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Difference between jujitsu and bjj ?

4K views 7 replies 8 participants last post by  coldcall420 
#1 ·
just a quick question i was looking for somewhere to train brazilian jiu jitsu in the north east but can only find jujitsu classes in my area. was just wondering what the differences were if they are any
cheers
 
#2 ·
Traditional jiu jitsu has alot of joint locks and things from standing postitions that frankly don't work in MMA, they also don't spend much time on the ground...BJJ took what works in 'the street' and added to it, and you spend the majority of your time on the ground (mat) in BJJ...hope that helps.
 
#3 ·
The difference is really that BJJ focuses on the ground while JJJ focuses on stood up techniques and self-defense. There are rarely competitions in traditional Dojos, but in BJJ, they are likely to be commonplace. In terms of which will be more fun or more effective; again it depends on what you put into it. Any martial art can be useful or useless, depending on how you train and how you listen, to the instruction. Whatever it is you choose to train in – pay attention and train hard. The rewards will be intrinsic.
 
#7 ·
Both of these have already been touched on already, but since I'm getting pretty good at handling this question (its come up in this section with some regularity basically since the section was created three or four years ago) I figure I'll take a whack at it.

There are two ways in which Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Jujutsu are different. The first is historical and the second is stylistic.

Historically, it's worth pointing out that the two have largely different points of origin. Japanese jujutsu is a generic term which refers to a class of martial arts that are supposed to have descended from samurai traditional systems of unarmed combat, with an obvious focus on live combat situations.

The problem with "jujutsu" (almost always spelled "jujitsu") as a generic is that it gets dramatically overapplied and there are many systems that refer to themselves as "jujutsu" that have no historical or even stylistic ties to a traditional Japanese system. Still, that's where the term for the art comes from. There are a number of very prominent traditions that are worth mentioning. To the best of my knowledge, Kyushin-Ryu is one of the oldest traditions (which usually claims roots in the 14th century) though almost all of them (including Kyushin, but also Yoshin-Ryu, Sosuishi-Ryu, and many others) came into their modern form in the 17th century.

After Jigoro Kano developed judo as a martial art, with an emphasis on one-on-one combat, the system was exported (through Mitsuyo Maeda) to Brazil, where it was taught to Carlos and Helio Gracie. Both of the Gracies (though this is usually attributed largely to Helio; I tend to think that Carlos gets undersold in many respects, because he was physically larger than Helio and Helio developed more fame as a competitor) developed many of the early ground techniques that they then taught to their children. Because of Helio's success competing in exhibitions, it developed into a sport system with an emphasis on challenging larger opponents, and opponents from other styles; that emphasis shaped a lot of the early techniques.

It's worth mentioning that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, much more so than most Jujutsu systems, which often have a constructed "Canon" of techniques, is really a style that is bound to competition and so the techniques change very, very quickly. The early system of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu had many of the fundamentals that we see today, but an enormous number of the techniques are new or fairly radically different.

Stylistically, jujutsu tends to place a large amount of emphasis on quick techniques that either pin or cripple an opponent in a single, well-rehearsed move. That is a difference in training, and it isn't always true. There also tends to be some concept of "atemi" (loosely translated as "strike) in jujutsu, where there isn't in many methods of practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

The difference is that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, in many ways, focuses on the "ground game," and I think it's worthwhile to emphasize both parts. The first is that element of the grappling almost strictly on the ground. This developed fairly early among the second generation of Gracies, particularly Helio's thinner, smaller sons, who liked to just rush opponents and trip them to the ground. This led to less of an emphasis on takedowns, though they usually are taught at the upper levels, and are often taught at the early levels in places where the instructor has a wrestling or judo background as well. The concept of "game" also becomes really important, because a lot of modern Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is taught responsively. How you respond to opponents different moves, and the concept of "chain grappling" that emerges out of that is really significant.

Hopefully those differences aren't too general. I'm happy to be more specific about techniques you would actually see in each system, and there's plenty o video to pull up on the subject.
 
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