jujitsu

jujitsu

, jujutsu, jiujutsu

the traditional Japanese system of unarmed self-defence perfected by the samurai

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Jujitsu

 

a Japanese system of self-defense and attack without weapons. Its main methods include blows to the most vulnerable parts of the human body (for example, the solar plexus, carotid artery, and liver) and twisting and bending the joints of the arms and legs in combination with various types of throws and holds that squeeze the opponent’s respiratory tract. Jujitsu is based on traditional methods of self-defense without weapons that have been known in Japan since antiquity. Jujitsu was formulated around the 13th or 14th century and from the 14th to 19th century was widely accepted in Japan as a system of physical and combat training for samurai. At the end of the 19th century the Japanese national wrestling style, judo, was created by the selection and modernization of elements from the best schools of jujitsu. The 20th century saw the formation of such contemporary Japanese systems of weaponless self-defense and attack as karate and aikido\ toward the middle of the 20th century these forms were recognized as independent sports.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.