of the syllabus, we will do whatever we can to try to help you. Although Jitsu does have a formal syllabus, it should be regarded only a teaching and assessment tool.
All you need to bring is yourself, and some clothes that you can exercise in such as a tee shirt and tracksuit bottoms. About the best thing you can bring is a friend.
Obviously, lessons vary enormously, but this is a typical pattern.
All sessions begin with a warm up. This will start with general exercises and then move on to stretching with particular attention paid to body parts and movements that are important to what you will be learning.
There will then be a very brief ceremony to mark the start of the lesson. To do this, the students will line up in grade order and they and the instructors will formally greet each other. Any new people are introduced and welcomed.
The first part of the lesson is almost always breakfalling practice. Breakfalling is impact practice which we stress very strongly. As well as toughening you up, it improves your co-ordination and enormously improves safety. It is also good for showing up weaknesses, because mistakes can result in bruises.
The main part of the lesson is the one which will vary most. Students may be split up into ability groups or mixed up. Often, there will be a central theme or scenario such as strangles, weapon attacks or rape defence. This will provide a context for the techniques being practised.
The general tone of the lesson is usually very formal so that the instructor knows that everybody is paying attention and knows what they are doing. You should never be intimidated by this. If you have any questions ask them and never try something you do not understand. Nobody will mind as long as you do not waste time or disrupt the lesson.
All lessons end with a check to make sure that everybody has enjoyed themselves, learned something and it uninjured.