Amateur Ju-Jitsu Academy

Learn JuJitsu & Judo in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

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Whats in a name Ju-Jitsu?Ju-jitsu is from the Japanese;jitsu meaning "gentle/versatile art/practice", there are a wide range of spellings used in English for this Japanese Martial Art. In the native early Japan, Ju-Jitsu was called, Jutsu written in Kanji, but the romanization of the Japanese word into the English language has been performed several times using different systems.Jujutsu, the current standard spelling,is derived using the Hepburn romanization system, before the first half of the 20th century, however, Jiu-jitsu and then Ju-jitsu were preferred, even though the romanization of the second Kanji as Jitsu is unfaithful to the standard Japanese pronunciation.
Since Japanese Martial Arts first became widely known of in the West in that time period, these earlier spellings are still common in many places. Jiu-Jitsu is still the standard spelling in Brazil, Canada and the US.
The literal translation of the word; Jitsu means "gentle art". In Japan, Jujitsu can also be used as a broad umbrella term encompassing all Japanese Martial Arts such as Jujutsu, Judo, Aikido et cetera (in the same way as the term Gung Fu is used in China to encompass many different schools of martial art). Also it can have a more specific meaning related to schools that follow the tenets of old school jujutsu, as opposed to other divergent specializations such as those denoted by the 'Aiki', Karate, or Kenpo prefixes. The prefix 'ju' in ju-jitsu means softness, suppleness or flexibility. Ju-jitsu exponents use their techniques to react to an opponents attack rather than using brute strength in order to overcome the enemy. In that way, a smaller person may stand a chance of overcoming a larger person by means of stratagem and effective technique. A bamboo tree has a flexible trunk which bends in high winds to avoid being up rooted. This analogy is a succinct way of describing how a Ju-Jitsu exponent conceptualizes the art of fighting.