Jiu Jitsu
Student:
Abdulla Salem Al Menhali
ID#: H00213809
Course Name: LSS 3003-Sport, Leisure, and Society
Section: CIK
Contents
Introduction
Brazilian
jiu jitsu is a martial art, combat sport, and even a self-defense system that
usually focusses on the aspect of grappling, and takes into focus the ground
fighting technique. It was from what is
known as Kodokan Judo ground fighting fundamentals that were instilled to
Carlos Gracie and Luiz Fraza by Soshihiro Satake and Mitsuyo Maeda. Carlos
Gracie has been awarded the title of being the Founder and the Creator of the
Modern Jiu Jitsu. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu became its own art system from the Kodokan
Judo through experimentations, practices, and by the adaptation of what Carlos
and Helio Gracie had learnt from judo. They would pass this knowledge that they
had learnt to their extended family (Gracie, 2006) .
BJJ
is different from judo because it usually promotes the concept that a weaker
and smaller person can be able to successfully defend himself or herself from
an opponent who is bigger and stronger. He will be able to achieve this, if he
uses a proper technique that provides him with an edge, he uses advantage, and
the most important aspect is when one takes the fight to the ground. On this
level, one will apply the right joint locks, and choke holds to be able to
defeat the opponent.
History
Geo
Omori is credited with opening the first Jijitsu School in Brazil in 1909. He
taught a number of individuals who later on contributed immensely to this
sport. These individuals included people such as Luiz Franca, and Mitsuyo
Maeda. Mitsuyo Maeda went on to demonstrate and even spread this fighting
technique to different parts of the world. He eventually reached Brazil on
November 14, 1914 and began teaching this new form of martial art (Fabio Duca
Gurgel Do Amaral, 2007) .
In
1917, Carlos Gracie was present when Maeda was providing a demonstration at the
Da Paz theatre and he was impressed by the fighting technique that at that time
was referred to as judo. Carlos became a student of Maeda and for a few years,
he learnt this new technique. He would eventually pass it down to Hello Gracie.
Hello developed this form of Jiu Jitsu further in terms of making it a softer
and more pragmatic form of Judo. It would focus more on ground fighting. The
reason as to why he adopted the new technique at that time of ground fighting
was that he was unable to perform the many judo moves that required one to take
advantage and use the direct opposition to an opponent’s strength. In addition,
the Luiz Franca family was influential in developing this technique, and it was
particularly represented by Oswaldo Fadda who together with his students was
famous for conducting foot-locks (Walder, 2008) .
Coining of the Name Jiu Jitsu
When
Maeda left Japan and travelled to different countries in order to popularize
the sport, it was still referred to as Kano jiu-jitsu. Higashi who was the co-author of the phrase
Kano Jiu-Jitsu provided the following explanation:
Some disarray has
emerged over the business of the term jiudo. To make the matter clear I will
express that jiudo is the term chose by Professor Kano as portraying his
framework more precisely than jiu-jitsu does. Teacher Kano is one of the main
teachers of Japan, and it is regular that he ought to cast about for the
specialized word that would most precisely portray his framework. At the same
time the Japanese individuals for the most part even now stick to the more
mainstream classification and call it jiu-jitsu (Gracie, 2006) .
However,
people outside Japan did not understand this difference so that when Maeda went
to Brazil in 1914, the newspapers stated that the art he was promoting was
‘jiu-jitsu’ instead if the Kodokan judoka. Therefore, in Brazil this martial
art technique would later on be called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Divergence
From
the time when judo was introduced in Brazil, there have been varieties of rules
that have been changed from the rules of Judo. The rules have been changed for
different purposes such as to enhance it in order for it to be entertaining as
a spectator sport, and to improve it in terms of its safety to the
participants. The rules have mainly been put in place in-order to de-emphasize
on the groundwork aspects of judo, and for others to reduce the range of joint
locks that can be allowed at a specific time. It also looks at when these
joint-locks can be applied. However, for the Brazilian Judo it does not
consider these aspects and this is where the divergence came into play. The
other factors that have led to the divergence were the influence of the
Brazilian culture, and Gracie’s emphasis to create this as a full-contact
fighting sport (Wells, 2012) .
In
BJJ, one is allowed to take all the techniques that Judo allows one to use in
terms of ground fighting. The techniques that are allowed include the judo
scoring throws and the skillful takedowns. It also takes into consideration all
forms of takedowns from wrestling, samba, and every other grappling art that
may include one using direct attempts to take one down by touching his or her
legs. This sport also allows one to drag
his opponent to the ground, and even one can drop him to the ground with the
only provision being he had first taken the grip.
Prominence of the Sport
This
sport gained prominence in the early 1990s when Royce Gracie, a jiu jitsu
expert, won three Ultimate Fighting Championships that were at that time set as
single elimination martial arts tournaments. He fought other opponents who used
different martial arts such as boxing, muay thai and karate and he defeated
them. Today, most MMA fighters use it as an effective technique to score a win,
and it has showed the importance of ground fighting. The ADCC Submission Wrestling World
Championship has been known to promote the sport (Roza, 2012) .
Style of Fighting
This
fighting technique uses the principle that when fighting with either a stronger
person or a person who has a longer reach, one should use the ground in order
to eliminate such advantages. In Jiu Jitsu it incorporates the use of the
ground fighting techniques, and the various submission holds that involve
having joint-locks and chokeholds. One having a greater grappling technique can
offset when people are on the ground.
In
BJJ, it allows one to use a variety of techniques to be able to take the fight
to the ground i.e. after one takes the grip. In BJJ, one can use the option
that is known as a pull guard, and this entails obtaining some form of grip on
the opponent and then one brings the fight to the match by either sitting down
or even jumping and wrapping the legs around the opponent. When the opponent is
on the ground a number of maneuvers can be used on the opponent in order to
bring about the submission technique. In Maeda’s theory in relation to physical
combat, it can be broken down into different phases such as striking phase,
grappling phase, and even the ground phase (Wu, 2008) .
Ground Fighting
The
reason why BJJ has been separated from other forms of fighting techniques has
largely been due to its emphasis in relation to ground fighting. The striking
based styles are more commonly applied on the ground. There are however
standing techniques such as striking but they are meant to provide advantage to
an individual before one can start the grappling and joint lock processes on
the ground.
Primary Ground Positions
Side Control
When
one is using this technique, he pins his opponent on the ground from the side
of the body. The dominant grappler will lie across the opponent, using his
weight to apply pressure on the opponent’s chest. Other places where pressure
can be applied for control purposes are on the shoulder and on the hips by the
practitioner’s elbows, knees, and shoulders. The picture demonstrates the side
control technique:
Full Mount
In
this technique, the practitioner sits on the opponent’s chest, and controls the
opponent with his bodyweight and hips. When one is in the strongest position,
he works his knees into the opponent’s armpits so that he can be able to reduce
his arm movements or the ability to move and counter the submission attempts.
Back Mount
Submissions
Submissions
are classified into two groups’ i.e. joint locks and chokes. In joint locks, it
will involve isolation of an opponent’s limb, and the using one’s body to
create a lever that will enable the joint to be moved past its normal range of
motion. If the right amount of pressure is applied, it will force the opponent
to submit. There is also the compression lock, where the muscle of the opponent
is compressed against a hard bone that causes significant pain on the part of
the opponent and forces him or her to submit (Edward, 2007) .
As
with the other martial art fighting techniques, the practitioner is awarded
different color belts to show an increase in both the technical knowledge and
his or her practical skills. There are three categories i.e. the junior belt
colors, adult belt colors, and the black belt grades. In junior belt colors,
the least ranked color is white and the highest ranked color is green. In
between based on the ranking order are grey, yellow, and orange. For the adult belt colors based on rank
starting from least to the greatest are white, blue, purple and brown. When one
look at the black belt grades they are as follows: black, black/red, and red.Conclusion
In
conclusion, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a style of fighting that derives most of its
techniques from Judo. What separates it from Judo is that in this style of
fighting, it is legal to take tackle somebody to the ground even in
circumstances where as the tackler you fall down first. It is a fighting
technique that is mostly fought on the ground, and the winner has to make his
opponent to submit through various choke-holds or submission techniques. It
relies more on skill rather than the strength of an individual. Today, most of
the MMA fighters throughout the world have added Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as an
efficient technique to help them to be able to win matches.
·
Edward, C. (2007). "Untangling a sport that
transcends style". The Ciccanatti Inquirer.
·
Fabio Duca Gurgel Do Amaral, F. D. (2007). Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Basic
Techniques. Blue Snake Books.
·
Gracie, H. (2006). Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Black Belt Communications.
·
Roza, G. (2012). Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The Rosen Publishing Group.
·
Walder, M. (2008). Essential Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Human Kinetics.
·
Wells, G. (2012). Brazilian Jiujitsu: Ground-Fighting Combat.
Lerner Publications.
·
Wu, S. (2008). HISTORY OF BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU. Judo.
